DAILY OFFICE

Daily scripture readings from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer

Monday, March 4

Today's readings include passages from Psalms, Genesis, 1 Corinthians and Mark.

Psalm 77

1 I cry aloud to God,     aloud to God, and he will hear me. 2 In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;     in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying;     my soul refuses to be comforted. 3 When I remember God, I moan;     when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah 4 You hold my eyelids open;     I am so troubled that I cannot speak. 5 I consider the days of old,     the years long ago. 6 I said, “Let me remember my song in the night;     let me meditate in my heart.”     Then my spirit made a diligent search: “Will the Lord spurn forever,     and never again be favorable? 8 Has his steadfast love forever ceased?     Are his promises at an end for all time? 9 Has God forgotten to be gracious?     Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah 10 Then I said, “I will appeal to this,     to the years of the right hand of the Most High.” 11 I will remember the deeds of the Lord;     yes, I will remember your wonders of old. 12 I will ponder all your work,     and meditate on your mighty deeds. 13 Your way, O God, is holy.     What god is great like our God? 14 You are the God who works wonders;     you have made known your might among the peoples. 15 You with your arm redeemed your people,     the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah 16 When the waters saw you, O God,     when the waters saw you, they were afraid;     indeed, the deep trembled. 17 The clouds poured out water;     the skies gave forth thunder;     your arrows flashed on every side. 18 The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind;     your lightnings lighted up the world;     the earth trembled and shook. 19 Your way was through the sea,     your path through the great waters;     yet your footprints were unseen. 20 You led your people like a flock     by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Psalm 79

1 O God, the nations have come into your inheritance;     they have defiled your holy temple;     they have laid Jerusalem in ruins. 2 They have given the bodies of your servants     to the birds of the heavens for food,     the flesh of your faithful to the beasts of the earth. 3 They have poured out their blood like water     all around Jerusalem,     and there was no one to bury them. 4 We have become a taunt to our neighbors,     mocked and derided by those around us. 5 How long, O Lord? Will you be angry forever?     Will your jealousy burn like fire? 6 Pour out your anger on the nations     that do not know you,     and on the kingdoms     that do not call upon your name! 7 For they have devoured Jacob     and laid waste his habitation. Do not remember against us our former iniquities;     let your compassion come speedily to meet us,     for we are brought very low. 9 Help us, O God of our salvation,     for the glory of your name;     deliver us, and atone for our sins,     for your name's sake! 10 Why should the nations say,     “Where is their God?”     Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants     be known among the nations before our eyes! 11 Let the groans of the prisoners come before you;     according to your great power, preserve those doomed to die! 12 Return sevenfold into the lap of our neighbors     the taunts with which they have taunted you, O Lord! 13 But we your people, the sheep of your pasture,     will give thanks to you forever;     from generation to generation we will recount your praise.

Psalm 80

1 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,     you who lead Joseph like a flock.     You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth. 2 Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh,     stir up your might     and come to save us! 3 Restore us, O God;     let your face shine, that we may be saved! 4 Lord God of hosts,     how long will you be angry with your people's prayers? 5 You have fed them with the bread of tears     and given them tears to drink in full measure. 6 You make us an object of contention for our neighbors,     and our enemies laugh among themselves. 7 Restore us, O God of hosts;     let your face shine, that we may be saved! 8 You brought a vine out of Egypt;     you drove out the nations and planted it. 9 You cleared the ground for it;     it took deep root and filled the land. 10 The mountains were covered with its shade,     the mighty cedars with its branches. 11 It sent out its branches to the sea     and its shoots to the River. 12 Why then have you broken down its walls,     so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit? 13 The boar from the forest ravages it,     and all that move in the field feed on it. 14 Turn again, O God of hosts!     Look down from heaven, and see;     have regard for this vine, 15 the stock that your right hand planted,     and for the son whom you made strong for yourself. 16 They have burned it with fire; they have cut it down;     may they perish at the rebuke of your face! 17 But let your hand be on the man of your right hand,     the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself! 18 Then we shall not turn back from you;     give us life, and we will call upon your name! 19 Restore us, O Lord God of hosts!     Let your face shine, that we may be saved!

Genesis 44:18-34

18 Then Judah went up to him and said, “Oh, my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord's ears, and let not your anger burn against your servant, for you are like Pharaoh himself. 19 My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father, or a brother?’ 20 And we said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, and a young brother, the child of his old age. His brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother's children, and his father loves him.’ 21 Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.’ 22 We said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’ 23 Then you said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall not see my face again.’ 24 “When we went back to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. 25 And when our father said, ‘Go again, buy us a little food,’ 26 we said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother goes with us, then we will go down. For we cannot see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.’ 27 Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons. 28 One left me, and I said, “Surely he has been torn to pieces,” and I have never seen him since. 29 If you take this one also from me, and harm happens to him, you will bring down my gray hairs in evil to Sheol.’ 30 “Now therefore, as soon as I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us, then, as his life is bound up in the boy's life, 31 as soon as he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die, and your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant our father with sorrow to Sheol. 32 For your servant became a pledge of safety for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father all my life.’ 33 Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servant to my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers. 34 For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father.”

1 Corinthians 7:25-31

25 Now concerning the betrothed, I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who by the Lord's mercy is trustworthy. 26 I think that in view of the present distress it is good for a person to remain as he is. 27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. 28 But if you do marry, you have not sinned, and if a betrothed woman marries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that. 29 This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, 30 and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, 31 and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.

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.