Monday 24 October 2022 DAILY LECTIONARY

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Monday 24 October 2022  
DAILY LECTIONARY

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Ecclesiasticus 19:4-17

One who trusts others too quickly has a shallow mind,
   and one who sins does wrong to himself. 
One who rejoices in wickedness* will be condemned,* 
   but one who hates gossip has less evil. 
Never repeat a conversation,
   and you will lose nothing at all. 
With friend or foe do not report it,
   and unless it would be a sin for you, do not reveal it; 
for someone may have heard you and watched you,
   and in time will hate you. 
Have you heard something? Let it die with you.
   Be brave, it will not make you burst! 
Having heard something, the fool suffers birth-pangs
   like a woman in labour with a child. 
Like an arrow stuck in a person’s thigh,
   so is gossip inside a fool. 

Question a friend; perhaps he did not do it;
   or if he did, so that he may not do it again. 
Question a neighbour; perhaps he did not say it;
   or if he said it, so that he may not repeat it. 
Question a friend, for often it is slander;
   so do not believe everything you hear. 
A person may make a slip without intending it.
   Who has not sinned with his tongue? 
Question your neighbour before you threaten him;
   and let the law of the Most High take its course.

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Revelation 11:1-14

Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, ‘Come
and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship
there, but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that
out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample over
the holy city for forty-two months. And I will grant my two witnesses
authority to prophesy for one thousand two hundred and sixty days,
wearing sackcloth.’

 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand
before the Lord of the earth. And if anyone wants to harm them, fire
pours from their mouth and consumes their foes; anyone who wants to
harm them must be killed in this manner. They have authority to shut
the sky, so that no rain may fall during the days of their
prophesying, and they have authority over the waters to turn them into
blood, and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as
they desire.

 When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up
from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and
kill them, and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great
city that is prophetically* called Sodom and Egypt, where also their
Lord was crucified. For three and a half days members of the peoples
and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies
and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb; and the inhabitants of the
earth will gloat over them and celebrate and exchange presents,
because these two prophets had been a torment to the inhabitants of
the earth.

 But after the three and a half days, the breath* of life from God
entered them, and they stood on their feet, and those who saw them
were terrified. Then they* heard a loud voice from heaven saying to
them, ‘Come up here!’ And they went up to heaven in a cloud while
their enemies watched them. At that moment there was a great
earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were
killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory
to the God of heaven.

 The second woe has passed. The third woe is coming very soon.
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Luke 11:14-26

Now he was casting out a demon that was mute; when the demon had gone
out, the one who had been mute spoke, and the crowds were amazed. But
some of them said, ‘He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of
the demons.’ Others, to test him, kept demanding from him a sign
from heaven. But he knew what they were thinking and said to them,
‘Every kingdom divided against itself becomes a desert, and house
falls on house. If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his
kingdom stand? —for you say that I cast out the demons by Beelzebul.
Now if I cast out the demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your exorcists*
cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the
finger of God that I cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God has
come to you. When a strong man, fully armed, guards his castle, his
property is safe. But when one stronger than he attacks him and
overpowers him, he takes away his armour in which he trusted and
divides his plunder. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever
does not gather with me scatters.
 ‘When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it wanders
through waterless regions looking for a resting-place, but not finding
any, it says, “I will return to my house from which I came.” When
it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. Then it goes and brings
seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and live
there; and the last state of that person is worse than the first.’
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Morning Psalms:  Psalm 41, 52

Psalm 41

Happy are those who consider the poor;*
   the Lord delivers them in the day of trouble. 
The Lord protects them and keeps them alive;
   they are called happy in the land.
   You do not give them up to the will of their enemies. 
The Lord sustains them on their sickbed;
   in their illness you heal all their infirmities.* 

As for me, I said, ‘O Lord, be gracious to me;
   heal me, for I have sinned against you.’ 
My enemies wonder in malice
   when I will die, and my name perish. 
And when they come to see me, they utter empty words,
   while their hearts gather mischief;
   when they go out, they tell it abroad. 
All who hate me whisper together about me;
   they imagine the worst for me. 

They think that a deadly thing has fastened on me,
   that I will not rise again from where I lie. 
Even my bosom friend in whom I trusted,
   who ate of my bread, has lifted the heel against me. 
But you, O Lord, be gracious to me,
   and raise me up, that I may repay them. 

By this I know that you are pleased with me;
   because my enemy has not triumphed over me. 
But you have upheld me because of my integrity,
   and set me in your presence for ever. 

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
   from everlasting to everlasting.Amen and Amen.

Psalm 52

Why do you boast, O mighty one,
   of mischief done against the godly?*
   All day long you are plotting destruction.
Your tongue is like a sharp razor,
   you worker of treachery. 
You love evil more than good,
   and lying more than speaking the truth.
          Selah 
You love all words that devour,
   O deceitful tongue. 

But God will break you down for ever;
   he will snatch and tear you from your tent;
   he will uproot you from the land of the living.
          Selah 
The righteous will see, and fear,
   and will laugh at the evildoer,* saying, 
‘See the one who would not take
   refuge in God,
but trusted in abundant riches,
   and sought refuge in wealth!’* 

But I am like a green olive tree
   in the house of God.
I trust in the steadfast love of God
   for ever and ever. 
I will thank you for ever,
   because of what you have done.
In the presence of the faithful
   I will proclaim* your name, for it is good.
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Evening Psalms:  Psalm 44

Psalm 44

We have heard with our ears, O God,
   our ancestors have told us,
what deeds you performed in their days,
   in the days of old: 
you with your own hand drove out the nations,
   but them you planted;
you afflicted the peoples,
   but them you set free; 
for not by their own sword did they win the land,
   nor did their own arm give them victory;
but your right hand, and your arm,
   and the light of your countenance,
   for you delighted in them. 

You are my King and my God;
   you command* victories for Jacob. 
Through you we push down our foes;
   through your name we tread down our assailants. 
For not in my bow do I trust,
   nor can my sword save me. 
But you have saved us from our foes,
   and have put to confusion those who hate us. 
In God we have boasted continually,
   and we will give thanks to your name for ever.
          Selah 

Yet you have rejected us and abased us,
   and have not gone out with our armies. 
You made us turn back from the foe,
   and our enemies have taken spoil for themselves. 
You have made us like sheep for slaughter,
   and have scattered us among the nations. 
You have sold your people for a trifle,
   demanding no high price for them. 

You have made us the taunt of our neighbours,
   the derision and scorn of those around us. 
You have made us a byword among the nations,
   a laughing-stock* among the peoples. 
All day long my disgrace is before me,
   and shame has covered my face 
at the words of the taunters and revilers,
   at the sight of the enemy and the avenger. 

All this has come upon us,
   yet we have not forgotten you,
   or been false to your covenant. 
Our heart has not turned back,
   nor have our steps departed from your way, 
yet you have broken us in the haunt of jackals,
   and covered us with deep darkness. 

If we had forgotten the name of our God,
   or spread out our hands to a strange god, 
would not God discover this?
   For he knows the secrets of the heart. 
Because of you we are being killed all day long,
   and accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 

Rouse yourself! Why do you sleep, O Lord?
   Awake, do not cast us off for ever! 
Why do you hide your face?
   Why do you forget our affliction and oppression? 
For we sink down to the dust;
   our bodies cling to the ground. 
Rise up, come to our help.
   Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love.
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