Friday 17 July 2009<!--StartFragment-->
<p class="MsoNormal">DAILY LECTIONARY</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Email Evangelism, forward to a friend: http://www.dailylectionary.org</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">1 Samuel 21:1-15<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">David came to Nob to the priest Ahimelech. Ahimelech came trembling to meet David, and said to him, ‘Why are you alone, and no one with you?’ David said to the priest Ahimelech, ‘The king has charged me with a matter, and said to me, “No one must know anything of the matter about which I send you, and with which I have charged you.” I have made an appointment* with the young men for such and such a place. Now then, what have you at hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever is here.’ The priest answered David, ‘I have no ordinary bread at hand, only holy bread—provided that the young men have kept themselves from women.’ David answered the priest, ‘Indeed, women have been kept from us as always when I go on an expedition; the vessels of the young men are holy even when it is a common journey; how much more today will their vessels be holy?’ So the priest gave him the holy bread; for there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence, which is removed from before the Lord to be replaced by hot bread on the day it is taken away.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before the Lord; his name was Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul’s shepherds.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>David said to Ahimelech, ‘Is there no spear or sword here with you? I did not bring my sword or my weapons with me, because the king’s business required haste.’ The priest said, ‘The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the valley of Elah, is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod; if you will take that, take it, for there is none here except that one.’ David said, ‘There is none like it; give it to me.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>David rose and fled that day from Saul; he went to King Achish of Gath. The servants of Achish said to him, ‘Is this not David the king of the land? Did they not sing to one another of him in dances,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“Saul has killed his thousands,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and David his tens of thousands”?’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of King Achish of Gath. So he changed his behaviour before them; he pretended to be mad when in their presence.* He scratched marks on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle run down his beard. Achish said to his servants, ‘Look, you see the man is mad; why then have you brought him to me? Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Acts 13:13-25</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. John, however, left them and returned to Jerusalem; but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And on the sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. After the reading of the law and the prophets, the officials of the synagogue sent them a message, saying, ‘Brothers, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, give it.’ So Paul stood up and with a gesture began to speak:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘You Israelites,* and others who fear God, listen. The God of this people Israel chose our ancestors and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it. For about forty years he put up with* them in the wilderness. After he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance for about four hundred and fifty years. After that he gave them judges until the time of the prophet Samuel. Then they asked for a king; and God gave them Saul son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, who reigned for forty years. When he had removed him, he made David their king. In his testimony about him he said, “I have found David, son of Jesse, to be a man after my heart, who will carry out all my wishes.” Of this man’s posterity God has brought to Israel a Saviour, Jesus, as he promised; before his coming John had already proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as John was finishing his work, he said, “What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but one is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of the sandals* on his feet.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Mark 3:7-19a</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Jesus departed with his disciples to the lake, and a great multitude from Galilee followed him; hearing all that he was doing, they came to him in great numbers from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and the region around Tyre and Sidon. He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him; for he had cured many, so that all who had diseases pressed upon him to touch him. Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and shouted, ‘You are the Son of God!’ But he sternly ordered them not to make him known.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>He went up the mountain and called to him those whom he wanted, and they came to him. And he appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles,* to be with him, and to be sent out to proclaim the message, and to have authority to cast out demons. So he appointed the twelve:* Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); James son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then he went home;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Morning Psalms: Psalm 31</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 31</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In you, O Lord, I seek refuge;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>do not let me ever be put to shame;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>in your righteousness deliver me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Incline your ear to me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>rescue me speedily.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Be a rock of refuge for me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>a strong fortress to save me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You are indeed my rock and my fortress;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for your name’s sake lead me and guide me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">take me out of the net that is hidden for me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for you are my refuge.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Into your hand I commit my spirit;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You hate* those who pay regard to worthless idols,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>but I trust in the Lord.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I will exult and rejoice in your steadfast love,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>because you have seen my affliction;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you have taken heed of my adversities,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you have set my feet in a broad place.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>my eye wastes away from grief,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>my soul and body also.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For my life is spent with sorrow,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and my years with sighing;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">my strength fails because of my misery,*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and my bones waste away.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I am the scorn of all my adversaries,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>a horror* to my neighbours,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">an object of dread to my acquaintances;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>those who see me in the street flee from me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I have passed out of mind like one who is dead;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I have become like a broken vessel.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For I hear the whispering of many—</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>terror all around!—</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">as they scheme together against me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>as they plot to take my life.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But I trust in you, O Lord;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I say, ‘You are my God.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My times are in your hand;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let your face shine upon your servant;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>save me in your steadfast love.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Do not let me be put to shame, O Lord,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for I call on you;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">let the wicked be put to shame;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>let them go dumbfounded to Sheol.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let the lying lips be stilled</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>that speak insolently against the righteous</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>with pride and contempt.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">O how abundant is your goodness</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>that you have laid up for those who fear you,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and accomplished for those who take refuge in you,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>in the sight of everyone!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In the shelter of your presence you hide them</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>from human plots;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">you hold them safe under your shelter</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>from contentious tongues.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Blessed be the Lord,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>when I was beset as a city under siege.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I had said in my alarm,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>‘I am driven far* from your sight.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But you heard my supplications</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>when I cried out to you for help.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Love the Lord, all you his saints.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The Lord preserves the faithful,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>but abundantly repays the one who acts haughtily.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Be strong, and let your heart take courage,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>all you who wait for the Lord.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Evening Psalms: Psalm 35</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 35</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Contend, O Lord, with those who contend with me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>fight against those who fight against me!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Take hold of shield and buckler,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and rise up to help me!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Draw the spear and javelin</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>against my pursuers;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">say to my soul,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>‘I am your salvation.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let them be put to shame and dishonour</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>who seek after my life.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let them be turned back and confounded</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>who devise evil against me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let them be like chaff before the wind,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>with the angel of the Lord driving them on.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let their way be dark and slippery,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>with the angel of the Lord pursuing them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For without cause they hid their net* for me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>without cause they dug a pit* for my life.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let ruin come on them unawares.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And let the net that they hid ensnare them;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>let them fall in it—to their ruin.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then my soul shall rejoice in the Lord,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>exulting in his deliverance.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">All my bones shall say,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>‘O Lord, who is like you?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You deliver the weak</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>from those too strong for them,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the weak and needy from those who despoil them.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Malicious witnesses rise up;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>they ask me about things I do not know.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They repay me evil for good;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>my soul is forlorn.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But as for me, when they were sick,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I wore sackcloth;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I afflicted myself with fasting.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I prayed with head bowed* on my bosom,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>as though I grieved for a friend or a brother;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I went about as one who laments for a mother,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>bowed down and in mourning.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But at my stumbling they gathered in glee,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>they gathered together against me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">ruffians whom I did not know</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>tore at me without ceasing;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">they impiously mocked more and more,*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>gnashing at me with their teeth.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">How long, O Lord, will you look on?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Rescue me from their ravages,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>my life from the lions!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then I will thank you in the great congregation;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>in the mighty throng I will praise you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Do not let my treacherous enemies rejoice over me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>or those who hate me without cause wink the eye.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For they do not speak peace,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>but they conceive deceitful words</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>against those who are quiet in the land.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They open wide their mouths against me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>they say, ‘Aha, Aha,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>our eyes have seen it.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You have seen, O Lord; do not be silent!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>O Lord, do not be far from me!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Wake up! Bestir yourself for my defence,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for my cause, my God and my Lord!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Vindicate me, O Lord, my God,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>according to your righteousness,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and do not let them rejoice over me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Do not let them say to themselves,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>‘Aha, we have our heart’s desire.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Do not let them say, ‘We have swallowed you* up.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let all those who rejoice at my calamity</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>be put to shame and confusion;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">let those who exalt themselves against me</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>be clothed with shame and dishonour.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let those who desire my vindication</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>shout for joy and be glad,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and say evermore,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘Great is the Lord,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>who delights in the welfare of his servant.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and of your praise all day long.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
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