Thursday 13 September 2007 DAILY LECTIONARY

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Thursday 13 September 2007 
DAILY LECTIONARY

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1 Kings 18:1-19

After many days the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year
of the drought,* saying, 'Go, present yourself to Ahab; I will send rain
on the earth.' 2So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. The famine
was severe in Samaria. 3Ahab summoned Obadiah, who was in charge of the
palace. (Now Obadiah revered the Lord greatly; 4when Jezebel was killing
off the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah took a hundred prophets, hid them
fifty to a cave, and provided them with bread and water.) 5Then Ahab
said to Obadiah, 'Go through the land to all the springs of water and to
all the wadis; perhaps we may find grass to keep the horses and mules
alive, and not lose some of the animals.' 6So they divided the land
between them to pass through it; Ahab went in one direction by himself,
and Obadiah went in another direction by himself. 
7 As Obadiah was on the way, Elijah met him; Obadiah recognized him,
fell on his face, and said, 'Is it you, my lord Elijah?' 8He answered
him, 'It is I. Go, tell your lord that Elijah is here.' 9And he said,
'How have I sinned, that you would hand your servant over to Ahab, to
kill me? 10As the Lord your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom to
which my lord has not sent to seek you; and when they would say, "He is
not here", he would require an oath of the kingdom or nation, that they
had not found you. 11But now you say, "Go, tell your lord that Elijah is
here." 12As soon as I have gone from you, the spirit of the Lord will
carry you I know not where; so, when I come and tell Ahab and he cannot
find you, he will kill me, although I your servant have revered the Lord
from my youth. 13Has it not been told my lord what I did when Jezebel
killed the prophets of the Lord, how I hid a hundred of the Lord's
prophets fifty to a cave, and provided them with bread and water? 14Yet
now you say, "Go, tell your lord that Elijah is here"; he will surely
kill me.' 15Elijah said, 'As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I
stand, I will surely show myself to him today.' 16So Obadiah went to
meet Ahab, and told him; and Ahab went to meet Elijah. 
17 When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, 'Is it you, you troubler of
Israel?' 18He answered, 'I have not troubled Israel; but you have, and
your father's house, because you have forsaken the commandments of the
Lord and followed the Baals. 19Now therefore have all Israel assemble
for me at Mount Carmel, with the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal
and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table.'
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Philippians 2:12-30

Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my
presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation
with fear and trembling; 13for it is God who is at work in you, enabling
you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. 
14 Do all things without murmuring and arguing, 15so that you may be
blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of
a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine like stars in the
world. 16It is by your holding fast to the word of life that I can boast
on the day of Christ that I did not run in vain or labour in vain. 17But
even if I am being poured out as a libation over the sacrifice and the
offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you- 18and in
the same way you also must be glad and rejoice with me. 
Timothy and Epaphroditus19 I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to
you soon, so that I may be cheered by news of you. 20I have no one like
him who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. 21All of them are
seeking their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. 22But Timothy's*
worth you know, how like a son with a father he has served with me in
the work of the gospel. 23I hope therefore to send him as soon as I see
how things go with me; 24and I trust in the Lord that I will also come
soon. 
25 Still, I think it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus-my brother
and co-worker and fellow-soldier, your messenger* and minister to my
need; 26for he has been longing for* all of you, and has been distressed
because you heard that he was ill. 27He was indeed so ill that he nearly
died. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, so
that I would not have one sorrow after another. 28I am the more eager to
send him, therefore, in order that you may rejoice at seeing him again,
and that I may be less anxious. 29Welcome him then in the Lord with all
joy, and honour such people, 30because he came close to death for the
work of Christ,* risking his life to make up for those services that you
could not give me.
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Matthew 2:13-23

Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a
dream and said, 'Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to
Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search
for the child, to destroy him.' 14Then Joseph* got up, took the child
and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, 15and remained there until
the death of Herod. This was to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord
through the prophet, 'Out of Egypt I have called my son.' 
The Massacre of the Infants16 When Herod saw that he had been tricked by
the wise men,* he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the
children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under,
according to the time that he had learned from the wise men.* 17Then was
fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: 
18'A voice was heard in Ramah,
   wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
   she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.' 
The Return from Egypt19 When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly
appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, 20'Get up, take the
child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were
seeking the child's life are dead.' 21Then Joseph* got up, took the
child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. 22But when he
heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod,
he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went
away to the district of Galilee. 23There he made his home in a town
called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might
be fulfilled, 'He will be called a Nazorean.' 
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Morning Psalms:  Psalm 50

Psalm 50

The mighty one, God the Lord,
   speaks and summons the earth
   from the rising of the sun to its setting. 
2Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
   God shines forth. 


3Our God comes and does not keep silence,
   before him is a devouring fire,
   and a mighty tempest all around him. 
4He calls to the heavens above
   and to the earth, that he may judge his people: 
5'Gather to me my faithful ones,
   who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!' 
6The heavens declare his righteousness,
   for God himself is judge.
          Selah 


7'Hear, O my people, and I will speak,
   O Israel, I will testify against you.
   I am God, your God. 
8Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;
   your burnt-offerings are continually before me. 
9I will not accept a bull from your house,
   or goats from your folds. 
10For every wild animal of the forest is mine,
   the cattle on a thousand hills. 
11I know all the birds of the air,*
   and all that moves in the field is mine. 


12'If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
   for the world and all that is in it is mine. 
13Do I eat the flesh of bulls,
   or drink the blood of goats? 
14Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,*
   and pay your vows to the Most High. 
15Call on me in the day of trouble;
   I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.' 


16But to the wicked God says:
   'What right have you to recite my statutes,
   or take my covenant on your lips? 
17For you hate discipline,
   and you cast my words behind you. 
18You make friends with a thief when you see one,
   and you keep company with adulterers. 


19'You give your mouth free rein for evil,
   and your tongue frames deceit. 
20You sit and speak against your kin;
   you slander your own mother's child. 
21These things you have done and I have been silent;
   you thought that I was one just like yourself.
But now I rebuke you, and lay the charge before you. 


22'Mark this, then, you who forget God,
   or I will tear you apart, and there will be no one to deliver. 
23Those who bring thanksgiving as their sacrifice honour me;
   to those who go the right way*
   I will show the salvation of God.'
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Evening Psalms: Psalm 8, 84

Psalm 8

O Lord, our Sovereign,
   how majestic is your name in all the earth! 


You have set your glory above the heavens. 
2   Out of the mouths of babes and infants
you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,
   to silence the enemy and the avenger. 


3When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
   the moon and the stars that you have established; 
4what are human beings that you are mindful of them,
   mortals* that you care for them? 


5Yet you have made them a little lower than God,*
   and crowned them with glory and honour. 
6You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;
   you have put all things under their feet, 
7all sheep and oxen,
   and also the beasts of the field, 
8the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
   whatever passes along the paths of the seas. 


9O Lord, our Sovereign,
   how majestic is your name in all the earth!



Psalm 84

How lovely is your dwelling place,
   O Lord of hosts! 
2My soul longs, indeed it faints
   for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh sing for joy
   to the living God. 


3Even the sparrow finds a home,
   and the swallow a nest for herself,
   where she may lay her young,
at your altars, O Lord of hosts,
   my King and my God. 
4Happy are those who live in your house,
   ever singing your praise.
          Selah 


5Happy are those whose strength is in you,
   in whose heart are the highways to Zion.* 
6As they go through the valley of Baca
   they make it a place of springs;
   the early rain also covers it with pools. 
7They go from strength to strength;
   the God of gods will be seen in Zion. 


8O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer;
   give ear, O God of Jacob!
          Selah 
9Behold our shield, O God;
   look on the face of your anointed. 


10For a day in your courts is better
   than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
   than live in the tents of wickedness. 
11For the Lord God is a sun and shield;
   he bestows favour and honour.
No good thing does the Lord withhold
   from those who walk uprightly. 
12O Lord of hosts,
   happy is everyone who trusts in you.
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