Saturday 18 May 2024 EVE OF PENTECOST DAILY LECTIONARY

Sat May 18 02:00:04 EDT 2024

Saturday 18 May 2024   EVE OF PENTECOST
DAILY LECTIONARY

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Ezekiel 36:22-27

Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is
not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for
the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to
which you came. I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned
among the nations, and which you have profaned among them; and the
nations shall know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when through
you I display my holiness before their eyes. I will take you from the
nations, and gather you from all the countries, and bring you into
your own land. I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be
clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will
cleanse you. A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put
within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and
give you a heart of flesh. I will put my spirit within you, and make
you follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances.
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Ephesians 6:10-24

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put
on the whole armour of God, so that you may be able to stand against
the wiles of the devil. For our* struggle is not against enemies of
blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities,
against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the
spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the
whole armour of God, so that you may be able to withstand on that evil
day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand therefore, and
fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate
of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you
ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these,* take the
shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming
arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of
the Spirit, which is the word of God.

 Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To
that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the
saints. Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given
to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel,* for
which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly,
as I must speak. 

 So that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus
will tell you everything. He is a dear brother and a faithful minister
in the Lord. I am sending him to you for this very purpose, to let you
know how we are, and to encourage your hearts.

 Peace be to the whole community,* and love with faith, from God the
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all who have an
undying love for our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Matthew 9:18-26

While he was saying these things to them, suddenly a leader of the
synagogue* came in and knelt before him, saying, ‘My daughter has
just died; but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.’
And Jesus got up and followed him, with his disciples. Then suddenly a
woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years came
up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak, for she said to
herself, ‘If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.’ Jesus
turned, and seeing her he said, ‘Take heart, daughter; your faith
has made you well.’ And instantly the woman was made well. When
Jesus came to the leader’s house and saw the flute-players and the
crowd making a commotion, he said, ‘Go away; for the girl is not
dead but sleeping.’ And they laughed at him. But when the crowd had
been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl
got up. And the report of this spread throughout that district.
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Morning Psalms: Psalm 107:33-43, 108

Psalm 107:33-43

He turns rivers into a desert,
   springs of water into thirsty ground, 
a fruitful land into a salty waste,
   because of the wickedness of its inhabitants. 
He turns a desert into pools of water,
   a parched land into springs of water. 
And there he lets the hungry live,
   and they establish a town to live in; 
they sow fields, and plant vineyards,
   and get a fruitful yield. 
By his blessing they multiply greatly,
   and he does not let their cattle decrease. 

When they are diminished and brought low
   through oppression, trouble, and sorrow, 
he pours contempt on princes
   and makes them wander in trackless wastes; 
but he raises up the needy out of distress,
   and makes their families like flocks. 
The upright see it and are glad;
   and all wickedness stops its mouth. 
Let those who are wise give heed to these things,
   and consider the steadfast love of the Lord.

Psalm 108

My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast;*
   I will sing and make melody.
   Awake, my soul!* 
Awake, O harp and lyre!
   I will awake the dawn. 
I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples,
   and I will sing praises to you among the nations. 
For your steadfast love is higher than the heavens,
   and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. 

Be exalted, O God, above the heavens,
   and let your glory be over all the earth. 
Give victory with your right hand, and answer me,
   so that those whom you love may be rescued. 

God has promised in his sanctuary:*
   ‘With exultation I will divide up Shechem,
   and portion out the Vale of Succoth. 
Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine;
   Ephraim is my helmet;
   Judah is my sceptre. 
Moab is my wash-basin;
   on Edom I hurl my shoe;
   over Philistia I shout in triumph.’ 

Who will bring me to the fortified city?
   Who will lead me to Edom? 
Have you not rejected us, O God?
   You do not go out, O God, with our armies. 
O grant us help against the foe,
   for human help is worthless. 
With God we shall do valiantly;
   it is he who will tread down our foes.
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EVE OF PENTECOST

Evening Psalms: Psalm 33

Psalm 33

Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous.
   Praise befits the upright. 
Praise the Lord with the lyre;
   make melody to him with the harp of ten strings. 
Sing to him a new song;
   play skilfully on the strings, with loud shouts. 

For the word of the Lord is upright,
   and all his work is done in faithfulness. 
He loves righteousness and justice;
   the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord. 

By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
   and all their host by the breath of his mouth. 
He gathered the waters of the sea as in a bottle;
   he put the deeps in storehouses. 

Let all the earth fear the Lord;
   let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. 
For he spoke, and it came to be;
   he commanded, and it stood firm. 

The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
   he frustrates the plans of the peoples. 
The counsel of the Lord stands for ever,
   the thoughts of his heart to all generations. 
Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord,
   the people whom he has chosen as his heritage. 

The Lord looks down from heaven;
   he sees all humankind. 
>From where he sits enthroned he watches
   all the inhabitants of the earth— 
he who fashions the hearts of them all,
   and observes all their deeds. 
A king is not saved by his great army;
   a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. 
The war horse is a vain hope for victory,
   and by its great might it cannot save. 

Truly the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him,
   on those who hope in his steadfast love, 
to deliver their soul from death,
   and to keep them alive in famine. 

Our soul waits for the Lord;
   he is our help and shield. 
Our heart is glad in him,
   because we trust in his holy name. 
Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us,
   even as we hope in you.
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Exodus 19:3-8a,16-20

Then Moses went up to God; the Lord called to him from the mountain,
saying, ‘Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the
Israelites:You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore
you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if
you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured
possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine,
but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. These
are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites.’
So Moses came, summoned the elders of the people, and set before them
all these words that the Lord had commanded him. The people all
answered as one: ‘Everything that the Lord has spoken we will do.’
Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord.
On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, as
well as a thick cloud on the mountain, and a blast of a trumpet so
loud that all the people who were in the camp trembled. Moses brought
the people out of the camp to meet God. They took their stand at the
foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, because
the Lord had descended upon it in fire; the smoke went up like the
smoke of a kiln, while the whole mountain shook violently. As the
blast of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses would speak and God
would answer him in thunder. When the Lord descended upon Mount Sinai,
to the top of the mountain, the Lord summoned Moses to the top of the
mountain, and Moses went up.

1 Peter 2:4-10

Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and
precious in God’s sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be
built* into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer
spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it
stands in scripture:
‘See, I am laying in Zion a stone,
   a cornerstone chosen and precious;
and whoever believes in him* will not be put to shame.’ 
To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not
believe,
‘The stone that the builders rejected
   has become the very head of the corner’, 
and
‘A stone that makes them stumble,
   and a rock that makes them fall.’
They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to
do.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s
own people,* in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who
called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. 
Once you were not a people,
   but now you are God’s people;
once you had not received mercy,
   but now you have received mercy.

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