Saturday 27 April 2024 DAILY LECTIONARY

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Saturday 27 April 2024 
DAILY LECTIONARY

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Exodus 40:18-38

Moses set up the tabernacle; he laid its bases, and set up its frames,
and put in its poles, and raised up its pillars; and he spread the
tent over the tabernacle, and put the covering of the tent over it; as
the Lord had commanded Moses. He took the covenant* and put it into
the ark, and put the poles on the ark, and set the mercy-seat* above
the ark; and he brought the ark into the tabernacle, and set up the
curtain for screening, and screened the ark of the covenant;* as the
Lord had commanded Moses. He put the table in the tent of meeting, on
the north side of the tabernacle, outside the curtain, and set the
bread in order on it before the Lord; as the Lord had commanded Moses.
He put the lampstand in the tent of meeting, opposite the table on the
south side of the tabernacle, and set up the lamps before the Lord; as
the Lord had commanded Moses. He put the golden altar in the tent of
meeting before the curtain, and offered fragrant incense on it; as the
Lord had commanded Moses. He also put in place the screen for the
entrance of the tabernacle. He set the altar of burnt-offering at the
entrance of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, and offered on it
the burnt-offering and the grain-offering as the Lord had commanded
Moses. He set the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar, and
put water in it for washing, with which Moses and Aaron and his sons
washed their hands and their feet. When they went into the tent of
meeting, and when they approached the altar, they washed; as the Lord
had commanded Moses. He set up the court around the tabernacle and the
altar, and put up the screen at the gate of the court. So Moses
finished the work.
 Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the
Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses was not able to enter the tent of
meeting because the cloud settled upon it, and the glory of the Lord
filled the tabernacle. Whenever the cloud was taken up from the
tabernacle, the Israelites would set out on each stage of their
journey; but if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not set out
until the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was on
the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud* by night, before the
eyes of all the house of Israel at each stage of their journey.
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1 Thessalonians 4:1-12

Finally, brothers and sisters,* we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus
that, as you learned from us how you ought to live and to please God
(as, in fact, you are doing), you should do so more and more. For you
know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is
the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from
fornication; that each one of you knows how to control your own body*
in holiness and honour, not with lustful passion, like the Gentiles
who do not know God; that no one wrongs or exploits a brother or
sister* in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these
things, just as we have already told you beforehand and solemnly
warned you. For God did not call us to impurity but in holiness.
Therefore whoever rejects this rejects not human authority but God,
who also gives his Holy Spirit to you.

 Now concerning love of the brothers and sisters,* you do not need to
have anyone write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God
to love one another; and indeed you do love all the brothers and
sisters* throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, beloved,* to do so
more and more, to aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs,
and to work with your hands, as we directed you, so that you may
behave properly towards outsiders and be dependent on no one.
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Matthew 5:38-48

‘You have heard that it was said, “An eye for an eye and a tooth
for a tooth.” But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if
anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if
anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well;
and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give
to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to
borrow from you.
 ‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour
and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray
for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your
Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the
good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if
you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the
tax-collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and
sisters,* what more are you doing than others? Do not even the
Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father
is perfect.
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Morning Psalms: Psalm 55

Psalm 55

Give ear to my prayer, O God;
   do not hide yourself from my supplication. 
Attend to me, and answer me;
   I am troubled in my complaint.
I am distraught by the noise of the enemy,
   because of the clamour of the wicked.
For they bring* trouble upon me,
   and in anger they cherish enmity against me. 

My heart is in anguish within me,
   the terrors of death have fallen upon me. 
Fear and trembling come upon me,
   and horror overwhelms me. 
And I say, ‘O that I had wings like a dove!
   I would fly away and be at rest; 
truly, I would flee far away;
   I would lodge in the wilderness;
          Selah 
I would hurry to find a shelter for myself
   from the raging wind and tempest.’ 

Confuse, O Lord, confound their speech;
   for I see violence and strife in the city. 
Day and night they go around it
   on its walls,
and iniquity and trouble are within it; 
   ruin is in its midst;
oppression and fraud
   do not depart from its market-place. 

It is not enemies who taunt me—
   I could bear that;
it is not adversaries who deal insolently with me—
   I could hide from them. 
But it is you, my equal,
   my companion, my familiar friend, 
with whom I kept pleasant company;
   we walked in the house of God with the throng. 
Let death come upon them;
   let them go down alive to Sheol;
   for evil is in their homes and in their hearts. 

But I call upon God,
   and the Lord will save me. 
Evening and morning and at noon
   I utter my complaint and moan,
   and he will hear my voice. 
He will redeem me unharmed
   from the battle that I wage,
   for many are arrayed against me. 
God, who is enthroned from of old,
          Selah
   will hear, and will humble them—
because they do not change,
   and do not fear God. 

My companion laid hands on a friend
   and violated a covenant with me* 
with speech smoother than butter,
   but with a heart set on war;
with words that were softer than oil,
   but in fact were drawn swords. 

Cast your burden* on the Lord,
   and he will sustain you;
he will never permit
   the righteous to be moved. 

But you, O God, will cast them down
   into the lowest pit;
the bloodthirsty and treacherous
   shall not live out half their days.
But I will trust in you.
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Evening Psalms: Psalm 138, 139

Psalm 138

I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart;
   before the gods I sing your praise; 
I bow down towards your holy temple
   and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your
faithfulness;
   for you have exalted your name and your word
   above everything.* 
On the day I called, you answered me,
   you increased my strength of soul.* 

All the kings of the earth shall praise you, O Lord,
   for they have heard the words of your mouth. 
They shall sing of the ways of the Lord,
   for great is the glory of the Lord. 
For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly;
   but the haughty he perceives from far away. 

Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
   you preserve me against the wrath of my enemies;
you stretch out your hand,
   and your right hand delivers me. 
The Lord will fulfil his purpose for me;
   your steadfast love, O Lord, endures for ever.
   Do not forsake the work of your hands.

Psalm 139

O Lord, you have searched me and known me. 
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
   you discern my thoughts from far away. 
You search out my path and my lying down,
   and are acquainted with all my ways. 
Even before a word is on my tongue,
   O Lord, you know it completely. 
You hem me in, behind and before,
   and lay your hand upon me. 
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
   it is so high that I cannot attain it. 

Where can I go from your spirit?
   Or where can I flee from your presence? 
If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
   if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. 
If I take the wings of the morning
   and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, 
even there your hand shall lead me,
   and your right hand shall hold me fast. 
If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me,
   and the light around me become night’, 
even the darkness is not dark to you;
   the night is as bright as the day,
   for darkness is as light to you. 

For it was you who formed my inward parts;
   you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
   Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well. 
   My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
   intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 
Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written
   all the days that were formed for me,
   when none of them as yet existed. 
How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
   How vast is the sum of them! 
I try to count them—they are more than the sand;
   I come to the end*—I am still with you. 

O that you would kill the wicked, O God,
   and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me— 
those who speak of you maliciously,
   and lift themselves up against you for evil!* 
Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
   And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? 
I hate them with perfect hatred;
   I count them my enemies. 
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
   test me and know my thoughts. 
See if there is any wicked* way in me,
   and lead me in the way everlasting.
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