The Daily Bible Readings
Monday, December 12, 2022
Psalm 42; Isaiah 29:17-24; Acts 5:12-16
(Revised Common Lectionary Year A)
A Psalm and A Prayer
Responsive Readings from the Psalms and Prayers
for Public Worship and Private Devotions
Responsive Readings from the Psalms and Prayers
for Public Worship and Private Devotions
Quemadmodum
Leader: As the deer longs for the water-brooks,
People: so longs my soul for you, O God.
Leader: My soul is athirst for God, athirst for the living God;
People: when shall I come to appear before the presence of God?
Leader: My tears have been my food day and night,
People: while all day long they say to me, “Where now is your God?”
Leader: I pour out my soul when I think on these things;
People: how I went with the multitude and led them into the house of God,
Leader: With the voice of praise and thanksgiving,
People: among those who keep holy-day.
Leader: Why are you so full of heaviness, O my soul?
People: and why are you so disquieted within me?
Leader: Put your trust in God;
People: for I will yet give thanks to him, who is the help of my countenance, and my God.
Leader: My soul is heavy within me;
People: therefore I will remember you from the land of Jordan, and from the peak of Mizar among the heights of Hermon.
Leader: One deep calls to another in the noise of your cataracts;
People: all your rapids and floods have gone over me.
Leader: The LORD grants his loving-kindness in the daytime;
People: in the night season his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.
Leader: I will say to the God of my strength, “Why have you forgotten me?
People: and why do I go so heavily while the enemy oppresses me?”
Leader: While my bones are being broken,
People: my enemies mock me to my face;
Leader: All day long they mock me
People: and say to me, “Where now is your God?”
Leader: Why are you so full of heaviness, O my soul?
People: and why are you so disquieted within me?
Leader: Put your trust in God;
People: for I will yet give thanks to him, who is the help of my countenance, and my God.
O God, You are the great Creator. You reign as the Lord over all. Some do not acknowledge You as their Creator. Some deny Your very existence. Others know that You created them, but they do not obey You as the Lord over their lives. Help me to look upon the world around me and remember You are the source of all life and light. When evil seems to be on the winning side, and when it seems there is no chance for good to prevail, help me remember that You are Lord over all and more powerful than any circumstance. Forgive me when I have acted as though You did not exist, as though I had no responsibility to You as my Creator, Lord, and Savior. Fill my heart with love for You. Open my mind to see Your work in the world. Help me understand the Bible. Help me know how to apply Your Word to the way I live each day. Look into all our hearts today as we pray together:
“Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power, and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.”
(The infirm will be healed)
29:17 Shall not Lebanon in a very little while
become a fruitful field
and the fruitful field be regarded as a forest?
18 On that day the deaf shall hear
the words of a scroll,
and freed from gloom and darkness
the eyes of the blind shall see.
19 The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord,
and the neediest people shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.
20 For the tyrant shall be no more,
and the scoffer shall cease to be;
all those alert to do evil shall be cut off—
21 those who cause a person to lose a lawsuit,
who set a trap for the arbiter in the gate
and undermine justice for the one in the right.
22 Therefore thus says the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:
“No longer shall Jacob be ashamed;
no longer shall his face grow pale.
23 For when he sees his children,
the work of my hands, in his midst,
they will sanctify my name;
they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob
and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24 And those who err in spirit will come to understanding,
and those who grumble will accept instruction.”
become a fruitful field
and the fruitful field be regarded as a forest?
18 On that day the deaf shall hear
the words of a scroll,
and freed from gloom and darkness
the eyes of the blind shall see.
19 The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord,
and the neediest people shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.
20 For the tyrant shall be no more,
and the scoffer shall cease to be;
all those alert to do evil shall be cut off—
21 those who cause a person to lose a lawsuit,
who set a trap for the arbiter in the gate
and undermine justice for the one in the right.
22 Therefore thus says the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:
“No longer shall Jacob be ashamed;
no longer shall his face grow pale.
23 For when he sees his children,
the work of my hands, in his midst,
they will sanctify my name;
they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob
and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24 And those who err in spirit will come to understanding,
and those who grumble will accept instruction.”
(Many people healed by the apostles)
The Apostles Heal Many
5:12 Now many signs and wonders were done among the people through the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico. 13 None of the rest dared to join them, but the people held them in high esteem. 14 Yet more than ever believers were added to the Lord, great numbers of both men and women, 15 so that they even carried out the sick into the streets, and laid them on cots and mats, in order that Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he came by. 16 A great number of people would also gather from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all cured.
Optional parts of the readings are set off in [square brackets.]
The Bible texts of the Old Testament, Epistle and Gospel lessons are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Church of Christ in the USA, and used by permission.
The Daily Lectionary is a three year cyclical lectionary. We are currently in Year A. Beginning with the first Sunday of Advent in 2023, we will be in Year B. The year which ended at Advent 2022 was Year A. These readings complement the Sunday and festival readings: Thursday through Saturday readings help prepare the reader for the Sunday ahead; Monday through Wednesday readings help the reader reflect and digest on what they heard in worship. Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings, copyright © 2005 Consultation on Common Texts. www.commontexts.org
The Daily Bible Readings for Monday, December 12, 2022
Psalm 42; Isaiah 29:17-24; Acts 5:12-16
