Book of Common Prayer
Psalm 93[a]
God Is a Mighty King
1 The Lord is king,[b] robed with majesty;
the Lord is robed, girded with might.(A)
The world will surely stand in place,
never to be moved.(B)
2 Your throne stands firm from of old;
you are from everlasting.(C)
3 [c]The flood has raised up, Lord;
the flood has raised up its roar;
the flood has raised its pounding waves.
4 More powerful than the roar of many waters,
more powerful than the breakers of the sea,
powerful in the heavens is the Lord.
5 Your decrees are firmly established;
holiness befits your house, Lord,
for all the length of days.
Psalm 96[a]
God of the Universe
I
1 Sing to the Lord a new song;(A)
sing to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Sing to the Lord, bless his name;
proclaim his salvation day after day.
3 Tell his glory among the nations;
among all peoples, his marvelous deeds.(B)
II
4 [b]For great is the Lord and highly to be praised,
to be feared above all gods.(C)
5 For the gods of the nations are idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.(D)
6 Splendor and power go before him;
power and grandeur are in his holy place.
III
7 Give to the Lord, you families of nations,
give to the Lord glory and might;
8 give to the Lord the glory due his name!(E)
Bring gifts and enter his courts;
9 bow down to the Lord, splendid in holiness.
Tremble before him, all the earth;
10 (F)declare among the nations: The Lord is king.
The world will surely stand fast, never to be shaken.
He rules the peoples with fairness.
IV
11 Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice;
let the sea and what fills it resound;(G)
12 let the plains be joyful and all that is in them.
Then let all the trees of the forest rejoice
13 before the Lord who comes,
who comes to govern the earth,(H)
To govern the world with justice
and the peoples with faithfulness.
Psalm 34[a]
Thanksgiving to God Who Delivers the Just
1 Of David, when he feigned madness before Abimelech,[b] who drove him out and he went away.
I
2 I will bless the Lord at all times;
his praise shall be always in my mouth.(A)
3 My soul will glory in the Lord;
let the poor hear and be glad.
4 Magnify the Lord with me;
and let us exalt his name together.
II
5 I sought the Lord, and he answered me,
delivered me from all my fears.
6 Look to him and be radiant,
and your faces may not blush for shame.
7 This poor one cried out and the Lord heard,
and from all his distress he saved him.
8 The angel of the Lord encamps
around those who fear him, and he saves them.(B)
9 Taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed is the stalwart one who takes refuge in him.(C)
10 Fear the Lord, you his holy ones;
nothing is lacking to those who fear him.(D)
11 The rich grow poor and go hungry,
but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
III
12 Come, children,[c] listen to me;(E)
I will teach you fear of the Lord.
13 Who is the man who delights in life,(F)
who loves to see the good days?
14 Keep your tongue from evil,
your lips from speaking lies.
15 Turn from evil and do good;(G)
seek peace and pursue it.
16 The eyes of the Lord are directed toward the righteous(H)
and his ears toward their cry.
17 The Lord’s face is against evildoers
to wipe out their memory from the earth.
18 The righteous cry out, the Lord hears
and he rescues them from all their afflictions.
19 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted,
saves those whose spirit is crushed.
20 Many are the troubles of the righteous,
but the Lord delivers him from them all.
21 He watches over all his bones;
not one of them shall be broken.(I)
22 Evil will slay the wicked;
those who hate the righteous are condemned.
23 The Lord is the redeemer of the souls of his servants;
and none are condemned who take refuge in him.
Chapter 10
Response to the Crisis. 1 While Ezra prayed and acknowledged their guilt, weeping and prostrate before the house of God, a very large assembly of Israelites gathered about him, men, women, and children; and the people wept profusely. 2 Then Shecaniah, the son of Jehiel, one of the descendants of Elam, made this appeal to Ezra: “We have indeed betrayed our God by taking as wives foreign women of the peoples of the land. Yet in spite of this there still remains a hope for Israel. 3 Let us therefore enter into a covenant before our God to dismiss all our foreign wives and the children born of them, in keeping with what you, my lord, advise, and those who are in dread of the commandments of our God. Let it be done according to the law! 4 Rise, then, for this is your duty! We are with you, so have courage and act!”
5 Ezra stood and demanded an oath from the leaders of the priests, from the Levites and from all Israel that they would do as had been proposed; and they swore it. 6 Then Ezra left his place before the house of God and entered the chamber of Johanan, son of Eliashib,[a] where he spent the night neither eating food nor drinking water, for he was in mourning over the apostasy of the exiles. 7 A proclamation was made throughout Judah and Jerusalem that all the exiles should gather together in Jerusalem, 8 and that whoever failed to appear within three days would, according to the judgment of the leaders and elders, suffer the confiscation of all his possessions, and would be excluded from the assembly of the exiles.
9 All the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered together in Jerusalem within the three-day period: it was in the ninth month,[b] on the twentieth day of the month. All the people, sitting in the open place before the house of God, were trembling both over the matter at hand and because it was raining. 10 (A)Then Ezra, the priest, stood up and said to them: “Your apostasy in taking foreign women as wives has added to Israel’s guilt. 11 But now, give praise to the Lord, the God of your ancestors, and do his will: separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign women.” 12 In answer, the whole assembly cried out with a loud voice: “Yes, it is our duty to do as you say! 13 But the people are numerous and it is the rainy season, so that we cannot remain outside; besides, this is not a task that can be performed in a single day or even two, for those of us who have sinned in this regard are many. 14 Let our leaders represent the whole assembly; then let all those in our cities who have taken foreign women for wives appear at appointed times, accompanied by the elders and magistrates of each city in question, till we have turned away from us our God’s burning anger over this affair.” 15 Only Jonathan, son of Asahel, and Jahzeiah, son of Tikvah, were against this proposal, with Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite supporting them.
16 [c]The exiles did as agreed. Ezra the priest appointed as his assistants men who were heads of ancestral houses, one for each ancestral house, all of them designated by name. They held sessions to examine the matter, beginning with the first day of the tenth month. 17 By the first day of the first month they had finished dealing with all the men who had taken foreign women for wives.
10 [a]Then the governor motioned to him to speak and Paul replied, “I know that you have been a judge over this nation for many years and so I am pleased to make my defense before you. 11 As you can verify, not more than twelve days have passed since I went up to Jerusalem to worship. 12 Neither in the temple, nor in the synagogues, nor anywhere in the city did they find me arguing with anyone or instigating a riot among the people. 13 Nor can they prove to you the accusations they are now making against me. 14 But this I do admit to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our ancestors and I believe everything that is in accordance with the law and written in the prophets.(A) 15 I have the same hope in God as they themselves have that there will be a resurrection of the righteous and the unrighteous.(B) 16 Because of this, I always strive to keep my conscience clear before God and man.(C) 17 After many years, I came to bring alms for my nation and offerings.(D) 18 While I was so engaged, they found me, after my purification, in the temple without a crowd or disturbance.(E) 19 But some Jews from the province of Asia, who should be here before you to make whatever accusation they might have against me— 20 or let these men themselves state what crime they discovered when I stood before the Sanhedrin, 21 unless it was my one outcry as I stood among them, that ‘I am on trial before you today for the resurrection of the dead.’”(F)
12 Then he said to the host who invited him, “When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment.(A) 13 Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; 14 blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”(B)
The Parable of the Great Feast.[a] 15 One of his fellow guests on hearing this said to him, “Blessed is the one who will dine in the kingdom of God.” 16 (C)He replied to him, “A man gave a great dinner to which he invited many. 17 When the time for the dinner came, he dispatched his servant to say to those invited, ‘Come, everything is now ready.’ 18 But one by one, they all began to excuse themselves. The first said to him, ‘I have purchased a field and must go to examine it; I ask you, consider me excused.’ 19 And another said, ‘I have purchased five yoke of oxen and am on my way to evaluate them; I ask you, consider me excused.’ 20 And another said, ‘I have just married a woman, and therefore I cannot come.’ 21 The servant went and reported this to his master. Then the master of the house in a rage commanded his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in here the poor and the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ 22 The servant reported, ‘Sir, your orders have been carried out and still there is room.’ 23 The master then ordered the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedgerows and make people come in that my home may be filled. 24 For, I tell you, none of those men who were invited will taste my dinner.’”
Sayings on Discipleship.[b]
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.