Daily Readings

¹   Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD.
²       Lord, hear my voice!
     Let your ears be attentive
          to the voice of my supplications!

³   If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities,
          Lord, who could stand?
⁴   But there is forgiveness with you,
          so that you may be revered.

⁵   I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
          and in his word I hope;
⁶   my soul waits for the Lord
          more than those who watch for the morning,
          more than those who watch for the morning.

⁷   O Israel, hope in the LORD!
          For with the LORD there is steadfast love,
          and with him is great power to redeem.
⁸   It is he who will redeem Israel
          from all its iniquities.

¹   Praise the Lord!
     Praise the Lord from the heavens;
          praise him in the heights!
²   Praise him, all his angels;
          praise him, all his host!

³   Praise him, sun and moon;
          praise him, all you shining stars!
⁴   Praise him, you highest heavens,
          and you waters above the heavens!

⁵   Let them praise the name of the Lord,
          for he commanded and they were created.
⁶   He established them forever and ever;
          he fixed their bounds, which cannot be passed.

⁷   Praise the Lord from the earth,
          you sea monsters and all deeps,
⁸   fire and hail, snow and frost,
          stormy wind fulfilling his command!

⁹   Mountains and all hills,
          fruit trees and all cedars!
¹⁰  Wild animals and all cattle,
          creeping things and flying birds!

¹¹  Kings of the earth and all peoples,
          princes and all rulers of the earth!
¹²  Young men and women alike,
          old and young together!

¹³  Let them praise the name of the Lord,
          for his name alone is exalted;
          his glory is above earth and heaven.
¹⁴  He has raised up a horn for his people,
          praise for all his faithful,
          for the people of Israel who are close to him.
     Praise the Lord!

¹There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish son of Abiel son of Zeror son of Becorath son of Aphiah, a Benjaminite, a man of wealth. ²He had a son whose name was Saul, a handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he; he stood head and shoulders above everyone else.

³Now the donkeys of Kish, Saul’s father, had strayed. So Kish said to his son Saul, “Take one of the boys with you; go and look for the donkeys.” ⁴He passed through the hill country of Ephraim and passed through the land of Shalishah, but they did not find them. And they passed through the land of Shaalim, but they were not there. Then he passed through the land of Benjamin, but they did not find them.

⁵When they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to the boy who was with him, “Let us turn back, or my father will stop worrying about the donkeys and worry about us.” ⁶But he said to him, “There is a man of God in this town; he is a man held in honor. Whatever he says always comes true. Let us go there now; perhaps he will tell us about the journey on which we have set out.” ⁷Then Saul replied to the boy, “But if we go, what can we bring the man? For the bread in our sacks is gone, and there is no present to bring to the man of God. What have we?” ⁸The boy answered Saul again, “Here, I have with me a quarter shekel of silver; I will give it to the man of God, to tell us our way.” ⁹(Formerly in Israel, anyone who went to inquire of God would say, “Come, let us go to the seer”; for the one who is now called a prophet was formerly called a seer.) ¹⁰Saul said to the boy, “Good; come, let us go.” So they went to the town where the man of God was.

¹¹ As they went up the hill to the town, they met some girls coming out to draw water, and said to them, “Is the seer here?” ¹² They answered, “Yes, there he is just ahead of you. Hurry; he has come just now to the town, because the people have a sacrifice today at the shrine. ¹³ As soon as you enter the town, you will find him, before he goes up to the shrine to eat. For the people will not eat until he comes, since he must bless the sacrifice; afterward those eat who are invited. Now go up, for you will meet him immediately.” ¹⁴ So they went up to the town. As they were entering the town, they saw Samuel coming out toward them on his way up to the shrine.

¹⁷"But as the time drew near for the fulfillment of the promise that God had made to Abraham, our people in Egypt increased and multiplied ¹⁸until another king who had not known Joseph ruled over Egypt. ¹⁹He dealt craftily with our race and forced our ancestors to abandon their infants so that they would die. ²⁰At this time Moses was born, and he was beautiful before God. For three months he was brought up in his father’s house; ²¹and when he was abandoned, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. ²²So Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in his words and deeds.

²³“When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his relatives, the Israelites. ²⁴When he saw one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. ²⁵He supposed that his kinsfolk would understand that God through him was rescuing them, but they did not understand. ²⁶The next day he came to some of them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you wrong each other?’ ²⁷But the man who was wronging his neighbor pushed Moses aside, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? ²⁸Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ ²⁹When he heard this, Moses fled and became a resident alien in the land of Midian. There he became the father of two sons.

³¹“Simon, Simon, listen! Satan has demanded to sift all of you like wheat, ³²but I have prayed for you that your own faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” ³³And he said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death!” ³⁴Jesus said, “I tell you, Peter, the cock will not crow this day, until you have denied three times that you know me.”

³⁵He said to them, “When I sent you out without a purse, bag, or sandals, did you lack anything?” They said, “No, not a thing.” ³⁶He said to them, “But now, the one who has a purse must take it, and likewise a bag. And the one who has no sword must sell his cloak and buy one. ³⁷For I tell you, this scripture must be fulfilled in me, ‘And he was counted among the lawless’; and indeed what is written about me is being fulfilled.” ³⁸They said, “Lord, look, here are two swords.” He replied, “It is enough.”

¹   Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven,
          whose sin is covered.
²   Happy are those to whom the LORD imputes no iniquity,
          and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

³   While I kept silence, my body wasted away
          through my groaning all day long.
⁴   For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
          my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah

⁵   Then I acknowledged my sin to you,
          and I did not hide my iniquity;
     I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,”
          and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah

⁶   Therefore let all who are faithful
          offer prayer to you;
     at a time of distress, the rush of mighty waters
          shall not reach them.

⁷   You are a hiding place for me;
          you preserve me from trouble;
          you surround me with glad cries of deliverance. Selah

⁸   I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go;
          I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
⁹   Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding,
          whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle,
          else it will not stay near you.

¹⁰   Many are the torments of the wicked,
          but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the LORD.
¹¹   Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, O righteous,
          and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.

¹   O LORD, you have searched me and known me.

²   You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
          you discern my thoughts from far away.
³   You search out my path and my lying down,
          and are acquainted with all my ways.
⁴   Even before a word is on my tongue,
          O LORD, you know it completely.
⁵   You hem me in, behind and before,
          and lay your hand upon me.
⁶   Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
          it is so high that I cannot attain it.

⁷   Where can I go from your spirit?
          Or where can I flee from your presence?

⁸   If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
          if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
⁹   If I take the wings of the morning
          and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
¹⁰  even there your hand shall lead me,
          and your right hand shall hold me fast.
¹¹  If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
          and the light around me become night,”
¹²  even the darkness is not dark to you;
          the night is as bright as the day,
          for darkness is as light to you.

¹³  For it was you who formed my inward parts;
          you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴  I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
          Wonderful are your works;
     that I know very well.
¹⁵       My frame was not hidden from you,
     when I was being made in secret,
          intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶  Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
     In your book were written
          all the days that were formed for me,
          when none of them as yet existed.
¹⁷  How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
          How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸  I try to count them — they are more than the sand;
          I come to the end — I am still with you.

¹⁹  O that you would kill the wicked, O God,
          and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me —
²⁰  those who speak of you maliciously,
          and lift themselves up against you for evil!
²¹  Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD?
          And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
²²  I hate them with perfect hatred;
          I count them my enemies.
²³  Search me, O God, and know my heart;
          test me and know my thoughts.
²⁴  See if there is any wicked way in me,
          and lead me in the way everlasting.