The Old Testament Lesson
The Old Testament Lesson for today is taken from Deuteronomy 11:18-28
You shall put these words of mine in your heart and soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and fix them as an emblem on your forehead. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the LORD swore to your ancestors to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth. If you will diligently observe this entire commandment that I am commanding you, loving the LORD your God, walking in all his ways, and holding fast to him, then the LORD will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and mightier than yourselves. Every place on which you set foot shall be yours; your territory shall extend from the wilderness to the Lebanon and from the River, the river Euphrates, to the Western Sea. No one will be able to stand against you; the LORD your God will put the fear and dread of you on all the land on which you set foot, as he promised you. See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I am commanding you today; and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn from the way that I am commanding you today, to follow other gods that you have not known.
This is the Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God!
The Epistle Lesson
The Epistle Lesson for today is taken from Hebrews 5:1-10
Every high priest chosen from among mortals is put in charge of things pertaining to God on their behalf, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is subject to weakness; and because of this he must offer sacrifice for his own sins as well as for those of the people. And one does not presume to take this honor, but takes it only when called by God, just as Aaron was. So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him, "You are my Son, today I have begotten you" as he says also in another place, "You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek." In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered; and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
This is the Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God!
The Holy Gospel Lesson
The Holy Gospel is written in John 4:1-26
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard, "Jesus is making and baptizing more disciples than John" -- although it was not Jesus himself but his disciples who baptized-- he left Judea and started back to Galilee. But he had to go through Samaria. So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon. A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." (His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) The Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?" (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water." The woman said to him, "Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?" Jesus said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life." The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water." Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come back." The woman answered him, "I have no husband." Jesus said to her, "You are right in saying, 'I have no husband' for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!" The woman said to him, "Sir, I see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem." Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth." The woman said to him, "I know that Messiah is coming" (who is called Christ). "When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us." Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one who is speaking to you."
Here ends the Gospel lesson for today
Glory be to Thee ,O Christ!
Morning Psalms
Psalm 55 Exaudi, Deus
1 Hear my prayer, O God; do not hide yourself from my petition.
2 Listen to me and answer me; I have no peace, because of my cares.
3 I am shaken by the noise of the enemy and by the pressure of the wicked;
4 For they have cast an evil spell upon me and are set against me in fury.
5 My heart quakes within me, and the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
6 Fear and trembling have come over me, and horror overwhelms me.
7 And I said, "Oh, that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest.
8 I would flee to a far-off place and make my lodging in the wilderness.
9 I would hasten to escape from the stormy wind and tempest."
10 Swallow them up, O Lord; confound their speech; for I have seen violence and strife in the city.
11 Day and night the watchmen make their rounds upon her walls, but trouble and misery are in the midst of her.
12 There is corruption at her heart; her streets are never free of oppression and deceit.
13 For had it been an adversary who taunted me, then I could have borne it; or had it been an enemy who vaunted himself against me, then I could have hidden from him.
14 But it was you, a man after my own heart, my companion, my own familiar friend.
15 We took sweet counsel together, and walked with the throng in the house of God.
16 Let death come upon them suddenly; let them go down alive to the grave; for wickedness is in their dwellings, in their very midst.
17 But I will call upon God, and the LORD will deliver me.
18 In the evening, in the morning, and at noonday, I will complain and lament, and he will hear my voice.
19 He will bring me safely back from the battle waged against me; for there are many who fight me.
20 God, who is enthroned of old, will hear me and bring them down; they never change; they do not fear God.
21 My companion stretched forth his hand against his comrade; he has broken his covenant.
22 His speech is softer than butter, but war is in his heart.
23 His words are smoother than oil, but they are drawn swords.
24 Cast your burden upon the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous stumble.
25 For you will bring the bloodthirsty and deceitful down to the pit of destruction, O God.
26 They shall not live out half their days, but I will put my trust in you.
Evening Psalms
Psalm 138 Confitebor tibi
1 I will give thanks to you, O LORD, with my whole heart; before the gods I will sing your praise.
2 I will bow down toward your holy temple and praise your Name, because of your love and faithfulness;
3 For you have glorified your Name and your word above all things.
4 When I called, you answered me; you increased my strength within me.
5 All the kings of the earth will praise you, O LORD, when they have heard the words of your mouth.
6 They will sing of the ways of the LORD, that great is the glory of the LORD.
7 Though the LORD be high, he cares for the lowly; he perceives the haughty from afar.
8 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you keep me safe; you stretch forth your hand against the fury of my enemies; your right hand shall save me.
9 The LORD will make good his purpose for me; O LORD, your love endures for ever; do not abandon the works of your hands.
Psalm 139 Domine, probasti
1 LORD, you have searched me out and known me; you know my sitting down and my rising up; you discern my thoughts from afar.
2 You trace my journeys and my resting-places and are acquainted with all my ways.
3 Indeed, there is not a word on my lips, but you, O LORD, know it altogether.
4 You press upon me behind and before and lay your hand upon me.
5 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain to it.
6 Where can I go then from your Spirit? where can I flee from your presence?
7 If I climb up to heaven, you are there; if I make the grave my bed, you are there also.
8 If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
9 Even there your hand will lead me and your right hand hold me fast.
10 If I say, "Surely the darkness will cover me, and the light around me turn to night, "
11 Darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day; darkness and light to you are both alike.
12 For you yourself created my inmost parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb.
13 I will thank you because I am marvelously made; your works are wonderful, and I know it well.
14 My body was not hidden from you, while I was being made in secret and woven in the depths of the earth.
15 Your eyes beheld my limbs, yet unfinished in the womb; all of them were written in your book; they were fashioned day by day, when as yet there was none of them.
16 How deep I find your thoughts, O God! how great is the sum of them!
17 If I were to count them, they would be more in number than the sand; to count them all, my life span would need to be like yours.
18 Oh, that you would slay the wicked, O God! You that thirst for blood, depart from me.
19 They speak despitefully against you; your enemies take your Name in vain.
20 Do I not hate those, O LORD, who hate you? and do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
21 I hate them with a perfect hatred; they have become my own enemies.
22 Search me out, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my restless thoughts.
23 Look well whether there be any wickedness in me and lead me in the way that is everlasting.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The New Revised Standard Version Bible may be quoted and/or reprinted up to and inclusive of five hundred (500) verses without express written permission of the publisher, provided the verses quoted do not amount to a complete book of the Bible or account for fifty percent (50%) of the total work in which they are quoted.
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