Readings

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Thursday after the Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost

    MorningEvening

    The Collect of the Day

    Proper 26

    The Sunday closest to November 2

    Almighty and merciful God, it is only by your gift that your faithful people offer you true and laudable service: Grant that we may run without stumbling to obtain your heavenly promises; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

    Psalms

    70

    Deus, in adjutoriumBCP p. 682

    1Be pleased, O God, to deliver me; *O Lord, make haste to help me.

    2Let those who seek my life be ashamed and altogether dismayed; *let those who take pleasure in my misfortune draw back and be disgraced.

    3Let those who say to me “Aha!” and gloat over me turn back, *because they are ashamed.

    4Let all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; *let those who love your salvation say for ever, “Great is the Lord!”

    5But as for me, I am poor and needy; *come to me speedily, O God.

    6You are my helper and my deliverer; *O Lord, do not tarry.

    71

    In te, Domine, speraviBCP p. 683

    1In you, O Lord, have I taken refuge; *let me never be ashamed.

    2In your righteousness, deliver me and set me free; *incline your ear to me and save me.

    3Be my strong rock, a castle to keep me safe; *you are my crag and my stronghold.

    4Deliver me, my God, from the hand of the wicked, *from the clutches of the evildoer and the oppressor.

    5For you are my hope, O Lord God, *my confidence since I was young.

    6I have been sustained by you ever since I was born; from my mother’s womb you have been my strength; *my praise shall be always of you.

    7I have become a portent to many; *but you are my refuge and my strength.

    8Let my mouth be full of your praise *and your glory all the day long.

    9Do not cast me off in my old age; *forsake me not when my strength fails.

    10For my enemies are talking against me, *and those who lie in wait for my life take counsel together.

    11They say, “God has forsaken him; go after him and seize him; *because there is none who will save.”

    12O God, be not far from me; *come quickly to help me, O my God.

    13Let those who set themselves against me be put to shame and be disgraced; *let those who seek to do me evil be covered with scorn and reproach.

    14But I shall always wait in patience, *and shall praise you more and more.

    15My mouth shall recount your mighty acts and saving deeds all day long; *though I cannot know the number of them.

    16I will begin with the mighty works of the Lord God; *I will recall your righteousness, yours alone.

    17O God, you have taught me since I was young, *and to this day I tell of your wonderful works.

    18And now that I am old and gray-headed, O God, do not forsake me, *till I make known your strength to this generation and your power to all who are to come.

    19Your righteousness, O God, reaches to the heavens; *you have done great things; who is like you, O God?

    20You have showed me great troubles and adversities, *but you will restore my life and bring me up again from the deep places of the earth.

    21You strengthen me more and more; *you enfold and comfort me,

    22Therefore I will praise you upon the lyre for your faithfulness, O my God; *I will sing to you with the harp, O Holy One of Israel.

    23My lips will sing with joy when I play to you, *and so will my soul, which you have redeemed.

    24My tongue will proclaim your righteousness all day long, *for they are ashamed and disgraced who sought to do me harm.

    Daily Office Readings

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    Rev. 14:1-13

    1 Then I looked, and there was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion! And with him were one hundred forty-four thousand who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. 2 And I heard a voice from heaven like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder; the voice I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps, 3 and they sing a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and before the elders. No one could learn that song except the one hundred forty-four thousand who have been redeemed from the earth. 4 It is these who have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins; these follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They have been redeemed from humankind as first fruits for God and the Lamb, 5 and in their mouth no lie was found; they are blameless. 6 Then I saw another angel flying in midheaven, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation and tribe and language and people. 7 He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, for the hour of his judgment has come; and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.” 8 Then another angel, a second, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.” 9 Then another angel, a third, followed them, crying with a loud voice, “Those who worship the beast and its image, and receive a mark on their foreheads or on their hands, 10 they will also drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured unmixed into the cup of his anger, and they will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image and for anyone who receives the mark of its name.” 12 Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and hold fast to the faith of Jesus. 13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who from now on die in the Lord.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them.”

    Matt. 14:1-12

    1 At that time Herod the ruler heard reports about Jesus; 2 and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist; he has been raised from the dead, and for this reason these powers are at work in him.” 3 For Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, 4 because John had been telling him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” 5 Though Herod wanted to put him to death, he feared the crowd, because they regarded him as a prophet. 6 But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company, and she pleased Herod 7 so much that he promised on oath to grant her whatever she might ask. 8 Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.” 9 The king was grieved, yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he commanded it to be given; 10 he sent and had John beheaded in the prison. 11 The head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, who brought it to her mother. 12 His disciples came and took the body and buried it; then they went and told Jesus.

    Ezra 7:[1-10]11-26

    1 After this, in the reign of King Artaxerxes of Persia, Ezra son of Seraiah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah, 2 son of Shallum, son of Zadok, son of Ahitub, 3 son of Amariah, son of Azariah, son of Meraioth, 4 son of Zerahiah, son of Uzzi, son of Bukki, 5 son of Abishua, son of Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of the chief priest Aaron— 6 this Ezra went up from Babylonia. He was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses that the Lord the God of Israel had given; and the king granted him all that he asked, for the hand of the Lord his God was upon him. 7 Some of the people of Israel, and some of the priests and Levites, the singers and gatekeepers, and the temple servants also went up to Jerusalem, in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes. 8 They came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. 9 On the first day of the first month the journey up from Babylon was begun, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, for the gracious hand of his God was upon him. 10 For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach the statutes and ordinances in Israel.] 11 This is a copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave to the priest Ezra, the scribe, a scholar of the text of the commandments of the Lord and his statutes for Israel: 12 “Artaxerxes, king of kings, to the priest Ezra, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven: Peace. And now 13 I decree that any of the people of Israel or their priests or Levites in my kingdom who freely offers to go to Jerusalem may go with you. 14 For you are sent by the king and his seven counselors to make inquiries about Judah and Jerusalem according to the law of your God, which is in your hand, 15 and also to convey the silver and gold that the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose dwelling is in Jerusalem, 16 with all the silver and gold that you shall find in the whole province of Babylonia, and with the freewill offerings of the people and the priests, given willingly for the house of their God in Jerusalem. 17 With this money, then, you shall with all diligence buy bulls, rams, and lambs, and their grain offerings and their drink offerings, and you shall offer them on the altar of the house of your God in Jerusalem. 18 Whatever seems good to you and your colleagues to do with the rest of the silver and gold, you may do, according to the will of your God. 19 The vessels that have been given you for the service of the house of your God, you shall deliver before the God of Jerusalem. 20 And whatever else is required for the house of your God, which you are responsible for providing, you may provide out of the king’s treasury. 21 “I, King Artaxerxes, decree to all the treasurers in the province Beyond the River: Whatever the priest Ezra, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, requires of you, let it be done with all diligence, 22 up to one hundred talents of silver, one hundred cors of wheat, one hundred baths of wine, one hundred baths of oil, and unlimited salt. 23 Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be done with zeal for the house of the God of heaven, or wrath will come upon the realm of the king and his heirs. 24 We also notify you that it shall not be lawful to impose tribute, custom, or toll on any of the priests, the Levites, the singers, the doorkeepers, the temple servants, or other servants of this house of God. 25 “And you, Ezra, according to the God-given wisdom you possess, appoint magistrates and judges who may judge all the people in the province Beyond the River who know the laws of your God; and you shall teach those who do not know them. 26 All who will not obey the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be strictly executed on them, whether for death or for banishment or for confiscation of their goods or for imprisonment.”