DAILY OFFICE

Psalm 37

¹ Fret not yourself because of evildoers;
    be not envious of wrongdoers!
² For they will soon fade like the grass
    and wither like the green herb.
³ Trust in the Lord, and do good;
    dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
⁴ Delight yourself in the Lord,
    and he will give you the desires of your heart.
⁵ Commit your way to the Lord;
    trust in him, and he will act.
⁶ He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
    and your justice as the noonday.
⁷ Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;
    fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,
    over the man who carries out evil devices!
⁸ Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath!
    Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.
⁹ For the evildoers shall be cut off,
    but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.
¹⁰ In just a little while, the wicked will be no more;
    though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.
¹¹ But the meek shall inherit the land
    and delight themselves in abundant peace.
¹² The wicked plots against the righteous
    and gnashes his teeth at him,
¹³ but the Lord laughs at the wicked,
    for he sees that his day is coming.
¹⁴ The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows
    to bring down the poor and needy,
    to slay those whose way is upright;
¹⁵ their sword shall enter their own heart,
    and their bows shall be broken.
¹⁶ Better is the little that the righteous has
    than the abundance of many wicked.
¹⁷ For the arms of the wicked shall be broken,
    but the Lord upholds the righteous.
¹⁸ The Lord knows the days of the blameless,
    and their heritage will remain forever;
¹⁹ they are not put to shame in evil times;
    in the days of famine they have abundance.
²⁰ But the wicked will perish;
    the enemies of the Lord are like the glory of the pastures;
    they vanish—like smoke they vanish away.
²¹ The wicked borrows but does not pay back,
    but the righteous is generous and gives;
²² for those blessed by the Lord shall inherit the land,
    but those cursed by him shall be cut off.
²³ The steps of a man are established by the Lord,
    when he delights in his way;
²⁴ though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong,
    for the Lord upholds his hand.
²⁵ I have been young, and now am old,
    yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken
    or his children begging for bread.
²⁶ He is ever lending generously,
    and his children become a blessing.
²⁷ Turn away from evil and do good;
    so shall you dwell forever.
²⁸ For the Lord loves justice;
    he will not forsake his saints.
    They are preserved forever,
    but the children of the wicked shall be cut off.
²⁹ The righteous shall inherit the land
    and dwell upon it forever.
³⁰ The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom,
    and his tongue speaks justice.
³¹ The law of his God is in his heart;
    his steps do not slip.
³² The wicked watches for the righteous
    and seeks to put him to death.
³³ The Lord will not abandon him to his power
    or let him be condemned when he is brought to trial.
³⁴ Wait for the Lord and keep his way,
    and he will exalt you to inherit the land;
    you will look on when the wicked are cut off.
³⁵ I have seen a wicked, ruthless man,
    spreading himself like a green laurel tree.
³⁶ But he passed away, and behold, he was no more;
    though I sought him, he could not be found.
³⁷ Mark the blameless and behold the upright,
    for there is a future for the man of peace.
³⁸ But transgressors shall be altogether destroyed;
    the future of the wicked shall be cut off.
³⁹ The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord;
    he is their stronghold in the time of trouble.
⁴⁰ The Lord helps them and delivers them;
    he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
    because they take refuge in him.

Revelations 9:1-12

¹And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit. ² He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. ³ Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth. ⁴ They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. ⁵ They were allowed to torment them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone. ⁶ And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them. ⁷ In appearance the locusts were like horses prepared for battle: on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces, ⁸ their hair like women’s hair, and their teeth like lions’ teeth; ⁹ they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle. ¹⁰ They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails. ¹¹ They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon. ¹² The first woe has passed; behold, two woes are still to come.

Luke 10:25-37

²⁵ And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” ²⁶ He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” ²⁷ And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” ²⁸ And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.” ²⁹ But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” ³⁰ Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. ³¹ Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. ³² So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³ But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. ³⁴ He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. ³⁵ And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ ³⁶ Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” ³⁷ He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.