Book of Common Prayer

The Majesty of God’s Rule

Praise to God Who Comes in Judgment

Praise for Deliverance from Trouble

A Psalm of David, when he feigned madness before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away.

The People’s Response

10 While Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, a very great assembly of men, women, and children, gathered to him out of Israel; for the people wept bitterly. ² And Shecani′ah the son of Jehi′el, of the sons of Elam, addressed Ezra: “We have broken faith with our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land, but even now there is hope for Israel in spite of this. ³ Therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God; and 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 arose and made the leading priests and Levites and all Israel take oath that they would do as had been said. So they took the oath.

Foreign Wives and Their Children Rejected

⁶ Then Ezra withdrew from before the house of God, and went to the chamber of Jeho-ha′nan the son of Eli′ashib, where he spent the night,^[a] neither eating bread nor drinking water; for he was mourning over the faithlessness of the exiles. ⁷ And a proclamation was made throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the returned exiles that they should assemble at Jerusalem, ⁸ and that if any one did not come within three days, by order of the officials and the elders all his property should be forfeited, and he himself banned from the congregation of the exiles.

⁹ Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin assembled at Jerusalem within the three days; it was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month. And all the people sat in the open square before the house of God, trembling because of this matter and because of the heavy rain. ¹⁰ And Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, “You have trespassed and married foreign women, and so increased the guilt of Israel. ¹¹ Now then make confession to the Lord the God of your fathers, and do his will; separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives.” ¹² Then all the assembly answered with a loud voice, “It is so; we must do as you have said. ¹³ But the people are many, and it is a time of heavy rain; we cannot stand in the open. Nor is this a work for one day or for two; for we have greatly transgressed in this matter. ¹⁴ Let our officials stand for the whole assembly; let all in our cities who have taken foreign wives come at appointed times, and with them the elders and judges of every city, till the fierce wrath of our God over this matter be averted from us.” ¹⁵ Only Jonathan the son of As′ahel and Jahzei′ah the son of Tikvah opposed this, and Meshul′lam and Shab′bethai the Levite supported them.

¹⁶ Then the returned exiles did so. Ezra the priest selected men,^[b] heads of fathers’ houses, according to their fathers’ houses, each of them designated by name. On the first day of the tenth month they sat down to examine the matter; ¹⁷ and by the first day of the first month they had come to the end of all the men who had married foreign women.

Paul’s Defense before Felix

¹⁰ And when the governor had motioned to him to speak, Paul replied:

“Realizing that for many years you have been judge over this nation, I cheerfully make my defense. ¹¹ As you may ascertain, it is not more than twelve days since I went up to worship at Jerusalem; ¹² and they did not find me disputing with any one or stirring up a crowd, either in the temple or in the synagogues, or in the city. ¹³ Neither can they prove to you what they now bring up against me. ¹⁴ But this I admit to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the law or written in the prophets, ¹⁵ having a hope in God which these themselves accept, that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust. ¹⁶ So I always take pains to have a clear conscience toward God and toward men. ¹⁷ Now after some years I came to bring to my nation alms and offerings. ¹⁸ As I was doing this, they found me purified in the temple, without any crowd or tumult. But some Jews from Asia— ¹⁹ they ought to be here before you and to make an accusation, if they have anything against me. ²⁰ Or else let these men themselves say what wrongdoing they found when I stood before the council, ²¹ except this one thing which I cried out while standing among them, ‘With respect to the resurrection of the dead I am on trial before you this day.’”

¹² He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your kinsmen or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return, and you be repaid. ¹³ But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, ¹⁴ and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

The Parable of the Great Dinner

¹⁵ When one of those who sat at table with him heard this, he said to him, “Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God!” ¹⁶ But he said to him, “A man once gave a great banquet, and invited many; ¹⁷ and at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for all is now ready.’ ¹⁸ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it; I pray you, have me excused.’ ¹⁹ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them; I pray you, have me excused.’ ²⁰ And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ ²¹ So the servant came and reported this to his master. Then the householder in anger said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in the poor and maimed and blind and lame.’ ²² And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ ²³ And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges, and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. ²⁴ For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’”