The Essence of the Office

This post follows on the other on the Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving to complete my thoughts on the Essence of the Office.

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The essence of the Daily Office must be found on one hand in Paul’s exhortation for Christians “with gratitude in your hearts [to] sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God” (Col 3:12), and, on the other hand, to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess 5:17). The two central themes here that we must keep before our eyes are the idea of the use of songs and poetic praises of God and also continuous prayer springing from deliberate acts of periodic prayer. As we consider the Daily Office and its various parts and acts, we will return time and time again to these two basic principles that form its foundation.

Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs

The Anglican mystic Evelyn Underhill (†1941) in her book Worship reinforces the poetic character of the Daily Office and the significance of that quality:

Liturgical worship shares with all ritual action the character of a work of art. Entering upon it, we leave the lower realism of daily life for the higher realism of a successive action which expresses and interprets eternal truth by the deliberate use of poetic and symbolic material. A liturgical service should therefore possess a structural unity; its general form and movement, and each of its parts, being determined by the significance of the whole. By its successive presentation of all the phases of the soul’s response to the Holy, its alternative use of history and oratory, drama and rhythm, its appeals to feeling, thought, and will, the individual is educated and gathered into the great movement of the Church. . . . Nevertheless since its main function is to suggest the Supernatural and lead men out to communion with the supernatural, it is by the methods of poetry that its chief work will be done. . . . [P]oetry still remains a chief element at least in the Daily Office, which is mainly an arrangement of psalms, canticles, and Scripture readings. (Worship, p. 119)

She goes on to remind us of the interpretive errors that occur when we attempt to read poetry literally and miss its deeper sense and direction. As she sees it, poetry in the liturgy has three main purposes:

(1) It is the carrying-medium of something which otherwise wholly eludes representation: the soul’s deep and awestruck apprehension of the numinous. . . .

(2) It can universalize particulars; giving an eternal reference to those things of time in and through which God speaks to men. . . .

(3) It is a powerful stimulant of the transcendental sense . . .

All these characters of poetry are active in good liturgy, and indeed constitute an important part of its religious value. Moreover, poetry both enchants and informs, addressing its rhythmic and symbolic speech to regions of the mind which are inaccessible to argument, and evoking movements of awe and love which no exhortation can obtain. It has meaning at many levels, and welds together all those who use it; overriding their personal moods and subduing them with a grave loveliness. (Worship, p. 120)

Great art—great poetry—is that which can capture our minds and hearts, and suffuse reality with a new light, a new perspective. It helps us see our ordinary, everyday world as not so ordinary, and cracks open everyday reality to help us see the beauty, the glory, and the wonder that is concealed therein. It helps us see new possibilities; it helps us see grander movements.

This is my best perspective on Scripture: it invites us into a different way of seeing the world and our relationships within it. It invites us to experience the whole cosmos arrayed around the throne of God as portrayed in the heavenly throne-room depicted in Revelation 4-6, and leads us to speculate about what it means to live in a world where justice, mercy, and loving-kindness are fundamental guiding principles. We are invited to recognize our own world transformed and suffused with the light of God and to function as mirrors, lenses, and crystals, reflecting—focusing—diffusing—the divine light, casting it through our facets upon the world and people around us.

The Office with its language of poetry reminds us and orients us to this level of understanding and reflection. Too, it can help us get beyond a literalism and dogmatism that can either frustrate or limit our sense of the holy and the divine. The Athanasian Creed can be a hard pill for many to swallow. On one hand, it’s chalk full of complicated and philosophical technical terms. On the other, it ends with a declaration of damnation containing a certainty that seems to arrogate to itself a judgment properly left with God alone. The Episcopal Church has never been comfortable with it; Bishop Seabury (†1796), the first American Episcopal bishop, wrote that he was never convinced of the propriety of reading it in church, yet did want to include it along the same lines as the articles of faith to show that we hold the common faith of the West. Indeed, the 1979 revision is the only American prayer book to include it. Especially as modern people, we don’t know what to do with it—but the monks did! They sang it as a canticle complete with antiphons at Sunday Prime, the poetic and musical setting potentially subverting its dogmatism and softening its philosophical formality in song.

After speaking of the eight individual hours that formed the Daily Office in the West, Underhill draws them together and unites them with their purpose:

The complete Divine Office, then, . . . is best understood when regarded as a spiritual and artistic unity; so devised, that the various elements of praise, prayer, and reading, and the predominately poetic and historic material from which it is built up, contribute to one single movement of the corporate soul, and form together one single act of solemn yet exultant worship. This act of worship is designed to give enduring and impersonal expression to eternal truths; and unite the here and now earthly action of the Church with the eternal response of creation to its origin. It is her “Sacred Chant,” and loses some of its quality and meaning when its choral character is suppressed: for in it, the demands of a superficial realism are set aside, in favour of those deeper realities which can only be expressed under poetic and musical forms. (Worship, 124-5)

The more we sing of the Office, the more in touch we are with these melodies, harmonies, and rhythms of which she speaks. Yet, even if we are reading it alone in our rooms, we can still find the cadences there.

On a purely literary level, we can go through the Office step by step and note the presence of the poetry and music at every step. The psalms form the heart of the office. We respond to the Scripture readings with canticles, most of which are infused and inspired by the psalms—or songs like them. The suffrages themselves are verses of psalms recombined and related to one another in new ways. The collects and prayers speak in the language of the psalms and Scriptures.

As we pray the Office and sing it—whether aloud or in our hearts—we are incarnating the Pauline injunction to sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God and to one another. As its poetry becomes more deeply a part of us, as these songs become more fully implanted within our hearts, they leads us to a more beautiful lens for locating God at work in our world.

To Pray Without Ceasing

This notion of having the songs and psalms implanted in our hearts and consciousness leads us in to the second principle, to pray without ceasing. If we wish to learning the meaning of this phrase, we must turn our eyes to the Desert Fathers and Mothers for it was they who devoted their entire efforts to live its meaning.

The fourth century was a tumultuous time for the Church as Constantine’s Edict of Milan in 313 meant an end to persecution and brought with it a tacit sign of imperial favor. (Christianity wouldn’t actually become the official religion of the empire until 380 under Theodosius.) While the easing of restrictions against Christianity brought in a wave of converts—some no doubt embracing it for political gain—this same easing equally triggered a crisis of spirituality. For decades, Christian authenticity had been bound up with martyrdom; fidelity to the way of the cross was identified with the willingness to die a martyr’s death. With martyrdom at the hands of the authorities no longer an option, where was an earnest Christian to turn?

The answer came in the form of the desert. Christians who sought to embody the commands of Scripture sold their possessions, renounced family life, and sought lives of prayer and austerity in the deserts, either on their own or in the company of like-minded souls. This way of life, which would flower into monasticism and feed the church spiritually for centuries to come, was popularized by bishops and theologians who wrote inspiring accounts of the lives of simple men and the spiritual riches they uncovered. The great bishop Athanasius (†373) penned the Life of Antony which chronicled the life and spirituality of one of the earliest desert saints and spread word of the movement across the Greek-speaking world. Not to be outdone, the ascetic and scholar Jerome (†367), living in a monastery in Jerusalem, wrote a number of lives that sought to supplement (or replace) the Life of Antony, bringing knowledge of the desert life to the Latin-speaking church. The first great systematic works of Western Christian spirituality, John Cassian’s (†435) Institutes and Conferences, were written for the benefit of his monastery in Gaul, containing remembrances of his youthful spiritual dialogues with heroes of the Egyptian and Palestinian deserts.

As we sift through the literature of the early monastic movement and the desert saints who founded it, we come back time and time again to this injunction to “pray without ceasing,” to praying of some form of the Daily Office, and a fundamental belief that the use of the Office was the key to praying without ceasing. The characteristic pattern of desert life is captured in a brief description of how Antony lived:

The money he earned from his work he gave to the poor, apart from what he needed to buy bread, and he prayed often, for he learned that one should pray to the Lord without ceasing. He also listened attentively to the Scriptures so that nothing should slip from his mind. He preserved all the Lord’s commandments, keeping them safe in his memory rather than in books. (Life of Antony 3, Early Christian Lives, p. 10)

Note the way that work, prayer, and memorization of the Scriptures are interconnected here. This way of life is further clarified by an episode where a desert hermit was disputing with a group of uber-pietists called the Euchites or Messalians concerning prayer without ceasing:

Some of the monks who are called Euchites went to Enaton to see Abba Lucius. The old man asked them, ‘What is your manual work?’ They said, ‘We do not touch manual work but as the Apostle says, we pray without ceasing.’ The old man asked them if they did not eat and they replied they did. So he said to them, ‘When you are eating, who prays for you then?’ Again he asked them if they did not sleep and they replied they did. And he said to them, ‘When you are asleep, who prays for you then?’ They could not find any answer to give him. He said to them, ‘Forgive me, but you do not act as you speak. I will show you how, while doing my manual work, I pray without interruption. I sit down with God, soaking my reeds and plaiting my ropes, and I say, “God have mercy on me; according to your great goodness and according to the multitude of your mercies, save me from my sins [Ps 51:1,2].”’ So he asked them if this were not prayer and they replied it was. Then he said to them, ‘So when I have spent the whole day working and praying, making thirteen pieces of money more or less, I put two pieces of money outside the door and I pay for my food with the rest of the money. He who takes the two pieces of money prays for me when I am eating and sleeping; so, by the grace of God, I fulfill the precept to pray without ceasing.’ (Sayings of the Desert Fathers, p. 120-1)

This blend of piety and practicality is found throughout this early literature. The life described is one filled with basic manual labor—weaving ropes or baskets made from the leaves of the desert palms or scratching out subsistence gardens from the rocky soil—suffused with constant prayer. Indeed, the Egyptian monks in particular were famous for prayers that were “brief but frequent.”

The prayer recited by Abba Lucius is an adaptation of the start of Psalm 51. Reading through the Life of Antony and the description that Athanasius gives of Antony’s struggles in spiritual travail, a pattern emerges. At a great turning point in Antony’s life, during a struggle with demons that left him both physically and spiritually battered he retained his faith and focus by ceaselessly chanting, “If they place an encampment against me, my heart will not fear” (Ps 27:3). When people came from the cities, hoping to find him dead, he would pray verses from Ps 68:1-2 and Ps 118:10. Throughout the literature, the words of the psalms are constantly appearing through their prayers and discussions. In truth their whole conversations are shot through with Scripture, but consistently the psalms predominate. In fact, the Egyptian “brief but frequent” prayers that appear in the corpus are almost always drawn from Scripture and the psalms. One of the works of Evagrius of Pontus (†399) consists entirely of one-liners from Scripture to be used for prayer in a host of situations organized in relation to the eight vices identified by the desert monks.

For these monks—many of whom were illiterate—Scripture came through hearing. Preeminently, Scripture was heard and memorized in the Daily Offices. The foundation of the Office gave them the words they needed to meditate in the midst of their work and to truly pray without ceasing no matter what they were doing.

Perhaps the preeminent connection between the Scriptures, the psalms, and praying without ceasing comes from the second conference on prayer recorded by John Cassian. Abba Isaac says that the whole goal of the monastic way of life can be summed up like this: “This, I say, is the end [goal] of all perfection–that the mind purged of every carnal desire may daily be elevated to spiritual things, until one’s whole way of life and all the yearnings of one’s heart become and single and continuous prayer” (Conferences 10.7.3). Cassian’s companion Germanus asks how this sort of focus can be achieved. The reply from Abba Isaac is that there is one particular formula for meditation that can secure this result:

The formula for this discipline and prayer that you are seeking, then, shall be presented to you. Every monk who longs for the continual awareness of God should be in the habit of meditating on it ceaselessly in his heart, after having driven out every kind of thought, because he will be unable to hold fast to it in any other way than by being freed from all bodily cares and concerns. Just as this was handed down to us by a few of the oldest fathers who were left, so also we pass it on to none but the most exceptional, who truly desire it. This, then, is the devotional formula proposed to you as absolutely necessary for possessing the perpetual awareness of God: ‘O God, make speed to save me; O Lord, make haste to help me’ [Ps 70:1]. (Conferences 10.10.2)

Yes, this is the line that is used as a verse and response to open each of the prayer offices. No, that’s not an accident.

John Cassian makes the explicit connection between the Daily Office and the continuous prayer of the Egyptian monks in his other big book, the Institutes, but he does so by framing it in the midst of one of the disputes about monastic practice. By the end of the fourth century, there were two major centers of monastic practice—the deserts of Egypt and the deserts of Palestine. They had different ways of praying the Daily Office. The Egyptian model was the same in format as what appears to have been done in many of the early cathedrals of the period—one public service in the morning and another in the evening. Twelve psalms were sung, then there was a reading from the Old Testament, then one from the New Testament. That was it for the day. The Palestinian model was to gather more frequently. Jerome, writing from his monastery in Bethlehem, advises this:

Further, although the apostle bids us to ‘pray without ceasing,’ and although to the saints their very sleep is a supplication, we ought to have fixed hours of prayer, that if we are detained by work, the time may remind us of our duty. Prayers, as everyone knows, ought to be said at the third, sixth, and ninth hours, at dawn and at evening. . . . We should rise two or three times in the night and go over the parts of Scripture which we know by heart. (Letter 22. 37)

and instructs the parents of a young virgin dedicated to the church to train her in the same way: “She ought to rise at night to recite prayers and psalms; to sing hymns in the morning; at the third, sixth, and ninth hours to take her place in the line to do battle for Christ; and lastly to kindle her lamp and to offer her evening sacrifice” (Letter 107.9).

The Egyptians responded rather harshly. One characteristic response comes from the Egyptian-trained Epiphanius:

The Blessed Epiphanius, Bishop of Cyprus, was told this by the abbot of a monastery he had in Palestine, ‘By your prayers we do not neglect our appointed round of psalmody, but we are very careful to recite [the prayer offices of] Terce, Sext and None.’ Then Epiphanius corrected them with the following comment, ‘It is clear you do not trouble about the other hours of the day, if you cease from prayer. The true monk should have prayer and psalmody continuously in his heart.’ (Sayings of the Desert Fathers, p. 57)

Thus, he suggested that by having more set hours of the day, the monks were neglecting this continual prayer of the heart and instead were satisfied only to pray when the clock told them it was time to do so. Frankly, this is kind of a cheap shot. An argument could equally be made that since the Palestinian monks were hearing the psalms more, they had better opportunity to memorize them and keep them always in their hearts—but the (Egyptian) sayings don’t see fit to give us the Palestinian abbot’s response!

In light of this argument between the two parties, John Cassian tries to take a middle path. After explaining the Egyptian system, and before talking about how to pray the day hours, he says this:

For, among [the Egyptians as opposed to the monasteries of Palestine and Mesopotamia] the offices that we are obliged to render to the Lord at different hours and at intervals of time [i.e., the day offices of Terce, Sext, and None] to the call of the summoner, are celebrated continuously and spontaneously throughout the course of the whole day, in tandem with their work. For they are constantly doing manual labor alone in their cells in such a way that they almost never omit meditating on the psalms and on other parts of Scripture, and to this they add entreaties and prayers at every moment, taking up the whole day in offices that we celebrate at fixed times. Hence, apart from the evening and

Morning Prayer for 6/21/2026

Proper 7

Rite I (Traditional language)

Rite II (Contemporary language)

Include Traditional (extra-BCP) Options

Remove Traditional (extra-BCP) Options

Use Lesser Feasts & Fasts 2018 Kalendar

Use House Kalendar

Pre-Office Angelus [+][-]

V. The Angel of the Lord announced to Mary
R. And she conceived by the Holy Spirit.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

V. Behold the handmaid of the Lord
R. Be it unto me according to your word

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

V. And the Word was made flesh.
R. And dwelled among us.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray:
Pour your grace into our hearts, O Lord, that we who have known the incarnation of your Son Jesus Christ, announced by an angel to the Virgin Mary, may by his cross and passion be brought to the glory of his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

R. The angel of the Lord announced unto Mary;
V. And she conceived by the Holy Ghost.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.

R. Behold the handmaid of the Lord:
V. Be it unto me according to Thy word.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.

R. And the Word was made flesh:
V. And dwelt among us.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.

V. Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray:
We beseech Thee, O Lord, pour thy grace into our hearts, that we who have known the incarnation of thy Son Jesus Christ, announced by an angel to the Virgin Mary, may by his cross and passion be brought to the glory of His resurrection, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Phillipians 1:2

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Phillipians 1:2

Confession of Sin [+][-]

Dearly beloved, we have come together in the presence of Almighty God our heavenly Father, to render thanks for the great benefits that we have received at his hands, to set forth his most worthy praise, to hear this holy Word, and to ask, for ourselves and on behalf of others, those things that are necessary for our life and our salvation. And so that we may prepare ourselves in heart and mind to worship him, let us kneel in silence, and with penitent and obedient hearts confess our sins, that we may obtain forgiveness by his infinite goodness and mercy.

Silence may be kept.

Almighty and most merciful Father, we have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep, we have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts, we have offended against thy holy laws, we have left undone those things which we ought to have done, and we have done those things which we ought not to have done. But thou, O Lord, have mercy upon us, spare thou those who confess their faults, restore thou those who are penitent, according to thy promises declared unto mankind in Christ Jesus our Lord; and grant, O most merciful Father, for his sake, that we may hereafter live a godly, righteous, and sober life, to the glory of thy holy Name. Amen.

The Almighty and merciful Lord grant us absolution and remission of all our sins, true repentance, amendment of life, and the grace and consolation of his Holy Spirit. Amen.

Dearly beloved, we have come together in the presence of Almighty God our heavenly Father, to set forth his praise, to hear his holy Word, and to ask, for ourselves and on behalf of others, those things that are necessary for our life and our salvation. And so that we may prepare ourselves in heart and mind to worship him, let us kneel in silence, and with penitent and obedient hearts confess our sins, that we may obtain forgiveness by his infinite goodness and mercy.

Silence may be kept.

Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent. For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen.

Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us all our sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in eternal life. Amen.

The Invitatory and Psalter

V. Lord, open our lips.
R. And our mouth shall proclaim your praise.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:*
As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

V. O Lord, open thou our lips.
R. And our mouth shall show forth thy praise.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost: *
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Alleluia.

Venite Psalm 95:1-7; 96:9, 13

The earth is the Lord's for he made it: O come, let us adore him.

O come, let us sing unto the Lord; *
let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving *
and show ourselves glad in him with psalms.

The earth is the Lord's for he made it: O come, let us adore him.[+][-]

For the Lord is a great God, *
      and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are all the corners of the earth, *
      and the strength of the hills is his also.
The sea is his, and he made it, *
      and his hands prepared the dry land.

The earth is the Lord's for he made it: O come, let us adore him.

O come, let us worship and fall down *
      and kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For he is the Lord our God, *
      and we are the people of his pasture
      and the sheep of his hand.

The earth is the Lord's for he made it: O come, let us adore him.

O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness; *
      let the whole earth stand in awe of him.
For he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth, *
      and with righteousness to judge the world
      and the peoples with his truth.

The earth is the Lord's for he made it: O come, let us adore him.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost: *
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

The earth is the Lord's for he made it: O come, let us adore him.

Venite Psalm 95:1-7

The earth is the Lord's for he made it: Come let us adore him.

Come, let us sing to the Lord; *
let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving *
and raise a loud shout to him with psalms.

The earth is the Lord's for he made it: Come let us adore him.[+][-]

For the Lord is a great God, *
      and a great King above all gods.
In his hand are the caverns of the earth, *
      and the heights of the hills are his also.
The sea is his, for he made it, *
      and his hands have molded the dry land.

The earth is the Lord's for he made it: Come let us adore him.

Come, let us bow down, and bend the knee, *
and kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand. *
Oh, that today you would hearken to his voice!

The earth is the Lord's for he made it: Come let us adore him.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:*
As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

The earth is the Lord's for he made it: Come let us adore him.

The Psalm or Psalms Appointed

Traditional language psalms

Contemporary language psalms

Monthly psalm cycle

Lectionary psalm cycle

Psalm 105: Part I Confitemini Domino

Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his face evermore.

¹  GIVE thanks unto the LORD, and call upon his Name; *
      tell the people what things he hath done.
²   O let your songs be of him, and praise him; *
      and let your talking be of all his wondrous works.
³   Rejoice in his holy Name; *
      let the heart of them rejoice that seek the LORD.
⁴   Seek the LORD and his strength; *
      seek his face evermore.
⁵   Remember the marvellous works that he hath done; *
      his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth;
⁶   O ye seed of Abraham his servant, *
      ye children of Jacob his chosen.
⁷   He is the LORD our God; *
      his judgments are in all the world.
⁸   He hath been alway mindful of his covenant and promise, *
      that he made to a thousand generations;
⁹   Even the covenant that he made with Abraham; *
      and the oath that he sware unto Isaac;
¹⁰   And appointed the same unto Jacob for a law, *
      and to Israel for an everlasting testament;
¹¹   Saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, *
      the lot of your inheritance:
¹²   When there were yet but a few of them, *
      and they strangers in the land;
¹³   What time as they went from one nation to another, *
      from one kingdom to another people;
¹⁴   He suffered no man to do them wrong, *
      but reproved even kings for their sakes;
¹⁵   Touch not mine anointed, *
      and do my prophets no harm.
¹⁶   Moreover, he called for a dearth upon the land, *
      and destroyed all the provision of bread.
¹⁷   But he had sent a man before them, *
      even Joseph, who was sold to be a bond-servant;
¹⁸   Whose feet they hurt in the stocks; *
      the iron entered into his soul;
¹⁹   Until the time came that his cause was known: *
      the word of the LORD tried him.
²⁰   The king sent, and delivered him; *
      the prince of the people let him go free.
²¹   He made him lord also of his house, *
      and ruler of all his substance;
²²   That he might inform his princes after his will, *
      and teach his senators wisdom.
²³   Israel also came into Egypt, *
      and Jacob was a stranger in the land of Ham.
²⁴   And he increased his people exceedingly, *
      and made them stronger than their enemies;
²⁵   Whose heart turned so, that they hated his people, *
      and dealt untruly with his servants.
²⁶   Then sent he Moses his servant, *
      and Aaron whom he had chosen.
²⁷   And these showed his tokens among them, *
      and wonders in the land of Ham.
²⁸   He sent darkness, and it was dark; *
      and they were not obedient unto his word.
²⁹   He turned their waters into blood, *
      and slew their fish.
³⁰   Their land brought forth frogs; *
      yea, even in their kings' chambers.
³¹   He spake the word, and there came all manner of flies, *
      and lice in all their quarters.
³²   He gave them hailstones for rain; *
      and flames of fire in their land.
³³   He smote their vines also and fig-trees; *
      and destroyed the trees that were in their coasts.
³⁴   He spake the word, and the grasshoppers came, and caterpillars innumerable, *
      and did eat up all the grass in their land, and devoured the fruit of their ground.
³⁵   He smote all the firstborn in their land; *
      even the chief of all their strength.
³⁶   He brought them forth also with silver and gold; *
      there was not one feeble person among their tribes.
³⁷   Egypt was glad at their departing; *
      for they were afraid of them.
³⁸   He spread out a cloud to be a covering, *
      and fire to give light in the night season.
³⁹   At their desire he brought quails; *
      and he filled them with the bread of heaven.
⁴⁰   He opened the rock of stone, and the waters flowed out, *
      so that rivers ran in the dry places.
⁴¹   For why? he remembered his holy promise; *
      and Abraham his servant.
⁴²   And he brought forth his people with joy, *
      and his chosen with gladness;
⁴³   And gave them the lands of the heathen; *
      and they took the labours of the people in possession;
⁴⁴   That they might keep his statutes, *
      and observe his laws.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost: *
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his face evermore.

Psalm 105: Part I Confitemini Domino

Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his face evermore.

Search for the LORD and his strength; continually seek his face.

¹  Give thanks to the LORD and call upon his Name; *
      make known his deeds among the peoples.
²  Sing to him, sing praises to him, *
      and speak of all his marvelous works.
³  Glory in his holy Name; *
      let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.
⁴  Search for the LORD and his strength; *
      continually seek his face.
⁵  Remember the marvels he has done, *
      his wonders and the judgments of his mouth,
⁶  O offspring of Abraham his servant, *
      O children of Jacob his chosen.
⁷  He is the LORD our God; *
      his judgments prevail in all the world.
⁸  He has always been mindful of his covenant, *
      the promise he made for a thousand generations:
⁹  The covenant he made with Abraham, *
      the oath that he swore to Isaac,
¹⁰  Which he established as a statute for Jacob, *
      an everlasting covenant for Israel,
¹¹  Saying, "To you will I give the land of Canaan *
      to be your allotted inheritance."
¹²  When they were few in number, *
      of little account, and sojourners in the land,
¹³  Wandering from nation to nation *
      and from one kingdom to another,
¹⁴  He let no one oppress them *
      and rebuked kings for their sake,
¹⁵  Saying, "Do not touch my anointed *
      and do my prophets no harm."
¹⁶  Then he called for a famine in the land *
      and destroyed the supply of bread.
¹⁷  He sent a man before them, *
      Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
¹⁸  They bruised his feet in fetters; *
      his neck they put in an iron collar.
¹⁹  Until his prediction came to pass, *
      the word of the LORD tested him.
²⁰  The king sent and released him; *
      the ruler of the peoples set him free.
²¹  He set him as a master over his household, *
      as a ruler over all his possessions,
²²  To instruct his princes according to his will *
      and to teach his elders wisdom.

Psalm 105: Part II Et intravit Israel
²³  Israel came into Egypt, *
      and Jacob became a sojourner in the land of Ham.
²⁴  The LORD made his people exceedingly fruitful; *
      he made them stronger than their enemies;
²⁵  Whose heart he turned, so that they hated his people, *
      and dealt unjustly with his servants.
²⁶  He sent Moses his servant, *
      and Aaron whom he had chosen.
²⁷  They worked his signs among them, *
      and portents in the land of Ham.
²⁸  He sent darkness, and it grew dark; *
      but the Egyptians rebelled against his words.
²⁹  He turned their waters into blood *
      and caused their fish to die.
³⁰  Their land was overrun by frogs, *
      in the very chambers of their kings.
³¹  He spoke, and there came swarms of insects *
      and gnats within all their borders.
³²  He gave them hailstones instead of rain, *
      and flames of fire throughout their land.
³³  He blasted their vines and their fig trees *
      and shattered every tree in their country.
³⁴  He spoke, and the locust came, *
      and young locusts without number,
³⁵  Which ate up all the green plants in their land *
      and devoured the fruit of their soil.
³⁶  He struck down the firstborn of their land, *
      the firstfruits of all their strength.
³⁷  He led out his people with silver and gold; *
      in all their tribes there was not one that stumbled.
³⁸  Egypt was glad of their going, *
      because they were afraid of them.
³⁹  He spread out a cloud for a covering *
      and a fire to give light in the night season.
⁴⁰  They asked, and quails appeared, *
      and he satisfied them with bread from heaven.
⁴¹  He opened the rock, and water flowed, *
      so the river ran in the dry places.
⁴²  For God remembered his holy word *
      and Abraham his servant.
⁴³  So he led forth his people with gladness, *
      his chosen with shouts of joy.
⁴⁴  He gave his people the lands of the nations, *
      and they took the fruit of others' toil,
⁴⁵  That they might keep his statutes *
      and observe his laws. Hallelujah!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost: *
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:*
As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his face evermore.

Search for the LORD and his strength; continually seek his face.

Psalm 66 Jubilate Deo

For all the world shall worship thee, sing of thee and praise thy Name.

¹  O BE joyful in God, all ye lands; *
      sing praises unto the honour of his Name; make his praise to be glorious.
²   Say unto God, O how wonderful art thou in thy works! *
      through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies bow down unto thee.
³   For all the world shall worship thee, *
      sing of thee, and praise thy Name.
⁴   O come hither, and behold the works of God; *
      how wonderful he is in his doing toward the children of men.
⁵   He turned the sea into dry land, *
      so that they went through the water on foot; there did we rejoice thereof.
⁶   He ruleth with his power for ever; his eyes behold the nations: *
      and such as will not believe shall not be able to exalt themselves.
⁷   O praise our God, ye peoples, *
      and make the voice of his praise to be heard;
⁸   Who holdeth our soul in life; *
      and suffereth not our feet to slip.
⁹   For thou, O God, hast proved us; *
      thou also hast tried us, like as silver is tried.
¹⁰   Thou broughtest us into the snare; *
      and laidest trouble upon our loins.
¹¹   Thou sufferedst men to ride over our heads; *
      we went through fire and water, and thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place.
¹²   I will go into thine house with burnt-offerings, and will pay thee my vows, *
      which I promised with my lips, and spake with my mouth, when I was in trouble.
¹³   I will offer unto thee fat burnt-sacrifices, with the incense of rams; *
      I will offer bullocks and goats.
¹⁴   O come hither, and hearken, all ye that fear God; *
      and I will tell you what he hath done for my soul.
¹⁵   I called unto him with my mouth, *
      and gave him praises with my tongue.
¹⁶   If I incline unto wickedness with mine heart, *
      the Lord will not hear me.
¹⁷   But God hath heard me; *
      and considered the voice of my prayer.
¹⁸   Praised be God, who hath not cast out my prayer, *
      nor turned his mercy from me.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost: *
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

For all the world shall worship thee, sing of thee and praise thy Name.

Psalm 67 Deus misereatur

God even our own God shall give us his blessing.

¹  GOD be merciful unto us, and bless us, *
      and show us the light of his countenance, and be merciful unto us;
²   That thy way may be known upon earth, *
      thy saving health among all nations.
³   Let the peoples praise thee, O God; *
      yea, let all the peoples praise thee.
⁴   O let the nations rejoice and be glad; *
      for thou shalt judge the folk righteously, and govern the nations upon earth.
⁵   Let the peoples praise thee, O God; *
      yea, let all the peoples praise thee.
⁶   Then shall the earth bring forth her increase; *
      and God, even our own God, shall give us his blessing.
⁷   God shall bless us; *
      and all the ends of the world shall fear him.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost: *
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

God even our own God shall give us his blessing.

Psalm 66 Jubilate Deo

All the earth bows down before you, sings to you, sings out your Name.

¹  Be joyful in God, all you lands; *
      sing the glory of his Name; sing the glory of his praise.
²  Say to God, "How awesome are your deeds! *
      because of your great strength your enemies cringe before you.
³  All the earth bows down before you, *
      sings to you, sings out your Name."
⁴  Come now and see the works of God, *
      how wonderful he is in his doing toward all people.
⁵  He turned the sea into dry land, so that they went through the water on foot, *
      and there we rejoiced in him.
⁶  In his might he rules for ever; his eyes keep watch over the nations; *
      let no rebel rise up against him.
⁷  Bless our God, you peoples; *
      make the voice of his praise to be heard;
⁸  Who holds our souls in life, *
      and will not allow our feet to slip.
⁹  For you, O God, have proved us; *
      you have tried us just as silver is tried.
¹⁰  You brought us into the snare; *
      you laid heavy burdens upon our backs.
¹¹  You let enemies ride over our heads; we went through fire and water; *
      but you brought us out into a place of refreshment.
¹²  I will enter your house with burnt-offerings and will pay you my vows, *
      which I promised with my lips and spoke with my mouth when I was in trouble.
¹³  I will offer you sacrifices of fat beasts with the smoke of rams; *
      I will give you oxen and goats.
¹⁴  Come and listen, all you who fear God, *
      and I will tell you what he has done for me.
¹⁵  I called out to him with my mouth, *
      and his praise was on my tongue.
¹⁶  If I had found evil in my heart, *
      the Lord would not have heard me;
¹⁷  But in truth God has heard me; *
      he has attended to the voice of my prayer.
¹⁸  Blessed be God, who has not rejected my prayer, *
      nor withheld his love from me.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost: *
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:*
As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

All the earth bows down before you, sings to you, sings out your Name.

Psalm 67 Deus misereatur

May God, our own God, give us his blessing.

¹  May God be merciful to us and bless us, *
      show us the light of his countenance and come to us.
²  Let your ways be known upon earth, *
      your saving health among all nations.
³  Let the peoples praise you, O God; *
      let all the peoples praise you.
⁴  Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, *
      for you judge the peoples with equity and guide all the nations upon earth.
⁵  Let the peoples praise you, O God; *
      let all the peoples praise you.
⁶  The earth has brought forth her increase; *
      may God, our own God, give us his blessing.
⁷  May God give us his blessing, *
      and may all the ends of the earth stand in awe of him.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost: *
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:*
As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

May God, our own God, give us his blessing.

The Lessons

A Reading from Numbers 14:26-45

KJV

RSV

NRSV

And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me. Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you: Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward which have murmured against me. Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised. But as for you, your carcasses, they shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcasses be wasted in the wilderness. After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise. I the LORD have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die. And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land, Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the LORD. But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of the men that went to search the land, lived still. And Moses told these sayings unto all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly. And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up unto the place which the LORD hath promised: for we have sinned. And Moses said, Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of the LORD? but it shall not prosper. Go not up, for the LORD is not among you; that ye be not smitten before your enemies. For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and ye shall fall by the sword: because ye are turned away from the LORD, therefore the LORD will not be with you. But they presumed to go up unto the hill top: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and Moses, departed not out of the camp. Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and smote them, and discomfited them, even unto Hormah.

And the LORD said to Moses and to Aaron, "How long shall this wicked congregation murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the people of Israel, which they murmur against me. Say to them, `As I live,' says the LORD, `what you have said in my hearing I will do to you: your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness; and of all your number, numbered from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against me, not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephun'neh and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I will bring in, and they shall know the land which you have despised. But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years, and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness. According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for every day a year, you shall bear your iniquity, forty years, and you shall know my displeasure.' I, the LORD, have spoken; surely this will I do to all this wicked congregation that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die." And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, and who returned and made all the congregation to murmur against him by bringing up an evil report against the land, the men who brought up an evil report of the land, died by plague before the LORD. But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephun'neh remained alive, of those men who went to spy out the land. And Moses told these words to all the people of Israel, and the people mourned greatly. And they rose early in the morning, and went up to the heights of the hill country, saying, "See, we are here, we will go up to the place which the LORD has promised; for we have sinned." But Moses said, "Why now are you transgressing the command of the LORD, for that will not succeed? Do not go up lest you be struck down before your enemies, for the LORD is not among you. For there the Amal'ekites and the Canaanites are before you, and you shall fall by the sword; because you have turned back from following the LORD, the LORD will not be with you." But they presumed to go up to the heights of the hill country, although neither the ark of the covenant of the LORD, nor Moses, departed out of the camp. Then the Amal'ekites and the Canaanites who dwelt in that hill country came down, and defeated them and pursued them, even to Hormah.

And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying: How long shall this wicked congregation complain against me? I have heard the complaints of the Israelites, which they complain against me. Say to them, "As I live," says the LORD, "I will do to you the very things I heard you say: your dead bodies shall fall in this very wilderness; and of all your number, included in the census, from twenty years old and upward, who have complained against me, not one of you shall come into the land in which I swore to settle you, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. But your little ones, who you said would become booty, I will bring in, and they shall know the land that you have despised. But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years, and shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead bodies lies in the wilderness. According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, for every day a year, you shall bear your iniquity, forty years, and you shall know my displeasure." I the LORD have spoken; surely I will do thus to all this wicked congregation gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die. And the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made all the congregation complain against him by bringing a bad report about the land-- the men who brought an unfavorable report about the land died by a plague before the LORD. But Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh alone remained alive, of those men who went to spy out the land. When Moses told these words to all the Israelites, the people mourned greatly. They rose early in the morning and went up to the heights of the hill country, saying, "Here we are. We will go up to the place that the LORD has promised, for we have sinned." But Moses said, "Why do you continue to transgress the command of the LORD? That will not succeed. Do not go up, for the LORD is not with you; do not let yourselves be struck down before your enemies. For the Amalekites and the Canaanites will confront you there, and you shall fall by the sword; because you have turned back from following the LORD, the LORD will not be with you." But they presumed to go up to the heights of the hill country, even though the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and Moses, had not left the camp. Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and defeated them, pursuing them as far as Hormah.

Here ends the Reading.

BCP canticle cycle

BCP canticle + Song of Zechariah

The Song of Zechariah Benedictus Dominus Deus
Luke 1:68-79

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, *
for he hath visited and redeemed his people;
And hath raised up a mighty salvation for us *
in the house of his servant David,
As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, *
which have been since the world began:
That we should be saved from our enemies, *
and from the hand of all that hate us;
To perform the mercy promised to our forefathers, *
and to remember his holy covenant;
To perform the oath which he sware to our forefather Abraham, *
that he would give us,
That we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies *
might serve him without fear,
In holiness and righteousness before him, *
all the days of our life.

And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest, *
for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord
to prepare his ways;
To give knowledge of salvation unto his people *
for the remission of their sins,
Through the tender mercy of our God, *
whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us;
To give light to them that sit in darkness
and in the shadow of death, *
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost: *
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

The Song of Zechariah Benedictus Dominus Deus
Luke 1: 68-79

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; *
he has come to his people and set them free.
He has raised up for us a mighty savior, *
born of the house of his servant David.
Through his holy prophets he promised of old,
that he would save us from our enemies, *
from the hands of all who hate us.
He promised to show mercy to our fathers *
and to remember his holy covenant.
This was the oath he swore to our father Abraham, *
to set us free from the hands of our enemies,
Free to worship him without fear, *
holy and righteous in his sight
all the days of our life.

You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High, *
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way,
To give his people knowledge of salvation *
by the forgiveness of their sins.
In the tender compassion of our God *
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
To shine on those who dwell in darkness and the
shadow of death, *
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:*
As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.

We Praise Thee Te Deum laudamus

We praise thee, O God; we acknowledge thee to be the Lord.
All the earth doth worship thee, the Father everlasting.
To thee all Angels cry aloud,
the Heavens and all the Powers therein.
To thee Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry:
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabaoth;
Heaven and earth are full of the majesty of thy glory.
The glorious company of the apostles praise thee.
The goodly fellowship of the prophets praise thee.
The noble army of martyrs praise thee.
The holy Church throughout all the world
doth acknowledge thee,
the Father, of an infinite majesty,
thine adorable, true, and only Son,
also the Holy Ghost the Comforter.

Thou art the King of glory, O Christ.
Thou art the everlasting Son of the Father.
When thou tookest upon thee to deliver man,
thou didst humble thyself to be born of a Virgin.
When thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death,
thou didst open the kingdom of heaven to all believers.
Thou sittest at the right hand of God, in the glory of the Father.
We believe that thou shalt come to be our judge.
We therefore pray thee, help thy servants,
whom thou hast redeemed with thy precious blood.
Make them to be numbered with thy saints,
in glory everlasting.

You are God Te Deum laudamus

You are God: we praise you;
You are the Lord; we acclaim you;
You are the eternal Father:
All creation worships you.
To you all angels, all the powers of heaven,
Cherubim and Seraphim, sing in endless praise:
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might,
heaven and earth are full of your glory.
The glorious company of apostles praise you.
The noble fellowship of prophets praise you.
The white-robed army of martyrs praise you.
Throughout the world the holy Church acclaims you;
Father, of majesty unbounded,
your true and only Son, worthy of all worship,
and the Holy Spirit, advocate and guide.

You, Christ, are the king of glory,
the eternal Son of the Father.
When you became man to set us free
you did not shun the Virgin's womb.
You overcame the sting of death
and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.
You are seated at God's right hand in glory.
We believe that you will come and be our judge.
Come then, Lord, and help your people,
bought with the price of your own blood,
and bring us with your saints
to glory everlasting.

A Reading from Acts 15:1-12

And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question. And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy unto all the brethren. And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them. But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses. And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter. And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the LORD Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they. Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them.

But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brethren, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved." And when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question. So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoeni'cia and Sama'ria, reporting the conversion of the Gentiles, and they gave great joy to all the brethren. When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them. But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up, and said, "It is necessary to circumcise them, and to charge them to keep the law of Moses." The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter. And after there had been much debate, Peter rose and said to them, "Brethren, you know that in the early days God made choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God who knows the heart bore witness to them, giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us; and he made no distinction between us and them, but cleansed their hearts by faith. Now therefore why do you make trial of God by putting a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we shall be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will." And all the assembly kept silence; and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.

Then certain individuals came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved." And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to discuss this question with the apostles and the elders. So they were sent on their way by the church, and as they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, they reported the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the believers. When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them. But some believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and said, "It is necessary for them to be circumcised and ordered to keep the law of Moses." The apostles and the elders met together to consider this matter. After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, "My brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that I should be the one through whom the Gentiles would hear the message of the good news and become believers. And God, who knows the human heart, testified to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us; and in cleansing their hearts by faith he has made no distinction between them and us. Now therefore why are you putting God to the test by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear? On the contrary, we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will." The whole assembly kept silence, and listened to Barnabas and Paul as they told of all the signs and wonders that God had done through them among the Gentiles.

Here ends the Reading.

The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, be rejected by the elders, chief priests and scribes, he will be killed, and on the third day be raised.