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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 International Version (NIV)
Version
Psalm 105

Psalm 105(A)

Give praise to the Lord,(B) proclaim his name;(C)
    make known among the nations what he has done.
Sing to him,(D) sing praise to him;(E)
    tell of all his wonderful acts.(F)
Glory in his holy name;(G)
    let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
Look to the Lord and his strength;
    seek his face(H) always.

Remember the wonders(I) he has done,
    his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,(J)
you his servants, the descendants of Abraham,(K)
    his chosen(L) ones, the children of Jacob.
He is the Lord our God;
    his judgments are in all the earth.

He remembers his covenant(M) forever,
    the promise he made, for a thousand generations,
the covenant he made with Abraham,(N)
    the oath he swore to Isaac.
10 He confirmed it(O) to Jacob as a decree,
    to Israel as an everlasting covenant:(P)
11 “To you I will give the land of Canaan(Q)
    as the portion you will inherit.”(R)

12 When they were but few in number,(S)
    few indeed, and strangers in it,(T)
13 they wandered from nation to nation,(U)
    from one kingdom to another.
14 He allowed no one to oppress(V) them;
    for their sake he rebuked kings:(W)
15 “Do not touch(X) my anointed ones;
    do my prophets(Y) no harm.”

16 He called down famine(Z) on the land
    and destroyed all their supplies of food;
17 and he sent a man before them—
    Joseph, sold as a slave.(AA)
18 They bruised his feet with shackles,(AB)
    his neck was put in irons,
19 till what he foretold(AC) came to pass,
    till the word(AD) of the Lord proved him true.
20 The king sent and released him,
    the ruler of peoples set him free.(AE)
21 He made him master of his household,
    ruler over all he possessed,
22 to instruct his princes(AF) as he pleased
    and teach his elders wisdom.(AG)

23 Then Israel entered Egypt;(AH)
    Jacob resided(AI) as a foreigner in the land of Ham.(AJ)
24 The Lord made his people very fruitful;
    he made them too numerous(AK) for their foes,
25 whose hearts he turned(AL) to hate his people,
    to conspire(AM) against his servants.
26 He sent Moses(AN) his servant,
    and Aaron,(AO) whom he had chosen.(AP)
27 They performed(AQ) his signs(AR) among them,
    his wonders(AS) in the land of Ham.
28 He sent darkness(AT) and made the land dark—
    for had they not rebelled against(AU) his words?
29 He turned their waters into blood,(AV)
    causing their fish to die.(AW)
30 Their land teemed with frogs,(AX)
    which went up into the bedrooms of their rulers.
31 He spoke,(AY) and there came swarms of flies,(AZ)
    and gnats(BA) throughout their country.
32 He turned their rain into hail,(BB)
    with lightning throughout their land;
33 he struck down their vines(BC) and fig trees(BD)
    and shattered the trees of their country.
34 He spoke,(BE) and the locusts came,(BF)
    grasshoppers(BG) without number;(BH)
35 they ate up every green thing in their land,
    ate up the produce of their soil.
36 Then he struck down all the firstborn(BI) in their land,
    the firstfruits of all their manhood.
37 He brought out Israel, laden with silver and gold,(BJ)
    and from among their tribes no one faltered.
38 Egypt was glad when they left,
    because dread of Israel(BK) had fallen on them.

39 He spread out a cloud(BL) as a covering,
    and a fire to give light at night.(BM)
40 They asked,(BN) and he brought them quail;(BO)
    he fed them well with the bread of heaven.(BP)
41 He opened the rock,(BQ) and water gushed out;
    it flowed like a river in the desert.

42 For he remembered his holy promise(BR)
    given to his servant Abraham.
43 He brought out his people with rejoicing,(BS)
    his chosen ones with shouts of joy;
44 he gave them the lands of the nations,(BT)
    and they fell heir to what others had toiled(BU) for—
45 that they might keep his precepts
    and observe his laws.(BV)

Praise the Lord.[a](BW)

Judges 14:1-19

Samson’s Marriage

14 Samson(A) went down to Timnah(B) and saw there a young Philistine woman. When he returned, he said to his father and mother, “I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.”(C)

His father and mother replied, “Isn’t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people?(D) Must you go to the uncircumcised(E) Philistines to get a wife?(F)

But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me. She’s the right one for me.” (His parents did not know that this was from the Lord,(G) who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines;(H) for at that time they were ruling over Israel.)(I)

Samson went down to Timnah together with his father and mother. As they approached the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion came roaring toward him. The Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him(J) so that he tore the lion apart(K) with his bare hands as he might have torn a young goat. But he told neither his father nor his mother what he had done. Then he went down and talked with the woman, and he liked her.

Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the lion’s carcass, and in it he saw a swarm of bees and some honey. He scooped out the honey with his hands and ate as he went along. When he rejoined his parents, he gave them some, and they too ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion’s carcass.

10 Now his father went down to see the woman. And there Samson held a feast,(L) as was customary for young men. 11 When the people saw him, they chose thirty men to be his companions.

12 “Let me tell you a riddle,(M)” Samson said to them. “If you can give me the answer within the seven days of the feast,(N) I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.(O) 13 If you can’t tell me the answer, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.”

“Tell us your riddle,” they said. “Let’s hear it.”

14 He replied,

“Out of the eater, something to eat;
    out of the strong, something sweet.”(P)

For three days they could not give the answer.

15 On the fourth[a] day, they said to Samson’s wife, “Coax(Q) your husband into explaining the riddle for us, or we will burn you and your father’s household to death.(R) Did you invite us here to steal our property?”

16 Then Samson’s wife threw herself on him, sobbing, “You hate me! You don’t really love me.(S) You’ve given my people a riddle, but you haven’t told me the answer.”

“I haven’t even explained it to my father or mother,” he replied, “so why should I explain it to you?” 17 She cried the whole seven days(T) of the feast. So on the seventh day he finally told her, because she continued to press him. She in turn explained the riddle to her people.

18 Before sunset on the seventh day the men of the town said to him,

“What is sweeter than honey?
    What is stronger than a lion?”(U)

Samson said to them,

“If you had not plowed with my heifer,
    you would not have solved my riddle.”

19 Then the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him.(V) He went down to Ashkelon,(W) struck down thirty of their men, stripped them of everything and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle. Burning with anger,(X) he returned to his father’s home.

Acts 6:15-7:16

15 All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin(A) looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

Stephen’s Speech to the Sanhedrin

Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these charges true?”

To this he replied: “Brothers and fathers,(B) listen to me! The God of glory(C) appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran.(D) ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’[a](E)

“So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Harran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living.(F) He gave him no inheritance here,(G) not even enough ground to set his foot on. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land,(H) even though at that time Abraham had no child. God spoke to him in this way: ‘For four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated.(I) But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,’ God said, ‘and afterward they will come out of that country and worship me in this place.’[b](J) Then he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision.(K) And Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth.(L) Later Isaac became the father of Jacob,(M) and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.(N)

“Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph,(O) they sold him as a slave into Egypt.(P) But God was with him(Q) 10 and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt. So Pharaoh made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace.(R)

11 “Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our ancestors could not find food.(S) 12 When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our forefathers on their first visit.(T) 13 On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was,(U) and Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family.(V) 14 After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family,(W) seventy-five in all.(X) 15 Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our ancestors died.(Y) 16 Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money.(Z)

John 4:27-42

The Disciples Rejoin Jesus

27 Just then his disciples returned(A) and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”

28 Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, 29 “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did.(B) Could this be the Messiah?”(C) 30 They came out of the town and made their way toward him.

31 Meanwhile his disciples urged him, “Rabbi,(D) eat something.”

32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat(E) that you know nothing about.”

33 Then his disciples said to each other, “Could someone have brought him food?”

34 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will(F) of him who sent me and to finish his work.(G) 35 Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.(H) 36 Even now the one who reaps draws a wage and harvests(I) a crop for eternal life,(J) so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. 37 Thus the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’(K) is true. 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have done the hard work, and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”

Many Samaritans Believe

39 Many of the Samaritans from that town(L) believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.”(M) 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. 41 And because of his words many more became believers.

42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”(N)

New International Version (NIV)

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