Thursday 25 August 2022 DAILY LECTIONARY

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Thursday 25 August 2022  
DAILY LECTIONARY

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Job 8:1-10,20-22

Then Bildad the Shuhite answered: 
‘How long will you say these things,
   and the words of your mouth be a great wind? 
Does God pervert justice?
   Or does the Almighty* pervert the right? 
If your children sinned against him,
   he delivered them into the power of their transgression. 
If you will seek God
   and make supplication to the Almighty,* 
if you are pure and upright,
   surely then he will rouse himself for you
   and restore to you your rightful place. 
Though your beginning was small,
   your latter days will be very great. 

‘For inquire now of bygone generations,
   and consider what their ancestors have found; 
for we are but of yesterday, and we know nothing,
   for our days on earth are but a shadow. 
Will they not teach you and tell you
   and utter words out of their understanding? 

‘See, God will not reject a blameless person,
   nor take the hand of evildoers. 
He will yet fill your mouth with laughter,
   and your lips with shouts of joy. 
Those who hate you will be clothed with shame,
   and the tent of the wicked will be no more.’
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Acts 10:17-33

Now while Peter was greatly puzzled about what to make of the vision
that he had seen, suddenly the men sent by Cornelius appeared. They
were asking for Simon’s house and were standing by the gate. They
called out to ask whether Simon, who was called Peter, was staying
there. While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit
said to him, ‘Look, three* men are searching for you. Now get up, go
down, and go with them without hesitation; for I have sent them.’ So
Peter went down to the men and said, ‘I am the one you are looking
for; what is the reason for your coming?’ They answered,
‘Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who is well
spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to
send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say.’
So Peter* invited them in and gave them lodging.

The next day he got up and went with them, and some of the believers*
from Joppa accompanied him. The following day they came to Caesarea.
Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and
close friends. On Peter’s arrival Cornelius met him, and falling at
his feet, worshipped him. But Peter made him get up, saying, ‘Stand
up; I am only a mortal.’ And as he talked with him, he went in and
found that many had assembled; and he said to them, ‘You yourselves
know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a
Gentile; but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or
unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without objection. Now may I
ask why you sent for me?’

 Cornelius replied, ‘Four days ago at this very hour, at three
o’clock, I was praying in my house when suddenly a man in dazzling
clothes stood before me. He said, “Cornelius, your prayer has been
heard and your alms have been remembered before God. Send therefore to
Joppa and ask for Simon, who is called Peter; he is staying in the
home of Simon, a tanner, by the sea.” Therefore I sent for you
immediately, and you have been kind enough to come. So now all of us
are here in the presence of God to listen to all that the Lord has
commanded you to say.’
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John 7:14-36

About the middle of the festival Jesus went up into the temple and
began to teach. The Jews were astonished at it, saying, ‘How does
this man have such learning,* when he has never been taught?’ Then
Jesus answered them, ‘My teaching is not mine but his who sent me.
Anyone who resolves to do the will of God will know whether the
teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own. Those who
speak on their own seek their own glory; but the one who seeks the
glory of him who sent him is true, and there is nothing false in him.

 ‘Did not Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law.
Why are you looking for an opportunity to kill me?’ The crowd
answered, ‘You have a demon! Who is trying to kill you?’ Jesus
answered them, ‘I performed one work, and all of you are astonished.
Moses gave you circumcision (it is, of course, not from Moses, but
from the patriarchs), and you circumcise a man on the sabbath. If a
man receives circumcision on the sabbath in order that the law of
Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me because I healed a
man’s whole body on the sabbath? Do not judge by appearances, but
judge with right judgement.’
 Now some of the people of Jerusalem were saying, ‘Is not this the
man whom they are trying to kill? And here he is, speaking openly, but
they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know
that this is the Messiah?* Yet we know where this man is from; but
when the Messiah* comes, no one will know where he is from.’ Then
Jesus cried out as he was teaching in the temple, ‘You know me, and
you know where I am from. I have not come on my own. But the one who
sent me is true, and you do not know him. I know him, because I am
from him, and he sent me.’ Then they tried to arrest him, but no one
laid hands on him, because his hour had not yet come. Yet many in the
crowd believed in him and were saying, ‘When the Messiah* comes,
will he do more signs than this man has done?’*
 The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering such things about him, and
the chief priests and Pharisees sent temple police to arrest him.
Jesus then said, ‘I will be with you a little while longer, and then
I am going to him who sent me. You will search for me, but you will
not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.’ The Jews said to one
another, ‘Where does this man intend to go that we will not find
him? Does he intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach
the Greeks? What does he mean by saying, “You will search for me and
you will not find me” and, “Where I am, you cannot come”?’

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Morning Psalms:  Psalm 18:1-20

Psalm 18:1-20

I love you, O Lord, my strength. 
The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer,
   my God, my rock in whom I take refuge,
   my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. 
I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised;
   so I shall be saved from my enemies. 

The cords of death encompassed me;
   the torrents of perdition assailed me; 
the cords of Sheol entangled me;
   the snares of death confronted me. 

In my distress I called upon the Lord;
   to my God I cried for help.
>From his temple he heard my voice,
   and my cry to him reached his ears. 

Then the earth reeled and rocked;
   the foundations also of the mountains trembled
   and quaked, because he was angry. 
Smoke went up from his nostrils,
   and devouring fire from his mouth;
   glowing coals flamed forth from him. 
He bowed the heavens, and came down;
   thick darkness was under his feet. 
He rode on a cherub, and flew;
   he came swiftly upon the wings of the wind. 
He made darkness his covering around him,
   his canopy thick clouds dark with water. 
Out of the brightness before him
   there broke through his clouds
   hailstones and coals of fire. 
The Lord also thundered in the heavens,
   and the Most High uttered his voice.* 
And he sent out his arrows, and scattered them;
   he flashed forth lightnings, and routed them. 
Then the channels of the sea were seen,
   and the foundations of the world were laid bare
at your rebuke, O Lord,
   at the blast of the breath of your nostrils. 

He reached down from on high, he took me;
   he drew me out of mighty waters. 
He delivered me from my strong enemy,
   and from those who hated me;
   for they were too mighty for me. 
They confronted me in the day of my calamity;
   but the Lord was my support. 
He brought me out into a broad place;
   he delivered me, because he delighted in me. 

The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness;
   according to the cleanness of my hands he recompensed me.
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Evening Psalms:  Psalm 18:21-50

Psalm 18:21-50

For I have kept the ways of the Lord,
   and have not wickedly departed from my God. 
For all his ordinances were before me,
   and his statutes I did not put away from me. 
I was blameless before him,
   and I kept myself from guilt. 
Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness,
   according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight. 

With the loyal you show yourself loyal;
   with the blameless you show yourself blameless; 
with the pure you show yourself pure;
   and with the crooked you show yourself perverse. 
For you deliver a humble people,
   but the haughty eyes you bring down. 
It is you who light my lamp;
   the Lord, my God, lights up my darkness. 
By you I can crush a troop,
   and by my God I can leap over a wall. 
This God—his way is perfect;
   the promise of the Lord proves true;
   he is a shield for all who take refuge in him. 

For who is God except the Lord?
   And who is a rock besides our God?— 
the God who girded me with strength,
   and made my way safe. 
He made my feet like the feet of a deer,
   and set me secure on the heights. 
He trains my hands for war,
   so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. 
You have given me the shield of your salvation,
   and your right hand has supported me;
   your help* has made me great. 
You gave me a wide place for my steps under me,
   and my feet did not slip. 
I pursued my enemies and overtook them;
   and did not turn back until they were consumed. 
I struck them down, so that they were not able to rise;
   they fell under my feet. 
For you girded me with strength for the battle;
   you made my assailants sink under me. 
You made my enemies turn their backs to me,
   and those who hated me I destroyed. 
They cried for help, but there was no one to save them;
   they cried to the Lord, but he did not answer them. 
I beat them fine, like dust before the wind;
   I cast them out like the mire of the streets. 

You delivered me from strife with the peoples;*
   you made me head of the nations;
   people whom I had not known served me. 
As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me;
   foreigners came cringing to me. 
Foreigners lost heart,
   and came trembling out of their strongholds. 

The Lord lives! Blessed be my rock,
   and exalted be the God of my salvation, 
the God who gave me vengeance
   and subdued peoples under me; 
who delivered me from my enemies;
   indeed, you exalted me above my adversaries;
   you delivered me from the violent. 

For this I will extol you, O Lord, among the nations,
   and sing praises to your name. 
Great triumphs he gives to his king,
   and shows steadfast love to his anointed,
   to David and his descendants for ever.
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