Wednesday 10 March 2010<!--StartFragment-->
<p class="MsoNormal">DAILY LECTIONARY</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Email Evangelism, forward to a friend: http://www.dailylectionary.org</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Genesis 45:16-28<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">The children of Gad: Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli. The children of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and their sister Serah. The children of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel (these are the children of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah; and these she bore to Jacob—sixteen persons). The children of Jacob’s wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. To Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, bore to him. The children of Benjamin: Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard (these are the children of Rachel, who were born to Jacob—fourteen persons in all). The children of Dan: Hashum.* The children of Naphtali: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem (these are the children of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel, and these she bore to Jacob—seven persons in all). All the persons belonging to Jacob who came into Egypt, who were his own offspring, not including the wives of his sons, were sixty-six persons in all. The children of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were two; all the persons of the house of Jacob who came into Egypt were seventy.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Israel* sent Judah ahead to Joseph to lead the way before him into Goshen. When they came to the land of Goshen,<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">1 Corinthians 8:1-13</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Now concerning food sacrificed to idols: we know that ‘all of us possess knowledge.’ Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. Anyone who claims to know something does not yet have the necessary knowledge; but anyone who loves God is known by him.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Hence, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that ‘no idol in the world really exists’, and that ‘there is no God but one.’ Indeed, even though there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as in fact there are many gods and many lords— yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It is not everyone, however, who has this knowledge. Since some have become so accustomed to idols until now, they still think of the food they eat as food offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. ‘Food will not bring us close to God.’* We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling-block to the weak. For if others see you, who possess knowledge, eating in the temple of an idol, might they not, since their conscience is weak, be encouraged to the point of eating food sacrificed to idols? So by your knowledge those weak believers for whom Christ died are destroyed.* But when you thus sin against members of your family,* and wound their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if food is a cause of their falling,* I will never eat meat, so that I may not cause one of them* to fall.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Mark 6:13-29</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>King Herod heard of it, for Jesus’* name had become known. Some were* saying, ‘John the baptizer has been raised from the dead; and for this reason these powers are at work in him.’ But others said, ‘It is Elijah.’ And others said, ‘It is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.’ But when Herod heard of it, he said, ‘John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>For Herod himself had sent men who arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because Herod* had married her. For John had been telling Herod, ‘It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.’ And Herodias had a grudge against him, and wanted to kill him. But she could not, for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he protected him. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed;* and yet he liked to listen to him. But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his courtiers and officers and for the leaders of Galilee. When his daughter Herodias* came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests; and the king said to the girl, ‘Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it.’ And he solemnly swore to her, ‘Whatever you ask me, I will give you, even half of my kingdom.’ She went out and said to her mother, ‘What should I ask for?’ She replied, ‘The head of John the baptizer.’ Immediately she rushed back to the king and requested, ‘I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.’ The king was deeply grieved; yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he did not want to refuse her. Immediately the king sent a soldier of the guard with orders to bring John’s* head. He went and beheaded him in the prison, brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl. Then the girl gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard about it, they came and took his body, and laid it in a tomb.<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Morning Psalms: Psalm 119:97-120</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 119:97-120</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Oh, how I love your law!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It is my meditation all day long.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for it is always with me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I have more understanding than all my teachers,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for your decrees are my meditation.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I understand more than the aged,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for I keep your precepts.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I hold back my feet from every evil way,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>in order to keep your word.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I do not turn away from your ordinances,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for you have taught me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">How sweet are your words to my taste,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>sweeter than honey to my mouth!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Through your precepts I get understanding;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>therefore I hate every false way.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Your word is a lamp to my feet</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and a light to my path.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I have sworn an oath and confirmed it,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>to observe your righteous ordinances.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I am severely afflicted;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>give me life, O Lord, according to your word.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Accept my offerings of praise, O Lord,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and teach me your ordinances.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I hold my life in my hand continually,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>but I do not forget your law.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The wicked have laid a snare for me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>but I do not stray from your precepts.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Your decrees are my heritage for ever;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>they are the joy of my heart.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I incline my heart to perform your statutes</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for ever, to the end.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I hate the double-minded,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>but I love your law.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You are my hiding-place and my shield;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I hope in your word.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Go away from me, you evildoers,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>that I may keep the commandments of my God.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and let me not be put to shame in my hope.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Hold me up, that I may be safe</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and have regard for your statutes continually.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You spurn all who go astray from your statutes;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for their cunning is in vain.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">All the wicked of the earth you count as dross;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>therefore I love your decrees.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">My flesh trembles for fear of you,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and I am afraid of your judgements.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Evening Psalms: Psalm 81, 82</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 81</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Sing aloud to God our strength;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>shout for joy to the God of Jacob.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Raise a song, sound the tambourine,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the sweet lyre with the harp.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Blow the trumpet at the new moon,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>at the full moon, on our festal day.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For it is a statute for Israel,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>an ordinance of the God of Jacob.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">He made it a decree in Joseph,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>when he went out over* the land of Egypt.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I hear a voice I had not known:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘I relieved your* shoulder of the burden;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>your* hands were freed from the basket.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In distress you called, and I rescued you;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I answered you in the secret place of thunder;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>I tested you at the waters of Meribah.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>Selah</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Hear, O my people, while I admonish you;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>O Israel, if you would but listen to me!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There shall be no strange god among you;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>you shall not bow down to a foreign god.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I am the Lord your God,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘But my people did not listen to my voice;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Israel would not submit to me.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>to follow their own counsels.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">O that my people would listen to me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>that Israel would walk in my ways!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Then I would quickly subdue their enemies,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and turn my hand against their foes.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and their doom would last for ever.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I would feed you* with the finest of the wheat,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.’</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 82</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">God has taken his place in the divine council;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>in the midst of the gods he holds judgement:</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">‘How long will you judge unjustly</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and show partiality to the wicked?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>Selah</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Give justice to the weak and the orphan;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Rescue the weak and the needy;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>deliver them from the hand of the wicked.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They have neither knowledge nor understanding,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>they walk around in darkness;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>all the foundations of the earth are shaken.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I say, ‘You are gods,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>children of the Most High, all of you;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">nevertheless, you shall die like mortals,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and fall like any prince.’*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Rise up, O God, judge the earth;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for all the nations belong to you!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
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