Thursday 22 May 2008 DAILY LECTIONARY

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Thursday 22 May 2008  
DAILY LECTIONARY

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Proverbs 7:1-27

My child, keep my words
   and store up my commandments with you; 
keep my commandments and live,
   keep my teachings as the apple of your eye; 
bind them on your fingers,
   write them on the tablet of your heart. 
Say to wisdom, 'You are my sister',
   and call insight your intimate friend, 
that they may keep you from the loose* woman,
   from the adulteress with her smooth words. 


For at the window of my house
   I looked out through my lattice, 
and I saw among the simple ones,
   I observed among the youths,
   a young man without sense, 
passing along the street near her corner,
   taking the road to her house 
in the twilight, in the evening,
   at the time of night and darkness. 


Then a woman comes towards him,
   decked out like a prostitute, wily of heart.* 
She is loud and wayward;
   her feet do not stay at home; 
now in the street, now in the squares,
   and at every corner she lies in wait. 
She seizes him and kisses him,
   and with impudent face she says to him: 
'I had to offer sacrifices,
   and today I have paid my vows; 
so now I have come out to meet you,
   to seek you eagerly, and I have found you! 
I have decked my couch with coverings,
   coloured spreads of Egyptian linen; 
I have perfumed my bed with myrrh,
   aloes, and cinnamon. 
Come, let us take our fill of love until morning;
   let us delight ourselves with love. 
For my husband is not at home;
   he has gone on a long journey. 
He took a bag of money with him;
   he will not come home until full moon.' 


With much seductive speech she persuades him;
   with her smooth talk she compels him. 
Right away he follows her,
   and goes like an ox to the slaughter,
or bounds like a stag towards the trap* 
   until an arrow pierces its entrails.
He is like a bird rushing into a snare,
   not knowing that it will cost him his life. 


And now, my children, listen to me,
   and be attentive to the words of my mouth. 
Do not let your hearts turn aside to her ways;
   do not stray into her paths. 
for many are those she has laid low,
   and numerous are her victims. 
Her house is the way to Sheol,
   going down to the chambers of death.
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1 John 5:13-21

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God,
so that you may know that you have eternal life.

 And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything
according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in
whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him.
If you see your brother or sister* committing what is not a mortal sin,
you will ask, and God* will give life to such a one-to those whose sin
is not mortal. There is sin that is mortal; I do not say that you should
pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not
mortal.

 We know that those who are born of God do not sin, but the one who was
born of God protects them, and the evil one does not touch them. We know
that we are God's children, and that the whole world lies under the
power of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come and has
given us understanding so that we may know him who is true;* and we are
in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and
eternal life.

 Little children, keep yourselves from idols.*
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Matthew 11:25-30

At that time Jesus said, 'I thank* you, Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the
intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was
your gracious will.* All things have been handed over to me by my
Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the
Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

 'Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and
I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am
gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For
my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.'
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Morning Psalms:  Psalm 18:1-20

Psalm 18:1-20

I love you, O Lord, my strength. 
The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer,
   my God, my rock in whom I take refuge,
   my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. 
I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised;
   so I shall be saved from my enemies. 


The cords of death encompassed me;
   the torrents of perdition assailed me; 
the cords of Sheol entangled me;
   the snares of death confronted me. 


In my distress I called upon the Lord;
   to my God I cried for help.
>From his temple he heard my voice,
   and my cry to him reached his ears. 


Then the earth reeled and rocked;
   the foundations also of the mountains trembled
   and quaked, because he was angry. 
Smoke went up from his nostrils,
   and devouring fire from his mouth;
   glowing coals flamed forth from him. 
He bowed the heavens, and came down;
   thick darkness was under his feet. 
He rode on a cherub, and flew;
   he came swiftly upon the wings of the wind. 
He made darkness his covering around him,
   his canopy thick clouds dark with water. 
Out of the brightness before him
   there broke through his clouds
   hailstones and coals of fire. 
The Lord also thundered in the heavens,
   and the Most High uttered his voice.* 
And he sent out his arrows, and scattered them;
   he flashed forth lightnings, and routed them. 
Then the channels of the sea were seen,
   and the foundations of the world were laid bare
at your rebuke, O Lord,
   at the blast of the breath of your nostrils. 


He reached down from on high, he took me;
   he drew me out of mighty waters. 
He delivered me from my strong enemy,
   and from those who hated me;
   for they were too mighty for me. 
They confronted me in the day of my calamity;
   but the Lord was my support. 
He brought me out into a broad place;
   he delivered me, because he delighted in me. 


The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness;
   according to the cleanness of my hands he recompensed me.
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Evening Psalms:  Psalm 18:21-50

Psalm 18:21-50

For I have kept the ways of the Lord,
   and have not wickedly departed from my God. 
For all his ordinances were before me,
   and his statutes I did not put away from me. 
I was blameless before him,
   and I kept myself from guilt. 
Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness,
   according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight. 


With the loyal you show yourself loyal;
   with the blameless you show yourself blameless; 
with the pure you show yourself pure;
   and with the crooked you show yourself perverse. 
For you deliver a humble people,
   but the haughty eyes you bring down. 
It is you who light my lamp;
   the Lord, my God, lights up my darkness. 
By you I can crush a troop,
   and by my God I can leap over a wall. 
This God-his way is perfect;
   the promise of the Lord proves true;
   he is a shield for all who take refuge in him. 


For who is God except the Lord?
   And who is a rock besides our God?- 
the God who girded me with strength,
   and made my way safe. 
He made my feet like the feet of a deer,
   and set me secure on the heights. 
He trains my hands for war,
   so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. 
You have given me the shield of your salvation,
   and your right hand has supported me;
   your help* has made me great. 
You gave me a wide place for my steps under me,
   and my feet did not slip. 
I pursued my enemies and overtook them;
   and did not turn back until they were consumed. 
I struck them down, so that they were not able to rise;
   they fell under my feet. 
For you girded me with strength for the battle;
   you made my assailants sink under me. 
You made my enemies turn their backs to me,
   and those who hated me I destroyed. 
They cried for help, but there was no one to save them;
   they cried to the Lord, but he did not answer them. 
I beat them fine, like dust before the wind;
   I cast them out like the mire of the streets. 


You delivered me from strife with the peoples;*
   you made me head of the nations;
   people whom I had not known served me. 
As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me;
   foreigners came cringing to me. 
Foreigners lost heart,
   and came trembling out of their strongholds. 


The Lord lives! Blessed be my rock,
   and exalted be the God of my salvation, 
the God who gave me vengeance
   and subdued peoples under me; 
who delivered me from my enemies;
   indeed, you exalted me above my adversaries;
   you delivered me from the violent. 


For this I will extol you, O Lord, among the nations,
   and sing praises to your name. 
Great triumphs he gives to his king,
   and shows steadfast love to his anointed,
   to David and his descendants for ever.
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