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Book of Common Prayer

Daily Old and New Testament readings based on the Book of Common Prayer.
Duration: 861 days
International Standard Version (ISV)
Version
Psalm 85

To the Director: A Psalm by the descendants of Korah.

Restore Us, God

85 Lord you have favored your land
    and restored the fortunes of Jacob.
You took away the iniquity of your people,
    forgiving all their sins.
Interlude

You withdrew all your wrath
    and turned away from your burning anger.

Restore us, God of our salvation,
    and stop being angry with us.
Will you be angry with us forever?
    Will you prolong your anger from generation to generation?
Will you restore our lives again
    so that your people may rejoice in you?
Lord, show your gracious love
    and deliver us.

Let me listen to what God, the Lord, says;
    for the Lord will promise peace
to his people, to his holy ones;
    may they not return to foolishness.
Surely, he will soon deliver those who fear him,
    for his glory will live in our land.

10 Gracious love and truth meet;
    righteousness and peace kiss.
11 Truth sprouts up from the ground,
    while righteousness looks down from the sky.
12 The Lord will also provide what is good,
    and our land will yield its produce.
13 Righteousness will go before him
    to prepare a path for his steps.

Psalm 87

A psalm by the descendants of Korah. A song.

The Holy City for All People

87 God’s[a] foundation is in the holy mountains.
The Lord loves the gates of Zion
    more than the dwellings of Jacob.
Glorious things are spoken about you,
    city of God.
Interlude

I will mention Rahab and Babylon
    among those who acknowledge me—
including Philistia, Tyre, and Ethiopia[b]
    “This one was born there,” they say.[c]
Indeed, about Zion it will be said:
    “More than one person[d] was born in it,” and
        “The Most High himself did[e] it.”
The Lord will record,
    as he registers the peoples,[f]
        “This one was born there.”
Interlude

Then singers, as they play their instruments,[g] will declare,
    “All my roots[h] are in you.”

Psalm 89:1-29

An instruction[a]. By Ethan, the Ezrahite

God’s Covenant with David

89 I will sing forever about the gracious love of the Lord;
    from generation to generation
        I will declare your faithfulness with my mouth.
I will declare that your gracious love was established forever;
    in the heavens itself, you have established your faithfulness.

I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
    I have made a promise to David, my servant.
“I will establish your dynasty forever,
    and I will lift up one who will build[b] your throne
        from generation to generation.”
Interlude

Even the heavens praise your awesome deeds, Lord,
    your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones.
For who in the skies compares to the Lord?
    Who is like the Lord among the divine beings?
God is feared in the council of the holy ones,
    revered by all those around him.
Lord God of the Heavenly Armies,
    who is as mighty as you, Lord?
        Your faithfulness surrounds you.
You rule over the majestic[c] sea;
    when its waves surge,
        you calm them.
10 You crushed the proud one[d] to death;
    with your powerful arm
        you scattered your enemies.
11 Heaven and the earth belong to you,
    the world and everything it contains—
        you established them.
12 The north and south—you created them;
    Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name.

13 Your arm is strong;
    your hand is mighty;
        indeed, your right hand is victorious.[e]
14 Righteousness and justice make up
    the foundation of your throne;
        gracious love and truth meet before you.
15 How happy are the people who can worship joyfully![f]
    Lord, they walk in the light of your presence.
16 In your name they rejoice all day long;
    they exult in your justice.[g]
17 For you are their strength’s grandeur;
    by your favor you exalted our power.[h]
18 Indeed, our shield belongs to the Lord,
    and our king to the Holy One of Israel.

God’s Describes His Anointed

19 You spoke to your faithful[i] ones through a vision:[j]
“I will set a helper over[k] a warrior.
    I will raise up a chosen one from the people.
20 I have found my servant David;
    I have anointed him with my sacred oil,
21 with whom my power[l] will be firmly established;
    for my arm will strengthen him.
22 No enemy will deceive him;
    no wicked person[m] will afflict him.
23     I will crush his enemies before him
    and strike those who hate him.
24     My faithfulness and gracious love will be with him,
    and in my name his power[n] will be exalted.
25 I will place his hand[o] over the sea,
    and his right hand[p] over the rivers.
26 He will announce to me
    ‘You are my father,
        my God, and the rock of my salvation.’

27 “Indeed, I myself made him the firstborn,
    the highest of the kings of the earth.
28 I will show[q] my gracious love toward him forever,
    since my covenant is securely established with him.
29 I will establish his dynasty[r] forever,
    and his throne as long as heaven endures.[s]

Exodus 3:1-12

God Calls Moses

Meanwhile, Moses continued tending the sheep that belonged to his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the sheep to the western[a] desert and came to Horeb,[b] God’s mountain, where[c] the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flaming fire from the center of a bush. As Moses[d] continued to watch, amazingly the bush kept on burning, but was not consumed. Then Moses told himself,[e] “I’ll go over and see this remarkable[f] sight. Why isn’t the bush burning up?”

When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from the center of the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

He said, “Here I am.”

“Do not come any closer,” God[g] said. “Remove your sandals from your feet, because the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Then he said, “I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

The Lord said, “I have certainly seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their cry caused by their slave masters. I really do understand their pain, so I have come down to deliver them from their domination by[h] the Egyptians and to bring them out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the territory[i] of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Now, listen carefully! The cry of the Israelis has come to my attention about how severely the Egyptians have been oppressing them. 10 So go! I am sending you to Pharaoh. Bring my people the Israelis out of Egypt.”

11 But Moses told God, “Who am I? How can I go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelis out of Egypt?”

12 Then God[j] said, “I certainly will be with you. And this will be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, all of you will serve God on this mountain.”

Hebrews 11:23-31

23 By faith Moses was hidden by his parents for three months after he was born, because they saw that he was a beautiful child and were not afraid of the king’s order.

24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called a son of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 because he preferred being mistreated with God’s people to enjoying the pleasures of sin for a short time. 26 He thought that being insulted for the sake of the Messiah[a] was of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.

27 By faith he left Egypt, without being afraid of the king’s anger, and he persevered because he saw the one who is invisible.

28 By faith he established the Passover and the sprinkling of blood to keep the destroyer of the firstborn from touching the people.[b]

29 By faith they went through the Red Sea as if it were dry land. When the Egyptians tried to do this, they were drowned.

30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.

31 By faith Rahab the prostitute did not die with those who were disobedient, because she had welcomed the spies with a greeting of[c] peace.

John 14:6-14

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you have known me, you will also know my Father. From now on you know him and have seen him.”

Philip told him, “Lord, show us the Father, and that will satisfy us.”

“Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me?” Jesus asked him. “The person who has seen me has seen the Father. So how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 You believe, don’t you, that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I don’t speak on my own. It is the Father who dwells in me and who carries out his work. 11 Believe me, I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Otherwise, believe me[a] because of what I’ve been doing.[b] 12 Truly, I tell all of you[c] emphatically, the one who believes in me will also do what I’m doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I’m going to the Father. 13 I’ll do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me[d] for anything in my name, I will do it.”

International Standard Version (ISV)

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