Tuesday 3 August 2021 DAILY LECTIONARY

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Tuesday 3 August 2021 
DAILY LECTIONARY

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2 Samuel 7:18-29

Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and said, ‘Who am
I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus
far? And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord God; you have
spoken also of your servant’s house for a great while to come. May
this be instruction for the people, O Lord God! And what more can
David say to you? For you know your servant, O Lord God! Because of
your promise, and according to your own heart, you have wrought all
this greatness, so that your servant may know it. Therefore you are
great, O Lord God; for there is no one like you, and there is no God
besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. Who is
like your people, like Israel? Is there another nation on earth whose
God went to redeem it as a people, and to make a name for himself,
doing great and awesome things for them, by driving out before his
people nations and their gods? And you established your people Israel
for yourself to be your people for ever; and you, O Lord, became their
God. And now, O Lord God, as for the word that you have spoken
concerning your servant and concerning his house, confirm it for ever;
do as you have promised. Thus your name will be magnified for ever in
the saying, “The Lord of hosts is God over Israel”; and the house
of your servant David will be established before you. For you, O Lord
of hosts, the God of Israel, have made this revelation to your
servant, saying, “I will build you a house”; therefore your
servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you. And now, O Lord
God, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this
good thing to your servant; now therefore may it please you to bless
the house of your servant, so that it may continue for ever before
you; for you, O Lord God, have spoken, and with your blessing shall
the house of your servant be blessed for ever.’
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Acts 18:12-28

But when Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews made a united attack
on Paul and brought him before the tribunal. They said, ‘This man is
persuading people to worship God in ways that are contrary to the
law.’ Just as Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to the Jews,
‘If it were a matter of crime or serious villainy, I would be
justified in accepting the complaint of you Jews; but since it is a
matter of questions about words and names and your own law, see to it
yourselves; I do not wish to be a judge of these matters.’ And he
dismissed them from the tribunal. Then all of them seized Sosthenes,
the official of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal.
But Gallio paid no attention to any of these things. 
After staying there for a considerable time, Paul said farewell to the
believers and sailed for Syria, accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila.
At Cenchreae he had his hair cut, for he was under a vow. When they
reached Ephesus, he left them there, but first he himself went into
the synagogue and had a discussion with the Jews. When they asked him
to stay longer, he declined; but on taking leave of them, he said,
‘I will return to you, if God wills.’ Then he set sail from
Ephesus. 
When he had landed at Caesarea, he went up to Jerusalem and greeted
the church, and then went down to Antioch. After spending some time
there he departed and went from place to place through the region of
Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples. 
Now there came to Ephesus a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria.
He was an eloquent man, well-versed in the scriptures. He had been
instructed in the Way of the Lord; and he spoke with burning
enthusiasm and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though
he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the
synagogue; but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him
aside and explained the Way of God to him more accurately. And when he
wished to cross over to Achaia, the believers encouraged him and wrote
to the disciples to welcome him. On his arrival he greatly helped
those who through grace had become believers, for he powerfully
refuted the Jews in public, showing by the scriptures that the Messiah
is Jesus.
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Mark 8:22-33

They came to Bethsaida. Some people brought a blind man to him and
begged him to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him
out of the village; and when he had put saliva on his eyes and laid
his hands on him, he asked him, ‘Can you see anything?’ And the
man looked up and said, ‘I can see people, but they look like trees,
walking.’ Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he looked
intently and his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.
Then he sent him away to his home, saying, ‘Do not even go into the
village.’ 

Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi;
and on the way he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that I
am?’ And they answered him, ‘John the Baptist; and others, Elijah;
and still others, one of the prophets.’ He asked them, ‘But who do
you say that I am?’ Peter answered him, ‘You are the Messiah.’
And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him. 
Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great
suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the
scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all
this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said,
‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine
things but on human things.’

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Morning Psalms:  Psalm 78:1-39

Psalm 78:1-39

Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
   incline your ears to the words of my mouth. 
I will open my mouth in a parable;
   I will utter dark sayings from of old, 
things that we have heard and known,
   that our ancestors have told us. 
We will not hide them from their children;
   we will tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
   and the wonders that he has done. 

He established a decree in Jacob,
   and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our ancestors
   to teach to their children; 
that the next generation might know them,
   the children yet unborn,
and rise up and tell them to their children, 
   so that they should set their hope in God,
and not forget the works of God,
   but keep his commandments; 
and that they should not be like their ancestors,
   a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
   whose spirit was not faithful to God. 

The Ephraimites, armed with the bow,
   turned back on the day of battle. 
They did not keep God’s covenant,
   but refused to walk according to his law. 
They forgot what he had done,
   and the miracles that he had shown them. 
In the sight of their ancestors he worked marvels
   in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan. 
He divided the sea and let them pass through it,
   and made the waters stand like a heap. 
In the daytime he led them with a cloud,
   and all night long with a fiery light. 
He split rocks open in the wilderness,
   and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep. 
He made streams come out of the rock,
   and caused waters to flow down like rivers. 

Yet they sinned still more against him,
   rebelling against the Most High in the desert. 
They tested God in their heart
   by demanding the food they craved. 
They spoke against God, saying,
   ‘Can God spread a table in the wilderness? 
Even though he struck the rock so that water gushed out
   and torrents overflowed,
can he also give bread,
   or provide meat for his people?’ 

Therefore, when the Lord heard, he was full of rage;
   a fire was kindled against Jacob,
   his anger mounted against Israel, 
because they had no faith in God,
   and did not trust his saving power. 
Yet he commanded the skies above,
   and opened the doors of heaven; 
he rained down on them manna to eat,
   and gave them the grain of heaven. 
Mortals ate of the bread of angels;
   he sent them food in abundance. 
He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens,
   and by his power he led out the south wind; 
he rained flesh upon them like dust,
   winged birds like the sand of the seas; 
he let them fall within their camp,
   all around their dwellings. 
And they ate and were well filled,
   for he gave them what they craved. 
But before they had satisfied their craving,
   while the food was still in their mouths, 
the anger of God rose against them
   and he killed the strongest of them,
   and laid low the flower of Israel. 

In spite of all this they still sinned;
   they did not believe in his wonders. 
So he made their days vanish like a breath,
   and their years in terror. 
When he killed them, they sought for him;
   they repented and sought God earnestly. 
They remembered that God was their rock,
   the Most High God their redeemer. 
But they flattered him with their mouths;
   they lied to him with their tongues. 
Their heart was not steadfast towards him;
   they were not true to his covenant. 
Yet he, being compassionate,
   forgave their iniquity,
   and did not destroy them;
often he restrained his anger,
   and did not stir up all his wrath. 
He remembered that they were but flesh,
   a wind that passes and does not come again.
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Evening Psalms: Psalm 78:40-72

Psalm 78:40-72

How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness
   and grieved him in the desert! 
They tested God again and again,
   and provoked the Holy One of Israel. 
They did not keep in mind his power,
   or the day when he redeemed them from the foe; 
when he displayed his signs in Egypt,
   and his miracles in the fields of Zoan. 
He turned their rivers to blood,
   so that they could not drink of their streams. 
He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them,
   and frogs, which destroyed them. 
He gave their crops to the caterpillar,
   and the fruit of their labour to the locust. 
He destroyed their vines with hail,
   and their sycomores with frost. 
He gave over their cattle to the hail,
   and their flocks to thunderbolts. 
He let loose on them his fierce anger,
   wrath, indignation, and distress,
   a company of destroying angels. 
He made a path for his anger;
   he did not spare them from death,
   but gave their lives over to the plague. 
He struck all the firstborn in Egypt,
   the first issue of their strength in the tents of Ham. 
Then he led out his people like sheep,
   and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. 
He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid;
   but the sea overwhelmed their enemies. 
And he brought them to his holy hill,
   to the mountain that his right hand had won. 
He drove out nations before them;
   he apportioned them for a possession
   and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents. 

Yet they tested the Most High God,
   and rebelled against him.
   They did not observe his decrees, 
but turned away and were faithless like their ancestors;
   they twisted like a treacherous bow. 
For they provoked him to anger with their high places;
   they moved him to jealousy with their idols. 
When God heard, he was full of wrath,
   and he utterly rejected Israel. 
He abandoned his dwelling at Shiloh,
   the tent where he dwelt among mortals, 
and delivered his power to captivity,
   his glory to the hand of the foe. 
He gave his people to the sword,
   and vented his wrath on his heritage. 
Fire devoured their young men,
   and their girls had no marriage song. 
Their priests fell by the sword,
   and their widows made no lamentation. 
Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,
   like a warrior shouting because of wine. 
He put his adversaries to rout;
   he put them to everlasting disgrace. 

He rejected the tent of Joseph,
   he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim; 
but he chose the tribe of Judah,
   Mount Zion, which he loves. 
He built his sanctuary like the high heavens,
   like the earth, which he has founded for ever. 
He chose his servant David,
   and took him from the sheepfolds; 
from tending the nursing ewes he brought him
   to be the shepherd of his people Jacob,
   of Israel, his inheritance. 
With upright heart he tended them,
   and guided them with skilful hand.
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