Book of Common Prayer

God the King

God the Supreme King^(A)

^(A)In Praise of God's Goodness^[a]

The Plan for Ending Mixed Marriages

10 While Ezra was bowing in prayer in front of the Temple, weeping and confessing these sins, a large group of Israelites—men, women, and children—gathered around him, weeping bitterly. ² Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel, of the clan of Elam, said to Ezra, “We have broken faith with God by marrying foreign women, but even so there is still hope for Israel. ³ Now we must make a solemn promise to our God that we will send these women and their children away. We will do what you and the others who honor God's commands advise us to do. We will do what God's Law demands. ⁴ It is your responsibility to act. We are behind you, so go ahead and get it done.”

⁵ So Ezra began by making the leaders of the priests, of the Levites, and of the rest of the people take an oath that they would do what Shecaniah had proposed. ⁶ Then he went from in front of the Temple into the living quarters of Jehohanan son of Eliashib, and spent the night^[a] there grieving over the unfaithfulness of the exiles. He did not eat or drink anything.

⁷ A message was sent throughout Jerusalem and Judah that all those who had returned from exile were to meet in Jerusalem ⁸ by order of the leaders of the people. If any failed to come within three days, all their property would be confiscated, and they would lose their right to be members of the community. ⁹ Within the three days, on the twentieth day of the ninth month, all the men living in the territory of Judah and Benjamin came to Jerusalem and assembled in the Temple square. It was raining hard, and because of the weather and the importance of the meeting everyone was trembling.

¹⁰ Ezra the priest stood up and spoke to them. He said, “You have been faithless and have brought guilt on Israel by marrying foreign women. ¹¹ Now then, confess your sins to the Lord, the God of your ancestors, and do what pleases him. Separate yourselves from the foreigners living in our land and get rid of your foreign wives.”

¹² The people shouted in answer, “We will do whatever you say.” ¹³ But they added, “The crowd is too big, and it's raining hard. We can't stand here in the open like this. This isn't something that can be done in one or two days, because so many of us are involved in this sin. ¹⁴ Let our officials stay in Jerusalem and take charge of the matter. Then let anyone who has a foreign wife come at a set time, together with the leaders and the judges of his city. In this way God's anger over this situation will be turned away.” ¹⁵ No one was opposed to the plan except Jonathan son of Asahel and Jahzeiah son of Tikvah, who had the support of Meshullam and of Shabbethai, a Levite.

¹⁶ The returned exiles accepted the plan, so Ezra the priest appointed^[b] men from among the heads of the clans and recorded their names. On the first day of the tenth month they began their investigation, ¹⁷ and within the next three months they investigated all the cases of men with foreign wives.

Paul's Defense before Felix

¹⁰ The governor then motioned to Paul to speak, and Paul said,

“I know that you have been a judge over this nation for many years, and so I am happy to defend myself before you. ¹¹ As you can find out for yourself, it was no more than twelve days ago that I went to Jerusalem to worship. ¹² The Jews did not find me arguing with anyone in the Temple, nor did they find me stirring up the people, either in the synagogues or anywhere else in the city. ¹³ Nor can they give you proof of the accusations they now bring against me. ¹⁴ I do admit this to you: I worship the God of our ancestors by following that Way which they say is false. But I also believe in everything written in the Law of Moses and the books of the prophets. ¹⁵ I have the same hope in God that these themselves have, namely, that all people, both the good and the bad, will rise from death. ¹⁶ And so I do my best always to have a clear conscience before God and people.

^17 (A)“After being away from Jerusalem for several years, I went there to take some money to my own people and to offer sacrifices. ¹⁸ It was while I was doing this that they found me in the Temple after I had completed the ceremony of purification. There was no crowd with me and no disorder. ¹⁹ But some Jews from the province of Asia were there; they themselves ought to come before you and make their accusations if they have anything against me. ²⁰ Or let these who are here tell what crime they found me guilty of when I stood before the Council— ^21 (B)except for the one thing I called out when I stood before them: ‘I am being tried by you today for believing that the dead will rise to life.’”

¹² Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your rich neighbors—for they will invite you back, and in this way you will be paid for what you did. ¹³ When you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind; ¹⁴ and you will be blessed, because they are not able to pay you back. God will repay you on the day the good people rise from death.”

The Parable of the Great Feast^(A)

¹⁵ When one of the guests sitting at the table heard this, he said to Jesus, “How happy are those who will sit down at the feast in the Kingdom of God!”

¹⁶ Jesus said to him, “There was once a man who was giving a great feast to which he invited many people. ¹⁷ When it was time for the feast, he sent his servant to tell his guests, ‘Come, everything is ready!’ ¹⁸ But they all began, one after another, to make excuses. The first one told the servant, ‘I have bought a field and must go and look at it; please accept my apologies.’ ¹⁹ Another one said, ‘I have bought five pairs of oxen and am on my way to try them out; please accept my apologies.’ ²⁰ Another one said, ‘I have just gotten married, and for that reason I cannot come.’ ²¹ The servant went back and told all this to his master. The master was furious and said to his servant, ‘Hurry out to the streets and alleys of the town, and bring back the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ ²² Soon the servant said, ‘Your order has been carried out, sir, but there is room for more.’ ²³ So the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the country roads and lanes and make people come in, so that my house will be full. ²⁴ I tell you all that none of those who were invited will taste my dinner!’”