Wednesday 30 April 2008 DAILY LECTIONARY

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Wednesday 30 April 2008  
DAILY LECTIONARY

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Leviticus 26:27-42

But if, despite this, you disobey me, and continue hostile to me, I will
continue hostile to you in fury; I in turn will punish you myself
sevenfold for your sins. You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you
shall eat the flesh of your daughters. I will destroy your high places
and cut down your incense-altars; I will heap your carcasses on the
carcasses of your idols. I will abhor you. I will lay your cities waste,
will make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell your pleasing
odours. I will devastate the land, so that your enemies who come to
settle in it shall be appalled at it. And you I will scatter among the
nations, and I will unsheathe the sword against you; your land shall be
a desolation, and your cities a waste.

 Then the land shall enjoy* its sabbath years as long as it lies
desolate, while you are in the land of your enemies; then the land shall
rest, and enjoy* its sabbath years. As long as it lies desolate, it
shall have the rest it did not have on your sabbaths when you were
living on it. And as for those of you who survive, I will send faintness
into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; the sound of a driven
leaf shall put them to flight, and they shall flee as one flees from the
sword, and they shall fall though no one pursues. They shall stumble
over one another, as if to escape a sword, though no one pursues; and
you shall have no power to stand against your enemies. You shall perish
among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall devour you. And
those of you who survive shall languish in the land of your enemies
because of their iniquities; also they shall languish because of the
iniquities of their ancestors.

 But if they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their ancestors,
in that they committed treachery against me and, moreover, that they
continued hostile to me- so that I, in turn, continued hostile to them
and brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their
uncircumcised heart is humbled and they make amends for their iniquity,
then will I remember my covenant with Jacob; I will remember also my
covenant with Isaac and also my covenant with Abraham, and I will
remember the land.
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Ephesians 1:1-10

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,

To the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful* in Christ Jesus:

 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 

 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed
us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, just
as he chose us in Christ* before the foundation of the world to be holy
and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his
children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his
will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us
in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the
forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that
he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us
the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set
forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all
things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
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Matthew 22:41-46

Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this
question: 'What do you think of the Messiah?* Whose son is he?' They
said to him, 'The son of David.' He said to them, 'How is it then that
David by the Spirit* calls him Lord, saying, 
"The Lord said to my Lord,
'Sit at my right hand,
   until I put your enemies under your feet' "? 
If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?' No one was able to
give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any
more questions.
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Morning Psalms:  Psalm 119:97-120

Psalm 119:97-120

Oh, how I love your law!
   It is my meditation all day long. 
Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies,
   for it is always with me. 
I have more understanding than all my teachers,
   for your decrees are my meditation. 
I understand more than the aged,
   for I keep your precepts. 
I hold back my feet from every evil way,
   in order to keep your word. 
I do not turn away from your ordinances,
   for you have taught me. 
How sweet are your words to my taste,
   sweeter than honey to my mouth! 
Through your precepts I get understanding;
   therefore I hate every false way. 


Your word is a lamp to my feet
   and a light to my path. 
I have sworn an oath and confirmed it,
   to observe your righteous ordinances. 
I am severely afflicted;
   give me life, O Lord, according to your word. 
Accept my offerings of praise, O Lord,
   and teach me your ordinances. 
I hold my life in my hand continually,
   but I do not forget your law. 
The wicked have laid a snare for me,
   but I do not stray from your precepts. 
Your decrees are my heritage for ever;
   they are the joy of my heart. 
I incline my heart to perform your statutes
   for ever, to the end. 


I hate the double-minded,
   but I love your law. 
You are my hiding-place and my shield;
   I hope in your word. 
Go away from me, you evildoers,
   that I may keep the commandments of my God. 
Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live,
   and let me not be put to shame in my hope. 
Hold me up, that I may be safe
   and have regard for your statutes continually. 
You spurn all who go astray from your statutes;
   for their cunning is in vain. 
All the wicked of the earth you count as dross;
   therefore I love your decrees. 
My flesh trembles for fear of you,
   and I am afraid of your judgements.
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Evening Psalms:  Psalm 81, 82

Psalm 81

Sing aloud to God our strength;
   shout for joy to the God of Jacob. 
Raise a song, sound the tambourine,
   the sweet lyre with the harp. 
Blow the trumpet at the new moon,
   at the full moon, on our festal day. 
For it is a statute for Israel,
   an ordinance of the God of Jacob. 
He made it a decree in Joseph,
   when he went out over* the land of Egypt. 


I hear a voice I had not known: 
'I relieved your* shoulder of the burden;
   your* hands were freed from the basket. 
In distress you called, and I rescued you;
   I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
   I tested you at the waters of Meribah.
          Selah 
Hear, O my people, while I admonish you;
   O Israel, if you would but listen to me! 
There shall be no strange god among you;
   you shall not bow down to a foreign god. 
I am the Lord your God,
   who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
   Open your mouth wide and I will fill it. 


'But my people did not listen to my voice;
   Israel would not submit to me. 
So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
   to follow their own counsels. 
O that my people would listen to me,
   that Israel would walk in my ways! 
Then I would quickly subdue their enemies,
   and turn my hand against their foes. 
Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him,
   and their doom would last for ever. 
I would feed you* with the finest of the wheat,
   and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.'


Psalm 82

God has taken his place in the divine council;
   in the midst of the gods he holds judgement: 
'How long will you judge unjustly
   and show partiality to the wicked?
          Selah 
Give justice to the weak and the orphan;
   maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute. 
Rescue the weak and the needy;
   deliver them from the hand of the wicked.' 


They have neither knowledge nor understanding,
   they walk around in darkness;
   all the foundations of the earth are shaken. 


I say, 'You are gods,
   children of the Most High, all of you; 
nevertheless, you shall die like mortals,
   and fall like any prince.'* 


Rise up, O God, judge the earth;
   for all the nations belong to you!
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