DAILY OFFICE

Daily scripture readings from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer

Saturday, December 9

Today's readings include passages from Psalms, Amos, Jude and Matthew.

Psalm 20

1 May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble!     May the name of the God of Jacob protect you! 2 May he send you help from the sanctuary     and give you support from Zion! 3 May he remember all your offerings     and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices! Selah 4 May he grant you your heart's desire     and fulfill all your plans! 5 May we shout for joy over your salvation,     and in the name of our God set up our banners!     May the Lord fulfill all your petitions! 6 Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed;     he will answer him from his holy heaven     with the saving might of his right hand. 7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses,     but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. 8 They collapse and fall,     but we rise and stand upright. 9 Lord, save the king!     May he answer us when we call.

Psalm 21

1 Lord, in your strength the king rejoices,     and in your salvation how greatly he exults! 2 You have given him his heart's desire     and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah 3 For you meet him with rich blessings;     you set a crown of fine gold upon his head. 4 He asked life of you; you gave it to him,     length of days forever and ever. 5 His glory is great through your salvation;     splendor and majesty you bestow on him. 6 For you make him most blessed forever;     you make him glad with the joy of your presence. 7 For the king trusts in the Lord,     and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved. 8 Your hand will find out all your enemies;     your right hand will find out those who hate you. 9 You will make them as a blazing oven     when you appear.     The Lord will swallow them up in his wrath,     and fire will consume them. 10 You will destroy their descendants from the earth,     and their offspring from among the children of man. 11 Though they plan evil against you,     though they devise mischief, they will not succeed. 12 For you will put them to flight;     you will aim at their faces with your bows. 13 Be exalted, O Lord, in your strength!     We will sing and praise your power.

Psalm 110

1 The Lord says to my Lord:     “Sit at my right hand,     until I make your enemies your footstool.” 2 The Lord sends forth from Zion     your mighty scepter.     Rule in the midst of your enemies! 3 Your people will offer themselves freely     on the day of your power,     in holy garments;     from the womb of the morning,     the dew of your youth will be yours. 4 The Lord has sworn     and will not change his mind,     “You are a priest forever     after the order of Melchizedek.” 5 The Lord is at your right hand;     he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. 6 He will execute judgment among the nations,     filling them with corpses;     he will shatter chiefs     over the wide earth. 7 He will drink from the brook by the way;     therefore he will lift up his head.

Psalm 116

1 I love the Lord, because he has heard     my voice and my pleas for mercy. 2 Because he inclined his ear to me,     therefore I will call on him as long as I live. 3 The snares of death encompassed me;     the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;     I suffered distress and anguish. 4 Then I called on the name of the Lord:     “O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul!” 5 Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;     our God is merciful. 6 The Lord preserves the simple;     when I was brought low, he saved me. 7 Return, O my soul, to your rest;     for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. 8 For you have delivered my soul from death,     my eyes from tears,     my feet from stumbling; 9 I will walk before the Lord     in the land of the living. 10 I believed, even when I spoke:     “I am greatly afflicted”; 11 I said in my alarm,     “All mankind are liars.” 12 What shall I render to the Lord     for all his benefits to me? 13 I will lift up the cup of salvation     and call on the name of the Lord, 14 I will pay my vows to the Lord     in the presence of all his people. 15 Precious in the sight of the Lord     is the death of his saints. 16 Lord, I am your servant;     I am your servant, the son of your maidservant.     You have loosed my bonds. 17 I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving     and call on the name of the Lord. 18 I will pay my vows to the Lord     in the presence of all his people, 19 in the courts of the house of the Lord,     in your midst, O Jerusalem.     Praise the Lord!

Psalm 117

1 Praise the Lord, all nations!     Extol him, all peoples! 2 For great is his steadfast love toward us,     and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.     Praise the Lord!

Amos 5:18-27

18 Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord!     Why would you have the day of the Lord?     It is darkness, and not light, 19 as if a man fled from a lion,     and a bear met him,     or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall,     and a serpent bit him. 20 Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light,     and gloom with no brightness in it? 21 “I hate, I despise your feasts,     and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. 22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,     I will not accept them;     and the peace offerings of your fattened animals,     I will not look upon them. 23 Take away from me the noise of your songs;     to the melody of your harps I will not listen. 24 But let justice roll down like waters,     and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. 25 “Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? 26 You shall take up Sikkuth your king, and Kiyyun your star-god—your images that you made for yourselves, 27 and I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.

Jude 17-25

17 But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. 18 They said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.” 19 It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. 20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. 22 And have mercy on those who doubt; 23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh. 24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Matthew 22:15-22

15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words. 16 And they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. 17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” 18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. 20 And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” 21 They said, “Caesar's.” Then he said to them, “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” 22 When they heard it, they marveled. And they left him and went away.

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