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Book of Common Prayer

Daily Old and New Testament readings based on the Book of Common Prayer.
Duration: 861 days
Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC)
Version
Psalm 119:1-24

Psalm 119

Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are the undefiled (the upright, truly sincere, and blameless) in the way [of the revealed will of God], who walk (order their conduct and conversation) in the law of the Lord (the whole of God’s revealed will).

Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are they who keep His testimonies, and who seek, inquire for and of Him and crave Him with the whole heart.

Yes, they do no unrighteousness [no willful wandering from His precepts]; they walk in His ways.(A)

You have commanded us to keep Your precepts, that we should observe them diligently.

Oh, that my ways were directed and established to observe Your statutes [hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying them]!

Then shall I not be put to shame [by failing to inherit Your promises] when I have respect to all Your commandments.

I will praise and give thanks to You with uprightness of heart when I learn [by sanctified experiences] Your righteous judgments [Your decisions against and punishments for particular lines of thought and conduct].

I will keep Your statutes; O forsake me not utterly.

How shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed and keeping watch [on himself] according to Your word [conforming his life to it].

10 With my whole heart have I sought You, inquiring for and of You and yearning for You; Oh, let me not wander or step aside [either in ignorance or willfully] from Your commandments.(B)

11 Your word have I laid up in my heart, that I might not sin against You.

12 Blessed are You, O Lord; teach me Your statutes.

13 With my lips have I declared and recounted all the ordinances of Your mouth.

14 I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies as much as in all riches.

15 I will meditate on Your precepts and have respect to Your ways [the paths of life marked out by Your law].(C)

16 I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word.

17 Deal bountifully with Your servant, that I may live; and I will observe Your word [hearing, receiving, loving, and obeying it].(D)

18 Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of Your law.

19 I am a stranger and a temporary resident on the earth; hide not Your commandments from me.(E)

20 My heart is breaking with the longing that it has for Your ordinances and judgments at all times.

21 You rebuke the proud and arrogant, the accursed ones, who err and wander from Your commandments.

22 Take away from me reproach and contempt, for I keep Your testimonies.

23 Princes also sat and talked against me, but Your servant meditated on Your statutes.

24 Your testimonies also are my delight and my counselors.

Psalm 12-14

Psalm 12

To the Chief Musician; set [possibly] an octave below. A Psalm of David.

Help, Lord! For principled and godly people are here no more; faithfulness and the faithful vanish from among the sons of men.

To his neighbor each one speaks words without use or worth or truth; with flattering lips and double heart [deceitfully] they speak.

May the Lord cut off all flattering lips and the tongues that speak proud boasting,

Those who say, With our tongues we prevail; our lips are our own [to command at our will]—who is lord and master over us?

Now will I arise, says the Lord, because the poor are oppressed, because of the groans of the needy; I will set him in safety and in the salvation for which he pants.

The words and promises of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in an earthen furnace, purified seven times over.

You will keep them and preserve them, O Lord; You will guard and keep us from this [evil] generation forever.

The wicked walk or prowl about on every side, as vileness is exalted [and baseness is rated high] among the sons of men.

Psalm 13

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

How long will You forget me, O Lord? Forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?

How long must I lay up cares within me and have sorrow in my heart day after day? How long shall my enemy exalt himself over me?

Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; lighten the eyes [of my faith to behold Your face in the pitchlike darkness], lest I sleep the sleep of death,

Lest my enemy say, I have prevailed over him, and those that trouble me rejoice when I am shaken.

But I have trusted, leaned on, and been confident in Your mercy and loving-kindness; my heart shall rejoice and be in high spirits in Your salvation.

I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me.

Psalm 14

To the Chief Musician. [A Psalm] of David.

The [empty-headed] fool has said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable deeds; there is none that does good or right.(A)

The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any who understood, dealt wisely, and sought after God, inquiring for and of Him and requiring Him [of vital necessity].

They are all gone aside, they have all together become filthy; there is none that does good or right, no, not one.(B)

Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread and who do not call on the Lord?

There they shall be in great fear [literally—dreading a dread], for God is with the generation of the [uncompromisingly] righteous (those upright and in right standing with Him).

You [evildoers] would put to shame and confound the plans of the poor and patient, but the Lord is his safe refuge.

Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion! When the Lord shall restore the fortunes of His people, then Jacob shall rejoice and Israel shall be glad.(C)

Amos 3:12-4:5

12 Thus says the Lord: As the shepherd rescues out of the mouth of the lion two legs or a piece of an ear [of a sheep], so shall the children of Israel who dwell in Samaria be rescued with the corner of a couch and [part of] the damask covering of a bed.

13 Hear and bear witness in the house of Jacob, says the Lord God, the God of hosts,

14 That in the day when I visit Israel’s transgressions upon him I will also visit [with punishment] the altars of Bethel [with its golden calf], and the horns of the altar shall be cut off and fall to the ground.

15 And I will smite the winter house with the summer house, and the houses of ivory shall perish and the many and great houses shall come to an end, says the Lord.

Hear this word, you cows [women] of Bashan who are in the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to their husbands, Bring and let us drink!(A)

The Lord God has sworn by His holiness that behold, the days shall come upon you when they shall take you away with hooks and the last of you with fishhooks.(B)

And you shall go out through the breaches [made in the city’s wall], every [woman] straight before her, and you shall be cast forth into Harmon [an unknown place of exile], says the Lord.

Come to Bethel [where the golden calf is] and transgress; at Gilgal [another idol worship center] multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning and your tithes every three days.

And offer [by burning] a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim and publish freewill offerings, for this you like to do, O children of Israel! says the Lord God.

2 Peter 3:1-10

Beloved, I am now writing you this second letter. In [both of] them I have stirred up your unsullied (sincere) mind by way of remembrance,

That you should recall the predictions of the holy (consecrated, dedicated) prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior [given] through your apostles (His special messengers).

To begin with, you must know and understand this, that scoffers (mockers) will come in the last days with scoffing, [people who] walk after their own fleshly desires

And say, Where is the promise of His coming? For since the forefathers fell asleep, all things have continued exactly as they did from the beginning of creation.

For they willfully overlook and forget this [fact], that the heavens [came into] existence long ago by the word of God, and the earth also which was formed out of water and by means of water,

Through which the world that then [existed] was deluged with water and perished.(A)

But by the same word the present heavens and earth have been stored up (reserved) for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly people.

Nevertheless, do not let this one fact escape you, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.(B)

The Lord does not delay and is not tardy or slow about what He promises, according to some people’s conception of slowness, but He is long-suffering (extraordinarily patient) toward you, not desiring that any should perish, but that all should turn to repentance.

10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will vanish (pass away) with a thunderous crash, and the [[a]material] elements [of the universe] will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and the works that are upon it will be burned up.

Matthew 21:23-32

23 And when He entered the sacred [a]enclosure of the temple, the chief priests and elders of the people came up to Him as He was teaching and said, By what [b]power of authority are You doing these things, and who gave You this power of authority?

24 Jesus answered them, I also will ask you a question, and if you give Me the answer, then I also will tell you by what [c]power of authority I do these things.

25 The baptism of John—from where was it? From heaven or from men? And they reasoned and argued with one another, If we say, From heaven, [d]He will ask us, Why then did you not believe him?

26 But if we say, From men—we are afraid of and must reckon with the multitude, for they all regard John as a prophet.

27 So they answered Jesus, We do not know. And He said to them, Neither will I tell you by what [e]power of authority I do these things.

28 What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He came to the first and said, Son, go and work today in the vineyard.

29 And he answered, I will not; but afterward he changed his mind and went.

30 Then the man came to the second and said the same [thing]. And he replied, I will [go], sir; but he did not go.

31 Which of the two did the will of the father? They replied, The first one. Jesus said to them, Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the harlots will get into the kingdom of heaven before you.

32 For John came to you walking in the way of an upright man in right standing with God, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the harlots did believe him; and you, even when you saw that, did not afterward change your minds and believe him [adhere to, trust in, and rely on what he told you].

Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC)

Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation