Thursday 5 December 2024 DAILY LECTIONARY

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Thursday 5 December 2024  
DAILY LECTIONARY

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Isaiah 2:12-22

For the Lord of hosts has a day
   against all that is proud and lofty,
   against all that is lifted up and high;* 
against all the cedars of Lebanon,
   lofty and lifted up;
   and against all the oaks of Bashan; 
against all the high mountains,
   and against all the lofty hills; 
against every high tower,
   and against every fortified wall; 
against all the ships of Tarshish,
   and against all the beautiful craft.* 
The haughtiness of people shall be humbled,
   and the pride of everyone shall be brought low;
   and the Lord alone will be exalted on that day. 
The idols shall utterly pass away. 
Enter the caves of the rocks
   and the holes of the ground,
from the terror of the Lord,
   and from the glory of his majesty,
   when he rises to terrify the earth. 
On that day people will throw away
   to the moles and to the bats
their idols of silver and their idols of gold,
   which they made for themselves to worship, 
to enter the caverns of the rocks
   and the clefts in the crags,
from the terror of the Lord,
   and from the glory of his majesty,
   when he rises to terrify the earth. 
Turn away from mortals,
   who have only breath in their nostrils,
   for of what account are they?
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1 Thessalonians 3:1-13

Therefore when we could bear it no longer, we decided to be left alone
in Athens; and we sent Timothy, our brother and co-worker for God in
proclaiming* the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you for
the sake of your faith, so that no one would be shaken by these
persecutions. Indeed, you yourselves know that this is what we are
destined for. In fact, when we were with you, we told you beforehand
that we were to suffer persecution; so it turned out, as you know. For
this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to find out about
your faith; I was afraid that somehow the tempter had tempted you and
that our labour had been in vain.
 But Timothy has just now come to us from you, and has brought us the
good news of your faith and love. He has told us also that you always
remember us kindly and long to see us—just as we long to see you.
For this reason, brothers and sisters,* during all our distress and
persecution we have been encouraged about you through your faith. For
we now live, if you continue to stand firm in the Lord. How can we
thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we feel before
our God because of you? Night and day we pray most earnestly that we
may see you face to face and restore whatever is lacking in your
faith.

 Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way
to you. And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one
another and for all, just as we abound in love for you. And may he so
strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before
our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his
saints. 
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Luke 20:27-40

Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him
and asked him a question, ‘Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a
man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man* shall
marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now there were
seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; then the second
and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died
childless. Finally the woman also died. In the resurrection,
therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married
her.’

 Jesus said to them, ‘Those who belong to this age marry and are
given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in
that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are
given in marriage. Indeed they cannot die any more, because they are
like angels and are children of God, being children of the
resurrection. And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself
showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as
the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is
God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are
alive.’ Then some of the scribes answered, ‘Teacher, you have
spoken well.’ For they no longer dared to ask him another question.
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Morning Psalms:  Psalm 18:1-20

Psalm 18:1-20

I love you, O Lord, my strength. 
The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer,
   my God, my rock in whom I take refuge,
   my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. 
I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised;
   so I shall be saved from my enemies. 

The cords of death encompassed me;
   the torrents of perdition assailed me; 
the cords of Sheol entangled me;
   the snares of death confronted me. 

In my distress I called upon the Lord;
   to my God I cried for help.
>From his temple he heard my voice,
   and my cry to him reached his ears. 

Then the earth reeled and rocked;
   the foundations also of the mountains trembled
   and quaked, because he was angry. 
Smoke went up from his nostrils,
   and devouring fire from his mouth;
   glowing coals flamed forth from him. 
He bowed the heavens, and came down;
   thick darkness was under his feet. 
He rode on a cherub, and flew;
   he came swiftly upon the wings of the wind. 
He made darkness his covering around him,
   his canopy thick clouds dark with water. 
Out of the brightness before him
   there broke through his clouds
   hailstones and coals of fire. 
The Lord also thundered in the heavens,
   and the Most High uttered his voice.* 
And he sent out his arrows, and scattered them;
   he flashed forth lightnings, and routed them. 
Then the channels of the sea were seen,
   and the foundations of the world were laid bare
at your rebuke, O Lord,
   at the blast of the breath of your nostrils. 

He reached down from on high, he took me;
   he drew me out of mighty waters. 
He delivered me from my strong enemy,
   and from those who hated me;
   for they were too mighty for me. 
They confronted me in the day of my calamity;
   but the Lord was my support. 
He brought me out into a broad place;
   he delivered me, because he delighted in me. 

The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness;
   according to the cleanness of my hands he recompensed me.
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Evening Psalms: Psalm 18:21-50

Psalm 18:21-50

For I have kept the ways of the Lord,
   and have not wickedly departed from my God. 
For all his ordinances were before me,
   and his statutes I did not put away from me. 
I was blameless before him,
   and I kept myself from guilt. 
Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness,
   according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight. 

With the loyal you show yourself loyal;
   with the blameless you show yourself blameless; 
with the pure you show yourself pure;
   and with the crooked you show yourself perverse. 
For you deliver a humble people,
   but the haughty eyes you bring down. 
It is you who light my lamp;
   the Lord, my God, lights up my darkness. 
By you I can crush a troop,
   and by my God I can leap over a wall. 
This God—his way is perfect;
   the promise of the Lord proves true;
   he is a shield for all who take refuge in him. 

For who is God except the Lord?
   And who is a rock besides our God?— 
the God who girded me with strength,
   and made my way safe. 
He made my feet like the feet of a deer,
   and set me secure on the heights. 
He trains my hands for war,
   so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. 
You have given me the shield of your salvation,
   and your right hand has supported me;
   your help* has made me great. 
You gave me a wide place for my steps under me,
   and my feet did not slip. 
I pursued my enemies and overtook them;
   and did not turn back until they were consumed. 
I struck them down, so that they were not able to rise;
   they fell under my feet. 
For you girded me with strength for the battle;
   you made my assailants sink under me. 
You made my enemies turn their backs to me,
   and those who hated me I destroyed. 
They cried for help, but there was no one to save them;
   they cried to the Lord, but he did not answer them. 
I beat them fine, like dust before the wind;
   I cast them out like the mire of the streets. 

You delivered me from strife with the peoples;*
   you made me head of the nations;
   people whom I had not known served me. 
As soon as they heard of me they obeyed me;
   foreigners came cringing to me. 
Foreigners lost heart,
   and came trembling out of their strongholds. 

The Lord lives! Blessed be my rock,
   and exalted be the God of my salvation, 
the God who gave me vengeance
   and subdued peoples under me; 
who delivered me from my enemies;
   indeed, you exalted me above my adversaries;
   you delivered me from the violent. 

For this I will extol you, O Lord, among the nations,
   and sing praises to your name. 
Great triumphs he gives to his king,
   and shows steadfast love to his anointed,
   to David and his descendants for ever.
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