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Book of Common Prayer

Daily Old and New Testament readings based on the Book of Common Prayer.
Duration: 861 days
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)
Version
Psalm 40

40 Unto the end, a psalm for David himself.

Blessed is he that understandeth concerning the needy and the poor: the Lord will deliver him in the evil day.

The Lord preserve him and give him life, and make him blessed upon the earth: and deliver him not up to the will of his enemies.

The Lord help him on his bed of sorrow: thou hast turned all his couch in his sickness.

I said: O Lord, be thou merciful to me: heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee.

My enemies have spoken evils against me: when shall he die and his name perish?

And if he came in to see me, he spoke vain things: his heart gathered together iniquity to itself. He went out and spoke to the same purpose.

All my enemies whispered together against me: they devised evils to me.

They determined against me an unjust word: shall he that sleepeth rise again no more?

10 For even the man of peace, in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, hath greatly supplanted me.

11 But thou, O Lord, have mercy on me, and raise me up again: and I will requite them.

12 By this I know, that thou hast had a good will for me: because my enemy shall not rejoice over me.

13 But thou hast upheld me by reason of my innocence: and hast established me in thy sight for ever.

14 Blessed by the Lord the God of Israel from eternity to eternity. So be it. So be it.

Psalm 54

54 Unto the end, in verses, understanding for David.

Hear, O God, my prayer, and despise not my supplication:

Be attentive to me and hear me. I am grieved in my exercise; and am troubled,

At the voice of the enemy, and at the tribulation of the sinner. For they have cast iniquities upon me: and in wrath they were troublesome to me.

My heart is troubled within me: and the fear of death is fallen upon me.

Fear and trembling are come upon me: and darkness hath covered me.

And I said: Who will give me wings like a dove, and I will fly and be at rest?

Lo, I have gone far off flying away; and I abode in the wilderness.

I waited for him that hath saved me from pusillanimity of spirit, and a storm.

10 Cast down, O Lord, and divide their tongues; for I have seen iniquity and contradiction in the city.

11 Day and night shall iniquity surround it upon its walls: and in the midst thereof are labour,

12 And injustice. And usury and deceit have not departed from its streets.

13 For if my enemy had reviled me, I would verily have borne with it. And if he that hated me had spoken great things against me, I would perhaps have hidden myself from him.

14 But thou a man of one mind, my guide, and my familiar,

15 Who didst take sweetmeats together with me: in the house of God we walked with consent.

16 Let death come upon them, and let them go down alive into hell. For there is wickedness in their dwellings: in the midst of them.

17 But I have cried to God: and the Lord will save me.

18 Evening and morning, and at noon I will speak and declare: and he shall hear my voice.

19 He shall redeem my soul in peace from them that draw near to me: for among many they were with me.

20 God shall hear, and the Eternal shall humble them. For there is no change with them, and they have not feared God:

21 He hath stretched forth his hand to repay. They have defiled his covenant,

22 They are divided by the wrath Of his countenance, and his heart hath drawn near. His words are smoother than oil, and the same are darts.

23 Cast thy care upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall not suffer the just to waver for ever.

24 But thou, O God, shalt bring them down into the pit of destruction. Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in thee, O Lord.

Psalm 51

51 Unto the end, understanding for David,

When Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul David went to the house of Achimelech. [1 Kings 22.]

Why dost thou glory in malice, thou that art mighty in iniquity?

All the day long thy tongue hath devised injustice: as a sharp razor, thou hast wrought deceit.

Thou hast loved malice more than goodness: and iniquity rather than to speak righteousness.

Thou hast loved all the words of ruin, O deceitful tongue.

Therefore will God destroy thee for ever: he will pluck thee out, and remove thee from thy dwelling place: and thy root out of the land of the living.

The just shall see and fear, and shall laugh at him, and say:

Behold the man that made not God his helper: But trusted in the abundance of his riches: and prevailed in his vanity.

10 But I, as a fruitful olive tree in the house of God, have hoped in the mercy of God for ever, yea for ever and ever.

11 I will praise thee for ever, because thou hast done it: and I will wait on thy name, for it is good in the sight of thy saints.

Joshua 9:22-10:15

22 Josue called the Gabaonites and said to them: Why would you impose upon us, saying: We dwell far off from you, whereas you are in the midst of us?

23 Therefore you shall be under a curse, and your race shall always be hewers of wood, and carriers of water unto the house of my God.

24 They answered: It was told us thy servants, that the Lord thy God had promised his servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants thereof. Therefore we feared exceedingly and provided for our lives. compelled by the dread we had of you and we took this counsel.

25 And now we are in thy hand: deal with us as it seemeth good and right unto thee.

26 So Josue did as he had said, and delivered them from the hand of the children of Israel, that they should not be slain.

27 And he gave orders in that day that they should be in the service of all the people, and of the altar of the Lord, hewing wood and carrying water, until this present time, in the place which the Lord hath chosen.

10 When Adonisedec king of Jerusalem had heard these things, to wit, that Josue had taken Hai, and had destroyed it, (for as he had done to Jericho and the king thereof, so did he to Hai, and its king,) and that the Gabaonites were gone over to Israel, and were their confederates,

He was exceedingly afraid. For Gabaon was a great city, and one of the royal cities, and greater than the town of Hai, and all its fighting men were most valiant.

Therefore Adonisedec king of Jerusalem sent to Oham king of Hebron, and to Pharam king of Jerimoth, and to Japhia king of Lachis, and to Dabir king of Eglon, saying:

Come up to me, and bring help, that we may take Gabaon, because it hath gone over to Josue, and to the children of Israel.

So the five kings of the Amorrhites being assembled together went up: the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jerimoth, the king of Lachis, the king of Eglon, they and their armies, and camped about Gabaon, laying siege to it.

But the inhabitants of the city of Gabaon which was besieged, sent to Josue, who then abode in the camp at Galgal, and said to him: Withdraw not thy hands from helping thy servants: come up quickly and save us, and bring us succour: for all the kings of the Amorrhites, who dwell in the mountains, are gathered together against us.

And Josue went up from Galgal, and all the army of the warriors with him, most valiant men.

And the Lord said to Josue: Fear them not: for I have delivered them into thy hands: none of them shall be able to stand against thee.

So Josue going up from Galgal all the night, came upon them suddenly.

10 And the Lord troubled them at the sight of Israel: and he slew them with a great slaughter in Gabaon, and pursued them by the way of the ascent to Beth-horon, and cut them off all the way to Azeca and Maceda.

11 And when they were fleeing from the children of Israel, and were in the descent of Beth-horon, the Lord cast down upon them great stones from heaven as far as Azeca: and many more were killed with the hailstones than were slain by the swords of the children of Israel.

12 Then Josue spoke to the Lord, in the day that he delivered the Amorrhite in the sight of the children of Israel, and he said before them: Move not, O sun, toward Gabaon, nor thou, O moon, toward the valley of Ajalon.

13 And the sun and the moon stood still, till the people revenged themselves of their enemies. Is not this written in the book of the just? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down the space of one day.

14 There was not before nor after so long a day, the Lord obeying the voice of a man, and fighting for Israel.

15 And Josue returned with all Israel into the camp of Galgal.

Romans 15:14-24

14 And I myself also, my brethren, am assured of you, that you also are full of love, replenished with all knowledge, so that you are able to admonish one another.

15 But I have written to you, brethren, more boldly in some sort, as it were putting you in mind: because of the grace which is given me from God.

16 That I should be the minister of Christ Jesus among the Gentiles; sanctifying the gospel of God, that the oblation of the Gentiles may be made acceptable and sanctified in the Holy Ghost.

17 I have therefore glory in Christ Jesus towards God.

18 For I dare not to speak of any of those things which Christ worketh not by me, for the obedience of the Gentiles, by word and deed,

19 By the virtue of signs and wonders, in the power of the Holy Ghost, so that from Jerusalem round about as far as unto Illyricum, I have replenished the gospel of Christ.

20 And I have so preached this gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation.

21 But as it is written: They to whom he was not spoken of, shall see, and they that have not heard shall understand.

22 For which cause also I was hindered very much from coming to you, and have been kept away till now.

23 But now having no more place in these countries, and having a great desire these many years past to come unto you,

24 When I shall begin to take my journey into Spain, I hope that as I pass, I shall see you, and be brought on my way thither by you, if first, in part, I shall have enjoyed you:

Matthew 27:1-10

27 And when morning was come, all the chief priests and ancients of the people took counsel against Jesus, that they might put him to death.

And they brought him bound, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.

Then Judas, who betrayed him, seeing that he was condemned, repenting himself, brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and ancients,

Saying: I have sinned in betraying innocent blood. But they said: What is that to us? look thou to it.

And casting down the pieces of silver in the temple, he departed: and went and hanged himself with an halter.

But the chief priests having taken the pieces of silver, said: It is not lawful to put them into the corbona, because it is the price of blood.

And after they had consulted together, they bought with them the potter's field, to be a burying place for strangers.

For this cause the field was called Haceldama, that is, The field of blood, even to this day.

Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremias the prophet, saying: And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was prized, whom they prized of the children of Israel.

10 And they gave them unto the potter's field, as the Lord appointed to me.