Tuesday 18 July 2023 DAILY LECTIONARY

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Tuesday 18 July 2023 
DAILY LECTIONARY

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1 Samuel 19:1-18

Saul spoke to his son Jonathan and to all his servants about killing
David. But Saul’s son Jonathan took great delight in David. Jonathan
told David, ‘My father Saul is trying to kill you; therefore be on
guard tomorrow morning; stay in a secret place and hide yourself. I
will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and
I will speak to my father about you; if I learn anything I will tell
you.’ Jonathan spoke well of David to his father Saul, saying to
him, ‘The king should not sin against his servant David, because he
has not sinned against you, and because his deeds have been of good
service to you; for he took his life in his hand when he attacked the
Philistine, and the Lord brought about a great victory for all Israel.
You saw it, and rejoiced; why then will you sin against an innocent
person by killing David without cause?’ Saul heeded the voice of
Jonathan; Saul swore, ‘As the Lord lives, he shall not be put to
death.’ So Jonathan called David and related all these things to
him. Jonathan then brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence
as before. 
Again there was war, and David went out to fight the Philistines. He
launched a heavy attack on them, so that they fled before him. Then an
evil spirit from the Lord came upon Saul, as he sat in his house with
his spear in his hand, while David was playing music. Saul sought to
pin David to the wall with the spear; but he eluded Saul, so that he
struck the spear into the wall. David fled and escaped that night. 
Saul sent messengers to David’s house to keep watch over him,
planning to kill him in the morning. David’s wife Michal told him,
‘If you do not save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be
killed.’ So Michal let David down through the window; he fled away
and escaped. Michal took an idol and laid it on the bed; she put a net
of goats’ hair on its head, and covered it with the clothes. When
Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, ‘He is sick.’ Then
Saul sent the messengers to see David for themselves. He said,
‘Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.’ When the
messengers came in, the idol was in the bed, with the covering of
goats’ hair on its head. Saul said to Michal, ‘Why have you
deceived me like this, and let my enemy go, so that he has escaped?’
Michal answered Saul, ‘He said to me, “Let me go; why should I
kill you?” ’ 
Now David fled and escaped; he came to Samuel at Ramah, and told him
all that Saul had done to him. He and Samuel went and settled at
Naioth.
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Acts 12:1-17

About that time King Herod laid violent hands upon some who belonged
to the church. He had James, the brother of John, killed with the
sword. After he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest
Peter also. (This was during the festival of Unleavened Bread.) When
he had seized him, he put him in prison and handed him over to four
squads of soldiers to guard him, intending to bring him out to the
people after the Passover. While Peter was kept in prison, the church
prayed fervently to God for him. 

The very night before Herod was going to bring him out, Peter, bound
with two chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, while guards in
front of the door were keeping watch over the prison. Suddenly an
angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He tapped
Peter on the side and woke him, saying, ‘Get up quickly.’ And the
chains fell off his wrists. The angel said to him, ‘Fasten your belt
and put on your sandals.’ He did so. Then he said to him, ‘Wrap
your cloak around you and follow me.’ Peter went out and followed
him; he did not realize that what was happening with the angel’s
help was real; he thought he was seeing a vision. After they had
passed the first and the second guard, they came before the iron gate
leading into the city. It opened for them of its own accord, and they
went outside and walked along a lane, when suddenly the angel left
him. Then Peter came to himself and said, ‘Now I am sure that the
Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from the hands of Herod and
from all that the Jewish people were expecting.’ 
As soon as he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother
of John whose other name was Mark, where many had gathered and were
praying. When he knocked at the outer gate, a maid named Rhoda came to
answer. On recognizing Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed that,
instead of opening the gate, she ran in and announced that Peter was
standing at the gate. They said to her, ‘You are out of your
mind!’ But she insisted that it was so. They said, ‘It is his
angel.’ Meanwhile, Peter continued knocking; and when they opened
the gate, they saw him and were amazed. He motioned to them with his
hand to be silent, and described for them how the Lord had brought him
out of the prison. And he added, ‘Tell this to James and to the
believers.’ Then he left and went to another place.

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Mark 2:1-12

When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he
was at home. So many gathered around that there was no longer room for
them, not even in front of the door; and he was speaking the word to
them. Then some people came, bringing to him a paralysed man, carried
by four of them. And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of
the crowd, they removed the roof above him; and after having dug
through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay. When
Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are
forgiven.’ Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning
in their hearts, ‘Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is
blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?’ At once Jesus
perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions
among themselves; and he said to them, ‘Why do you raise such
questions in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic,
“Your sins are forgiven”, or to say, “Stand up and take your mat
and walk”? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has
authority on earth to forgive sins’—he said to the paralytic—
‘I say to you, stand up, take your mat and go to your home.’ And
he stood up, and immediately took the mat and went out before all of
them; so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, ‘We
have never seen anything like this!’
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Morning Psalms:  Psalm 26, 28

Psalm 26

Vindicate me, O Lord,
   for I have walked in my integrity,
   and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering. 
Prove me, O Lord, and try me;
   test my heart and mind. 
For your steadfast love is before my eyes,
   and I walk in faithfulness to you. 

I do not sit with the worthless,
   nor do I consort with hypocrites; 
I hate the company of evildoers,
   and will not sit with the wicked. 

I wash my hands in innocence,
   and go around your altar, O Lord, 
singing aloud a song of thanksgiving,
   and telling all your wondrous deeds. 

O Lord, I love the house in which you dwell,
   and the place where your glory abides. 
Do not sweep me away with sinners,
   nor my life with the bloodthirsty, 
those in whose hands are evil devices,
   and whose right hands are full of bribes. 

But as for me, I walk in my integrity;
   redeem me, and be gracious to me. 
My foot stands on level ground;
   in the great congregation I will bless the Lord.

Psalm 28

To you, O Lord, I call;
   my rock, do not refuse to hear me,
for if you are silent to me,
   I shall be like those who go down to the Pit. 
Hear the voice of my supplication,
   as I cry to you for help,
as I lift up my hands
   towards your most holy sanctuary. 

Do not drag me away with the wicked,
   with those who are workers of evil,
who speak peace with their neighbours,
   while mischief is in their hearts. 
Repay them according to their work,
   and according to the evil of their deeds;
repay them according to the work of their hands;
   render them their due reward. 
Because they do not regard the works of the Lord,
   or the work of his hands,
he will break them down and build them up no more. 

Blessed be the Lord,
   for he has heard the sound of my pleadings. 
The Lord is my strength and my shield;
   in him my heart trusts;
so I am helped, and my heart exults,
   and with my song I give thanks to him. 

The Lord is the strength of his people;
   he is the saving refuge of his anointed. 
O save your people, and bless your heritage;
   be their shepherd, and carry them for ever.
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Evening Psalms: Psalm 36, 39

Psalm 36

Transgression speaks to the wicked
   deep in their hearts;
there is no fear of God
   before their eyes. 
For they flatter themselves in their own eyes
   that their iniquity cannot be found out and hated. 
The words of their mouths are mischief and deceit;
   they have ceased to act wisely and do good. 
They plot mischief while on their beds;
   they are set on a way that is not good;
   they do not reject evil. 

Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens,
   your faithfulness to the clouds. 
Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
   your judgements are like the great deep;
   you save humans and animals alike, O Lord. 

How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
   All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings. 
They feast on the abundance of your house,
   and you give them drink from the river of your delights. 
For with you is the fountain of life;
   in your light we see light. 

O continue your steadfast love to those who know you,
   and your salvation to the upright of heart! 
Do not let the foot of the arrogant tread on me,
   or the hand of the wicked drive me away. 
There the evildoers lie prostrate;
   they are thrust down, unable to rise.

Psalm 39

I said, ‘I will guard my ways
   that I may not sin with my tongue;
I will keep a muzzle on my mouth
   as long as the wicked are in my presence.’ 
I was silent and still;
   I held my peace to no avail;
my distress grew worse, 
   my heart became hot within me.
While I mused, the fire burned;
   then I spoke with my tongue: 

‘Lord, let me know my end,
   and what is the measure of my days;
   let me know how fleeting my life is. 
You have made my days a few handbreadths,
   and my lifetime is as nothing in your sight.
Surely everyone stands as a mere breath. 
          Selah 
   Surely everyone goes about like a shadow.
Surely for nothing they are in turmoil;
   they heap up, and do not know who will gather. 

‘And now, O Lord, what do I wait for?
   My hope is in you. 
Deliver me from all my transgressions.
   Do not make me the scorn of the fool. 
I am silent; I do not open my mouth,
   for it is you who have done it. 
Remove your stroke from me;
   I am worn down by the blows of your hand. 

‘You chastise mortals
   in punishment for sin,
consuming like a moth what is dear to them;
   surely everyone is a mere breath. 
          Selah

‘Hear my prayer, O Lord,
   and give ear to my cry;
   do not hold your peace at my tears.
For I am your passing guest,
   an alien, like all my forebears. 
Turn your gaze away from me, that I may smile again,
   before I depart and am no more.’
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