DAILY OFFICE

Daily scripture readings from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer

Wednesday, November 23

Today's readings include passages from Psalms, Zechariah Ephesians and Luke.

Psalm 119:145-176

145 With my whole heart I cry; answer me, O Lord!     I will keep your statutes. 146 I call to you; save me,     that I may observe your testimonies. 147 I rise before dawn and cry for help;     I hope in your words. 148 My eyes are awake before the watches of the night,     that I may meditate on your promise. 149 Hear my voice according to your steadfast love;     Lord, according to your justice give me life. 150 They draw near who persecute me with evil purpose;     they are far from your law. 151 But you are near, O Lord,     and all your commandments are true. 152 Long have I known from your testimonies     that you have founded them forever. 153 Look on my affliction and deliver me,     for I do not forget your law. 154 Plead my cause and redeem me;     give me life according to your promise! 155 Salvation is far from the wicked,     for they do not seek your statutes. 156 Great is your mercy, O Lord;     give me life according to your rules. 157 Many are my persecutors and my adversaries,     but I do not swerve from your testimonies. 158 I look at the faithless with disgust,     because they do not keep your commands. 159 Consider how I love your precepts!     Give me life according to your steadfast love. 160 The sum of your word is truth,     and every one of your righteous rules endures forever. 161 Princes persecute me without cause,     but my heart stands in awe of your words. 162 I rejoice at your word     like one who finds great spoil. 163 I hate and abhor falsehood,     but I love your law. 164 Seven times a day I praise you     for your righteous rules. 165 Great peace have those who love your law;     nothing can make them stumble. 166 I hope for your salvation, O Lord,     and I do your commandments. 167 My soul keeps your testimonies;     I love them exceedingly. 168 I keep your precepts and testimonies,     for all my ways are before you. 169 Let my cry come before you, O Lord;     give me understanding according to your word! 170 Let my plea come before you;     deliver me according to your word. 171 My lips will pour forth praise,     for you teach me your statutes. 172 My tongue will sing of your word,     for all your commandments are right. 173 Let your hand be ready to help me,     for I have chosen your precepts. 174 I long for your salvation, O Lord,     and your law is my delight. 175 Let my soul live and praise you,     and let your rules help me. 176 I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant,     for I do not forget your commandments.

 

Psalm 128

1 Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord,     who walks in his ways! 2 You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands;     you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you. 3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine     within your house;     your children will be like olive shoots     around your table. 4 Behold, thus shall the man be blessed     who fears the Lord. 5 The Lord bless you from Zion!     May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem     all the days of your life! 6 May you see your children's children!     Peace be upon Israel!

 

Psalm 129

1 “Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth”—     let Israel now say— 2 “Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth,     yet they have not prevailed against me. 3 The plowers plowed upon my back;     they made long their furrows.” 4 The Lord is righteous;     he has cut the cords of the wicked. 5 May all who hate Zion     be put to shame and turned backward! 6 Let them be like the grass on the housetops,     which withers before it grows up, 7 with which the reaper does not fill his hand     nor the binder of sheaves his arms, 8 nor do those who pass by say,     “The blessing of the Lord be upon you!     We bless you in the name of the Lord!”

 

Psalm 130

1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! 2 O Lord, hear my voice!     Let your ears be attentive     to the voice of my pleas for mercy! 3 If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,     O Lord, who could stand? 4 But with you there is forgiveness,     that you may be feared. 5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,     and in his word I hope; 6 my soul waits for the Lord     more than watchmen for the morning,     more than watchmen for the morning. 7 O Israel, hope in the Lord!     For with the Lord there is steadfast love,     and with him is plentiful redemption. 8 And he will redeem Israel     from all his iniquities.

 

Zechariah 12:1-10

1 The oracle of the word of the Lord concerning Israel: Thus declares the Lord, who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the spirit of man within him: 2 “Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of staggering to all the surrounding peoples. The siege of Jerusalem will also be against Judah. 3 On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And all the nations of the earth will gather against it. 4 On that day, declares the Lord, I will strike every horse with panic, and its rider with madness. But for the sake of the house of Judah I will keep my eyes open, when I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. 5 Then the clans of Judah shall say to themselves, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem have strength through the Lordof hosts, their God.’ 6 “On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a blazing pot in the midst of wood, like a flaming torch among sheaves. And they shall devour to the right and to the left all the surrounding peoples, while Jerusalem shall again be inhabited in its place, in Jerusalem. 7 “And the Lord will give salvation to the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not surpass that of Judah. 8 On that day the Lord will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them on that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the angel of the Lord, going before them. 9 And on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. 10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.

 

Ephesians 1:3-14

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guaranteeof our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

 

Luke 19:1-10

1 He entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. 3 And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. 5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. 7 And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

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