DAILY OFFICE

Psalm 23

¹The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
² He makes me lie down in green pastures.
    He leads me beside still waters.
³ He restores my soul.
    He leads me in paths of righteousness
    for his name’s sake.
⁴ Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
    I will fear no evil,
    for you are with me;
    your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.
⁵ You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies;
    you anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
⁶ Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
    all the days of my life,
    and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
    forever.

Psalm 27

¹The Lord is my light and my salvation;
    whom shall I fear?
    The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
    of whom shall I be afraid?
² When evildoers assail me
    to eat up my flesh,
    my adversaries and foes,
    it is they who stumble and fall.
³ Though an army encamp against me,
    my heart shall not fear;
    though war arise against me,
    yet I will be confident.
⁴ One thing have I asked of the Lord,
    that will I seek after:
    that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
    all the days of my life,
    to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
    and to inquire in his temple.
⁵ For he will hide me in his shelter
    in the day of trouble;
    he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
    he will lift me high upon a rock.
⁶ And now my head shall be lifted up
    above my enemies all around me,
    and I will offer in his tent
    sacrifices with shouts of joy;
    I will sing and make melody to the Lord.
⁷ Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud;
    be gracious to me and answer me!
⁸ You have said, “Seek my face.”
    My heart says to you,
    “Your face, Lord, do I seek.”
⁹ Hide not your face from me.
    Turn not your servant away in anger,
    O you who have been my help.
    Cast me not off; forsake me not,
    O God of my salvation!
¹⁰ For my father and my mother have forsaken me,
    but the Lord will take me in.
¹¹ Teach me your way, O Lord,
    and lead me on a level path
    because of my enemies.
¹² Give me not up to the will of my adversaries;
    for false witnesses have risen against me,
    and they breathe out violence.
¹³ I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord
    in the land of the living!
¹⁴ Wait for the Lord;
    be strong, and let your heart take courage;
    wait for the Lord!

Psalm 75

¹We give thanks to you, O God;
    we give thanks, for your name is near.
    We recount your wondrous deeds.
² “At the set time that I appoint
    I will judge with equity.
³ When the earth totters, and all its inhabitants,
    it is I who keep steady its pillars.
⁴ I say to the boastful, ‘Do not boast,’
    and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horn;
⁵ do not lift up your horn on high,
    or speak with haughty neck.’”
⁶ For not from the east or from the west
    and not from the wilderness comes lifting up,
⁷ but it is God who executes judgment,
    putting down one and lifting up another.
⁸ For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup
    with foaming wine, well mixed,
    and he pours out from it,
    and all the wicked of the earth
    shall drain it down to the dregs.
⁹ But I will declare it forever;
    I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
¹⁰ All the horns of the wicked I will cut off,
    but the horns of the righteous shall be lifted up.

Psalm 76

¹In Judah God is known;
    his name is great in Israel.
² His abode has been established in Salem,
    his dwelling place in Zion.
³ There he broke the flashing arrows,
    the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war.
⁴ Glorious are you, more majestic
    than the mountains full of prey.
⁵ The stouthearted were stripped of their spoil;
    they sank into sleep;
    all the men of war
    were unable to use their hands.
⁶ At your rebuke, O God of Jacob,
    both rider and horse lay stunned.
⁷ But you, you are to be feared!
    Who can stand before you
    when once your anger is roused?
⁸ From the heavens you uttered judgment;
    the earth feared and was still,
⁹ when God arose to establish judgment,
    to save all the humble of the earth.
¹⁰ Surely the wrath of man shall praise you;
    the remnant of wrath you will put on like a belt.
¹¹ Make your vows to the Lord your God and perform them;
    let all around him bring gifts
    to him who is to be feared,
¹² who cuts off the spirit of princes,
    who is to be feared by the kings of the earth.

Psalm 104

¹Bless the Lord, O my soul!
    O Lord my God, you are very great!
    You are clothed with splendor and majesty,
²  covering yourself with light as with a garment,
    stretching out the heavens like a tent.
³ He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters;
    he makes the clouds his chariot;
    he rides on the wings of the wind;
⁴ he makes his messengers winds,
    his ministers a flaming fire.
⁵ He set the earth on its foundations,
    so that it should never be moved.
⁶ You covered it with the deep as with a garment;
    the waters stood above the mountains.
⁷ At your rebuke they fled;
    at the sound of your thunder they took to flight.
⁸ The mountains rose, the valleys sank down
    to the place that you appointed for them.
⁹ You set a boundary that they may not pass,
    so that they might not again cover the earth.
¹⁰ You make springs gush forth in the valleys;
    they flow between the hills;
¹¹ they give drink to every beast of the field;
    the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
¹² Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell;
    they sing among the branches.
¹³ From your lofty abode you water the mountains;
    the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.
¹⁴ You cause the grass to grow for the livestock
    and plants for man to cultivate,
    that he may bring forth food from the earth
¹⁵ and wine to gladden the heart of man,
    oil to make his face shine
    and bread to strengthen man’s heart.
¹⁶ The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly,
    the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
¹⁷ In them the birds build their nests;
    the stork has her home in the fir trees.
¹⁸ The high mountains are for the wild goats;
    the rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers.
¹⁹ He made the moon to mark the seasons;
    the sun knows its time for setting.
²⁰ You make darkness, and it is night,
    when all the beasts of the forest creep about.
²¹ The young lions roar for their prey,
    seeking their food from God.
²² When the sun rises, they steal away
    and lie down in their dens.
²³ Man goes out to his work
    and to his labor until the evening.
²⁴ O Lord, how manifold are your works!
    In wisdom have you made them all;
    the earth is full of your creatures.
²⁵ Here is the sea, great and wide,
    which teems with creatures innumerable,
    living things both small and great.
²⁶ There go the ships,
    and Leviathan, which you formed to play in it.
²⁷ These all look to you,
    to give them their food in due season.
²⁸ When you give it to them, they gather it up;
    when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
²⁹ When you hide your face, they are dismayed;
    when you take away their breath, they die
    and return to their dust.
³⁰ When you send forth your Spirit, they are created,
    and you renew the face of the ground.
³¹ May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
    may the Lord rejoice in his works,
³² who looks on the earth and it trembles,
    who touches the mountains and they smoke!
³³ I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
    I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
³⁴ May my meditation be pleasing to him,
    for I rejoice in the Lord.
³⁵ Let sinners be consumed from the earth,
    and let the wicked be no more!
    Bless the Lord, O my soul!
    Praise the Lord!

Ephesians 3:14-21

¹⁴ For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, ¹⁶ that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸ may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, ¹⁹ and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. ²⁰ Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

2 Corinthians 13:1-14

¹This is the third time I am coming to you. Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. ² I warned those who sinned before and all the others, and I warn them now while absent, as I did when present on my second visit, that if I come again I will not spare them— ³ since you seek proof that Christ is speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. ⁴ For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God. ⁵ Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! ⁶ I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. ⁷ But we pray to God that you may not do wrong—not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed. ⁸ For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. ⁹ For we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. Your restoration is what we pray for. ¹⁰ For this reason I write these things while I am away from you, that when I come I may not have to be severe in my use of the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down. ¹¹ Finally, brothers, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. ¹² Greet one another with a holy kiss. ¹³ All the saints greet you. ¹⁴ The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Luke 20:1-8

¹One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up ² and said to him, “Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority.” ³ He answered them, “I also will ask you a question. Now tell me, ⁴ was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?” ⁵ And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ ⁶ But if we say, ‘From man,’ all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.” ⁷ So they answered that they did not know where it came from. ⁸ And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

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