Book of Common Prayer
Yahweh Is King Over All the Earth
93 Yahweh is king; he clothes himself with majesty.
Yahweh clothes himself; he girds himself with might.
Yes, the world is established so that it will not be moved.
2 Your throne is established from of old;
you are from everlasting.
3 The rivers have lifted up, O Yahweh;
the rivers have lifted up their rumbling;[a]
the rivers have lifted up their pounding.
4 Mightier than the rumblings of many waters,
mightier than the mighty breakers of the sea,
Yahweh on high is mighty.
5 Your testimonies are fully reliable.
Holiness is fitting for your house,[b]
O Yahweh, forever.[c]
Yahweh the King Comes in Judgment
96 Sing to[a] Yahweh a new song;
sing to[b] Yahweh, all the earth.
2 Sing to[c] Yahweh; bless his name.
Announce[d] his salvation from day to day.
3 Tell his glory among the nations,
his marvelous works among all the peoples.
4 For Yahweh is great and very worthy of praise;
he is to be feared above all gods.
5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols,[e]
but Yahweh made the heavens.
6 Splendor and majesty are before him;
strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
7 Ascribe to Yahweh, you families of the peoples,
ascribe to Yahweh glory and strength.
8 Ascribe to Yahweh the glory due his name;
bring an offering and come into his courts.
9 Worship Yahweh in holy array;
tremble before him, all the earth.
10 Say among the nations, “Yahweh is king!
Yes, the world is established so that it will not be moved.
He will judge the peoples fairly.”
11 Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice.
Let the sea with[f] its fullness roar.
12 Let the field with[g] all that is in it exult.
Then all the trees of the forests will sing for joy
13 before Yahweh, for he is coming;
for he is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness,
and the peoples with his faithfulness.
Thanksgiving for Yahweh’s Deliverance
Of David, when he pretended to be crazy[a] in front of Abimelech[b]
so that he drove him out, and so he departed.[c]
34 I will bless Yahweh at all times;
his praise shall be in my mouth continually.
2 My soul makes its boast in Yahweh;
let the humble hear and be glad.
3 Magnify Yahweh with me,
and let us exalt his name together.
4 I sought Yahweh and he answered me,
and from all my terrors he delivered me.
5 They looked to him and were radiant,
and their faces shall not be ashamed.[d]
6 This poor man called and Yahweh heard,
and saved him from all his troubles.
7 The angel of Yahweh encamps
around those who fear him,
and he rescues them.
8 Taste and see that Yahweh is good;
blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
9 Fear Yahweh, you his saints,[e]
for there is no lack for those who fear him.
10 The young lions are in want and suffer hunger,
but those who seek Yahweh will not lack for any good thing.
11 Come, you children, listen to me;
I will teach you the fear of Yahweh.
12 Who is the man who desires life,
who loves many days in order to see good?
13 Keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from speaking deceit.
14 Turn from evil and do good.
Seek peace and pursue it.
15 The eyes of Yahweh are toward the righteous,
and his ears toward their cry for help.
16 The face of Yahweh is against evildoers,
to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
17 They[f] cry out and Yahweh hears
and delivers them from all of their troubles.
18 Yahweh is near to those who are heartbroken
and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
19 Many are the distresses of the righteous,
but Yahweh delivers him out of them all.
20 He protects all his bones;
not one of them is broken.
21 Evil will slay the wicked,
and those who hate the righteous will incur guilt.
22 Yahweh redeems the life of his servants,
and none who take refuge in him will incur guilt.
The People Respond
10 While Ezra was praying and confessing, weeping and throwing himself down before the house of God, a very great assembly of men, women, and children from Israel gathered to him. And the people wept bitterly. 2 Shecaniah son of Jehiel, of the sons of Elam, answered and said to Ezra, “We ourselves have broken faith with our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land, and even now there is hope for Israel in spite of this. 3 So now let us make a covenant with our God to send away all of these women and their offspring, according to the advice of my lord and those who tremble at the commandment of our God. Let it be done according to the law. 4 Arise, for it is your task and we are with you. Be strong and do it.” 5 Then Ezra stood up and made the chief priests, Levites, and all of Israel swear to do according to what was said. So they swore this oath.
Foreign Wives and Children are Sent Away
6 Ezra rose from before the house of God and went to the chamber of Jehohanan son of Eliashib. He did not eat food nor drink water because he was mourning over the sin of the exiles. 7 And they sent a proclamation through Judah and Jerusalem to all the returned exiles[a] to assemble in Jerusalem. 8 Anyone who did not come within three days, by decision of the officials and elders, all of his possessions would be devoted to God, and he himself would be excluded from the assembly of exiles.
9 Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin assembled in Jerusalem within the three days. It was the ninth month on the twentieth day of the month. All the people sat in the public square of the house of God trembling because of this matter and from the rains. 10 Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have broke faith and married foreign women, increasing the guilt of Israel. 11 Now make a confession to Yahweh the God of your ancestors[b] and do his will. Separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign women.”
12 Then all the assembly answered with a great voice and said, “It is so. We must do according to your words. 13 But the people are many, and it is the time of rain; we are unable to stand outside. The task is not for one day or two, for we greatly rebelled in this matter. 14 Please let our leaders stand for the whole assembly, and let all that are in our cities who have married foreign women come at set times, and with them the elders of and judges of each city, until the fierce wrath of our God because of this matter is averted from us.” 15 Only Jehonathan son of Asahel and Jahzeiah son of Tikvah stood against this, and the Levites Meshullam and Shabbethai supported them.
16 The returned exiles[c] did so. Ezra the priest selected men, the heads of the families[d] according to the house of their fathers, all of them by name. They sat down to examine the matter on the first day of the tenth month. 17 They finished investigating all the men who married foreign women by the first day of the first month.
10 And when[a] the governor gestured for him to speak, Paul replied, “Because I[b] know you have been a judge over this nation for many years, I defend myself cheerfully with respect to the things concerning myself. 11 You can ascertain that it has not been more than[c] twelve days since[d] I went up to Jerusalem to worship. 12 And neither did they find me arguing with anyone or making a crowd develop in the temple courts[e] nor in the synagogues nor throughout the city. 13 Nor can they prove the things[f] to you concerning which they are now accusing me. 14 But I do confess this to you, that according to the Way (which they call a sect), so I worship the God of our fathers, believing all things that are in accordance with the law and that are written in the prophets, 15 having a hope in God which these men also themselves await: that there is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous. 16 For this reason[g] also I myself always[h] do my best to have a clear conscience toward God and people. 17 So after many years, I came to practice charitable giving and offerings to my people,[i] 18 in which they found me purified in the temple courts,[j] not with a crowd or with a disturbance. 19 But there are some Jews from Asia[k] who ought to be present before you and bring charges against me,[l] if they have anything against me, 20 or these men themselves should say what crime they found when[m] I stood before the Sanhedrin,[n] 21 other than concerning this one declaration that I shouted while[o] standing there before them: ‘I am being judged before you today concerning the resurrection of the dead!’”
The Parable of the Great Banquet
12 And he also said to the one who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or wealthy neighbors, lest they also invite you in return, and repayment come to you. 13 But whenever you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed, because they are not able to repay you. For it will be paid back to you at the resurrection of the righteous.”
15 Now when[a] one of those reclining at the table with him heard these things, he said to him, “Blessed is everyone who[b] will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” 16 But he said to him, “A certain man was giving a large banquet and invited many. 17 And he sent his slave at the hour of the banquet to say to those who have been invited, ‘Come, because now it is ready!’ 18 And they all alike[c] began to excuse themselves. The first said to him, ‘I have purchased a field, and I must[d] go out to look at it. I ask you, consider me excused.’ 19 And another said, ‘I have purchased five yoke of oxen, and I am going to examine them. I ask you, consider me excused.’ 20 And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and for this reason I am not able to come.’ 21 And the slave came and[e] reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and[f] said to his slave, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame!’ 22 And the slave said, ‘Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.’ 23 And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges and press them[g] to come in, so that my house will be filled! 24 For I say to you that none of those persons who were invited will taste my banquet!’”
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