Tuesday 9 November 2021 DAILY LECTIONARY

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Tuesday 9 November 2021
DAILY LECTIONARY

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Nehemiah 9:26-38

‘Nevertheless they were disobedient and rebelled against you and
cast your law behind their backs and killed your prophets, who had
warned them in order to turn them back to you, and they committed
great blasphemies. Therefore you gave them into the hands of their
enemies, who made them suffer. Then in the time of their suffering
they cried out to you and you heard them from heaven, and according to
your great mercies you gave them saviours who saved them from the
hands of their enemies. But after they had rest, they again did evil
before you, and you abandoned them to the hands of their enemies, so
that they had dominion over them; yet when they turned and cried to
you, you heard from heaven, and many times you rescued them according
to your mercies. And you warned them in order to turn them back to
your law. Yet they acted presumptuously and did not obey your
commandments, but sinned against your ordinances, by the observance of
which a person shall live. They turned a stubborn shoulder and
stiffened their neck and would not obey. For many years you were
patient with them, and warned them by your spirit through your
prophets; yet they would not listen. Therefore you handed them over to
the peoples of the lands. Nevertheless, in your great mercies you did
not make an end of them or forsake them, for you are a gracious and
merciful God.

 ‘Now therefore, our God—the great and mighty and awesome God,
keeping covenant and steadfast love—do not treat lightly all the
hardship that has come upon us, upon our kings, our officials, our
priests, our prophets, our ancestors, and all your people, since the
time of the kings of Assyria until today. You have been just in all
that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully and we have acted
wickedly; our kings, our officials, our priests, and our ancestors
have not kept your law or heeded the commandments and the warnings
that you gave them. Even in their own kingdom, and in the great
goodness you bestowed on them, and in the large and rich land that you
set before them, they did not serve you and did not turn from their
wicked works. Here we are, slaves to this day—slaves in the land
that you gave to our ancestors to enjoy its fruit and its good gifts.
Its rich yield goes to the kings whom you have set over us because of
our sins; they have power also over our bodies and over our livestock
at their pleasure, and we are in great distress.’
 *Because of all this we make a firm agreement in writing, and on
that sealed document are inscribed the names of our officials, our
Levites, and our priests.
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Revelation 18:9-20

And the kings of the earth, who committed fornication and lived in
luxury with her, will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke
of her burning; they will stand far off, in fear of her torment, and
say,
‘Alas, alas, the great city,
   Babylon, the mighty city!
For in one hour your judgement has come.’

 And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her, since no one
buys their cargo any more, cargo of gold, silver, jewels and pearls,
fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet, all kinds of scented wood, all
articles of ivory, all articles of costly wood, bronze, iron, and
marble, cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, olive
oil, choice flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots,
slaves—and human lives.* 
‘The fruit for which your soul longed
   has gone from you,
and all your dainties and your splendour
   are lost to you,
   never to be found again!’ 
The merchants of these wares, who gained wealth from her, will stand
far off, in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning aloud, 
‘Alas, alas, the great city,
   clothed in fine linen,
     in purple and scarlet,
   adorned with gold,
     with jewels, and with pearls! 
For in one hour all this wealth has been laid waste!’

And all shipmasters and seafarers, sailors and all whose trade is on
the sea, stood far off and cried out as they saw the smoke of her
burning,
‘What city was like the great city?’ 
And they threw dust on their heads, as they wept and mourned, crying
out,
‘Alas, alas, the great city,
   where all who had ships at sea
   grew rich by her wealth!
For in one hour she has been laid waste.’

 Rejoice over her, O heaven, you saints and apostles and prophets!
For God has given judgement for you against her.
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Matthew 15:21-28
 
Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon.
Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started
shouting, ‘Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is
tormented by a demon.’ But he did not answer her at all. And his
disciples came and urged him, saying, ‘Send her away, for she keeps
shouting after us.’ He answered, ‘I was sent only to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel.’ But she came and knelt before him,
saying, ‘Lord, help me.’ He answered, ‘It is not fair to take
the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’ She said, ‘Yes,
Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’
table.’ Then Jesus answered her, ‘Woman, great is your faith! Let
it be done for you as you wish.’ And her daughter was healed
instantly.
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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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