Monday 18 February 2008 DAILY LECTIONARY

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Monday 18 February 2008 
DAILY LECTIONARY

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Genesis 41:46-57

Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king
of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went
through all the land of Egypt. During the seven plenteous years the
earth produced abundantly. He gathered up all the food of the seven
years when there was plenty* in the land of Egypt, and stored up food in
the cities; he stored up in every city the food from the fields around
it. So Joseph stored up grain in such abundance-like the sand of the
sea-that he stopped measuring it; it was beyond measure.

 Before the years of famine came, Joseph had two sons, whom Asenath
daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, bore to him. Joseph named the
firstborn Manasseh,* 'For', he said, 'God has made me forget all my
hardship and all my father's house.' The second he named Ephraim,* 'For
God has made me fruitful in the land of my misfortunes.'

 The seven years of plenty that prevailed in the land of Egypt came to
an end; and the seven years of famine began to come, just as Joseph had
said. There was famine in every country, but throughout the land of
Egypt there was bread. When all the land of Egypt was famished, the
people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians,
'Go to Joseph; what he says to you, do.' And since the famine had spread
over all the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses,* and sold to the
Egyptians, for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. Moreover, all
the world came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain, because the famine
became severe throughout the world.
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1 Corinthians 4:8-21

Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Quite apart
from us you have become kings! Indeed, I wish that you had become kings,
so that we might be kings with you! For I think that God has exhibited
us apostles as last of all, as though sentenced to death, because we
have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to mortals. We are
fools for the sake of Christ, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak,
but you are strong. You are held in honour, but we in disrepute. To the
present hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed and beaten
and homeless, and we grow weary from the work of our own hands. When
reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we speak
kindly. We have become like the rubbish of the world, the dregs of all
things, to this very day.
 I am not writing this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my
beloved children. For though you might have ten thousand guardians in
Christ, you do not have many fathers. Indeed, in Christ Jesus I became
your father through the gospel. I appeal to you, then, be imitators of
me. For this reason I sent* you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful
child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ Jesus, as I teach
them everywhere in every church. But some of you, thinking that I am not
coming to you, have become arrogant. But I will come to you soon, if the
Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people
but their power. For the kingdom of God depends not on talk but on
power. What would you prefer? Am I to come to you with a stick, or with
love in a spirit of gentleness?
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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 56, 57, 58

Psalm 56

Be gracious to me, O God, for people trample on me;
   all day long foes oppress me; 
my enemies trample on me all day long,
   for many fight against me.
O Most High, when I am afraid,
   I put my trust in you. 
In God, whose word I praise,
   in God I trust; I am not afraid;
   what can flesh do to me? 


All day long they seek to injure my cause;
   all their thoughts are against me for evil. 
They stir up strife, they lurk,
   they watch my steps.
As they hoped to have my life, 
   so repay* them for their crime;
   in wrath cast down the peoples, O God! 


You have kept count of my tossings;
   put my tears in your bottle.
   Are they not in your record? 
Then my enemies will retreat
   on the day when I call.
   This I know, that* God is for me. 
In God, whose word I praise,
   in the Lord, whose word I praise, 
in God I trust; I am not afraid.
   What can a mere mortal do to me? 


My vows to you I must perform, O God;
   I will render thank-offerings to you. 
For you have delivered my soul from death,
   and my feet from falling,
so that I may walk before God
   in the light of life.


Psalm 57

Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me,
   for in you my soul takes refuge;
in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge,
   until the destroying storms pass by. 
I cry to God Most High,
   to God who fulfils his purpose for me. 
He will send from heaven and save me,
   he will put to shame those who trample on me.
          Selah
God will send forth his steadfast love and his faithfulness. 


I lie down among lions
   that greedily devour* human prey;
their teeth are spears and arrows,
   their tongues sharp swords. 


Be exalted, O God, above the heavens.
   Let your glory be over all the earth. 


They set a net for my steps;
   my soul was bowed down.
They dug a pit in my path,
   but they have fallen into it themselves.
          Selah 
My heart is steadfast, O God,
   my heart is steadfast.
I will sing and make melody. 
   Awake, my soul!
Awake, O harp and lyre!
   I will awake the dawn. 
I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples;
   I will sing praises to you among the nations. 
For your steadfast love is as high as the heavens;
   your faithfulness extends to the clouds. 


Be exalted, O God, above the heavens.
   Let your glory be over all the earth.


Psalm 58

Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods?*
   Do you judge people fairly? 
No, in your hearts you devise wrongs;
   your hands deal out violence on earth. 


The wicked go astray from the womb;
   they err from their birth, speaking lies. 
They have venom like the venom of a serpent,
   like the deaf adder that stops its ear, 
so that it does not hear the voice of charmers
   or of the cunning enchanter. 


O God, break the teeth in their mouths;
   tear out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord! 
Let them vanish like water that runs away;
   like grass let them be trodden down* and wither. 
Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime;
   like the untimely birth that never sees the sun. 
Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of thorns,
   whether green or ablaze, may he sweep them away! 


The righteous will rejoice when they see vengeance done;
   they will bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked. 
People will say, 'Surely there is a reward for the righteous;
   surely there is a God who judges on earth.'
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Evening Psalms:  Psalm 64, 65

Psalm 64

Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint;
   preserve my life from the dread enemy. 
Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked,
   from the scheming of evildoers, 
who whet their tongues like swords,
   who aim bitter words like arrows, 
shooting from ambush at the blameless;
   they shoot suddenly and without fear. 
They hold fast to their evil purpose;
   they talk of laying snares secretly,
thinking, 'Who can see us?* 
   Who can search out our crimes?*
We have thought out a cunningly conceived plot.'
   For the human heart and mind are deep. 


But God will shoot his arrow at them;
   they will be wounded suddenly. 
Because of their tongue he will bring them to ruin;*
   all who see them will shake with horror. 
Then everyone will fear;
   they will tell what God has brought about,
   and ponder what he has done. 


Let the righteous rejoice in the Lord
   and take refuge in him.
Let all the upright in heart glory.


Psalm 65

Praise is due to you,
   O God, in Zion;
and to you shall vows be performed, 
   O you who answer prayer!
To you all flesh shall come. 
When deeds of iniquity overwhelm us,
   you forgive our transgressions. 
Happy are those whom you choose and bring near
   to live in your courts.
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house,
   your holy temple. 


By awesome deeds you answer us with deliverance,
   O God of our salvation;
you are the hope of all the ends of the earth
   and of the farthest seas. 
By your* strength you established the mountains;
   you are girded with might. 
You silence the roaring of the seas,
   the roaring of their waves,
   the tumult of the peoples. 
Those who live at earth's farthest bounds are awed by your signs;
you make the gateways of the morning and the evening shout for joy. 


You visit the earth and water it,
   you greatly enrich it;
the river of God is full of water;
   you provide the people with grain,
   for so you have prepared it. 
You water its furrows abundantly,
   settling its ridges,
softening it with showers,
   and blessing its growth. 
You crown the year with your bounty;
   your wagon tracks overflow with richness. 
The pastures of the wilderness overflow,
   the hills gird themselves with joy, 
the meadows clothe themselves with flocks,
   the valleys deck themselves with grain,
   they shout and sing together for joy.
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