DAILY OFFICE

Psalm 140

¹ Deliver me, O Lord, from evil men;
    preserve me from violent men,
² who plan evil things in their heart
    and stir up wars continually.
³ They make their tongue sharp as a serpent’s,
    and under their lips is the venom of asps.
⁴ Guard me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked;
    preserve me from violent men,
    who have planned to trip up my feet.
⁵ The arrogant have hidden a trap for me,
    and with cords they have spread a net;
    beside the way they have set snares for me.
⁶ I say to the Lord, You are my God;
    give ear to the voice of my pleas for mercy, O Lord!
⁷ O Lord, my Lord, the strength of my salvation,
    you have covered my head in the day of battle.
⁸ Grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked;
    do not further their evil plot, or they will be exalted!
⁹ As for the head of those who surround me,
    let the mischief of their lips overwhelm them!
¹⁰ Let burning coals fall upon them!
    Let them be cast into fire,
    into miry pits, no more to rise!
¹¹ Let not the slanderer be established in the land;
    let evil hunt down the violent man speedily!
¹² I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted,
    and will execute justice for the needy.
¹³ Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name;
    the upright shall dwell in your presence.

Psalm 141

¹ O Lord, I call upon you; hasten to me!
    Give ear to my voice when I call to you!
² Let my prayer be counted as incense before you,
    and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!
³ Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth;
    keep watch over the door of my lips!
⁴ Do not let my heart incline to any evil,
    to busy myself with wicked deeds
    in company with men who work iniquity,
    and let me not eat of their delicacies!
⁵ Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness;
    let him rebuke me—it is oil for my head;
    let my head not refuse it.
    Yet my prayer is continually against their evil deeds.
⁶ When their judges are thrown over the cliff,
    then they shall hear my words, for they are pleasant.
⁷ As when one plows and breaks up the earth,
    so shall our bones be scattered at the mouth of Sheol.
⁸ But my eyes are toward you, O God, my Lord;
    in you I seek refuge; leave me not defenseless!
⁹ Keep me from the trap that they have laid for me
    and from the snares of evildoers!
¹⁰ Let the wicked fall into their own nets,
    while I pass by safely.

Psalm 142

¹With my voice I cry out to the Lord;
    with my voice I plead for mercy to the Lord.
² I pour out my complaint before him;
    I tell my trouble before him.
³ When my spirit faints within me,
    you know my way!
    In the path where I walk
    they have hidden a trap for me.
⁴ Look to the right and see:
    there is none who takes notice of me;
    no refuge remains to me;
    no one cares for my soul.
⁵ I cry to you, O Lord;
    I say, “You are my refuge,
    my portion in the land of the living.”
⁶ Attend to my cry,
    for I am brought very low!
    Deliver me from my persecutors,
    for they are too strong for me!
⁷ Bring me out of prison,
    that I may give thanks to your name!
    The righteous will surround me,
    for you will deal bountifully with me.

Psalm 143

¹Hear my prayer, O Lord;
    give ear to my pleas for mercy!
    In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness!
² Enter not into judgment with your servant,
    for no one living is righteous before you.
³ For the enemy has pursued my soul;
    he has crushed my life to the ground;
    he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead.
⁴ Therefore my spirit faints within me;
    my heart within me is appalled.
⁵ I remember the days of old;
    I meditate on all that you have done;
    I ponder the work of your hands.
⁶ I stretch out my hands to you;
    my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.
⁷ Answer me quickly, O Lord!
    My spirit fails!
    Hide not your face from me,
    lest I be like those who go down to the pit.
⁸ Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love,
    for in you I trust.
    Make me know the way I should go,
    for to you I lift up my soul.
⁹ Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord!
    I have fled to you for refuge.
¹⁰ Teach me to do your will,
    for you are my God!
    Let your good Spirit lead me
    on level ground!
¹¹ For your name’s sake, O Lord, preserve my life!
    In your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble!
¹² And in your steadfast love you will cut off my enemies,
    and you will destroy all the adversaries of my soul,
    for I am your servant.

Micah 3:9-4:5

⁹ Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob
    and rulers of the house of Israel,
    who detest justice
    and make crooked all that is straight,
¹⁰ who build Zion with blood
    and Jerusalem with iniquity.
¹¹ Its heads give judgment for a bribe;
    its priests teach for a price;
    its prophets practice divination for money;
    yet they lean on the Lord and say,
    “Is not the Lord in the midst of us?
    No disaster shall come upon us.”
¹² Therefore because of you
    Zion shall be plowed as a field;
    Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins,
    and the mountain of the house a wooded height.
^4:1 It shall come to pass in the latter days
    that the mountain of the house of the Lord
    shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
    and it shall be lifted up above the hills;
    and peoples shall flow to it,
² and many nations shall come, and say:
    “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
    to the house of the God of Jacob,
    that he may teach us his ways
    and that we may walk in his paths.”
    For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
    and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
³ He shall judge between many peoples,
    and shall decide disputes for strong nations far away;
    and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
    and their spears into pruning hooks;
    nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
    neither shall they learn war anymore;
⁴ but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree,
    and no one shall make them afraid,
    for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.
⁵ For all the peoples walk
    each in the name of its god,
    but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God
    forever and ever.

Acts 24:24-25:12

²⁴ After some days Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, and he sent for Paul and heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁵ And as he reasoned about righteousness and self-control and the coming judgment, Felix was alarmed and said, “Go away for the present. When I get an opportunity I will summon you.” ²⁶ At the same time he hoped that money would be given him by Paul. So he sent for him often and conversed with him. ²⁷ When two years had elapsed, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus. And desiring to do the Jews a favor, Felix left Paul in prison. ^25:1 Now three days after Festus had arrived in the province, he went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea. ² And the chief priests and the principal men of the Jews laid out their case against Paul, and they urged him, ³ asking as a favor against Paul that he summon him to Jerusalem—because they were planning an ambush to kill him on the way. ⁴ Festus replied that Paul was being kept at Caesarea and that he himself intended to go there shortly. ⁵ “So,” said he, “let the men of authority among you go down with me, and if there is anything wrong about the man, let them bring charges against him.” ⁶ After he stayed among them not more than eight or ten days, he went down to Caesarea. And the next day he took his seat on the tribunal and ordered Paul to be brought. ⁷ When he had arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many and serious charges against him that they could not prove. ⁸ Paul argued in his defense, “Neither against the law of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I committed any offense.” ⁹ But Festus, wishing to do the Jews a favor, said to Paul, “Do you wish to go up to Jerusalem and there be tried on these charges before me?” ¹⁰ But Paul said, “I am standing before Caesar’s tribunal, where I ought to be tried. To the Jews I have done no wrong, as you yourself know very well. ¹¹ If then I am a wrongdoer and have committed anything for which I deserve to die, I do not seek to escape death. But if there is nothing to their charges against me, no one can give me up to them. I appeal to Caesar.” ¹² Then Festus, when he had conferred with his council, answered, “To Caesar you have appealed; to Caesar you shall go.”

Luke 8:1-15

¹ Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him, ² and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, ³ and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their means. ⁴ And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable, ⁵ “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. ⁶ And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. ⁷ And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. ⁸ And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” ⁹ And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, ¹⁰ he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’ ¹¹ Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. ¹² The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. ¹³ And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. ¹⁴ And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. ¹⁵ As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.

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