Friday 6 November 2009 DAILY LECTIONARY

[Daily Lectionary]

 Friday 6 November 2009
DAILY LECTIONARY
 
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Ezra 7:27-28,8:21-36
 
Blessed be the Lord, the God of our ancestors, who put such a thing as this into the heart of the king to glorify the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, and who extended to me steadfast love before the king and his counsellors, and before all the king’s mighty officers. I took courage, for the hand of the Lord my God was upon me, and I gathered leaders from Israel to go up with me.
 Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might deny ourselves* before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our possessions. For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and cavalry to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king that the hand of our God is gracious to all who seek him, but his power and his wrath are against all who forsake him. So we fasted and petitioned our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty.
 Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests: Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their kin with them. And I weighed out to them the silver and the gold and the vessels, the offering for the house of our God that the king, his counsellors, his lords, and all Israel there present had offered; I weighed out into their hand six hundred and fifty talents of silver, and one hundred silver vessels worth . . . talents,* and one hundred talents of gold, twenty gold bowls worth a thousand darics, and two vessels of fine polished bronze as precious as gold. And I said to them, ‘You are holy to the Lord, and the vessels are holy; and the silver and the gold are a freewill-offering to the Lord, the God of your ancestors. Guard them and keep them until you weigh them before the chief priests and the Levites and the heads of families in Israel at Jerusalem, within the chambers of the house of the Lord.’ So the priests and the Levites took over the silver, the gold, and the vessels as they were weighed out, to bring them to Jerusalem, to the house of our God.
 Then we left the river Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem; the hand of our God was upon us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambushes along the way. We came to Jerusalem and remained there for three days. On the fourth day, within the house of our God, the silver, the gold, and the vessels were weighed into the hands of the priest Meremoth son of Uriah, and with him was Eleazar son of Phinehas, and with them were the Levites, Jozabad son of Jeshua and Noadiah son of Binnui. The total was counted and weighed, and the weight of everything was recorded.
 
 At that time those who had come from captivity, the returned exiles, offered burnt-offerings to the God of Israel, twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and as a sin-offering twelve male goats; all this was a burnt-offering to the Lord. They also delivered the king’s commissions to the king’s satraps and to the governors of the province Beyond the River; and they supported the people and the house of God.
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Revelation 15:1-8
 
Then I saw another portent in heaven, great and amazing: seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is ended.
 
 And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands. And they sing the song of Moses, the servant* of God, and the song of the Lamb:
‘Great and amazing are your deeds,
   Lord God the Almighty!
Just and true are your ways,
   King of the nations!*
Lord, who will not fear
   and glorify your name?
For you alone are holy.
   All nations will come
   and worship before you,
for your judgements have been revealed.’
 
 After this I looked, and the temple of the tent* of witness in heaven was opened, and out of the temple came the seven angels with the seven plagues, robed in pure bright linen,* with golden sashes across their chests. Then one of the four living creatures gave the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives for ever and ever; and the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were ended.
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Matthew 14:13-21
 
Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.’ Jesus said to them, ‘They need not go away; you give them something to eat.’ They replied, ‘We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.’ And he said, ‘Bring them here to me.’ Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
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Morning Psalms: Psalm 69
 
Psalm 69
 
Save me, O God,
   for the waters have come up to my neck.
I sink in deep mire,
   where there is no foothold;
I have come into deep waters,
   and the flood sweeps over me.
I am weary with my crying;
   my throat is parched.
My eyes grow dim
   with waiting for my God.
 
 
More in number than the hairs of my head
   are those who hate me without cause;
many are those who would destroy me,
   my enemies who accuse me falsely.
What I did not steal
   must I now restore?
O God, you know my folly;
   the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.
 
 
Do not let those who hope in you be put to shame because of me,
   O Lord God of hosts;
do not let those who seek you be dishonoured because of me,
   O God of Israel.
It is for your sake that I have borne reproach,
   that shame has covered my face.
I have become a stranger to my kindred,
   an alien to my mother’s children.
 
 
It is zeal for your house that has consumed me;
   the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.
When I humbled my soul with fasting,*
   they insulted me for doing so.
When I made sackcloth my clothing,
   I became a byword to them.
I am the subject of gossip for those who sit in the gate,
   and the drunkards make songs about me.
 
 
But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord.
   At an acceptable time, O God,
   in the abundance of your steadfast love, answer me.
With your faithful help rescue me
   from sinking in the mire;
let me be delivered from my enemies
   and from the deep waters.
Do not let the flood sweep over me,
   or the deep swallow me up,
   or the Pit close its mouth over me.
 
 
Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good;
   according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.
Do not hide your face from your servant,
   for I am in distress—make haste to answer me.
Draw near to me, redeem me,
   set me free because of my enemies.
 
 
You know the insults I receive,
   and my shame and dishonour;
   my foes are all known to you.
Insults have broken my heart,
   so that I am in despair.
I looked for pity, but there was none;
   and for comforters, but I found none.
They gave me poison for food,
   and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
 
 
Let their table be a trap for them,
   a snare for their allies.
Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,
   and make their loins tremble continually.
Pour out your indignation upon them,
   and let your burning anger overtake them.
May their camp be a desolation;
   let no one live in their tents.
For they persecute those whom you have struck down,
   and those whom you have wounded, they attack still more.*
Add guilt to their guilt;
   may they have no acquittal from you.
Let them be blotted out of the book of the living;
   let them not be enrolled among the righteous.
But I am lowly and in pain;
   let your salvation, O God, protect me.
 
 
I will praise the name of God with a song;
   I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
This will please the Lord more than an ox
   or a bull with horns and hoofs.
Let the oppressed see it and be glad;
   you who seek God, let your hearts revive.
For the Lord hears the needy,
   and does not despise his own that are in bonds.
 
 
Let heaven and earth praise him,
   the seas and everything that moves in them.
For God will save Zion
   and rebuild the cities of Judah;
and his servants shall live* there and possess it;
   the children of his servants shall inherit it,
   and those who love his name shall live in it.
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Evening Psalms: Psalm 73
 
Psalm 73
 
Truly God is good to the upright,*
   to those who are pure in heart.
But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled;
   my steps had nearly slipped.
For I was envious of the arrogant;
   I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
 
 
For they have no pain;
   their bodies are sound and sleek.
They are not in trouble as others are;
   they are not plagued like other people.
Therefore pride is their necklace;
   violence covers them like a garment.
Their eyes swell out with fatness;
   their hearts overflow with follies.
They scoff and speak with malice;
   loftily they threaten oppression.
They set their mouths against heaven,
   and their tongues range over the earth.
 
 
Therefore the people turn and praise them,*
   and find no fault in them.*
And they say, ‘How can God know?
   Is there knowledge in the Most High?’
Such are the wicked;
   always at ease, they increase in riches.
All in vain I have kept my heart clean
   and washed my hands in innocence.
For all day long I have been plagued,
   and am punished every morning.
 
 
If I had said, ‘I will talk on in this way’,
   I would have been untrue to the circle of your children.
But when I thought how to understand this,
   it seemed to me a wearisome task,
until I went into the sanctuary of God;
   then I perceived their end.
Truly you set them in slippery places;
   you make them fall to ruin.
How they are destroyed in a moment,
   swept away utterly by terrors!
They are* like a dream when one awakes;
   on awaking you despise their phantoms.
 
 
When my soul was embittered,
   when I was pricked in heart,
I was stupid and ignorant;
   I was like a brute beast towards you.
Nevertheless I am continually with you;
   you hold my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel,
   and afterwards you will receive me with honour.*
Whom have I in heaven but you?
   And there is nothing on earth that I desire other than you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
   but God is the strength* of my heart and my portion for ever.
 
 
Indeed, those who are far from you will perish;
   you put an end to those who are false to you.
But for me it is good to be near God;
   I have made the Lord God my refuge,
   to tell of all your works.
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