Thursday 6 July 2023 DAILY LECTIONARY

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Thursday 6 July 2023 
DAILY LECTIONARY

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1 Samuel 13:5-18

The Philistines mustered to fight with Israel, thirty thousand
chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and troops like the sand on the
seashore in multitude; they came up and encamped at Michmash, to the
east of Beth-aven. When the Israelites saw that they were in distress
(for the troops were hard pressed), the people hid themselves in caves
and in holes and in rocks and in tombs and in cisterns. Some Hebrews
crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul was still at
Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling. 
He waited for seven days, the time appointed by Samuel; but Samuel did
not come to Gilgal, and the people began to slip away from Saul. So
Saul said, ‘Bring the burnt-offering here to me, and the offerings
of well-being.’ And he offered the burnt-offering. As soon as he had
finished offering the burnt-offering, Samuel arrived; and Saul went
out to meet him and salute him. Samuel said, ‘What have you done?’
Saul replied, ‘When I saw that the people were slipping away from
me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the
Philistines were mustering at Michmash, I said, “Now the Philistines
will come down upon me at Gilgal, and I have not entreated the favour
of the Lord”; so I forced myself, and offered the burnt-offering.’
Samuel said to Saul, ‘You have done foolishly; you have not kept the
commandment of the Lord your God, which he commanded you. The Lord
would have established your kingdom over Israel for ever, but now your
kingdom will not continue; the Lord has sought out a man after his own
heart; and the Lord has appointed him to be ruler over his people,
because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.’ And Samuel
left and went on his way from Gilgal. The rest of the people followed
Saul to join the army; they went up from Gilgal towards Gibeah of
Benjamin.
Saul counted the people who were present with him, about six hundred
men. Saul, his son Jonathan, and the people who were present with them
stayed in Geba of Benjamin; but the Philistines encamped at Michmash.
And raiders came out of the camp of the Philistines in three
companies; one company turned towards Ophrah, to the land of Shual,
another company turned towards Beth-horon, and another company turned
towards the mountain that looks down upon the valley of Zeboim towards
the wilderness.
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Acts 8:26-40

Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, ‘Get up and go towards the
south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.’ (This is a
wilderness road.) So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian
eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in
charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and
was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet
Isaiah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go over to this chariot and
join it.’ So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet
Isaiah. He asked, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ He
replied, ‘How can I, unless someone guides me?’ And he invited
Philip to get in and sit beside him. Now the passage of the scripture
that he was reading was this:
‘Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter,
   and like a lamb silent before its shearer,
     so he does not open his mouth. 
In his humiliation justice was denied him.
   Who can describe his generation?
     For his life is taken away from the earth.’ 
The eunuch asked Philip, ‘About whom, may I ask you, does the
prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?’ Then Philip
began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him
the good news about Jesus. As they were going along the road, they
came to some water; and the eunuch said, ‘Look, here is water! What
is to prevent me from being baptized?’ He commanded the chariot to
stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the
water, and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water,
the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no
more, and went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at
Azotus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the
good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.
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Luke 23:13-25

Pilate then called together the chief priests, the leaders, and the
people, and said to them, ‘You brought me this man as one who was
perverting the people; and here I have examined him in your presence
and have not found this man guilty of any of your charges against him.
Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us. Indeed, he has done
nothing to deserve death. I will therefore have him flogged and
release him.’ 
Then they all shouted out together, ‘Away with this fellow! Release
Barabbas for us!’ (This was a man who had been put in prison for an
insurrection that had taken place in the city, and for murder.)
Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again; but they kept
shouting, ‘Crucify, crucify him!’ A third time he said to them,
‘Why, what evil has he done? I have found in him no ground for the
sentence of death; I will therefore have him flogged and then release
him.’ But they kept urgently demanding with loud shouts that he
should be crucified; and their voices prevailed. So Pilate gave his
verdict that their demand should be granted. He released the man they
asked for, the one who had been put in prison for insurrection and
murder, and he handed Jesus over as they wished.
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Morning Psalms:  Psalm 131, 132, 133

Psalm 131

O Lord, my heart is not lifted up,
   my eyes are not raised too high;
I do not occupy myself with things
   too great and too marvellous for me. 
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
   like a weaned child with its mother;
   my soul is like the weaned child that is with me. 

O Israel, hope in the Lord
   from this time on and for evermore.

Psalm 132

O Lord, remember in David’s favour
   all the hardships he endured; 
how he swore to the Lord
   and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob, 
‘I will not enter my house
   or get into my bed; 
I will not give sleep to my eyes
   or slumber to my eyelids, 
until I find a place for the Lord,
   a dwelling-place for the Mighty One of Jacob.’ 

We heard of it in Ephrathah;
   we found it in the fields of Jaar. 
‘Let us go to his dwelling-place;
   let us worship at his footstool.’ 

Rise up, O Lord, and go to your resting-place,
   you and the ark of your might. 
Let your priests be clothed with righteousness,
   and let your faithful shout for joy. 
For your servant David’s sake
   do not turn away the face of your anointed one. 

The Lord swore to David a sure oath
   from which he will not turn back:
‘One of the sons of your body
   I will set on your throne. 
If your sons keep my covenant
   and my decrees that I shall teach them,
their sons also, for evermore,
   shall sit on your throne.’ 

For the Lord has chosen Zion;
   he has desired it for his habitation: 
‘This is my resting-place for ever;
   here I will reside, for I have desired it. 
I will abundantly bless its provisions;
   I will satisfy its poor with bread. 
Its priests I will clothe with salvation,
   and its faithful will shout for joy. 
There I will cause a horn to sprout up for David;
   I have prepared a lamp for my anointed one. 
His enemies I will clothe with disgrace,
   but on him, his crown will gleam.’

Psalm 133

How very good and pleasant it is
   when kindred live together in unity! 
It is like the precious oil on the head,
   running down upon the beard,
on the beard of Aaron,
   running down over the collar of his robes. 
It is like the dew of Hermon,
   which falls on the mountains of Zion.
For there the Lord ordained his blessing,
   life for evermore.
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Evening Psalms: Psalm 134, 135

Psalm 134

Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord,
   who stand by night in the house of the Lord! 
Lift up your hands to the holy place,
   and bless the Lord. 

May the Lord, maker of heaven and earth,
   bless you from Zion.

Psalm 135

Praise the Lord!
   Praise the name of the Lord;
   give praise, O servants of the Lord, 
you that stand in the house of the Lord,
   in the courts of the house of our God. 
Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good;
   sing to his name, for he is gracious. 
For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself,
   Israel as his own possession. 

For I know that the Lord is great;
   our Lord is above all gods. 
Whatever the Lord pleases he does,
   in heaven and on earth,
   in the seas and all deeps. 
He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth;
   he makes lightnings for the rain
   and brings out the wind from his storehouses. 

He it was who struck down the firstborn of Egypt,
   both human beings and animals; 
he sent signs and wonders
   into your midst, O Egypt,
   against Pharaoh and all his servants. 
He struck down many nations
   and killed mighty kings— 
Sihon, king of the Amorites,
   and Og, king of Bashan,
   and all the kingdoms of Canaan— 
and gave their land as a heritage,
   a heritage to his people Israel. 

Your name, O Lord, endures for ever,
   your renown, O Lord, throughout all ages. 
For the Lord will vindicate his people,
   and have compassion on his servants. 

The idols of the nations are silver and gold,
   the work of human hands. 
They have mouths, but they do not speak;
   they have eyes, but they do not see; 
they have ears, but they do not hear,
   and there is no breath in their mouths. 
Those who make them
   and all who trust them
   shall become like them. 

O house of Israel, bless the Lord!
   O house of Aaron, bless the Lord! 
O house of Levi, bless the Lord!
   You that fear the Lord, bless the Lord! 
Blessed be the Lord from Zion,
   he who resides in Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord!
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