Tuesday 24 July 2007 DAILY LECTIONARY

[info at dailylectionary.org]

Tuesday 24 July 2007 
DAILY LECTIONARY

Email Evangelism, forward to a friend: http://www.dailylectionary.org

******************************************************************
1 Samuel 25:1-22

Now Samuel died; and all Israel assembled and mourned for him. They
buried him at his home in Ramah.
Then David got up and went down to the wilderness of Paran. 
There was a man in Maon, whose property was in Carmel. The man was very
rich; he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. He was shearing
his sheep in Carmel. Now the name of the man was Nabal, and the name of
his wife Abigail. The woman was clever and beautiful, but the man was
surly and mean; he was a Calebite. David heard in the wilderness that
Nabal was shearing his sheep. So David sent ten young men; and David
said to the young men, 'Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him
in my name. Thus you shall salute him: "Peace be to you, and peace be to
your house, and peace be to all that you have. I hear that you have
shearers; now your shepherds have been with us, and we did them no harm,
and they missed nothing, all the time they were in Carmel. Ask your
young men, and they will tell you. Therefore let my young men find
favour in your sight; for we have come on a feast day. Please give
whatever you have at hand to your servants and to your son David." ' 
When David's young men came, they said all this to Nabal in the name of
David; and then they waited. But Nabal answered David's servants, 'Who
is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants today who are
breaking away from their masters. Shall I take my bread and my water and
the meat that I have butchered for my shearers, and give it to men who
come from I do not know where?' So David's young men turned away, and
came back and told him all this. David said to his men, 'Every man strap
on his sword!' And every one of them strapped on his sword; David also
strapped on his sword; and about four hundred men went up after David,
while two hundred remained with the baggage. 
But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal's wife, 'David sent
messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master; and he shouted
insults at them. Yet the men were very good to us, and we suffered no
harm, and we never missed anything when we were in the fields, as long
as we were with them; they were a wall to us both by night and by day,
all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. Now therefore know
this and consider what you should do; for evil has been decided against
our master and against all his house; he is so ill-natured that no one
can speak to him.' 
Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves, two skins of wine,
five sheep ready dressed, five measures of parched grain, one hundred
clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs. She loaded them on
donkeys and said to her young men, 'Go on ahead of me; I am coming after
you.' But she did not tell her husband Nabal. As she rode on the donkey
and came down under cover of the mountain, David and his men came down
towards her; and she met them. Now David had said, 'Surely it was in
vain that I protected all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so
that nothing was missed of all that belonged to him; but he has returned
me evil for good. God do so to David and more also, if by morning I
leave as much as one male of all who belong to him.'
******************************************************************
Acts 14:1-18

The same thing occurred in Iconium, where Paul and Barnabas went into
the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both
Jews and Greeks became believers. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up
the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. So they
remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who testified to
the word of his grace by granting signs and wonders to be done through
them. But the residents of the city were divided; some sided with the
Jews, and some with the apostles. And when an attempt was made by both
Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to maltreat them and to stone
them, the apostles learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of
Lycaonia, and to the surrounding country; and there they continued
proclaiming the good news. 
In Lystra there was a man sitting who could not use his feet and had
never walked, for he had been crippled from birth. He listened to Paul
as he was speaking. And Paul, looking at him intently and seeing that he
had faith to be healed, said in a loud voice, 'Stand upright on your
feet.' And the man sprang up and began to walk. When the crowds saw what
Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, 'The gods have
come down to us in human form!' Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they
called Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. The priest of Zeus,
whose temple was just outside the city, brought oxen and garlands to the
gates; he and the crowds wanted to offer sacrifice. When the apostles
Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their clothes and rushed out
into the crowd, shouting, 'Friends, why are you doing this? We are
mortals just like you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn
from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven and
the earth and the sea and all that is in them. In past generations he
allowed all the nations to follow their own ways; yet he has not left
himself without a witness in doing good-giving you rains from heaven and
fruitful seasons, and filling you with food and your hearts with joy.'
Even with these words, they scarcely restrained the crowds from offering
sacrifice to them.
******************************************************************
Mark 4:21-34

He said to them, 'Is a lamp brought in to be put under the bushel
basket, or under the bed, and not on the lampstand? For there is nothing
hidden, except to be disclosed; nor is anything secret, except to come
to light. Let anyone with ears to hear listen!' And he said to them,
'Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the
measure you get, and still more will be given you. For to those who
have, more will be given; and from those who have nothing, even what
they have will be taken away.' 
He also said, 'The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on
the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would
sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself,
first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But
when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the
harvest has come.' 
He also said, 'With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what
parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown
upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it
is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts
forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its
shade.' 
With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to
hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained
everything in private to his disciples. 
******************************************************************
Morning Psalms:  Psalm 45

Psalm 45

My heart overflows with a goodly theme;
   I address my verses to the king;
   my tongue is like the pen of a ready scribe. 


You are the most handsome of men;
   grace is poured upon your lips;
   therefore God has blessed you for ever. 
Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one,
   in your glory and majesty. 


In your majesty ride on victoriously
   for the cause of truth and to defend the right;
   let your right hand teach you dread deeds. 
Your arrows are sharp
   in the heart of the king's enemies;
   the peoples fall under you. 


Your throne, O God, endures for ever and ever.
   Your royal sceptre is a sceptre of equity; 
   you love righteousness and hate wickedness.
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you
   with the oil of gladness beyond your companions; 
   your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia.
>From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad; 
   daughters of kings are among your ladies of honour;
   at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir. 


Hear, O daughter, consider and incline your ear;
   forget your people and your father's house, 
   and the king will desire your beauty.
Since he is your lord, bow to him; 
   the people of Tyre will seek your favour with gifts,
   the richest of the people with all kinds of wealth. 


The princess is decked in her chamber with gold-woven robes; 
   in many-coloured robes she is led to the king;
   behind her the virgins, her companions, follow. 
With joy and gladness they are led along
   as they enter the palace of the king. 


In the place of ancestors you, O king, shall have sons;
   you will make them princes in all the earth. 
I will cause your name to be celebrated in all generations;
   therefore the peoples will praise you for ever and ever.
******************************************************************
Evening Psalms: Psalm 47, 48

Psalm 47

Clap your hands, all you peoples;
   shout to God with loud songs of joy. 
For the Lord, the Most High, is awesome,
   a great king over all the earth. 
He subdued peoples under us,
   and nations under our feet. 
He chose our heritage for us,
   the pride of Jacob whom he loves.
          Selah 


God has gone up with a shout,
   the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. 
Sing praises to God, sing praises;
   sing praises to our King, sing praises. 
For God is the king of all the earth;
   sing praises with a psalm. 


God is king over the nations;
   God sits on his holy throne. 
The princes of the peoples gather
   as the people of the God of Abraham.
For the shields of the earth belong to God;
   he is highly exalted.



Psalm 48

Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised
   in the city of our God.
His holy mountain, beautiful in elevation,
   is the joy of all the earth,
Mount Zion, in the far north,
   the city of the great King. 
Within its citadels God
   has shown himself a sure defence. 


Then the kings assembled,
   they came on together. 
As soon as they saw it, they were astounded;
   they were in panic, they took to flight; 
trembling took hold of them there,
   pains as of a woman in labour, 
as when an east wind shatters
   the ships of Tarshish. 
As we have heard, so have we seen
   in the city of the Lord of hosts,
in the city of our God,
   which God establishes for ever.
          Selah 


We ponder your steadfast love, O God,
   in the midst of your temple. 
Your name, O God, like your praise,
   reaches to the ends of the earth.
Your right hand is filled with victory. 
   Let Mount Zion be glad,
let the towns of Judah rejoice
   because of your judgements. 


Walk about Zion, go all around it,
   count its towers, 
consider well its ramparts;
   go through its citadels,
that you may tell the next generation 
   that this is God,
our God for ever and ever.
   He will be our guide for ever.
******************************************************************