The Old Testament Lesson
The Old Testament Lesson for today is taken from Jeremiah 8:18-9:6
My joy is gone, grief is upon me, my heart is sick. Hark, the cry of my poor people from far and wide in the land: "Is the LORD not in Zion? Is her King not in her?" ("Why have they provoked me to anger with their images, with their foreign idols?") "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved." For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt, I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of my poor people not been restored? O that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I might weep day and night for the slain of my poor people! O that I had in the desert a traveler's lodging place, that I might leave my people and go away from them! For they are all adulterers, a band of traitors. They bend their tongues like bows; they have grown strong in the land for falsehood, and not for truth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me, says the LORD. Beware of your neighbors, and put no trust in any of your kin; for all your kin are supplanters, and every neighbor goes around like a slanderer. They all deceive their neighbors, and no one speaks the truth; they have taught their tongues to speak lies; they commit iniquity and are too weary to repent. Oppression upon oppression, deceit upon deceit! They refuse to know me, says the LORD.
This is the Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God!
The Epistle Lesson
The Epistle Lesson for today is taken from Romans 5:1-11
Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person-- though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
This is the Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God!
The Holy Gospel Lesson
The Holy Gospel is written in John 8:12-20
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life." Then the Pharisees said to him, "You are testifying on your own behalf; your testimony is not valid." Jesus answered, "Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid because I know where I have come from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. You judge by human standards; I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is valid; for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. In your law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is valid. I testify on my own behalf, and the Father who sent me testifies on my behalf." Then they said to him, "Where is your Father?" Jesus answered, "You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also." He spoke these words while he was teaching in the treasury of the temple, but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.
Here ends the Gospel lesson for today
Glory be to Thee ,O Christ!
Morning Psalms
Psalm 119: Mem Quomodo dilexi!
97 Oh, how I love your law! all the day long it is in my mind.
98 Your commandment has made me wiser than my enemies, and it is always with me.
99 I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your decrees are my study.
100 I am wiser than the elders, because I observe your commandments.
101 I restrain my feet from every evil way, that I may keep your word.
102 I do not shrink from your judgments, because you yourself have taught me.
103 How sweet are your words to my taste! they are sweeter than honey to my mouth.
104 Through your commandments I gain understanding; therefore I hate every lying way.
Psalm 119: Nun Lucerna pedibus meis
105 Your word is a lantern to my feet and a light upon my path.
106 I have sworn and am determined to keep your righteous judgments.
107 I am deeply troubled; preserve my life, O LORD, according to your word.
108 Accept, O LORD, the willing tribute of my lips, and teach me your judgments.
109 My life is always in my hand, yet I do not forget your law.
110 The wicked have set a trap for me, but I have not strayed from your commandments.
111 Your decrees are my inheritance for ever; truly, they are the joy of my heart.
112 I have applied my heart to fulfill your statutes for ever and to the end.
Psalm 119: Samekh Iniquos odio habui
113 I hate those who have a divided heart, but your law do I love.
114 You are my refuge and shield; my hope is in your word.
115 Away from me, you wicked! I will keep the commandments of my God.
116 Sustain me according to your promise, that I may live, and let me not be disappointed in my hope.
117 Hold me up, and I shall be safe, and my delight shall be ever in your statutes.
118 You spurn all who stray from your statutes; their deceitfulness is in vain.
119 In your sight all the wicked of the earth are but dross; therefore I love your decrees.
120 My flesh trembles with dread of you; I am afraid of your judgments.
Evening Psalms
Psalm 81 Exultate Deo
1 Sing with joy to God our strength and raise a loud shout to the God of Jacob.
2 Raise a song and sound the timbrel, the merry harp, and the lyre.
3 Blow the ram's-horn at the new moon, and at the full moon, the day of our feast.
4 For this is a statute for Israel, a law of the God of Jacob.
5 He laid it as a solemn charge upon Joseph, when he came out of the land of Egypt.
6 I heard an unfamiliar voice saying, "I eased his shoulder from the burden; his hands were set free from bearing the load."
7 You called on me in trouble, and I saved you; I answered you from the secret place of thunder and tested you at the waters of Meribah.
8 Hear, O my people, and I will admonish you: O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
9 There shall be no strange god among you; you shall not worship a foreign god.
10 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and said, "Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it."
11 And yet my people did not hear my voice, and Israel would not obey me.
12 So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their hearts, to follow their own devices.
13 Oh, that my people would listen to me! that Israel would walk in my ways!
14 I should soon subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes.
15 Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him, and their punishment would last for ever.
16 But Israel would I feed with the finest wheat and satisfy him with honey from the rock.
Psalm 82 Deus stetit
1 God takes his stand in the council of heaven; he gives judgment in the midst of the gods:
2 How long will you judge unjustly, and show favor to the wicked?
3 Save the weak and the orphan; defend the humble and needy;
4 Rescue the weak and the poor; deliver them from the power of the wicked.
5 They do not know, neither do they understand; they go about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6 Now I say to you, 'You are gods, and all of you children of the Most High;
7 Nevertheless, you shall die like mortals, and fall like any prince.'"
8 Arise, O God, and rule the earth, for you shall take all nations for your own.
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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