Daily Lectionary:

Morning: Psalm 147:12-20
Zechariah 4:1-14
Ephesians 4:17-32
Matthew 9:1-8
Evening: Psalm 113:1-9

Morning: Psalm 147:12-20

¹²Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem!

Praise your God, O Zion!

¹³For he strengthens the bars of your gates;

he blesses your children within you.

¹⁴He grants peace within your borders;

he fills you with the finest of wheat.

¹⁵He sends out his command to the earth;

his word runs swiftly.

¹⁶He gives snow like wool;

he scatters frost like ashes.

¹⁷He hurls down hail like crumbs—

who can stand before his cold?

¹⁸He sends out his word, and melts them;

he makes his wind blow, and the waters flow.

¹⁹He declares his word to Jacob,

his statutes and ordinances to Israel.

²⁰He has not dealt thus with any other nation;

they do not know his ordinances.

Praise the Lord!

Zechariah 4:1-14

¹The angel who talked with me came again, and wakened me, as one is wakened from sleep. ²He said to me, "What do you see?" And I said, "I see a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl on the top of it; there are seven lamps on it, with seven lips on each of the lamps that are on the top of it. ³And by it there are two olive trees, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left." ⁴I said to the angel who talked with me, "What are these, my lord?" ⁵Then the angel who talked with me answered me, "Do you not know what these are?" I said, "No, my lord." ⁶He said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the LORD of hosts. ⁷What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain; and he shall bring out the top stone amid shouts of 'Grace, grace to it!'"

⁸Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ⁹"The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also complete it. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you. ¹⁰For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel.

"These seven are the eyes of the LORD, which range through the whole earth." ¹¹Then I said to him, "What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?" ¹²And a second time I said to him, "What are these two branches of the olive trees, which pour out the oil through the two golden pipes?" ¹³He said to me, "Do you not know what these are?" I said, "No, my lord." ¹⁴Then he said, "These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth."

Ephesians 4:17-32

¹⁷Now this I affirm and insist on in the Lord: you must no longer live as the Gentiles live, in the futility of their minds. ¹⁸They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart. ¹⁹They have lost all sensitivity and have abandoned themselves to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. ²⁰That is not the way you learned Christ! ²¹For surely you have heard about him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus. ²²You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, ²³and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, ²⁴and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

²⁵So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. ²⁶Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, ²⁷and do not make room for the devil. ²⁸Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. ²⁹Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. ³⁰And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. ³¹Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, ³²and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.

Matthew 9:1-8

¹And after getting into a boat he crossed the sea and came to his own town.

²And just then some people were carrying a paralyzed man lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven." ³Then some of the scribes said to themselves, "This man is blaspheming." ⁴But Jesus, perceiving their thoughts, said, "Why do you think evil in your hearts? ⁵For which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Stand up and walk'? ⁶But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins"—he then said to the paralytic—"Stand up, take your bed and go to your home." ⁷And he stood up and went to his home. ⁸When the crowds saw it, they were filled with awe, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to human beings.

Evening: Psalm 113:1-9

¹Praise the LORD!

Praise, O servants of the LORD;

praise the name of the LORD.

²Blessed be the name of the LORD

from this time on and forevermore.

³From the rising of the sun to its setting

the name of the LORD is to be praised.

⁴The LORD is high above all nations,

and his glory above the heavens.

⁵Who is like the LORD our God,

who is seated on high,

⁶who looks far down

on the heavens and the earth?

⁷He raises the poor from the dust,

and lifts the needy from the ash heap,

⁸to make them sit with princes,

with the princes of his people.

⁹He gives the barren woman a home,

making her the joyous mother of children.