Saturday 13 March 2010<!--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>
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<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Genesis 47:27-48:7<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the region of Goshen; and they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied exceedingly. Jacob lived in the land of Egypt for seventeen years; so the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were one hundred and forty-seven years.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>When the time of Israel’s death drew near, he called his son Joseph and said to him, ‘If I have found favour with you, put your hand under my thigh and promise to deal loyally and truly with me. Do not bury me in Egypt. When I lie down with my ancestors, carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place.’ He answered, ‘I will do as you have said.’ And he said, ‘Swear to me’; and he swore to him. Then Israel bowed himself on the head of his bed.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">After this Joseph was told, ‘Your father is ill.’ So he took with him his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim. When Jacob was told, ‘Your son Joseph has come to you’, he* summoned his strength and sat up in bed. And Jacob said to Joseph, ‘God Almighty* appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and he blessed me, and said to me, “I am going to make you fruitful and increase your numbers; I will make of you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your offspring after you for a perpetual holding.” Therefore your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are now mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are. As for the offspring born to you after them, they shall be yours. They shall be recorded under the names of their brothers with regard to their inheritance. For when I came from Paddan, Rachel, alas, died in the land of Canaan on the way, while there was still some distance to go to Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath’ (that is, Bethlehem).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">1 Corinthians 10:1-13</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters,* that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not become idolaters as some of them did; as it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.’ We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put Christ* to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents. And do not complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come. So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Mark 7:1-23</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands,* thus observing the tradition of the elders; and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it;* and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.*) So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, ‘Why do your disciples not live* according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?’ He said to them, ‘Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“This people honours me with their lips,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>but their hearts are far from me;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">in vain do they worship me,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>teaching human precepts as doctrines.”</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Then he said to them, ‘You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition! For Moses said, “Honour your father and your mother”; and, “Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.” But you say that if anyone tells father or mother, “Whatever support you might have had from me is Corban” (that is, an offering to God*)— then you no longer permit doing anything for a father or mother, thus making void the word of God through your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many things like this.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Then he called the crowd again and said to them, ‘Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.’*</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>When he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable. He said to them, ‘Then do you also fail to understand? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile, since it enters, not the heart but the stomach, and goes out into the sewer?’ (Thus he declared all foods clean.) And he said, ‘It is what comes out of a person that defiles. For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.’<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Morning Psalms: Psalm 87, 90</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 87</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">On the holy mount stands the city he founded;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>the Lord loves the gates of Zion</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>more than all the dwellings of Jacob.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Glorious things are spoken of you,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>O city of God.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>Selah</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Among those who know me I mention Rahab and Babylon;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Philistia too, and Tyre, with Ethiopia*—</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>‘This one was born there,’ they say.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">And of Zion it shall be said,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>‘This one and that one were born in it’;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for the Most High himself will establish it.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The Lord records, as he registers the peoples,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>‘This one was born there.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun:
yes"> </span>Selah</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Singers and dancers alike say,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>‘All my springs are in you.’</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 90</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Lord, you have been our dwelling-place*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>in all generations.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Before the mountains were brought forth,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>or ever you had formed the earth and the world,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>from everlasting to everlasting you are God.</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You turn us* back to dust,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and say, ‘Turn back, you mortals.’</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For a thousand years in your sight</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>are like yesterday when it is past,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>or like a watch in the night.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You sweep them away; they are like a dream,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>like grass that is renewed in the morning;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>in the evening it fades and withers.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For we are consumed by your anger;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>by your wrath we are overwhelmed.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You have set our iniquities before you,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>our secret sins in the light of your countenance.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">For all our days pass away under your wrath;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>our years come to an end* like a sigh.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The days of our life are seventy years,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>or perhaps eighty, if we are strong;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">even then their span* is only toil and trouble;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>they are soon gone, and we fly away.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Who considers the power of your anger?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due to you.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So teach us to count our days</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>that we may gain a wise heart.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Turn, O Lord! How long?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Have compassion on your servants!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and for as many years as we have seen evil.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let your work be manifest to your servants,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and your glorious power to their children.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Let the favour of the Lord our God be upon us,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>and prosper for us the work of our hands—</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>O prosper the work of our hands!</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Evening Psalms: Psalm 136</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">Psalm 136</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal">O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for his steadfast love endures for ever.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">O give thanks to the God of gods,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for his steadfast love endures for ever.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">O give thanks to the Lord of lords,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for his steadfast love endures for ever;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">who alone does great wonders,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for his steadfast love endures for ever;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">who by understanding made the heavens,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for his steadfast love endures for ever;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">who spread out the earth on the waters,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for his steadfast love endures for ever;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">who made the great lights,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for his steadfast love endures for ever;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">the sun to rule over the day,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for his steadfast love endures for ever;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">the moon and stars to rule over the night,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for his steadfast love endures for ever;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">who struck Egypt through their firstborn,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for his steadfast love endures for ever;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and brought Israel out from among them,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for his steadfast love endures for ever;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">with a strong hand and an outstretched arm,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for his steadfast love endures for ever;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">who divided the Red Sea* in two,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for his steadfast love endures for ever;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and made Israel pass through the midst of it,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for his steadfast love endures for ever;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">but overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea,*</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for his steadfast love endures for ever;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">who led his people through the wilderness,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for his steadfast love endures for ever;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">who struck down great kings,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for his steadfast love endures for ever;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and killed famous kings,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for his steadfast love endures for ever;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sihon, king of the Amorites,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for his steadfast love endures for ever;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and Og, king of Bashan,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for his steadfast love endures for ever;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and gave their land as a heritage,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for his steadfast love endures for ever;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">a heritage to his servant Israel,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for his steadfast love endures for ever.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It is he who remembered us in our low estate,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for his steadfast love endures for ever;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">and rescued us from our foes,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for his steadfast love endures for ever;</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">who gives food to all flesh,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for his steadfast love endures for ever.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">O give thanks to the God of heaven,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>for his steadfast love endures for ever.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">******************************************************************</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
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