Thursday 27 February 2014 DAILY LECTIONARY

[Daily Lectionary]

Thursday 27 February 2014 
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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John 11:55-12:8

Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves. They were looking for Jesus and were asking one another as they stood in the temple, ‘What do you think? Surely he will not come to the festival, will he?’ Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who knew where Jesus* was should let them know, so that they might arrest him.
Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them* with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, ‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii* and the money given to the poor?’ (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. She bought it* so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.’
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Morning Psalms: Psalm 131, 132, 133

Psalm 131

O Lord, my heart is not lifted up,
   my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
   too great and too marvellous for me. 
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
   like a weaned child with its mother;
   my soul is like the weaned child that is with me.* 


O Israel, hope in the Lord
   from this time on and for evermore.


Psalm 132

O Lord, remember in David’s favour
   all the hardships he endured; 
how he swore to the Lord
   and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob, 
‘I will not enter my house
   or get into my bed; 
I will not give sleep to my eyes
   or slumber to my eyelids, 
until I find a place for the Lord,
   a dwelling-place for the Mighty One of Jacob.’ 


We heard of it in Ephrathah;
   we found it in the fields of Jaar. 
‘Let us go to his dwelling-place;
   let us worship at his footstool.’ 


Rise up, O Lord, and go to your resting-place,
   you and the ark of your might. 
Let your priests be clothed with righteousness,
   and let your faithful shout for joy. 
For your servant David’s sake
   do not turn away the face of your anointed one. 


The Lord swore to David a sure oath
   from which he will not turn back:
‘One of the sons of your body
   I will set on your throne. 
If your sons keep my covenant
   and my decrees that I shall teach them,
their sons also, for evermore,
   shall sit on your throne.’ 


For the Lord has chosen Zion;
   he has desired it for his habitation: 
‘This is my resting-place for ever;
   here I will reside, for I have desired it. 
I will abundantly bless its provisions;
   I will satisfy its poor with bread. 
Its priests I will clothe with salvation,
   and its faithful will shout for joy. 
There I will cause a horn to sprout up for David;
   I have prepared a lamp for my anointed one. 
His enemies I will clothe with disgrace,
   but on him, his crown will gleam.’


Psalm 133

How very good and pleasant it is
   when kindred live together in unity! 
It is like the precious oil on the head,
   running down upon the beard,
on the beard of Aaron,
   running down over the collar of his robes. 
It is like the dew of Hermon,
   which falls on the mountains of Zion.
For there the Lord ordained his blessing,
   life for evermore. ************************************************************************
Evening Psalms: Psalm 134, 135

Psalm 134

Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord,
   who stand by night in the house of the Lord! 
Lift up your hands to the holy place,
   and bless the Lord. 


May the Lord, maker of heaven and earth,
   bless you from Zion.


Psalm 135

Praise the Lord!
   Praise the name of the Lord;
   give praise, O servants of the Lord, 
you that stand in the house of the Lord,
   in the courts of the house of our God. 
Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good;
   sing to his name, for he is gracious. 
For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself,
   Israel as his own possession. 


For I know that the Lord is great;
   our Lord is above all gods. 
Whatever the Lord pleases he does,
   in heaven and on earth,
   in the seas and all deeps. 
He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth;
   he makes lightnings for the rain
   and brings out the wind from his storehouses. 


He it was who struck down the firstborn of Egypt,
   both human beings and animals; 
he sent signs and wonders
   into your midst, O Egypt,
   against Pharaoh and all his servants. 
He struck down many nations
   and killed mighty kings— 
Sihon, king of the Amorites,
   and Og, king of Bashan,
   and all the kingdoms of Canaan— 
and gave their land as a heritage,
   a heritage to his people Israel. 


Your name, O Lord, endures for ever,
   your renown, O Lord, throughout all ages. 
For the Lord will vindicate his people,
   and have compassion on his servants. 


The idols of the nations are silver and gold,
   the work of human hands. 
They have mouths, but they do not speak;
   they have eyes, but they do not see; 
they have ears, but they do not hear,
   and there is no breath in their mouths. 
Those who make them
   and all who trust them
   shall become like them. 


O house of Israel, bless the Lord!
   O house of Aaron, bless the Lord! 
O house of Levi, bless the Lord!
   You that fear the Lord, bless the Lord! 
Blessed be the Lord from Zion,
   he who resides in Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord!
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