Tuesday 20 November 2007 DAILY LECTIONARY

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Tue Nov 20 02:00:00 EST 2007


Tuesday 20 November 2007 
DAILY LECTIONARY

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1 Maccabees 3:25-41

Then Judas and his brothers began to be feared, and terror fell on the
Gentiles all around them. His fame reached the king, and the Gentiles
talked of the battles of Judas.
 When King Antiochus heard these reports, he was greatly angered; and he
sent and gathered all the forces of his kingdom, a very strong army. He
opened his coffers and gave a year's pay to his forces, and ordered them
to be ready for any need. Then he saw that the money in the treasury was
exhausted, and that the revenues from the country were small because of
the dissension and disaster that he had caused in the land by abolishing
the laws that had existed from the earliest days. He feared that he
might not have such funds as he had before for his expenses and for the
gifts that he used to give more lavishly than preceding kings. He was
greatly perplexed in mind; then he determined to go to Persia and
collect the revenues from those regions and raise a large fund.

 He left Lysias, a distinguished man of royal lineage, in charge of the
king's affairs from the river Euphrates to the borders of Egypt. Lysias
was also to take care of his son Antiochus until he returned. And he
turned over to Lysias* half of his forces and the elephants, and gave
him orders about all that he wanted done. As for the residents of Judea
and Jerusalem, Lysias was to send a force against them to wipe out and
destroy the strength of Israel and the remnant of Jerusalem; he was to
banish the memory of them from the place, settle aliens in all their
territory, and distribute their land by lot. Then the king took the
remaining half of his forces and left Antioch his capital in the one
hundred and forty-seventh year.* He crossed the Euphrates river and went
through the upper provinces.
 Lysias chose Ptolemy son of Dorymenes, and Nicanor and Gorgias, able
men among the Friends of the king, and sent with them forty thousand
infantry and seven thousand cavalry to go into the land of Judah and
destroy it, as the king had commanded. So they set out with their entire
force, and when they arrived they encamped near Emmaus in the plain.
When the traders of the region heard what was said to them, they took
silver and gold in immense amounts, and fetters,* and went to the camp
to get the Israelites for slaves. And forces from Syria and the land of
the Philistines joined with them.
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Revelation 21:1-8

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the
first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy
city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as
a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the
throne saying,
'See, the home* of God is among mortals.
He will dwell* with them;
they will be his peoples,*
and God himself will be with them;* 
he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.'

 And the one who was seated on the throne said, 'See, I am making all
things new.' Also he said, 'Write this, for these words are trustworthy
and true.' Then he said to me, 'It is done! I am the Alpha and the
Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a
gift from the spring of the water of life. Those who conquer will
inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my
children. But as for the cowardly, the faithless,* the polluted, the
murderers, the fornicators, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars,
their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur, which
is the second death.'
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Matthew 17:14-21

When they came to the crowd, a man came to him, knelt before him, and
said, 'Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers
terribly; he often falls into the fire and often into the water. And I
brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him.' Jesus
answered, 'You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I
be with you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him here to
me.' And Jesus rebuked the demon,* and it* came out of him, and the boy
was cured instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and
said, 'Why could we not cast it out?' He said to them, 'Because of your
little faith. For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a*
mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, "Move from here to there",
and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.'*
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Morning Psalms:  Psalm 97, 99, 100

Psalm 97

The Lord is king! Let the earth rejoice;
   let the many coastlands be glad! 
Clouds and thick darkness are all around him;
   righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. 
Fire goes before him,
   and consumes his adversaries on every side. 
His lightnings light up the world;
   the earth sees and trembles. 
The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
   before the Lord of all the earth. 


The heavens proclaim his righteousness;
   and all the peoples behold his glory. 
All worshippers of images are put to shame,
   those who make their boast in worthless idols;
   all gods bow down before him. 
Zion hears and is glad,
   and the towns* of Judah rejoice,
   because of your judgements, O God. 
For you, O Lord, are most high over all the earth;
   you are exalted far above all gods. 


The Lord loves those who hate* evil;
   he guards the lives of his faithful;
   he rescues them from the hand of the wicked. 
Light dawns* for the righteous,
   and joy for the upright in heart. 
Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous,
   and give thanks to his holy name!


Psalm 99

The Lord is king; let the peoples tremble!
   He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake! 
The Lord is great in Zion;
   he is exalted over all the peoples. 
Let them praise your great and awesome name.
   Holy is he! 
Mighty King,* lover of justice,
   you have established equity;
you have executed justice
   and righteousness in Jacob. 
Extol the Lord our God;
   worship at his footstool.
   Holy is he! 


Moses and Aaron were among his priests,
   Samuel also was among those who called on his name.
   They cried to the Lord, and he answered them. 
He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud;
   they kept his decrees,
   and the statutes that he gave them. 


O Lord our God, you answered them;
   you were a forgiving God to them,
   but an avenger of their wrongdoings. 
Extol the Lord our God,
   and worship at his holy mountain;
   for the Lord our God is holy.


Psalm 100

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. 
   Worship the Lord with gladness;
   come into his presence with singing. 


Know that the Lord is God.
   It is he that made us, and we are his;*
   we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. 


Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
   and his courts with praise.
   Give thanks to him, bless his name. 


For the Lord is good;
   his steadfast love endures for ever,
   and his faithfulness to all generations.
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Evening Psalms: Psalm 94, 95

Psalm 94

O Lord, you God of vengeance,
   you God of vengeance, shine forth! 
Rise up, O judge of the earth;
   give to the proud what they deserve! 
O Lord, how long shall the wicked,
   how long shall the wicked exult? 


They pour out their arrogant words;
   all the evildoers boast. 
They crush your people, O Lord,
   and afflict your heritage. 
They kill the widow and the stranger,
   they murder the orphan, 
and they say, 'The Lord does not see;
   the God of Jacob does not perceive.' 


Understand, O dullest of the people;
   fools, when will you be wise? 
He who planted the ear, does he not hear?
He who formed the eye, does he not see? 
He who disciplines the nations,
he who teaches knowledge to humankind,
   does he not chastise? 
The Lord knows our thoughts,*
   that they are but an empty breath. 


Happy are those whom you discipline, O Lord,
   and whom you teach out of your law, 
giving them respite from days of trouble,
   until a pit is dug for the wicked. 
For the Lord will not forsake his people;
   he will not abandon his heritage; 
for justice will return to the righteous,
   and all the upright in heart will follow it. 


Who rises up for me against the wicked?
   Who stands up for me against evildoers? 
If the Lord had not been my help,
   my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence. 
When I thought, 'My foot is slipping',
   your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up. 
When the cares of my heart are many,
   your consolations cheer my soul. 
Can wicked rulers be allied with you,
   those who contrive mischief by statute? 
They band together against the life of the righteous,
   and condemn the innocent to death. 
But the Lord has become my stronghold,
   and my God the rock of my refuge. 
He will repay them for their iniquity
   and wipe them out for their wickedness;
   the Lord our God will wipe them out.


Psalm 95

O come, let us sing to the Lord;
   let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! 
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
   let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! 
For the Lord is a great God,
   and a great King above all gods. 
In his hand are the depths of the earth;
   the heights of the mountains are his also. 
The sea is his, for he made it,
   and the dry land, which his hands have formed. 


O come, let us worship and bow down,
   let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! 
For he is our God,
   and we are the people of his pasture,
   and the sheep of his hand. 


O that today you would listen to his voice! 
   Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
   as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, 
when your ancestors tested me,
   and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. 
For forty years I loathed that generation
   and said, 'They are a people whose hearts go astray,
   and they do not regard my ways.' 
Therefore in my anger I swore,
   'They shall not enter my rest.'
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