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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 70-71

70 A psalm for David. Of the sons of Jonadab, and the former captives. In thee, O Lord, I have hoped, let me never be put to confusion:

Deliver me in thy justice, and rescue me. Incline thy ear unto me, and save me.

Be thou unto me a God, a protector, and a place of strength: that thou mayst make me safe. For thou art my firmament and my refuge.

Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the sinner, and out of the hand of the transgressor of the law and of the unjust.

For thou art my patience, O Lord: my hope, O Lord, from my youth;

By thee have I been confirmed from the womb: from my mother's womb thou art my protector. Of thee shall I continually sing:

I run become unto many as a wonder, but thou art a strong helper.

Let my mouth be filled with praise, that I may sing thy glory; thy greatness all the day long.

Cast me not off in the time of old age: when my strength shall fail, do not thou forsake me.

10 For my enemies have spoken against me; and they that watched my soul have consulted together,

11 Saying: God hath forsaken him: pursue and take him, for there is none to deliver him.

12 O God, be not thou far from me: O my God, make haste to my help.

13 Let them be confounded and come to nothing that detract my soul; let them be covered with confusion and shame that seek my hurt.

14 But I will always hope; and will add to all thy praise.

15 My mouth shall shew forth thy justice; thy salvation all the day long. Because I have not known learning,

16 I will enter into the powers of the Lord: O Lord, I will be mindful of thy justice alone.

17 Thou hast taught me, O God, from my youth: and till now I will declare thy wonderful works.

18 And unto old age and grey hairs: O God, forsake me not, Until I shew forth thy arm to all the generation that is to come: Thy power,

19 And thy justice, O God, even to the highest great things thou hast done: O God, who is like to thee?

20 How great troubles hast thou shewn me, many and grievous: and turning thou hast brought me to life, and hast brought me back again from the depths of the earth:

21 Thou hast multiplied thy magnificence; and turning to me thou hast comforted me.

22 For I will also confess to thee thy truth with the instruments of psaltery: O God, I will sing to thee with the harp, thou holy one of Israel.

23 My lips shall greatly rejoice, when I shall sing to thee; and my soul which thou hast redeemed.

24 Yea and my tongue shall meditate on thy justice all the day; when they shall be confounded and put to shame that seek evils to me.

71 A psalm on Solomon.

Give to the king thy judgment, O God: and to the king's son thy justice: To judge thy people with justice, and thy poor with judgment.

Let the mountains receive peace for the people: and the hills justice.

He shall judge the poor of the people, and he shall save the children of the poor: and he shall humble the oppressor.

And he shall continue with the sun, and before the moon, throughout all generations.

He shall come down like rain upon the fleece; and as showers falling gently upon the earth.

In his days shall justice spring up, and abundance of peace, till the moon be taken sway.

And he shall rule from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.

Before him the Ethiopians shall fall down: and his enemies shall lick the ground.

10 The kings of Tharsis and the islands shall offer presents: the kings of the Arabians and of Saba shall bring gifts:

11 And all kings of the earth shall adore him: all nations shall serve him.

12 For he shall deliver the poor from the mighty: and the needy that had no helper.

13 He shall spare the poor and needy: and he shall save the souls of the poor.

14 He shall redeem their souls from usuries and iniquity: and their names shall be honourable in his sight.

15 And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Arabia, for him they shall always adore: they shall bless him all the day.

16 And there shall be a firmament on the earth on the tops of mountains, above Libanus shall the fruit thereof be exalted: and they of the city shall flourish like the grass of the earth.

17 Let his name be blessed for evermore: his name continueth before the sun. And in him shall all the tribes of the earth be blessed: all nations shall magnify him.

18 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone doth wonderful things.

19 And blessed be the name of his majesty for ever: and the whole earth shall be filled with his majesty. So be it. So be it.

20 The praises of David, the son of Jesse, are ended.

Psalm 74

74 Unto the end, corrupt not, a psalm of a canticle for Asaph.

We will praise thee, O God: we will praise, and we will call upon thy name. We will relate thy wondrous works:

When I shall take a time, I will judge justices.

The earth is melted, and all that dwell therein: I have established the pillars thereof.

I said to the wicked: Do not act wickedly: and to the sinners: Lift not up the horn.

Lift not up your horn on high: speak not iniquity against God.

For neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the desert hills:

For God is the judge. One he putteth down, and another he lifteth up:

For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup of strong wine full of mixture. And he hath poured it out from this to that: but the dregs thereof are not emptied: all the sinners of the earth shall drink.

10 But I will declare for ever: I will sing to the God of Jacob.

11 And I will break all the horns of sinners: but the horns of the just shall be exalted.

Judges 4:4-23

And there was at that time Debbora a prophetess the wife of Lapidoth, who judged the people,

And she sat under a palm tree, which was called by her name, between Rama and Bethel in mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for all judgment.

And she sent and called Barac the son of Abinoem out of Cedes in Nephtali: and she said to him: The Lord God of Israel hath commanded thee: Go, and lead an army to mount Thabor, and thou shalt take with thee ten thousand fighting men of the children of Nephtali, and of the children of Zabulon:

And I will bring unto thee in the place of the torrent Cison, Sisara the general of Jabin's army, and his chariots, and all his multitude, and will deliver them into thy hand.

And Barac said to her: If thou wilt come with me, I will go: if thou wilt not come with me, I will not go.

She said to him: I will go indeed with thee, but at this time the victory shall not be attributed to thee, because Sisara shall be delivered into the hand of a woman. Debbora therefore arose, and went with Barac to Cedes.

10 And he called unto him Zabulon and Nepbtali, and went up with ten thousand fighting men, having Debbora in his company.

11 Now Haber the Cinite had some time before departed from the rest of the Cinites his brethren the sons of Hobab, the kinsman of Moses: and had pitched his tents unto the valley which is called Sellnim, and was near Cedes.

12 And it was told Sisara, that Barac the son of Ablinoem was gone up to mount Thabor:

13 And he gathered together his nine hundred chariots armed with scythes, and all his army from Haroseth of the Gentiles to the torrent Cison.

14 And Debbora said to Barac: Arise, for this is the day wherein the Lord hath delivered Sisara into thy hands: behold he is thy leader. And Barac went down from mount Thabor, and ten thousand fighting men with him.

15 And the Lord struck a terror into Sisara, and all his chariots, and all his multitude, with the edge of the sword, at the sight of Barac, insomuch that Sisara leaping down from off his chariot, fled away on foot.

16 And Barac pursued after the fleeing chariots and the army unto Haroseth of the Gentiles, and all the multitude of the enemies was utterly destroyed.

17 But Sisara fleeing came to the tent of Jahel the wife of Haber the Cinite, for there was peace between Jabin the king of Asor, and the house of Haber the Cinite.

18 And Jahel went forth to meet Sisara, and said to him: Come in to me, my lord, come in, fear not. He went in to her tent, and being covered by her with a cloak,

19 Said to her: Give me, I beseech thee, a little water, for I am very thirsty. She opened a bottle of milk, and gave him to drink, and covered him.

20 And Sisara said to her: Stand before the door of the tent, and when any shall come and inquire of thee, saying: Is there any man here? thou shalt say: There is none.

21 So Jahel Haber's wife took a nail of the tent, and taking also a hammer: and going in softly, and with silence, she put the nail upon the temples of his head, and striking it With the hammer, drove it through his brain fast into the ground: and so passing from deep sleep to death, he fainted away and died.

22 And behold Barac came pursuing after Sisara: and Jahel went out to meet him, and said to him: Come, and I will shew thee, the man whom thou seekest. And when he came into her tent, be saw Sisara lying dead, and the nail fastened in his temples.

23 So God that day humbled Jabin the king of Chanaan before the children of Israel:

Acts 1:15-26

15 In those days Peter rising up in the midst of the brethren, said: (now the number of persons together was about an hundred and twenty:)

16 Men, brethren, the scripture must needs be fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who was the leader of them that apprehended Jesus:

17 Who was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this ministry.

18 And he indeed hath possessed a field of the reward of iniquity, and being hanged, burst asunder in the midst: and all his bowels gushed out.

19 And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: so that the same field was called in their tongue, Haceldama, that is to say, The field of blood.

20 For it is written in the book of Psalms: Let their habitation become desolate, and let there be none to dwell therein. And his bishopric let another take.

21 Wherefore of these men who have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus came in and went out among us,

22 Beginning from the baptism of John, until the day wherein he was taken up from us, one of these must be made a witness with us of his resurrection.

23 And they appointed two, Joseph, called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias.

24 And praying, they said: Thou, Lord, who knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen,

25 To take the place of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas hath by transgression fallen, that he might go to his own place.

26 And they gave them lots, and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

Matthew 27:55-66

55 And there were there many women afar off, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering unto him:

56 Among whom was Mary Magdalen, and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

57 And when it was evening, there came a certain rich man of Arimathea, named Joseph, who also himself was a disciple of Jesus.

58 He went to Pilate, and asked the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded that the body should be delivered.

59 And Joseph taking the body, wrapped it up in a clean linen cloth.

60 And laid it in his own new monument, which he had hewed out in a rock. And he rolled a great stone to the door of the monument, and went his way.

61 And there was there Mary Magdalen, and the other Mary sitting over against the sepulchre.

62 And the next day, which followed the day of preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees came together to Pilate,

63 Saying: Sir, we have remembered, that that seducer said, while he was yet alive: After three days I will rise again.

64 Command therefore the sepulchre to be guarded until the third day: lest perhaps his disciples come and steal him away, and say to the people: He is risen from the dead; and the last error shall be worse than the first.

65 Pilate saith to them: You have a guard; go, guard it as you know.

66 And they departing, made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting guards.