DAILY OFFICE

Daily scripture readings from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer

Monday, January 23

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

Psalm 41

1 Blessed is the one who considers the poor!     In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him; 2 the Lord protects him and keeps him alive;     he is called blessed in the land;     you do not give him up to the will of his enemies. 3 The Lord sustains him on his sickbed;     in his illness you restore him to full health. 4 As for me, I said, “O Lord, be gracious to me;     heal me, for I have sinned against you!” 5 My enemies say of me in malice,     “When will he die, and his name perish?” 6 And when one comes to see me, he utters empty words,     while his heart gathers iniquity;     when he goes out, he tells it abroad. 7 All who hate me whisper together about me;     they imagine the worst for me. 8 They say, “A deadly thing is poured out on him;     he will not rise again from where he lies.” 9 Even my close friend in whom I trusted,     who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me. 10 But you, O Lord, be gracious to me,     and raise me up, that I may repay them! 11 By this I know that you delight in me:     my enemy will not shout in triumph over me. 12 But you have upheld me because of my integrity,     and set me in your presence forever. 13 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,     from everlasting to everlasting!     Amen and Amen.

 

Psalm 44

1 O God, we have heard with our ears,     our fathers have told us,     what deeds you performed in their days,     in the days of old: 2 you with your own hand drove out the nations,     but them you planted;     you afflicted the peoples,     but them you set free; 3 for not by their own sword did they win the land,     nor did their own arm save them,     but your right hand and your arm,     and the light of your face,     for you delighted in them. 4 You are my King, O God;     ordain salvation for Jacob! 5 Through you we push down our foes;     through your name we tread down those who rise up against us. 6 For not in my bow do I trust,     nor can my sword save me. 7 But you have saved us from our foes     and have put to shame those who hate us. 8 In God we have boasted continually,     and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah 9 But you have rejected us and disgraced us     and have not gone out with our armies. 10 You have made us turn back from the foe,     and those who hate us have gotten spoil. 11 You have made us like sheep for slaughter     and have scattered us among the nations. 12 You have sold your people for a trifle,     demanding no high price for them. 13 You have made us the taunt of our neighbors,     the derision and scorn of those around us. 14 You have made us a byword among the nations,     a laughingstock among the peoples. 15 All day long my disgrace is before me,     and shame has covered my face 16 at the sound of the taunter and reviler,     at the sight of the enemy and the avenger. 17 All this has come upon us,     though we have not forgotten you,     and we have not been false to your covenant. 18 Our heart has not turned back,     nor have our steps departed from your way; 19 yet you have broken us in the place of jackals     and covered us with the shadow of death. 20 If we had forgotten the name of our God     or spread out our hands to a foreign god, 21 would not God discover this?     For he knows the secrets of the heart. 22 Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long;     we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. 23 Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord?     Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever! 24 Why do you hide your face?     Why do you forget our affliction and oppression? 25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust;     our belly clings to the ground. 26 Rise up; come to our help!     Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!

 

Psalm 52

1 Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man?     The steadfast love of God endures all the day. 2 Your tongue plots destruction,     like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit. 3 You love evil more than good,     and lying more than speaking what is right. Selah 4 You love all words that devour,     O deceitful tongue. 5 But God will break you down forever;     he will snatch and tear you from your tent;     he will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah 6 The righteous shall see and fear,     and shall laugh at him, saying, 7 “See the man who would not make     God his refuge,     but trusted in the abundance of his riches     and sought refuge in his own destruction!” 8 But I am like a green olive tree     in the house of God.     I trust in the steadfast love of God     forever and ever. 9 I will thank you forever,     because you have done it.     I will wait for your name, for it is good,     in the presence of the godly.

 

Isaiah 48:1-11

1 Hear this, O house of Jacob,     who are called by the name of Israel,     and who came from the waters of Judah,     who swear by the name of the Lord     and confess the God of Israel,     but not in truth or right. 2 For they call themselves after the holy city,     and stay themselves on the God of Israel;     the Lord of hosts is his name. 3 “The former things I declared of old;     they went out from my mouth, and I announced them;     then suddenly I did them, and they came to pass. 4 Because I know that you are obstinate,     and your neck is an iron sinew     and your forehead brass, 5 I declared them to you from of old,     before they came to pass I announced them to you,     lest you should say, ‘My idol did them,     my carved image and my metal image commanded them.’ 6 “You have heard; now see all this;     and will you not declare it?     From this time forth I announce to you new things,     hidden things that you have not known. 7 They are created now, not long ago;     before today you have never heard of them,     lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’ 8 You have never heard, you have never known,     from of old your ear has not been opened.     For I knew that you would surely deal treacherously,     and that from before birth you were called a rebel. 9 “For my name's sake I defer my anger;     for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you,     that I may not cut you off. 10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;     I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. 11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,     for how should my name be profaned?     My glory I will not give to another.

 

Galatians 1:1-17

1 Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— 2 and all the brothers who are with me, To the churches of Galatia: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. 6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. 10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. 11 For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel. 12 For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. 13 For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. 14 And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. 15 But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, 16 was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone; 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.

 

Mark 5:21-43

21 And when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered about him, and he was beside the sea. 22 Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, and seeing him, he fell at his feet 23 and implored him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.” 24 And he went with him. And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. 25 And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, 26 and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. 27 She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. 28 For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” 29 And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30 And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?” 31 And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’ 32 And he looked around to see who had done it. 33 But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. 34 And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” 35 While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler's house some who said, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the Teacher any further?” 36 But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” 37 And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James and John the brother of James. 38 They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and Jesus saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. 39 And when he had entered, he said to them, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping.” 40 And they laughed at him. But he put them all outside and took the child's father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was. 41 Taking her by the hand he said to her, “Talitha cumi,” which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise.” 42 And immediately the girl got up and began walking (for she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement. 43 And he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

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