Friday 15 December 2023 DAILY LECTIONARY

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Friday 15 December 2023 
DAILY LECTIONARY

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Haggai 1:1-15

In the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, on the first
day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai to
Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of
Jehozadak, the high priest: Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people
say the time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house. Then the
word of the Lord came by the prophet Haggai, saying: Is it a time for
you yourselves to live in your panelled houses, while this house lies
in ruins? Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider how you
have fared. You have sown much, and harvested little; you eat, but you
never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill; you clothe
yourselves, but no one is warm; and you that earn wages earn wages to
put them into a bag with holes.

 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider how you have fared. Go up to
the hills and bring wood and build the house, so that I may take
pleasure in it and be honoured, says the Lord. You have looked for
much, and, lo, it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew
it away. Why? says the Lord of hosts. Because my house lies in ruins,
while all of you hurry off to your own houses. Therefore the heavens
above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its
produce. And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on
the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the soil produces, on human
beings and animals, and on all their labours.

 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and Joshua son of Jehozadak, the
high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of
the Lord their God, and the words of the prophet Haggai, as the Lord
their God had sent him; and the people feared the Lord. Then Haggai,
the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord’s
message, saying, I am with you, says the Lord. And the Lord stirred up
the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the
spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of
all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house
of the Lord of hosts, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the
month, in the sixth month.
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Revelation 2:18-29

‘And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These are the
words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose
feet are like burnished bronze:

 ‘I know your works—your love, faith, service, and patient
endurance. I know that your last works are greater than the first. But
I have this against you: you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls
herself a prophet and is teaching and beguiling my servants* to
practise fornication and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her
time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her fornication. Beware,
I am throwing her on a bed, and those who commit adultery with her I
am throwing into great distress, unless they repent of her doings; and
I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I
am the one who searches minds and hearts, and I will give to each of
you as your works deserve. But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do
not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call “the
deep things of Satan”, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other
burden; only hold fast to what you have until I come. To everyone who
conquers and continues to do my works to the end,
I will give authority over the nations; 
to rule* them with an iron rod,
   as when clay pots are shattered— 
even as I also received authority from my Father. To the one who
conquers I will also give the morning star. Let anyone who has an ear
listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.
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Matthew 23:27-39

‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like
whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but inside
they are full of the bones of the dead and of all kinds of filth. So
you also on the outside look righteous to others, but inside you are
full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

 ‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the
tombs of the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous, and
you say, “If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not
have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.”
Thus you testify against yourselves that you are descendants of those
who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your
ancestors. You snakes, you brood of vipers! How can you escape being
sentenced to hell?* Therefore I send you prophets, sages, and scribes,
some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your
synagogues and pursue from town to town, so that upon you may come all
the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to
the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the
sanctuary and the altar. Truly I tell you, all this will come upon
this generation.
 ‘Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones
those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your
children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you
were not willing! See, your house is left to you, desolate.* For I
tell you, you will not see me again until you say, “Blessed is the
one who comes in the name of the Lord.” ’
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Morning Psalms: Psalm 31

Psalm 31

In you, O Lord, I seek refuge;
   do not let me ever be put to shame;
   in your righteousness deliver me. 
Incline your ear to me;
   rescue me speedily.
Be a rock of refuge for me,
   a strong fortress to save me. 

You are indeed my rock and my fortress;
   for your name’s sake lead me and guide me, 
take me out of the net that is hidden for me,
   for you are my refuge. 
Into your hand I commit my spirit;
   you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God. 

You hate* those who pay regard to worthless idols,
   but I trust in the Lord. 
I will exult and rejoice in your steadfast love,
   because you have seen my affliction;
   you have taken heed of my adversities, 
and have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy;
   you have set my feet in a broad place. 

Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress;
   my eye wastes away from grief,
   my soul and body also. 
For my life is spent with sorrow,
   and my years with sighing;
my strength fails because of my misery,*
   and my bones waste away. 

I am the scorn of all my adversaries,
   a horror* to my neighbours,
an object of dread to my acquaintances;
   those who see me in the street flee from me. 
I have passed out of mind like one who is dead;
   I have become like a broken vessel. 
For I hear the whispering of many—
   terror all around!—
as they scheme together against me,
   as they plot to take my life. 

But I trust in you, O Lord;
   I say, ‘You are my God.’ 
My times are in your hand;
   deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors. 
Let your face shine upon your servant;
   save me in your steadfast love. 
Do not let me be put to shame, O Lord,
   for I call on you;
let the wicked be put to shame;
   let them go dumbfounded to Sheol. 
Let the lying lips be stilled
   that speak insolently against the righteous
   with pride and contempt. 

O how abundant is your goodness
   that you have laid up for those who fear you,
and accomplished for those who take refuge in you,
   in the sight of everyone! 
In the shelter of your presence you hide them
   from human plots;
you hold them safe under your shelter
   from contentious tongues. 

Blessed be the Lord,
   for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me
   when I was beset as a city under siege. 
I had said in my alarm,
   ‘I am driven far* from your sight.’
But you heard my supplications
   when I cried out to you for help. 

Love the Lord, all you his saints.
   The Lord preserves the faithful,
   but abundantly repays the one who acts haughtily. 
Be strong, and let your heart take courage,
   all you who wait for the Lord.
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Evening Psalms: Psalm 35

Psalm 35

Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with me;
   fight against those who fight against me! 
Take hold of shield and buckler,
   and rise up to help me! 
Draw the spear and javelin
   against my pursuers;
say to my soul,
   ‘I am your salvation.’ 

Let them be put to shame and dishonour
   who seek after my life.
Let them be turned back and confounded
   who devise evil against me. 
Let them be like chaff before the wind,
   with the angel of the Lord driving them on. 
Let their way be dark and slippery,
   with the angel of the Lord pursuing them. 

For without cause they hid their net* for me;
   without cause they dug a pit* for my life. 
Let ruin come on them unawares.
And let the net that they hid ensnare them;
   let them fall in it—to their ruin. 

Then my soul shall rejoice in the Lord,
   exulting in his deliverance. 
All my bones shall say,
   ‘O Lord, who is like you?
You deliver the weak
   from those too strong for them,
   the weak and needy from those who despoil them.’ 

Malicious witnesses rise up;
   they ask me about things I do not know. 
They repay me evil for good;
   my soul is forlorn. 
But as for me, when they were sick,
   I wore sackcloth;
   I afflicted myself with fasting.
I prayed with head bowed* on my bosom, 
   as though I grieved for a friend or a brother;
I went about as one who laments for a mother,
   bowed down and in mourning. 

But at my stumbling they gathered in glee,
   they gathered together against me;
ruffians whom I did not know
   tore at me without ceasing; 
they impiously mocked more and more,*
   gnashing at me with their teeth. 

How long, O Lord, will you look on?
   Rescue me from their ravages,
   my life from the lions! 
Then I will thank you in the great congregation;
   in the mighty throng I will praise you. 

Do not let my treacherous enemies rejoice over me,
   or those who hate me without cause wink the eye. 
For they do not speak peace,
   but they conceive deceitful words
   against those who are quiet in the land. 
They open wide their mouths against me;
   they say, ‘Aha, Aha,
   our eyes have seen it.’ 

You have seen, O Lord; do not be silent!
   O Lord, do not be far from me! 
Wake up! Bestir yourself for my defence,
   for my cause, my God and my Lord! 
Vindicate me, O Lord, my God,
   according to your righteousness,
   and do not let them rejoice over me. 
Do not let them say to themselves,
   ‘Aha, we have our heart’s desire.’
Do not let them say, ‘We have swallowed you* up.’ 

Let all those who rejoice at my calamity
   be put to shame and confusion;
let those who exalt themselves against me
   be clothed with shame and dishonour. 

Let those who desire my vindication
   shout for joy and be glad,
   and say evermore,
‘Great is the Lord,
   who delights in the welfare of his servant.’ 
Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness
   and of your praise all day long.
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