Tuesday 16 May 2023 DAILY LECTIONARY

Tue May 16 02:00:03 EDT 2023

Tuesday 16 May 2023  
DAILY LECTIONARY

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Deuteronomy 8:11-20

Take care that you do not forget the Lord your God, by failing to keep
his commandments, his ordinances, and his statutes, which I am
commanding you today. When you have eaten your fill and have built
fine houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks have
multiplied, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you
have is multiplied, then do not exalt yourself, forgetting the Lord
your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house
of slavery, who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, an
arid waste-land with poisonous* snakes and scorpions. He made water
flow for you from flint rock, and fed you in the wilderness with manna
that your ancestors did not know, to humble you and to test you, and
in the end to do you good. Do not say to yourself, ‘My power and the
might of my own hand have gained me this wealth.’ But remember the
Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, so that
he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your ancestors, as he is
doing today. If you do forget the Lord your God and follow other gods
to serve and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall
surely perish. Like the nations that the Lord is destroying before
you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the
Lord your God.
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James 1:16-27

Do not be deceived, my beloved.*

 Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from
above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no
variation or shadow due to change.* In fulfilment of his own purpose
he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind
of first fruits of his creatures.
 You must understand this, my beloved:* let everyone be quick to
listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; for your anger does not produce
God’s righteousness. Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and
rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted
word that has the power to save your souls.

 But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive
themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are
like those who look at themselves* in a mirror; for they look at
themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like.
But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and
persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act—they will
be blessed in their doing.

 If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but
deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. Religion that is
pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for
orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by
the world.
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Luke 11:1-13

He was praying in a certain place, and after he had finished, one of
his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught
his disciples.’ He said to them, ‘When you pray, say:
Father,* hallowed be your name.
   Your kingdom come.* 
   Give us each day our daily bread.* 
   And forgive us our sins,
     for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.
   And do not bring us to the time of trial.’*
 And he said to them, ‘Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go
to him at midnight and say to him, “Friend, lend me three loaves of
bread; for a friend of mine has arrived, and I have nothing to set
before him.” And he answers from within, “Do not bother me; the
door has already been locked, and my children are with me in bed; I
cannot get up and give you anything.” I tell you, even though he
will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, at
least because of his persistence he will get up and give him whatever
he needs.

 ‘So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and
you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For
everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for
everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among
you who, if your child asks for* a fish, will give a snake instead of
a fish? Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? If you
then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how
much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit* to those who
ask him!’
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Morning Psalms: Psalm 78:1-39

Psalm 78:1-39

Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
   incline your ears to the words of my mouth. 
I will open my mouth in a parable;
   I will utter dark sayings from of old, 
things that we have heard and known,
   that our ancestors have told us. 
We will not hide them from their children;
   we will tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
   and the wonders that he has done. 

He established a decree in Jacob,
   and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our ancestors
   to teach to their children; 
that the next generation might know them,
   the children yet unborn,
and rise up and tell them to their children, 
   so that they should set their hope in God,
and not forget the works of God,
   but keep his commandments; 
and that they should not be like their ancestors,
   a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
   whose spirit was not faithful to God. 

The Ephraimites, armed with* the bow,
   turned back on the day of battle. 
They did not keep God’s covenant,
   but refused to walk according to his law. 
They forgot what he had done,
   and the miracles that he had shown them. 
In the sight of their ancestors he worked marvels
   in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan. 
He divided the sea and let them pass through it,
   and made the waters stand like a heap. 
In the daytime he led them with a cloud,
   and all night long with a fiery light. 
He split rocks open in the wilderness,
   and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep. 
He made streams come out of the rock,
   and caused waters to flow down like rivers. 

Yet they sinned still more against him,
   rebelling against the Most High in the desert. 
They tested God in their heart
   by demanding the food they craved. 
They spoke against God, saying,
   ‘Can God spread a table in the wilderness? 
Even though he struck the rock so that water gushed out
   and torrents overflowed,
can he also give bread,
   or provide meat for his people?’ 

Therefore, when the Lord heard, he was full of rage;
   a fire was kindled against Jacob,
   his anger mounted against Israel, 
because they had no faith in God,
   and did not trust his saving power. 
Yet he commanded the skies above,
   and opened the doors of heaven; 
he rained down on them manna to eat,
   and gave them the grain of heaven. 
Mortals ate of the bread of angels;
   he sent them food in abundance. 
He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens,
   and by his power he led out the south wind; 
he rained flesh upon them like dust,
   winged birds like the sand of the seas; 
he let them fall within their camp,
   all around their dwellings. 
And they ate and were well filled,
   for he gave them what they craved. 
But before they had satisfied their craving,
   while the food was still in their mouths, 
the anger of God rose against them
   and he killed the strongest of them,
   and laid low the flower of Israel. 

In spite of all this they still sinned;
   they did not believe in his wonders. 
So he made their days vanish like a breath,
   and their years in terror. 
When he killed them, they sought for him;
   they repented and sought God earnestly. 
They remembered that God was their rock,
   the Most High God their redeemer. 
But they flattered him with their mouths;
   they lied to him with their tongues. 
Their heart was not steadfast towards him;
   they were not true to his covenant. 
Yet he, being compassionate,
   forgave their iniquity,
   and did not destroy them;
often he restrained his anger,
   and did not stir up all his wrath. 
He remembered that they were but flesh,
   a wind that passes and does not come again.

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Evening Psalms: Psalm 78:40-72

Psalm 78:40-72

How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness
   and grieved him in the desert! 
They tested God again and again,
   and provoked the Holy One of Israel. 
They did not keep in mind his power,
   or the day when he redeemed them from the foe; 
when he displayed his signs in Egypt,
   and his miracles in the fields of Zoan. 
He turned their rivers to blood,
   so that they could not drink of their streams. 
He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them,
   and frogs, which destroyed them. 
He gave their crops to the caterpillar,
   and the fruit of their labour to the locust. 
He destroyed their vines with hail,
   and their sycomores with frost. 
He gave over their cattle to the hail,
   and their flocks to thunderbolts. 
He let loose on them his fierce anger,
   wrath, indignation, and distress,
   a company of destroying angels. 
He made a path for his anger;
   he did not spare them from death,
   but gave their lives over to the plague. 
He struck all the firstborn in Egypt,
   the first issue of their strength in the tents of Ham. 
Then he led out his people like sheep,
   and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. 
He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid;
   but the sea overwhelmed their enemies. 
And he brought them to his holy hill,
   to the mountain that his right hand had won. 
He drove out nations before them;
   he apportioned them for a possession
   and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents. 

Yet they tested the Most High God,
   and rebelled against him.
   They did not observe his decrees, 
but turned away and were faithless like their ancestors;
   they twisted like a treacherous bow. 
For they provoked him to anger with their high places;
   they moved him to jealousy with their idols. 
When God heard, he was full of wrath,
   and he utterly rejected Israel. 
He abandoned his dwelling at Shiloh,
   the tent where he dwelt among mortals, 
and delivered his power to captivity,
   his glory to the hand of the foe. 
He gave his people to the sword,
   and vented his wrath on his heritage. 
Fire devoured their young men,
   and their girls had no marriage song. 
Their priests fell by the sword,
   and their widows made no lamentation. 
Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,
   like a warrior shouting because of wine. 
He put his adversaries to rout;
   he put them to everlasting disgrace. 

He rejected the tent of Joseph,
   he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim; 
but he chose the tribe of Judah,
   Mount Zion, which he loves. 
He built his sanctuary like the high heavens,
   like the earth, which he has founded for ever. 
He chose his servant David,
   and took him from the sheepfolds; 
from tending the nursing ewes he brought him
   to be the shepherd of his people Jacob,
   of Israel, his inheritance. 
With upright heart he tended them,
   and guided them with skilful hand.
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