DAILY OFFICE

Psalm 106

¹ Praise the Lord!
    Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
    for his steadfast love endures forever!
² Who can utter the mighty deeds of the Lord,
    or declare all his praise?
³ Blessed are they who observe justice,
    who do righteousness at all times!
⁴ Remember me, O Lord, when you show favor to your people;
    help me when you save them,
⁵ that I may look upon the prosperity of your chosen ones,
    that I may rejoice in the gladness of your nation,
    that I may glory with your inheritance.
⁶ Both we and our fathers have sinned;
    we have committed iniquity; we have done wickedness.
⁷ Our fathers, when they were in Egypt,
    did not consider your wondrous works;
    they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love,
    but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea.
⁸ Yet he saved them for his name’s sake,
    that he might make known his mighty power.
⁹ He rebuked the Red Sea, and it became dry,
    and he led them through the deep as through a desert.
¹⁰ So he saved them from the hand of the foe
    and redeemed them from the power of the enemy.
¹¹ And the waters covered their adversaries;
    not one of them was left.
¹² Then they believed his words;
    they sang his praise.
¹³ But they soon forgot his works;
    they did not wait for his counsel.
¹⁴ But they had a wanton craving in the wilderness,
    and put God to the test in the desert;
¹⁵ he gave them what they asked,
    but sent a wasting disease among them.
¹⁶ When men in the camp were jealous of Moses
    and Aaron, the holy one of the Lord,
¹⁷ the earth opened and swallowed up Dathan,
    and covered the company of Abiram.
¹⁸ Fire also broke out in their company;
    the flame burned up the wicked.
¹⁹ They made a calf in Horeb
    and worshiped a metal image.
²⁰ They exchanged the glory of God
    for the image of an ox that eats grass.
²¹ They forgot God, their Savior,
    who had done great things in Egypt,
²² wondrous works in the land of Ham,
    and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.
²³ Therefore he said he would destroy them—
    had not Moses, his chosen one,
    stood in the breach before him,
    to turn away his wrath from destroying them.
²⁴ Then they despised the pleasant land,
    having no faith in his promise.
²⁵ They murmured in their tents,
    and did not obey the voice of the Lord.
²⁶ Therefore he raised his hand and swore to them
    that he would make them fall in the wilderness,
²⁷ and would make their offspring fall among the nations,
    scattering them among the lands.
²⁸ Then they yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor,
    and ate sacrifices offered to the dead;
²⁹ they provoked the Lord to anger with their deeds,
    and a plague broke out among them.
³⁰ Then Phinehas stood up and intervened,
    and the plague was stayed.
³¹ And that was counted to him as righteousness
    from generation to generation forever.
³² They angered him at the waters of Meribah,
    and it went ill with Moses on their account,
³³ for they made his spirit bitter,
    and he spoke rashly with his lips.
³⁴ They did not destroy the peoples,
    as the Lord commanded them,
³⁵ but they mixed with the nations
    and learned to do as they did.
³⁶ They served their idols,
    which became a snare to them.
³⁷ They sacrificed their sons
    and their daughters to the demons;
³⁸ they poured out innocent blood,
    the blood of their sons and daughters,
    whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,
    and the land was polluted with blood.
³⁹ Thus they became unclean by their acts,
    and played the whore in their deeds.
⁴⁰ Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people,
    and he abhorred his heritage;
⁴¹ he gave them into the hand of the nations,
    so that those who hated them ruled over them.
⁴² Their enemies oppressed them,
    and they were brought into subjection under their power.
⁴³ Many times he delivered them,
    but they were rebellious in their purposes
    and were brought low through their iniquity.
⁴⁴ Nevertheless, he looked upon their distress,
    when he heard their cry.
⁴⁵ For their sake he remembered his covenant,
    and relented according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
⁴⁶ He caused them to be pitied
    by all those who held them captive.
⁴⁷ Save us, O Lord our God,
    and gather us from among the nations,
    that we may give thanks to your holy name
    and glory in your praise.
⁴⁸ Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
    from everlasting to everlasting!
    And let all the people say, “Amen!”
    Praise the Lord!

Numbers 22:1-21

²² Then the people of Israel set out and camped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan at Jericho. ² And Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. ³ And Moab was in great dread of the people, because they were many. Moab was overcome with fear of the people of Israel. ⁴ And Moab said to the elders of Midian, “This horde will now lick up all that is around us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field.” So Balak the son of Zippor, who was king of Moab at that time, ⁵ sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor at Pethor, which is near the River in the land of the people of Amaw, to call him, saying, “Behold, a people has come out of Egypt. They cover the face of the earth, and they are dwelling opposite me. ⁶ Come now, curse this people for me, since they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall be able to defeat them and drive them from the land, for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.” ⁷ So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fees for divination in their hand. And they came to Balaam and gave him Balak’s message. ⁸ And he said to them, “Lodge here tonight, and I will bring back word to you, as the Lord speaks to me.” So the princes of Moab stayed with Balaam. ⁹ And God came to Balaam and said, “Who are these men with you?” ¹⁰ And Balaam said to God, “Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent to me, saying, ¹¹ ‘Behold, a people has come out of Egypt, and it covers the face of the earth. Now come, curse them for me. Perhaps I shall be able to fight against them and drive them out.’” ¹² God said to Balaam, “You shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.” ¹³ So Balaam rose in the morning and said to the princes of Balak, “Go to your own land, for the Lord has refused to let me go with you.” ¹⁴ So the princes of Moab rose and went to Balak and said, “Balaam refuses to come with us.” ¹⁵ Once again Balak sent princes, more in number and more honorable than these. ¹⁶ And they came to Balaam and said to him, “Thus says Balak the son of Zippor: ‘Let nothing hinder you from coming to me, ¹⁷ for I will surely do you great honor, and whatever you say to me I will do. Come, curse this people for me.’” ¹⁸ But Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, “Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command of the Lord my God to do less or more. ¹⁹ So you, too, please stay here tonight, that I may know what more the Lord will say to me.” ²⁰ And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men have come to call you, rise, go with them; but only do what I tell you.” ²¹ So Balaam rose in the morning and saddled his donkey and went with the princes of Moab.

Romans 6:12-23

¹² Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. ¹³ Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. ¹⁴ For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. ¹⁵ What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! ¹⁶ Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? ¹⁷ But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, ¹⁸ and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. ¹⁹ I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. ²⁰ For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. ²¹ But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. ²² But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. ²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Matthew 21:12-22

¹² And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. ¹³ He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.” ¹⁴ And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. ¹⁵ But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, ¹⁶ and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read,
“‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies
    you have prepared praise’?”
¹⁷ And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there. ¹⁸ In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. ¹⁹ And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once. ²⁰ When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” ²¹ And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. ²² And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”

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