Thursday 15 August 2024 DAILY LECTIONARY

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Thursday 15 August 2024  
DAILY LECTIONARY

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Judges 14:1-19

Once Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw a Philistine
woman. Then he came up, and told his father and mother, ‘I saw a
Philistine woman at Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.’ But his
father and mother said to him, ‘Is there not a woman among your kin,
or among all our* people, that you must go to take a wife from the
uncircumcised Philistines?’ But Samson said to his father, ‘Get
her for me, because she pleases me.’ His father and mother did not
know that this was from the Lord; for he was seeking a pretext to act
against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines had dominion
over Israel.

 Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah. When he
came to the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion roared at him.
The spirit of the Lord rushed on him, and he tore the lion apart with
his bare hands as one might tear apart a kid. But he did not tell his
father or his mother what he had done. Then he went down and talked
with the woman, and she pleased Samson. After a while he returned to
marry her, and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and
there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey. He
scraped it out into his hands, and went on, eating as he went. When he
came to his father and mother, he gave some to them, and they ate it.
But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the carcass
of the lion.

 His father went down to the woman, and Samson made a feast there as
the young men were accustomed to do. When the people saw him, they
brought thirty companions to be with him. Samson said to them, ‘Let
me now put a riddle to you. If you can explain it to me within the
seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty
linen garments and thirty festal garments. But if you cannot explain
it to me, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty
festal garments.’ So they said to him, ‘Ask your riddle; let us
hear it.’ He said to them,
‘Out of the eater came something to eat.
Out of the strong came something sweet.’
But for three days they could not explain the riddle.

 On the fourth* day they said to Samson’s wife, ‘Coax your
husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your
father’s house with fire. Have you invited us here to impoverish
us?’ So Samson’s wife wept before him, saying, ‘You hate me; you
do not really love me. You have asked a riddle of my people, but you
have not explained it to me.’ He said to her, ‘Look, I have not
told my father or my mother. Why should I tell you?’ She wept before
him for the seven days that their feast lasted; and because she nagged
him, on the seventh day he told her. Then she explained the riddle to
her people. The men of the town said to him on the seventh day before
the sun went down,
‘What is sweeter than honey?
What is stronger than a lion?’
And he said to them,
‘If you had not ploughed with my heifer,
you would not have found out my riddle.’ 
Then the spirit of the Lord rushed on him, and he went down to
Ashkelon. He killed thirty men of the town, took their spoil, and gave
the festal garments to those who had explained the riddle. In hot
anger he went back to his father’s house.
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Acts 6:15-7:16

And all who sat in the council looked intently at him, and they saw
that his face was like the face of an angel.
Then the high priest asked him, ‘Are these things so?’ And Stephen
replied:

‘Brothers* and fathers, listen to me. The God of glory appeared to
our ancestor Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in
Haran, and said to him, “Leave your country and your relatives and
go to the land that I will show you.” Then he left the country of
the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After his father died, God had him
move from there to this country in which you are now living. He did
not give him any of it as a heritage, not even a foot’s length, but
promised to give it to him as his possession and to his descendants
after him, even though he had no child. And God spoke in these terms,
that his descendants would be resident aliens in a country belonging
to others, who would enslave them and maltreat them for four hundred
years. “But I will judge the nation that they serve,” said God,
“and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.”
Then he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham* became
the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac
became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.

 ‘The patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God
was with him, and rescued him from all his afflictions, and enabled
him to win favour and to show wisdom when he stood before Pharaoh,
king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and over all his
household. Now there came a famine throughout Egypt and Canaan, and
great suffering, and our ancestors could find no food. But when Jacob
heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our ancestors there on
their first visit. On the second visit Joseph made himself known to
his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh. Then
Joseph sent and invited his father Jacob and all his relatives to come
to him, seventy-five in all; so Jacob went down to Egypt. He himself
died there as well as our ancestors, and their bodies* were brought
back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum
of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
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John 4:27-42

Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was
speaking with a woman, but no one said, ‘What do you want?’ or,
‘Why are you speaking with her?’ Then the woman left her water-jar
and went back to the city. She said to the people, ‘Come and see a
man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the
Messiah,* can he?’ They left the city and were on their way to him.

 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, ‘Rabbi, eat something.’
But he said to them, ‘I have food to eat that you do not know
about.’ So the disciples said to one another, ‘Surely no one has
brought him something to eat?’ Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to
do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. Do you not
say, “Four months more, then comes the harvest”? But I tell you,
look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. The
reaper is already receiving* wages and is gathering fruit for eternal
life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. For here the
saying holds true, “One sows and another reaps.” I sent you to
reap that for which you did not labour. Others have laboured, and you
have entered into their labour.’

 Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the
woman’s testimony, ‘He told me everything I have ever done.’ So
when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and
he stayed there for two days. And many more believed because of his
word. They said to the woman, ‘It is no longer because of what you
said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know
that this is truly the Saviour of the world.’
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Morning Psalms:  Psalm 105:1-22

Psalm 105:1-22

O give thanks to the Lord, call on his name,
   make known his deeds among the peoples. 
Sing to him, sing praises to him;
   tell of all his wonderful works. 
Glory in his holy name;
   let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. 
Seek the Lord and his strength;
   seek his presence continually. 
Remember the wonderful works he has done,
   his miracles, and the judgements he has uttered, 
O offspring of his servant Abraham,*
   children of Jacob, his chosen ones. 

He is the Lord our God;
   his judgements are in all the earth. 
He is mindful of his covenant for ever,
   of the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations, 
the covenant that he made with Abraham,
   his sworn promise to Isaac, 
which he confirmed to Jacob as a statute,
   to Israel as an everlasting covenant, 
saying, ‘To you I will give the land of Canaan
   as your portion for an inheritance.’ 

When they were few in number,
   of little account, and strangers in it, 
wandering from nation to nation,
   from one kingdom to another people, 
he allowed no one to oppress them;
   he rebuked kings on their account, 
saying, ‘Do not touch my anointed ones;
   do my prophets no harm.’ 

When he summoned famine against the land,
   and broke every staff of bread, 
he had sent a man ahead of them,
   Joseph, who was sold as a slave. 
His feet were hurt with fetters,
   his neck was put in a collar of iron; 
until what he had said came to pass,
   the word of the Lord kept testing him. 
The king sent and released him;
   the ruler of the peoples set him free. 
He made him lord of his house,
   and ruler of all his possessions, 
to instruct* his officials at his pleasure,
   and to teach his elders wisdom.
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Evening Psalms:  Psalm 105:23-45

Psalm 105:23-45

Then Israel came to Egypt;
   Jacob lived as an alien in the land of Ham. 
And the Lord made his people very fruitful,
   and made them stronger than their foes, 
whose hearts he then turned to hate his people,
   to deal craftily with his servants. 

He sent his servant Moses,
   and Aaron whom he had chosen. 
They performed his signs among them,
   and miracles in the land of Ham. 
He sent darkness, and made the land dark;
   they rebelled* against his words. 
He turned their waters into blood,
   and caused their fish to die. 
Their land swarmed with frogs,
   even in the chambers of their kings. 
He spoke, and there came swarms of flies,
   and gnats throughout their country. 
He gave them hail for rain,
   and lightning that flashed through their land. 
He struck their vines and fig trees,
   and shattered the trees of their country. 
He spoke, and the locusts came,
   and young locusts without number; 
they devoured all the vegetation in their land,
   and ate up the fruit of their ground. 
He struck down all the firstborn in their land,
   the first issue of all their strength. 

Then he brought Israel* out with silver and gold,
   and there was no one among their tribes who stumbled. 
Egypt was glad when they departed,
   for dread of them had fallen upon it. 
He spread a cloud for a covering,
   and fire to give light by night. 
They asked, and he brought quails,
   and gave them food from heaven in abundance. 
He opened the rock, and water gushed out;
   it flowed through the desert like a river. 
For he remembered his holy promise,
   and Abraham, his servant. 

So he brought his people out with joy,
   his chosen ones with singing. 
He gave them the lands of the nations,
   and they took possession of the wealth of the peoples, 
that they might keep his statutes
   and observe his laws.
Praise the Lord!
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