The Old Testament Reading
Isaiah 51:1-8
Listen to me, you that pursue righteousness, you that seek the LORD. Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for he was but one when I called him, but I blessed him and made him many. For the LORD will comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste places, and will make her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song. Listen to me, my people, and give heed to me, my nation; for a teaching will go out from me, and my justice for a light to the peoples. I will bring near my deliverance swiftly, my salvation has gone out and my arms will rule the peoples; the coastlands wait for me, and for my arm they hope. Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and those who live on it will die like gnats; but my salvation will be forever, and my deliverance will never be ended. Listen to me, you who know righteousness, you people who have my teaching in your hearts; do not fear the reproach of others, and do not be dismayed when they revile you. For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool; but my deliverance will be forever, and my salvation to all generations.
This is the Word of the Lord
The Epistle Reading
Galatians 3:23-29
Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise.
This is the Word of the Lord
The Holy Gospel Reading
Mark 7:1-23
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, 'This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.' You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition." 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, 'Honor 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." 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." 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."
Here ends the Gospel reading for today.
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.
