Friday 20 July 2007 DAILY LECTIONARY

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Fri Jul 20 02:00:00 EDT 2007


Friday 20 July 2007 
DAILY LECTIONARY

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1 Samuel 21:1-15

David came to Nob to the priest Ahimelech. Ahimelech came trembling to
meet David, and said to him, 'Why are you alone, and no one with you?'
David said to the priest Ahimelech, 'The king has charged me with a
matter, and said to me, "No one must know anything of the matter about
which I send you, and with which I have charged you." I have made an
appointment with the young men for such and such a place. Now then, what
have you at hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever is here.'
The priest answered David, 'I have no ordinary bread at hand, only holy
bread-provided that the young men have kept themselves from women.'
David answered the priest, 'Indeed, women have been kept from us as
always when I go on an expedition; the vessels of the young men are holy
even when it is a common journey; how much more today will their vessels
be holy?' So the priest gave him the holy bread; for there was no bread
there except the bread of the Presence, which is removed from before the
Lord to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away. 
Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained
before the Lord; his name was Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul's
shepherds. 
David said to Ahimelech, 'Is there no spear or sword here with you? I
did not bring my sword or my weapons with me, because the king's
business required haste.' The priest said, 'The sword of Goliath the
Philistine, whom you killed in the valley of Elah, is here wrapped in a
cloth behind the ephod; if you will take that, take it, for there is
none here except that one.' David said, 'There is none like it; give it
to me.' 
David rose and fled that day from Saul; he went to King Achish of Gath.
The servants of Achish said to him, 'Is this not David the king of the
land? Did they not sing to one another of him in dances,
"Saul has killed his thousands,
   and David his tens of thousands"?' 
David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of King Achish
of Gath. So he changed his behaviour before them; he pretended to be mad
when in their presence. He scratched marks on the doors of the gate, and
let his spittle run down his beard. Achish said to his servants, 'Look,
you see the man is mad; why then have you brought him to me? Do I lack
madmen, that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my
presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?'
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Acts 13:13-25

Then Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in
Pamphylia. John, however, left them and returned to Jerusalem; but they
went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And on the sabbath
day they went into the synagogue and sat down. After the reading of the
law and the prophets, the officials of the synagogue sent them a
message, saying, 'Brothers, if you have any word of exhortation for the
people, give it.' So Paul stood up and with a gesture began to speak:
'You Israelites, and others who fear God, listen. The God of this people
Israel chose our ancestors and made the people great during their stay
in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it. For
about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness. After he had
destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land
as an inheritance for about four hundred and fifty years. After that he
gave them judges until the time of the prophet Samuel. Then they asked
for a king; and God gave them Saul son of Kish, a man of the tribe of
Benjamin, who reigned for forty years. When he had removed him, he made
David their king. In his testimony about him he said, "I have found
David, son of Jesse, to be a man after my heart, who will carry out all
my wishes." Of this man's posterity God has brought to Israel a Saviour,
Jesus, as he promised; before his coming John had already proclaimed a
baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as John was
finishing his work, he said, "What do you suppose that I am? I am not
he. No, but one is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong
of the sandals on his feet."
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Mark 3:7-19a

Jesus departed with his disciples to the lake, and a great multitude
from Galilee followed him; hearing all that he was doing, they came to
him in great numbers from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan,
and the region around Tyre and Sidon. He told his disciples to have a
boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush
him; for he had cured many, so that all who had diseases pressed upon
him to touch him. Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down
before him and shouted, 'You are the Son of God!' But he sternly ordered
them not to make him known. 
He went up the mountain and called to him those whom he wanted, and they
came to him. And he appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles, to be
with him, and to be sent out to proclaim the message, and to have
authority to cast out demons. So he appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom
he gave the name Peter); James son of Zebedee and John the brother of
James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder);
and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and
James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, and Judas
Iscariot, who betrayed him.
Then he went home;
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Morning Psalms:  Psalm 31

Psalm 31

In you, O Lord, I seek refuge;
   do not let me ever be put to shame;
   in your righteousness deliver me. 
Incline your ear to me;
   rescue me speedily.
Be a rock of refuge for me,
   a strong fortress to save me. 


You are indeed my rock and my fortress;
   for your name's sake lead me and guide me, 
take me out of the net that is hidden for me,
   for you are my refuge. 
Into your hand I commit my spirit;
   you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God. 


You hate those who pay regard to worthless idols,
   but I trust in the Lord. 
I will exult and rejoice in your steadfast love,
   because you have seen my affliction;
   you have taken heed of my adversities, 
and have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy;
   you have set my feet in a broad place. 


Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress;
   my eye wastes away from grief,
   my soul and body also. 
For my life is spent with sorrow,
   and my years with sighing;
my strength fails because of my misery,
   and my bones waste away. 


I am the scorn of all my adversaries,
   a horror to my neighbours,
an object of dread to my acquaintances;
   those who see me in the street flee from me. 
I have passed out of mind like one who is dead;
   I have become like a broken vessel. 
For I hear the whispering of many-
   terror all around!-
as they scheme together against me,
   as they plot to take my life. 


But I trust in you, O Lord;
   I say, 'You are my God.' 
My times are in your hand;
   deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors. 
Let your face shine upon your servant;
   save me in your steadfast love. 
Do not let me be put to shame, O Lord,
   for I call on you;
let the wicked be put to shame;
   let them go dumbfounded to Sheol. 
Let the lying lips be stilled
   that speak insolently against the righteous
   with pride and contempt. 


O how abundant is your goodness
   that you have laid up for those who fear you,
and accomplished for those who take refuge in you,
   in the sight of everyone! 
In the shelter of your presence you hide them
   from human plots;
you hold them safe under your shelter
   from contentious tongues. 


Blessed be the Lord,
   for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me
   when I was beset as a city under siege. 
I had said in my alarm,
   'I am driven far from your sight.'
But you heard my supplications
   when I cried out to you for help. 


Love the Lord, all you his saints.
   The Lord preserves the faithful,
   but abundantly repays the one who acts haughtily. 
Be strong, and let your heart take courage,
   all you who wait for the Lord.
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Evening Psalms: Psalm 35

Psalm 35

Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with me;
   fight against those who fight against me! 
Take hold of shield and buckler,
   and rise up to help me! 
Draw the spear and javelin
   against my pursuers;
say to my soul,
   'I am your salvation.' 


Let them be put to shame and dishonour
   who seek after my life.
Let them be turned back and confounded
   who devise evil against me. 
Let them be like chaff before the wind,
   with the angel of the Lord driving them on. 
Let their way be dark and slippery,
   with the angel of the Lord pursuing them. 


For without cause they hid their net for me;
   without cause they dug a pit for my life. 
Let ruin come on them unawares.
And let the net that they hid ensnare them;
   let them fall in it-to their ruin. 


Then my soul shall rejoice in the Lord,
   exulting in his deliverance. 
All my bones shall say,
   'O Lord, who is like you?
You deliver the weak
   from those too strong for them,
   the weak and needy from those who despoil them.' 


Malicious witnesses rise up;
   they ask me about things I do not know. 
They repay me evil for good;
   my soul is forlorn. 
But as for me, when they were sick,
   I wore sackcloth;
   I afflicted myself with fasting.
I prayed with head bowed on my bosom, 
   as though I grieved for a friend or a brother;
I went about as one who laments for a mother,
   bowed down and in mourning. 


But at my stumbling they gathered in glee,
   they gathered together against me;
ruffians whom I did not know
   tore at me without ceasing; 
they impiously mocked more and more,
   gnashing at me with their teeth. 


How long, O Lord, will you look on?
   Rescue me from their ravages,
   my life from the lions! 
Then I will thank you in the great congregation;
   in the mighty throng I will praise you. 


Do not let my treacherous enemies rejoice over me,
   or those who hate me without cause wink the eye. 
For they do not speak peace,
   but they conceive deceitful words
   against those who are quiet in the land. 
They open wide their mouths against me;
   they say, 'Aha, Aha,
   our eyes have seen it.' 


You have seen, O Lord; do not be silent!
   O Lord, do not be far from me! 
Wake up! Bestir yourself for my defence,
   for my cause, my God and my Lord! 
Vindicate me, O Lord, my God,
   according to your righteousness,
   and do not let them rejoice over me. 
Do not let them say to themselves,
   'Aha, we have our heart's desire.'
Do not let them say, 'We have swallowed you up.' 


Let all those who rejoice at my calamity
   be put to shame and confusion;
let those who exalt themselves against me
   be clothed with shame and dishonour. 


Let those who desire my vindication
   shout for joy and be glad,
   and say evermore,
'Great is the Lord,
   who delights in the welfare of his servant.' 
Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness
   and of your praise all day long.
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