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Book of Common Prayer

Daily Old and New Testament readings based on the Book of Common Prayer.
Duration: 861 days
New Catholic Bible (NCB)
Version
Psalm 2

Psalm 2[a]

Universal Reign of the Messiah

Why do the nations rage
    and the peoples devise futile plots?
The kings of the earth rise up,
    and the princes conspire together
against the Lord
    and against his Anointed One:[b]
“Let us finally break their shackles
    and cast away their chains from us.”
The one who is enthroned in heaven laughs;
    the Lord mocks their plans.
Then he rebukes them in his anger
    and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,
“I myself have anointed my king
    on Zion, my holy mountain.”[c]
I will proclaim the decree[d] of the Lord:
    He said to me, “You are my son;
    this day I have begotten you.”
Simply make the request of me,
    and I will give you the nations as your inheritance,
    and the ends of the earth as your possession.[e]
You will rule them with an iron scepter;
    you will shatter them like a potter’s vessel.[f]
10 Therefore, O kings, pay heed;
    take warning, O rulers of the earth.
11 Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice before him;
with trembling 12     bow down in homage[g]
lest he become angry
    and you perish from the way,
    for his wrath can flare up in an instant.
Blessed are all those
    who take refuge in him.

Psalm 85

Psalm 85[a]

Prayer for the People’s Salvation

For the director.[b] A psalm of the sons of Korah.

Lord, you showed favor to your land;
    you restored the good fortune of Jacob.[c]
You forgave the iniquity of your people;
    you canceled all their sins. Selah
You cast aside all your wrath;
    you put an end to your great anger.
[d]Restore us once again, O God, our Savior,
    and cease your displeasure toward us.
Will you remain angry with us forever?
    Will you hold onto your wrath for all generations?
Will you not once again give us life
    so that your people may exult in you?
Show us, O Lord, your kindness[e]
    and grant us your salvation.
[f]I will listen for God’s response;
    surely the Lord will proclaim peace to his people, his saints,[g]
    to those who turn to him with their whole heart.
10 His salvation is indeed near for those who fear him;
    his glory[h] will dwell in our land.
11 [i]Kindness and faithfulness[j] will meet;
    righteousness and peace will embrace.
12 Faithfulness will spring forth from the earth,
    and righteousness[k] will look down from heaven.
13 [l]The Lord will grant us prosperity,[m]
    and our land will yield its harvest.
14 Righteousness will go forth in front of him,
    and he will set us on the way he treads.

Psalm 110

Psalm 110[a]

The Messiah—King, Prophet, and Conqueror

A psalm of David.

The Lord says to my Lord:[b]
    “Sit at my right hand
    until I have made your enemies a footstool for you.”
The Lord will stretch forth from Zion
    your scepter of power.[c]
The Lord says:
    “Rule in the midst of your enemies![d]
Yours is royal dignity in the day of your birth;
    in holy splendor, before the daystar,
    like the dew, I have begotten you.”[e]
The Lord has sworn,
    and he will not retract his oath:
“You are a priest forever[f]
    according to the order of Melchizedek.”
The Lord stands forth at your right hand;[g]
    he will crush kings on the day of his wrath.
He[h] will judge the nations,
    filling their land with corpses
    and crushing rulers throughout the earth.
He will drink from the stream on his journey,
    and then he will lift up his head in triumph.[i]

Psalm 132

Psalm 132[a]

The Divine Promises Made to David

A song of ascents.

Remember, O Lord, for David’s sake,
    all the difficulties he endured.[b]
[c]He swore an oath to the Lord
    and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob:
“I will not enter the house I live in
    or lie down on the bed where I sleep,
neither will I allow myself to fall asleep
    or even to close my eyes,
until I find a home for the Lord,
    a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.”
We heard of it in Ephrathah;
    we came upon it[d] in the fields of Jaar.
[e]Let us enter his dwelling place,
    let us worship at his footstool.
Arise, O Lord, and go up to your resting place,
    you and the Ark of your might.
Let your priests clothe themselves with righteousness,[f]
    and let your saints shout for joy.
10 For the sake of your servant David,
    do not reject your anointed one.[g]
11 The Lord swore this oath[h] to David,
    an oath that he will not renounce:
“One of your own descendants
    I will place on your throne.
12 If your sons keep my covenant
    and the statutes that I will teach them,
their sons will also rule
    on your throne from age to age.”[i]
13 For the Lord has chosen Zion;
    he has designated it for his home:
14 “This will be my resting place forever;
    here I will reside, for such is my wish.
15 [j]“I will bless it with abundant provisions
    and satisfy its poor with their fill of bread.
16 I will clothe its priests with salvation,
    and its saints will shout for joy.
17 “There I will raise up a horn for David[k]
    and prepare a lamp for my anointed one.
18 I will clothe his enemies with shame,
    but on his head there will be a resplendent crown.”[l]

Micah 4:1-5

The Expectation of Renewal[a]

Chapter 4

We Shall Go to the Mountain of God

In days to come,
    the mountain of the Lord’s house
will be established as the highest of the mountains,
    towering above other hills.
Peoples will stream toward it;
    many nations will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
    to the house of the God of Jacob,
so that he may teach us his ways
    and we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion will instruction go forth,
    and from Jerusalem the word of the Lord.
He will judge between many peoples
    and serve as an arbiter,
    between mighty and distant nations.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
    and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up the sword against nation,
    nor will they ever again be trained for war.
Each man will sit under his own vine
    or under his own fig tree
with no cause for alarm,
    for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.
For all the peoples go forth,
    each in the name of its god,
but we will walk in the name of the Lord, our God,
    forever and ever.

Micah 5:2-4

Therefore, the Lord will abandon them
    only until she who is in labor has given birth.
Then those of the people who survive
    will be reunited with the Israelites.
He will rise up to shepherd his flock
    by the strength of the Lord,
in the majesty of the name
    of the Lord his God.
And they will live in security,
    for then his greatness will be renowned
to the ends of the earth.
    He will ensure their peace.

If Assyria Invades Our Country . . .

If the Assyrians invade our country
    and set foot upon our land,
we shall raise against them seven shepherds
    and appoint eight[a] men to serve as rulers.

1 John 4:7-16

Remain in Love[a]

What Love Is

Beloved,
let us love one another,
because love is from God.[b]
Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
Whoever does not love
does not know God,
because God is love.
God’s love was revealed to us in this way:
God sent his only-begotten Son into the world
so that we might have life through him.
10 This is what love is:
not that we have loved God,
but that he loved us
and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.[c]
11 Beloved,
since God loved us so much,
we should love one another.
12 No one has ever seen God,
but if we love one another,
God abides in us,
and his love is made complete in us.
13 This is how we can be certain
that we abide in him
and that he abides in us:
he has given us a share in his Spirit.[d]
14 Moreover, we have seen for ourselves
and can testify
that the Father has sent the Son
as the Savior of the world.
15 God abides in anyone who acknowledges
that Jesus is the Son of God,
and that person abides in God.
16 We have come to know
and to believe in
the love that God has for us.
God is love,
and whoever abides in love
abides in God,
and God in him.

John 3:31-36

He Who Comes from Above[a]

31 “The one who comes from above is above all.
The one who is of the earth is earthly
and speaks of earthly things.
The one who comes from heaven is above all.
32 He bears witness to the things he has seen and heard,
yet no one accepts his testimony.
33 “Whoever accepts his testimony
attests that God speaks the truth.
34 For the one whom God has sent
speaks the words of God,
for God gives him the Spirit without measure.[b]
35 The Father loves the Son,
and he has entrusted everything into his hand.
36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life;
whoever does not believe in the Son will not see life,
but the wrath of God rests upon him.”

New Catholic Bible (NCB)

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