Book of Common Prayer

Yahweh Reigns Forevermore

Ascribe to Yahweh Glory and Strength

Taste and See That Yahweh Is Good

Of David. When he feigned madness before ^[a]Abimelech, so that he drove him away and he departed.

Aleph

Beth

Gimel

Daleth

He / Vav

Zayin

Heth

Teth

Yodh

Kaph

Lamedh

Mem

Nun

Samekh

Ayin

Pe

Tsadhe

Qoph

Resh

Shin

Tav

Ezra Makes Israel Swear an Oath

10 Now ^(A)while Ezra was praying and making confession, weeping and prostrating himself ^(B)before the house of God, a very large assembly, men, women, and children, gathered to him from Israel; for the people wept bitterly. ² And Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said to Ezra, “^(C)We have been unfaithful to our God and have ^[a]married foreign women from the peoples of the land; yet now there is hope for Israel in spite of this. ³ So now ^(D)let us cut a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and ^[b](E)their children, according to the counsel of ^[c]my lord and of ^(F)those who tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done ^(G)according to the law. ⁴ Arise! For this matter is ^[d]your responsibility, but we will be with you; ^(H)be strong and act.”

⁵ Then Ezra arose and ^(I)made the leading priests, the Levites and all Israel, swear an oath that they would do according to this word; so they swore an oath. ⁶ Then Ezra ^(J)arose from before the house of God and went into the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib. He went there, but ^(K)he did not eat bread nor drink water, for he was mourning over the unfaithfulness of the exiles. ⁷ And they made a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the exiles, that they should gather at Jerusalem, ⁸ and that whoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the prince and the elders, all his possessions should be devoted to destruction and he himself separated from the assembly of the exiles.

⁹ So all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered at Jerusalem within the three days. It was the ninth month on the twentieth of the month, and all the people sat in the open square before the house of God, ^(L)trembling because of this matter and the heavy rain. ¹⁰ Then Ezra the priest arose and said to them, “You have been unfaithful and have married foreign wives adding to the guilt of Israel. ¹¹ So now, ^(M)make confession to Yahweh, the God of your fathers, and ^(N)do His will; and ^(O)separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives.” ¹² Then all the assembly answered and said with a loud voice, “This is so! As you have said, so it is ^[e]our duty to do. ¹³ But there are many people; it is the rainy season, and we are not able to stand outside. Nor can the task be done in one or two days, for we have transgressed greatly in this matter. ¹⁴ Let our princes stand in for the whole assembly, and let all those in our cities who have married foreign wives come at set times, together with the elders and judges of each city, until the ^(P)burning anger of our God on account of this matter is turned away from us.” ¹⁵ However, Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah stood against this, with Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helping them.

¹⁶ But the exiles did so. And ^[f]Ezra the priest separated out men who were heads of fathers’ households for each of their father’s households, all of them by name. So they ^[g]convened on the first day of the tenth month to investigate the matter. ¹⁷ And they completed investigating all the men who had married foreign wives by the first day of the first month.

¹⁰ And when ^(A)the governor had nodded for him to speak, Paul answered:

“Knowing that for many years you have been a judge to this nation, I cheerfully make my defense, ¹¹ since you are able to ascertain the fact that no more than ^(B)twelve days ago I went up to Jerusalem to worship. ^12 (C)And neither in the temple, nor in the synagogues, nor across the city did they find me carrying on a discussion with anyone or ^(D)causing ^[a]a riot. ^13 (E)Nor are they able to prove to you of what they are now accusing me. ¹⁴ But this I confess to you, that according to ^(F)the Way, which they call a ^(G)sect, I do serve ^[b](H)the God of our fathers, ^(I)believing everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophets; ¹⁵ having a hope in God, for which ^(J)these men are waiting, that there shall certainly be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous. ¹⁶ In view of this, ^(K)I also ^[c]do my best to maintain always a conscience without fault both before God and before men. ¹⁷ Now ^(L)after several years I ^(M)came to bring ^[d]alms to my nation and offerings; ¹⁸ in which they found me, having been ^(N)purified in the temple, without any ^(O)crowd or uproar. But there were some ^(P)Jews from ^[e]Asia— ¹⁹ who ought to have been present before you and to ^(Q)make accusation, if they should have anything against me. ²⁰ Or else let these men themselves tell what wrongdoing they found when I stood before ^(R)the Sanhedrin, ²¹ other than for this one statement which ^(S)I shouted out while standing among them, ‘For the resurrection of the dead I am on trial before you today.’”

¹² And He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and that will be your repayment. ¹³ But when you give a ^[a]reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, ¹⁴ and you will be blessed, since they ^[b]do not have the means to repay you; for it will be repaid to you at ^(A)the resurrection of the righteous.”

¹⁵ But when one of those who were reclining at the table with Him heard this, he said to Him, “^(B)Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

Parable of the Dinner

¹⁶ And He said to him, “^(C)A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many. ¹⁷ And at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is ready now.’ ¹⁸ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a ^[c]piece of land and I need to go out and look at it. I ask you, consider me excused.’ ¹⁹ And another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out. I ask you, consider me excused.’ ²⁰ And another one said, ‘^(D)I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’ ²¹ And when the slave came back, he reported these things to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ ²² And the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ ²³ And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and along the ^[d]fences, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled. ²⁴ For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.’”