Daily Office

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them return to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them; and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

¹O come, let us sing to the Lord; *
let us heartily rejoice in the strength of our salvation.

²Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, *
and show ourselves glad in him with psalms.

³For the Lord is a great God, *
and a great King above all gods.

⁴In his hand are all the corners of the earth, *
and the strength of the hills is his also.

⁵The sea is his, and he made it; *
and his hands prepared the dry land.

⁶O come, let us worship and bow down, *
and kneel before the Lord our Maker.

⁷For he is the Lord our God, *
and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.

¹Give judgment for me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people; *
deliver me from the deceitful and the wicked.

²For you are the God of my strength; why have you put me from you? *
and why do I go so heavily while the enemy oppresses me?

³Send out your light and your truth, that they may lead me, *
and bring me to your holy hill *
and to your dwelling;

⁴That I may go to the altar of God, to the God of my joy and gladness; *
and on the harp I will give thanks to you, O God my God.

⁵Why are you so full of heaviness, O my soul? *
and why are you so disquieted within me?

⁶Put your trust in God; *
for I will yet give thanks to him, *
who is the help of my countenance, and my God.

¹“Brothers and fathers, listen to the defence which I now make to you.”

²When they heard that he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, they were even more quiet.

He said, ³“I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, instructed according to the strict tradition of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God, even as you all are today. ⁴I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women, ⁵as also the high priest and all the council of the elders testify, from whom also I received letters to the brothers, and travelled to Damascus to bring them also who were there to Jerusalem in bonds to be punished.

⁶“As I made my journey and came close to Damascus, about noon suddenly a great light shone around me from the sky. ⁷I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ ⁸I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ He said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you persecute.’

⁹“Those who were with me indeed saw the light and were afraid, but they didn’t understand the voice of him who spoke to me. ¹⁰I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ The Lord said to me, ‘Arise, and go into Damascus. There you will be told about all things which are appointed for you to do.’ ¹¹When I couldn’t see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of those who were with me, I came into Damascus.

¹²“One Ananias, a devout man according to the law, well reported of by all the Jews who lived in Damascus, ¹³came to me, and standing by me said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ In that very hour I looked up at him. ¹⁴He said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know his will, and to see the Righteous One, and to hear a voice from his mouth. ¹⁵For you will be a witness for him to all men of what you have seen and heard. ¹⁶Now why do you wait? Arise, be baptised, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’

¹⁷“When I had returned to Jerusalem and while I prayed in the temple, I fell into a trance ¹⁸and saw him saying to me, ‘Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not receive testimony concerning me from you.’ ¹⁹I said, ‘Lord, they themselves know that I imprisoned and beat in every synagogue those who believed in you. ²⁰When the blood of Stephen, your witness, was shed, I also was standing by, consenting to his death, and guarding the cloaks of those who killed him.’

²¹“He said to me, ‘Depart, for I will send you out far from here to the Gentiles.’ ”

²²They listened to him until he said that; then they lifted up their voice and said, “Rid the earth of this fellow, for he isn’t fit to live!”

²³As they cried out, threw off their cloaks, and threw dust into the air, ²⁴the commanding officer commanded him to be brought into the barracks, ordering him to be examined by scourging, that he might know for what crime they shouted against him like that. ²⁵When they had tied him up with straps, Paul asked the centurion who stood by, “Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman, and not found guilty?”

²⁶When the centurion heard it, he went to the commanding officer and told him, “Watch what you are about to do, for this man is a Roman!”

²⁷The commanding officer came and asked him, “Tell me, are you a Roman?”

He said, “Yes.”

²⁸The commanding officer answered, “I bought my citizenship for a great price.”

Paul said, “But I was born a Roman.”

²⁹Immediately those who were about to examine him departed from him, and the commanding officer also was afraid when he realised that he was a Roman, because he had bound him. ³⁰But on the next day, desiring to know the truth about why he was accused by the Jews, he freed him from the bonds and commanded the chief priests and all the council to come together, and brought Paul down and set him before them.