DAILY OFFICE

Daily scripture readings from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer

Monday, January 15

Today's readings include passages from Psalms, Genesis, Hebrews and John.

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, 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; 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.

Genesis 8:6-22

6 At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made 7 and sent forth a raven. It went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. 8 Then he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground. 9 But the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him. 10 He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. 11 And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. 12 Then he waited another seven days and sent forth the dove, and she did not return to him anymore. 13 In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry. 14 In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth had dried out. 15 Then God said to Noah, 16 “Go out from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons' wives with you. 17 Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh—birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth—that they may swarm on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.” 18 So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him. 19 Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by families from the ark. 20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. 22 While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”

Hebrews 4:14-5:6

14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. 5:1 For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. 3 Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people. 4 And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. 5 So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”; 6 as he says also in another place, “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.”

John 2:23-3:15

23 Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. 24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man. 3:1 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The windblows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” 9 Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things? 11 Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

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