Wednesday 18 May 2016 DAILY LECTIONARY

[Daily Lectionary]

Wednesday 18 May 2016 
DAILY LECTIONARY

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Proverbs 6:1-19

My child, if you have given your pledge to your neighbour,
   if you have bound yourself to another,* 
you are snared by the utterance of your lips,*
   caught by the words of your mouth. 
So do this, my child, and save yourself,
   for you have come into your neighbour’s power:
   go, hurry,* and plead with your neighbour. 
Give your eyes no sleep
   and your eyelids no slumber; 
save yourself like a gazelle from the hunter,*
   like a bird from the hand of the fowler. 


Go to the ant, you lazybones;
   consider its ways, and be wise. 
Without having any chief
   or officer or ruler, 
it prepares its food in summer,
   and gathers its sustenance in harvest. 
How long will you lie there, O lazybones?
   When will you rise from your sleep? 
A little sleep, a little slumber,
   a little folding of the hands to rest, 
and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
   and want, like an armed warrior. 


A scoundrel and a villain
   goes around with crooked speech, 
winking the eyes, shuffling the feet,
   pointing the fingers, 
with perverted mind devising evil,
   continually sowing discord; 
on such a one calamity will descend suddenly;
   in a moment, damage beyond repair. 


There are six things that the Lord hates,
   seven that are an abomination to him: 
haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
   and hands that shed innocent blood, 
a heart that devises wicked plans,
   feet that hurry to run to evil, 
a lying witness who testifies falsely,
   and one who sows discord in a family..
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1 John 5:1-12

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ* has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
 This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth. There are three that testify:* the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree. If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has testified to his Son. Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts. Those who do not believe in God* have made him a liar by not believing in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
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Matthew 11:16-24

‘But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market-places and calling to one another, 
“We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
   we wailed, and you did not mourn.” 
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “He has a demon”; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, “Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax-collectors and sinners!” Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.’*
 Then he began to reproach the cities in which most of his deeds of power had been done, because they did not repent. ‘Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, on the day of judgement it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum,
will you be exalted to heaven?
   No, you will be brought down to Hades.
For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that on the day of judgement it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom than for you.’
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Morning Psalms: Psalm 119:1-24

Psalm 119:1-24

Happy are those whose way is blameless,
   who walk in the law of the Lord. 
Happy are those who keep his decrees,
   who seek him with their whole heart, 
who also do no wrong,
   but walk in his ways. 
You have commanded your precepts
   to be kept diligently. 
O that my ways may be steadfast
   in keeping your statutes! 
Then I shall not be put to shame,
   having my eyes fixed on all your commandments. 
I will praise you with an upright heart,
   when I learn your righteous ordinances. 
I will observe your statutes;
   do not utterly forsake me. 


How can young people keep their way pure?
   By guarding it according to your word. 
With my whole heart I seek you;
   do not let me stray from your commandments. 
I treasure your word in my heart,
   so that I may not sin against you. 
Blessed are you, O Lord;
   teach me your statutes. 
With my lips I declare
   all the ordinances of your mouth. 
I delight in the way of your decrees
   as much as in all riches. 
I will meditate on your precepts,
   and fix my eyes on your ways. 
I will delight in your statutes;
   I will not forget your word. 


Deal bountifully with your servant,
   so that I may live and observe your word. 
Open my eyes, so that I may behold
   wondrous things out of your law. 
I live as an alien in the land;
   do not hide your commandments from me. 
My soul is consumed with longing
   for your ordinances at all times. 
You rebuke the insolent, accursed ones,
   who wander from your commandments; 
take away from me their scorn and contempt,
   for I have kept your decrees. 
Even though princes sit plotting against me,
   your servant will meditate on your statutes. 
Your decrees are my delight,
   they are my counsellors.
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Evening Psalms: Psalm 12, 13, 14

Psalm 12

Help, O Lord, for there is no longer anyone who is godly;
   the faithful have disappeared from humankind. 
They utter lies to each other;
   with flattering lips and a double heart they speak. 


May the Lord cut off all flattering lips,
   the tongue that makes great boasts, 
those who say, ‘With our tongues we will prevail;
   our lips are our own—who is our master?’ 


‘Because the poor are despoiled, because the needy groan,
   I will now rise up,’ says the Lord;
   ‘I will place them in the safety for which they long.’ 
The promises of the Lord are promises that are pure,
   silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
   purified seven times. 


You, O Lord, will protect us;
   you will guard us from this generation for ever. 
On every side the wicked prowl,
   as vileness is exalted among humankind.


Psalm 13

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me for ever?
   How long will you hide your face from me? 
How long must I bear pain* in my soul,
   and have sorrow in my heart all day long?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? 


Consider and answer me, O Lord my God!
   Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death, 
and my enemy will say, ‘I have prevailed’;
   my foes will rejoice because I am shaken. 


But I trusted in your steadfast love;
   my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. 
I will sing to the Lord,
   because he has dealt bountifully with me.


Psalm 14

Fools say in their hearts, ‘There is no God.’
   They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds;
   there is no one who does good. 


The Lord looks down from heaven on humankind
   to see if there are any who are wise,
   who seek after God. 


They have all gone astray, they are all alike perverse;
   there is no one who does good,
   no, not one. 


Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers
   who eat up my people as they eat bread,
   and do not call upon the Lord? 


There they shall be in great terror,
   for God is with the company of the righteous. 
You would confound the plans of the poor,
   but the Lord is their refuge. 


O that deliverance for Israel would come from Zion!
   When the Lord restores the fortunes of his people,
   Jacob will rejoice; Israel will be glad.
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