DAILY OFFICE

Daily scripture readings from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer

Monday, January 16

Today's readings include passages from Psalms, Isaiah, Ephesians and Mark.

Psalm 9

1 I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;     I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. 2 I will be glad and exult in you;     I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. 3 When my enemies turn back,     they stumble and perish before your presence. 4 For you have maintained my just cause;     you have sat on the throne, giving righteous judgment. 5 You have rebuked the nations; you have made the wicked perish;     you have blotted out their name forever and ever. 6 The enemy came to an end in everlasting ruins;     their cities you rooted out;     the very memory of them has perished. 7 But the Lord sits enthroned forever;     he has established his throne for justice, 8 and he judges the world with righteousness;     he judges the peoples with uprightness. 9 The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed,     a stronghold in times of trouble. 10 And those who know your name put their trust in you,     for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you. 11 Sing praises to the Lord, who sits enthroned in Zion!     Tell among the peoples his deeds! 12 For he who avenges blood is mindful of them;     he does not forget the cry of the afflicted. 13 Be gracious to me, O Lord!     See my affliction from those who hate me,     O you who lift me up from the gates of death, 14 that I may recount all your praises,     that in the gates of the daughter of Zion     I may rejoice in your salvation. 15 The nations have sunk in the pit that they made;     in the net that they hid, their own foot has been caught. 16 The Lord has made himself known; he has executed judgment;     the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands. Higgaion. Selah 17 The wicked shall return to Sheol,     all the nations that forget God. 18 For the needy shall not always be forgotten,     and the hope of the poor shall not perish forever. 19 Arise, O Lord! Let not man prevail;     let the nations be judged before you! 20 Put them in fear, O Lord!     Let the nations know that they are but men! Selah

 

Psalm 15

1 Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent?     Who shall dwell on your holy hill? 2 He who walks blamelessly and does what is right     and speaks truth in his heart; 3 who does not slander with his tongue     and does no evil to his neighbor,     nor takes up a reproach against his friend; 4 in whose eyes a vile person is despised,     but who honors those who fear the Lord;     who swears to his own hurt and does not change; 5 who does not put out his money at interest     and does not take a bribe against the innocent.     He who does these things shall never be moved.

 

Psalm 25

1 To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. 2 O my God, in you I trust;     let me not be put to shame;     let not my enemies exult over me. 3 Indeed, none who wait for you shall be put to shame;     they shall be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous. 4 Make me to know your ways, O Lord;     teach me your paths. 5 Lead me in your truth and teach me,     for you are the God of my salvation;     for you I wait all the day long. 6 Remember your mercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love,     for they have been from of old. 7 Remember not the sins of my youth or my transgressions;     according to your steadfast love remember me,     for the sake of your goodness, O Lord! 8 Good and upright is the Lord;     therefore he instructs sinners in the way. 9 He leads the humble in what is right,     and teaches the humble his way. 10 All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness,     for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies. 11 For your name's sake, O Lord,     pardon my guilt, for it is great. 12 Who is the man who fears the Lord?     Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose. 13 His soul shall abide in well-being,     and his offspring shall inherit the land. 14 The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him,     and he makes known to them his covenant. 15 My eyes are ever toward the Lord,     for he will pluck my feet out of the net. 16 Turn to me and be gracious to me,     for I am lonely and afflicted. 17 The troubles of my heart are enlarged;     bring me out of my distresses. 18 Consider my affliction and my trouble,     and forgive all my sins. 19 Consider how many are my foes,     and with what violent hatred they hate me. 20 Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me!     Let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you. 21 May integrity and uprightness preserve me,     for I wait for you. 22 Redeem Israel, O God,     out of all his troubles.

 

Isaiah 44:6-8, 21-23

6 Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel     and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts:     “I am the first and I am the last;     besides me there is no god. 7 Who is like me? Let him proclaim it.     Let him declare and set it before me,     since I appointed an ancient people.     Let them declare what is to come, and what will happen. 8 Fear not, nor be afraid;     have I not told you from of old and declared it?     And you are my witnesses!     Is there a God besides me?     There is no Rock; I know not any.” ... 21 Remember these things, O Jacob,     and Israel, for you are my servant;     I formed you; you are my servant;     O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me. 22 I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud     and your sins like mist;     return to me, for I have redeemed you. 23 Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done it;     shout, O depths of the earth;     break forth into singing, O mountains,     O forest, and every tree in it!     For the Lord has redeemed Jacob,     and will be glorified in Israel.

 

Ephesians 4:1-16

1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. 8 Therefore it says,     “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,     and he gave gifts to men.” 9 (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? 10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) 11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

 

Mark 3:7-19

7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea 8 and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him. 9 And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him, 10 for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him. 11 And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” 12 And he strictly ordered them not to make him known. 13 And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. 14 And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach 15 and have authority to cast out demons. 16 He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); 17 James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); 18 Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot, 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

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