The Daily Bible Readings for Tuesday, January 17, 2023

 

The Daily Bible Readings
Tuesday, January 17, 2023
Psalm 40:6-17; Isaiah 53:1-12; Hebrews 10:1-4
(Revised Common Lectionary Year A)

A Psalm and A Prayer
Responsive Readings from the Psalms and Prayers
for Public Worship and Private Devotions

Psalm 40:6-17
Not sacrifice but divine mercy
Expectans, expectavi

Oh, that I could make them known and tell them!
but they are more than I can count.

In sacrifice and offering you take no pleasure
(you have given me ears to hear you);

Burnt-offering and sin-offering you have not required,
and so I said, “Behold, I come.

In the roll of the book it is written concerning me:
‘I love to do your will, O my God; your law is deep in my heart.’”

I proclaimed righteousness in the great congregation;
behold, I did not restrain my lips; and that, O LORD, you know.

Your righteousness have I not hidden in my heart; I have spoken of your faithfulness and your deliverance;
I have not concealed your love and faithfulness from the great congregation.

You are the LORD; do not withhold your compassion from me;
let your love and your faithfulness keep me safe for ever,

For innumerable troubles have crowded upon me; my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see;
they are more in number than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails me.

Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me;
O LORD, make haste to help me.

Let them be ashamed and altogether dismayed who seek after my life to destroy it;
let them draw back and be disgraced who take pleasure in my misfortune.

Let those who say “Aha!” and gloat over me be confounded,
because they are ashamed.

Let all who seek you rejoice in you and be glad;
let those who love your salvation continually say, “Great is the LORD!”

O God, You require of me what I can give, and everyday I choose to give You my heart, my mind, my soul, my life, my future. Heavenly Father, I love Your Word, and I rejoice in the opportunity to study the Holy Scriptures with Your people. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit so I can faithfully proclaim Your love and grace to all who will listen, even as we pray in Jesus’ name:

“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.”

Isaiah 53:1-12
The one like a lamb

1 Who has believed our message
     and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
     and like a root out of dry ground.
  He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
     nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,
     a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
  Like one from whom people hide their faces
     he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

4 Surely he took up our pain
     and bore our suffering,
  yet we considered him punished by God,
     stricken by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
     he was crushed for our iniquities;
  the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
     and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
     each of us has turned to our own way;
  and the Lord has laid on him
     the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
     yet he did not open his mouth;
  he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
     and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
     so he did not open his mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
     Yet who of his generation protested?
  For he was cut off from the land of the living;
     for the transgression of my people he was punished.
9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,
     and with the rich in his death,
  though he had done no violence,
     nor was any deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
      and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,
   he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
      and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.
11 After he has suffered,
      he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
   by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
      and he will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
      and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
   because he poured out his life unto death,
      and was numbered with the transgressors.
   For he bore the sin of many,
      and made intercession for the transgressors.

Hebrews 10:1-4
Animal sacrifices cannot take away sins

10:1 The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2 Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. 3 But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. 4 It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

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 Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Responsive Readings from the Common Book of Prayer (1789).

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 Tuesday, January 17, 2023
Psalm 40:6-17; Isaiah 53:1-12; Hebrews 10:1-4