Tuesday 20 July 2021 DAILY LECTIONARY

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Tuesday 20 July 2021 
DAILY LECTIONARY

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1 Samuel 25:1-22

Now Samuel died; and all Israel assembled and mourned for him. They
buried him at his home in Ramah.
Then David got up and went down to the wilderness of Paran. 
There was a man in Maon, whose property was in Carmel. The man was
very rich; he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. He was
shearing his sheep in Carmel. Now the name of the man was Nabal, and
the name of his wife Abigail. The woman was clever and beautiful, but
the man was surly and mean; he was a Calebite. David heard in the
wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. So David sent ten young
men; and David said to the young men, ‘Go up to Carmel, and go to
Nabal, and greet him in my name. Thus you shall salute him: “Peace
be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you
have. I hear that you have shearers; now your shepherds have been with
us, and we did them no harm, and they missed nothing, all the time
they were in Carmel. Ask your young men, and they will tell you.
Therefore let my young men find favour in your sight; for we have come
on a feast day. Please give whatever you have at hand to your servants
and to your son David.” ’ 
When David’s young men came, they said all this to Nabal in the name
of David; and then they waited. But Nabal answered David’s servants,
‘Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants
today who are breaking away from their masters. Shall I take my bread
and my water and the meat that I have butchered for my shearers, and
give it to men who come from I do not know where?’ So David’s
young men turned away, and came back and told him all this. David said
to his men, ‘Every man strap on his sword!’ And every one of them
strapped on his sword; David also strapped on his sword; and about
four hundred men went up after David, while two hundred remained with
the baggage. 
But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, ‘David sent
messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master; and he shouted
insults at them. Yet the men were very good to us, and we suffered no
harm, and we never missed anything when we were in the fields, as long
as we were with them; they were a wall to us both by night and by day,
all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. Now therefore know
this and consider what you should do; for evil has been decided
against our master and against all his house; he is so ill-natured
that no one can speak to him.’ 
Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves, two skins of wine,
five sheep ready dressed, five measures of parched grain, one hundred
clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs. She loaded them on
donkeys and said to her young men, ‘Go on ahead of me; I am coming
after you.’ But she did not tell her husband Nabal. As she rode on
the donkey and came down under cover of the mountain, David and his
men came down towards her; and she met them. Now David had said,
‘Surely it was in vain that I protected all that this fellow has in
the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that belonged to
him; but he has returned me evil for good. God do so to David and more
also, if by morning I leave as much as one male of all who belong to
him.’ 
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Acts 14:1-18

The same thing occurred in Iconium, where Paul and Barnabas went into
the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of
both Jews and Greeks became believers. But the unbelieving Jews
stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.
So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who
testified to the word of his grace by granting signs and wonders to be
done through them. But the residents of the city were divided; some
sided with the Jews, and some with the apostles. And when an attempt
was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to maltreat
them and to stone them, the apostles learned of it and fled to Lystra
and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding country; and
there they continued proclaiming the good news. 
In Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet and had
never walked, for he had been crippled from birth. He listened to Paul
as he was speaking. And Paul, looking at him intently and seeing that
he had faith to be healed, said in a loud voice, ‘Stand upright on
your feet.’ And the man sprang up and began to walk. When the crowds
saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, ‘The
gods have come down to us in human form!’ Barnabas they called Zeus,
and Paul they called Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. The
priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought oxen
and garlands to the gates; he and the crowds wanted to offer
sacrifice. When the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore
their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting, ‘Friends, why
are you doing this? We are mortals just like you, and we bring you
good news, that you should turn from these worthless things to the
living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that
is in them. In past generations he allowed all the nations to follow
their own ways; yet he has not left himself without a witness in doing
good—giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, and filling
you with food and your hearts with joy.’ Even with these words, they
scarcely restrained the crowds from offering sacrifice to them. 
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Mark 4:21-34

He said to them, ‘Is a lamp brought in to be put under the bushel
basket, or under the bed, and not on the lampstand? For there is
nothing hidden, except to be disclosed; nor is anything secret, except
to come to light. Let anyone with ears to hear listen!’ And he said
to them, ‘Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will
be the measure you get, and still more will be given you. For to those
who have, more will be given; and from those who have nothing, even
what they have will be taken away.’ 
He also said, ‘The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter
seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the
seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces
of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the
head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle,
because the harvest has come.’ 
He also said, ‘With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what
parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when
sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet
when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs,
and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make
nests in its shade.’ 
With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able
to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables, but he
explained everything in private to his disciples. 
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Morning Psalms:  Psalm 45

Psalm 45

My heart overflows with a goodly theme;
   I address my verses to the king;
   my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe. 

You are the most handsome of men;
   grace is poured upon your lips;
   therefore God has blessed you for ever. 
Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one,
   in your glory and majesty. 

In your majesty ride on victoriously
   for the cause of truth and to defend the right;
   let your right hand teach you dread deeds. 
Your arrows are sharp
   in the heart of the king’s enemies;
   the peoples fall under you. 

Your throne, O God, endures for ever and ever.
   Your royal sceptre is a sceptre of equity; 
   you love righteousness and hate wickedness.
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you
   with the oil of gladness beyond your companions; 
   your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia.
>From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad; 
   daughters of kings are among your ladies of honour;
   at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir. 

Hear, O daughter, consider and incline your ear;
   forget your people and your father’s house, 
   and the king will desire your beauty.
Since he is your lord, bow to him; 
   the people of Tyre will seek your favour with gifts,
   the richest of the people with all kinds of wealth. 

The princess is decked in her chamber with gold-woven robes; 
   in many-coloured robes she is led to the king;
   behind her the virgins, her companions, follow. 
With joy and gladness they are led along
   as they enter the palace of the king. 

In the place of ancestors you, O king, shall have sons;
   you will make them princes in all the earth. 
I will cause your name to be celebrated in all generations;
   therefore the peoples will praise you for ever and ever. 
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Evening Psalms: Psalm 47, 48

Psalm 47

Clap your hands, all you peoples;
   shout to God with loud songs of joy. 
For the Lord, the Most High, is awesome,
   a great king over all the earth. 
He subdued peoples under us,
   and nations under our feet. 
He chose our heritage for us,
   the pride of Jacob whom he loves.
          Selah 

God has gone up with a shout,
   the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. 
Sing praises to God, sing praises;
   sing praises to our King, sing praises. 
For God is the king of all the earth;
   sing praises with a psalm. 

God is king over the nations;
   God sits on his holy throne. 
The princes of the peoples gather
   as the people of the God of Abraham.
For the shields of the earth belong to God;
   he is highly exalted.

Psalm 48

Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised
   in the city of our God.
His holy mountain, beautiful in elevation,
   is the joy of all the earth,
Mount Zion, in the far north,
   the city of the great King. 
Within its citadels God
   has shown himself a sure defence. 

Then the kings assembled,
   they came on together. 
As soon as they saw it, they were astounded;
   they were in panic, they took to flight; 
trembling took hold of them there,
   pains as of a woman in labour, 
as when an east wind shatters
   the ships of Tarshish. 
As we have heard, so have we seen
   in the city of the Lord of hosts,
in the city of our God,
   which God establishes for ever.
          Selah 

We ponder your steadfast love, O God,
   in the midst of your temple. 
Your name, O God, like your praise,
   reaches to the ends of the earth.
Your right hand is filled with victory. 
   Let Mount Zion be glad,
let the towns of Judah rejoice
   because of your judgements. 

Walk about Zion, go all around it,
   count its towers, 
consider well its ramparts;
   go through its citadels,
that you may tell the next generation 
   that this is God,
our God for ever and ever.
   He will be our guide for ever. 
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