Wednesday 21 October 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">Lamentations 2:8-15<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Lord determined to lay in ruins</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the wall of daughter Zion;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">he stretched the line;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>he did not withhold his hand from destroying;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">he caused rampart and wall to lament;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>they languish together.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Her gates have sunk into the ground;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>he has ruined and broken her bars;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">her king and princes are among the nations;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>guidance is no more,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and her prophets obtain</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>no vision from the Lord.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The elders of daughter Zion</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>sit on the ground in silence;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">they have thrown dust on their heads</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and put on sackcloth;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">the young girls of Jerusalem</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>have bowed their heads to the ground.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My eyes are spent with weeping;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>my stomach churns;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">my bile is poured out on the ground</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>because of the destruction of my people,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">because infants and babes faint</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>in the streets of the city.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They cry to their mothers,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>‘Where is bread and wine?’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">as they faint like the wounded</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>in the streets of the city,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">as their life is poured out</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>on their mothers’ bosom.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">What can I say for you, to what compare you,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>O daughter Jerusalem?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">To what can I liken you, that I may comfort you,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>O virgin daughter Zion?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For vast as the sea is your ruin;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>who can heal you?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Your prophets have seen for you</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>false and deceptive visions;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">they have not exposed your iniquity</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>to restore your fortunes,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">but have seen oracles for you</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>that are false and misleading.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">All who pass along the way</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>clap their hands at you;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">they hiss and wag their heads</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>at daughter Jerusalem;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘Is this the city that was called</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the perfection of beauty,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the joy of all the earth?’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">1 Corinthians 15:51-58</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die,* but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘Where, O death, is your victory?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Where, O death, is your sting?’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Therefore, my beloved,* be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labour is not in vain.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Matthew 12:1-14</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">At that time Jesus went through the cornfields on the sabbath; his disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. When the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, ‘Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the sabbath.’ He said to them, ‘Have you not read what David did when he and his companions were hungry? He entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him or his companions to eat, but only for the priests. Or have you not read in the law that on the sabbath the priests in the temple break the sabbath and yet are guiltless? I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. But if you had known what this means, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice”, you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is lord of the sabbath.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>He left that place and entered their synagogue; a man was there with a withered hand, and they asked him, ‘Is it lawful to cure on the sabbath?’ so that they might accuse him. He said to them, ‘Suppose one of you has only one sheep and it falls into a pit on the sabbath; will you not lay hold of it and lift it out? How much more valuable is a human being than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the sabbath.’ Then he said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out, and it was restored, as sound as the other. But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Morning Psalms: Psalm 38</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 38</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>or discipline me in your wrath.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For your arrows have sunk into me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and your hand has come down on me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There is no soundness in my flesh</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>because of your indignation;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">there is no health in my bones</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>because of my sin.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For my iniquities have gone over my head;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>they weigh like a burden too heavy for me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My wounds grow foul and fester</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>because of my foolishness;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I am utterly bowed down and prostrate;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>all day long I go around mourning.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For my loins are filled with burning,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and there is no soundness in my flesh.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I am utterly spent and crushed;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I groan because of the tumult of my heart.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">O Lord, all my longing is known to you;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>my sighing is not hidden from you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My heart throbs, my strength fails me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>as for the light of my eyes—it also has gone from me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My friends and companions stand aloof from my affliction,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and my neighbours stand far off.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Those who seek my life lay their snares;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>those who seek to hurt me speak of ruin,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and meditate treachery all day long.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But I am like the deaf, I do not hear;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>like the mute, who cannot speak.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Truly, I am like one who does not hear,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and in whose mouth is no retort.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">But it is for you, O Lord, that I wait;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For I pray, ‘Only do not let them rejoice over me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>those who boast against me when my foot slips.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For I am ready to fall,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and my pain is ever with me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I confess my iniquity;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I am sorry for my sin.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Those who are my foes without cause* are mighty,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and many are those who hate me wrongfully.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Those who render me evil for good</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>are my adversaries because I follow after good.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Do not forsake me, O Lord;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>O my God, do not be far from me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">make haste to help me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>O Lord, my salvation.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Evening Psalms: Psalm 119:25-48</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 119:25-48</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My soul clings to the dust;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>revive me according to your word.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">When I told of my ways, you answered me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>teach me your statutes.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Make me understand the way of your precepts,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and I will meditate on your wondrous works.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My soul melts away for sorrow;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>strengthen me according to your word.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Put false ways far from me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and graciously teach me your law.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I have chosen the way of faithfulness;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I set your ordinances before me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I cling to your decrees, O Lord;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>let me not be put to shame.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I run the way of your commandments,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for you enlarge my understanding.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and I will observe it to the end.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Give me understanding, that I may keep your law</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and observe it with my whole heart.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Lead me in the path of your commandments,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for I delight in it.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Turn my heart to your decrees,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and not to selfish gain.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Turn my eyes from looking at vanities;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>give me life in your ways.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Confirm to your servant your promise,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>which is for those who fear you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Turn away the disgrace that I dread,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for your ordinances are good.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">See, I have longed for your precepts;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>in your righteousness give me life.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let your steadfast love come to me, O Lord,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>your salvation according to your promise.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then I shall have an answer for those who taunt me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for I trust in your word.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Do not take the word of truth utterly out of my mouth,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for my hope is in your ordinances.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I will keep your law continually,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for ever and ever.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I shall walk at liberty,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for I have sought your precepts.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I will also speak of your decrees before kings,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and shall not be put to shame;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I find my delight in your commandments,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>because I love them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I revere your commandments, which I love,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and I will meditate on your statutes.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
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