DAILY OFFICE

Daily scripture readings from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer

Saturday, April 20

Today's readings include passages from Psalms, Exodus, Colossians and Matthew.

Psalm 30

1 I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up     and have not let my foes rejoice over me. 2 Lord my God, I cried to you for help,     and you have healed me. 3 Lord, you have brought up my soul from Sheol;     you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit. 4 Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints,     and give thanks to his holy name. 5 For his anger is but for a moment,     and his favor is for a lifetime.     Weeping may tarry for the night,     but joy comes with the morning. 6 As for me, I said in my prosperity,     “I shall never be moved.” 7 By your favor, O Lord,     you made my mountain stand strong;     you hid your face;     I was dismayed. 8 To you, O Lord, I cry,     and to the Lord I plead for mercy: 9 “What profit is there in my death,     if I go down to the pit?     Will the dust praise you?     Will it tell of your faithfulness? 10 Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me!     Lord, be my helper!” 11 You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;     you have loosed my sackcloth     and clothed me with gladness, 12 that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.     Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!

Psalm 32

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,     whose sin is covered. 2 Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,     and in whose spirit there is no deceit. 3 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away     through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;     my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah 5 I acknowledged my sin to you,     and I did not cover my iniquity;     I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”     and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah 6 Therefore let everyone who is godly     offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found;     surely in the rush of great waters,     they shall not reach him. 7 You are a hiding place for me;     you preserve me from trouble;     you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah 8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;     I will counsel you with my eye upon you. 9 Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding,     which must be curbed with bit and bridle,     or it will not stay near you. 10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked,     but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord. 11 Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous,     and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

Psalm 42

1 As a deer pants for flowing streams,     so pants my soul for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God,     for the living God.     When shall I come and appear before God? 3 My tears have been my food     day and night,     while they say to me all the day long,     “Where is your God?” 4 These things I remember,     as I pour out my soul:     how I would go with the throng     and lead them in procession to the house of God     with glad shouts and songs of praise,     a multitude keeping festival. 5 Why are you cast down, O my soul,     and why are you in turmoil within me?     Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,     my salvation 6 and my God.     My soul is cast down within me;     therefore I remember you     from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,     from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep     at the roar of your waterfalls;     all your breakers and your waves     have gone over me. 8 By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,     and at night his song is with me,     a prayer to the God of my life. 9 I say to God, my rock:     “Why have you forgotten me?     Why do I go mourning     because of the oppression of the enemy?” 10 As with a deadly wound in my bones,     my adversaries taunt me,     while they say to me all the day long,     “Where is your God?” 11 Why are you cast down, O my soul,     and why are you in turmoil within me?     Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,     my salvation and my God.

Psalm 43

1 Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause     against an ungodly people,     from the deceitful and unjust man     deliver me! 2 For you are the God in whom I take refuge;     why have you rejected me?     Why do I go about mourning     because of the oppression of the enemy? 3 Send out your light and your truth;     let them lead me;     let them bring me to your holy hill     and to your dwelling! 4 Then I will go to the altar of God,     to God my exceeding joy,     and I will praise you with the lyre,     O God, my God. 5 Why are you cast down, O my soul,     and why are you in turmoil within me?     Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,     my salvation and my God.

Exodus 25:1-22

1 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel, that they take for me a contribution. From every man whose heart moves him you shall receive the contribution for me. 3 And this is the contribution that you shall receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze, 4 blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, goats' hair, 5 tanned rams' skins, goatskins, acacia wood, 6 oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, 7 onyx stones, and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece. 8 And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. 9 Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it. 10 “They shall make an ark of acacia wood. Two cubits and a half shall be its length, a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height. 11 You shall overlay it with pure gold, inside and outside shall you overlay it, and you shall make on it a molding of gold around it. 12 You shall cast four rings of gold for it and put them on its four feet, two rings on the one side of it, and two rings on the other side of it. 13 You shall make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. 14 And you shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry the ark by them. 15 The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it. 16 And you shall put into the ark the testimony that I shall give you. 17 “You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold. Two cubits and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth. 18 And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work shall you make them, on the two ends of the mercy seat. 19 Make one cherub on the one end, and one cherub on the other end. Of one piece with the mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on its two ends. 20 The cherubim shall spread out their wings above, overshadowing the mercy seat with their wings, their faces one to another; toward the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubim be. 21 And you shall put the mercy seat on the top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony that I shall give you. 22 There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel.

Colossians 3:1-17

1 If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5 Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7 In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all. 12 Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Matthew 4:18-25

18 While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. 23 And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. 24 So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them. 25 And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

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