Book of Common Prayer

God Will Judge with Equity

To the choirmaster: according to ^(A)Do Not Destroy. ^(B)A Psalm of Asaph. A Song.

Who Can Stand Before You?

To the choirmaster: with ^(R)stringed instruments. A Psalm of ^(S)Asaph. A Song.

The Lord Is My Shepherd

A Psalm of David.

The Lord Is My Light and My Salvation

Of David.

Ezra Prays About Intermarriage

9 After these things had been done, the officials approached me and said, “The people of Israel and the priests and the ^(A)Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands ^(B)with their abominations, from the ^(C)Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. ^2 (D)For they have taken some of their daughters to be wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the ^(E)holy race^[a] has ^(F)mixed itself with the peoples of the lands. And in this faithlessness the hand of the officials and chief men has been foremost.” ³ As soon as I heard this, I ^(G)tore my garment and my cloak and pulled hair from my head and beard and ^(H)sat appalled. ⁴ Then all who ^(I)trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles, gathered around me while I sat ^(J)appalled until the evening sacrifice. ⁵ And at the ^(K)evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting, with my garment ^(L)and my cloak torn, and fell upon my knees ^(M)and spread out my hands to the Lord my God, ⁶ saying:

“O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities ^(N)have risen higher than our heads, and our ^(O)guilt has ^(P)mounted up to the heavens. ^7 (Q)From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great ^(R)guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, ^(S)and to utter shame, as it is today. ⁸ But now for a brief moment favor has been shown by the Lord our God, to leave us a ^(T)remnant and to give us a ^(U)secure hold^[b] within his holy place, that our God may ^(V)brighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our slavery. ^9 (W)For we are slaves. Yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery, ^(X)but has extended to us his steadfast love before the kings of Persia, to grant us some reviving to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give us protection^[c] in Judea and Jerusalem.

¹⁰ “And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your commandments, ¹¹ which you commanded by your servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land that you are entering, to take possession of it, is a land impure with the impurity of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations that have filled it from end to end with ^(Y)their uncleanness. ^12 (Z)Therefore do not give your daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters for your sons, and never seek their peace or prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good of the land ^(AA)and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever.’ ¹³ And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for ^(AB)our great guilt, seeing that you, our ^(AC)God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserved and have given us such a ^(AD)remnant as this, ¹⁴ shall we break your commandments again and ^(AE)intermarry with the peoples who practice these abominations? Would you not be angry with us ^(AF)until you consumed us, so that there should be no ^(AG)remnant, nor any to escape? ¹⁵ O Lord, the God of Israel, you are just, for we are left a ^(AH)remnant that has escaped, as it is today. Behold, we are before you in our ^(AI)guilt, ^(AJ)for none can stand before you because of this.”

The Great Prostitute and the Beast

17 Then ^(A)one of the seven angels who had ^(B)the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of ^(C)the great prostitute ^(D)who is seated on many waters, ^2 (E)with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and ^(F)with the wine of whose sexual immorality ^(G)the dwellers on earth have become drunk.” ³ And ^(H)he carried me away in the Spirit ^(I)into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on ^(J)a scarlet beast that was full of ^(K)blasphemous names, and ^(L)it had seven heads and ten horns. ⁴ The woman ^(M)was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned ^(N)with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand ^(O)a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. ⁵ And on her forehead was written a name of ^(P)mystery: ^(Q)“Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations.” ⁶ And I saw the woman, drunk ^(R)with the blood of the saints, the blood of ^(S)the martyrs of Jesus.^[a]

When I saw her, I marveled greatly. ⁷ But the angel said to me, “Why do you marvel? I will tell you ^(T)the mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her. ⁸ The beast that you saw ^(U)was, and is not, and ^(V)is about to rise from ^(W)the bottomless pit^[b] and ^(X)go to destruction. And ^(Y)the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in ^(Z)the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because ^(AA)it was and is not and is to come. ^9 (AB)This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated; ¹⁰ they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while. ¹¹ As for the beast ^(AC)that was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction. ¹² And ^(AD)the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings ^(AE)for one hour, together with the beast. ¹³ These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast. ¹⁴ They ^(AF)will make war on the Lamb, and ^(AG)the Lamb will conquer them, for he is ^(AH)Lord of lords and ^(AI)King of kings, and those with him are ^(AJ)called and chosen and faithful.”

Jesus Walks on the Water

^22 (A)Immediately he ^(B)made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. ²³ And after he had dismissed the crowds, ^(C)he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When ^(D)evening came, he was there alone, ²⁴ but the boat by this time was a long way^[a] from the land,^[b] beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. ²⁵ And ^(E)in the fourth watch of the night^[c] he came to them, walking on the sea. ²⁶ But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, ^(F)they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. ²⁷ But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, ^(G)“Take heart; it is I. ^(H)Do not be afraid.”

²⁸ And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” ²⁹ He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and ^(I)walked on the water and came to Jesus. ³⁰ But when he saw the wind,^[d] he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, ^(J)“Lord, save me.” ³¹ Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, ^(K)“O you of little faith, why did you ^(L)doubt?” ³² And when they got into the boat, ^(M)the wind ceased. ³³ And ^(N)those in the boat ^(O)worshiped him, saying, ^(P)“Truly you are ^(Q)the Son of God.”

Jesus Heals the Sick in Gennesaret

^34 (R)And when they had crossed over, they came to land at ^(S)Gennesaret. ³⁵ And when the men of that place recognized him, they sent around to all that region and ^(T)brought to him all who were sick ³⁶ and implored him that they might only touch ^(U)the fringe of his garment. And ^(V)as many as touched it were made well.