DAILY OFFICE

Daily scripture readings from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer

Saturday, April 13

Today's readings include passages from Psalms, Exodus, 1 Peter and John.

Psalm 20

1 May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble!     May the name of the God of Jacob protect you! 2 May he send you help from the sanctuary     and give you support from Zion! 3 May he remember all your offerings     and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices! Selah 4 May he grant you your heart's desire     and fulfill all your plans! 5 May we shout for joy over your salvation,     and in the name of our God set up our banners!     May the Lord fulfill all your petitions! 6 Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed;     he will answer him from his holy heaven     with the saving might of his right hand. 7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses,     but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. 8 They collapse and fall,     but we rise and stand upright. 9 Lord, save the king!     May he answer us when we call.

Psalm 21

1 Lord, in your strength the king rejoices,     and in your salvation how greatly he exults! 2 You have given him his heart's desire     and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah 3 For you meet him with rich blessings;     you set a crown of fine gold upon his head. 4 He asked life of you; you gave it to him,     length of days forever and ever. 5 His glory is great through your salvation;     splendor and majesty you bestow on him. 6 For you make him most blessed forever;     you make him glad with the joy of your presence. 7 For the king trusts in the Lord,     and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved. 8 Your hand will find out all your enemies;     your right hand will find out those who hate you. 9 You will make them as a blazing oven     when you appear.     The Lord will swallow them up in his wrath,     and fire will consume them. 10 You will destroy their descendants from the earth,     and their offspring from among the children of man. 11 Though they plan evil against you,     though they devise mischief, they will not succeed. 12 For you will put them to flight;     you will aim at their faces with your bows. 13 Be exalted, O Lord, in your strength!     We will sing and praise your power.

Psalm 110

1 The Lord says to my Lord:     “Sit at my right hand,     until I make your enemies your footstool.” 2 The Lord sends forth from Zion     your mighty scepter.     Rule in the midst of your enemies! 3 Your people will offer themselves freely     on the day of your power,     in holy garments;     from the womb of the morning,     the dew of your youth will be yours. 4 The Lord has sworn     and will not change his mind,     “You are a priest forever     after the order of Melchizedek.” 5 The Lord is at your right hand;     he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath. 6 He will execute judgment among the nations,     filling them with corpses;     he will shatter chiefs     over the wide earth. 7 He will drink from the brook by the way;     therefore he will lift up his head.

Psalm 116

1 I love the Lord, because he has heard     my voice and my pleas for mercy. 2 Because he inclined his ear to me,     therefore I will call on him as long as I live. 3 The snares of death encompassed me;     the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;     I suffered distress and anguish. 4 Then I called on the name of the Lord:     “O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul!” 5 Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;     our God is merciful. 6 The Lord preserves the simple;     when I was brought low, he saved me. 7 Return, O my soul, to your rest;     for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. 8 For you have delivered my soul from death,     my eyes from tears,     my feet from stumbling; 9 I will walk before the Lord     in the land of the living. 10 I believed, even when I spoke:     “I am greatly afflicted”; 11 I said in my alarm,     “All mankind are liars.” 12 What shall I render to the Lord     for all his benefits to me? 13 I will lift up the cup of salvation     and call on the name of the Lord, 14 I will pay my vows to the Lord     in the presence of all his people. 15 Precious in the sight of the Lord     is the death of his saints. 16 Lord, I am your servant;     I am your servant, the son of your maidservant.     You have loosed my bonds. 17 I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving     and call on the name of the Lord. 18 I will pay my vows to the Lord     in the presence of all his people, 19 in the courts of the house of the Lord,     in your midst, O Jerusalem.     Praise the Lord!

Psalm 117

1 Praise the Lord, all nations!     Extol him, all peoples! 2 For great is his steadfast love toward us,     and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.     Praise the Lord!

Exodus 17

1 All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” 3 But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” 4 So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” 5 And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lordamong us or not?” 8 Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. 9 So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” 10 So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses' hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13 And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword. 14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” 15 And Moses built an altar and called the name of it, The Lord Is My Banner, 16 saying, “A hand upon the throne of the Lord! The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”

1 Peter 4:7-19

7 The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. 8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. 9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace: 11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. 14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. 17 For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And “If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” 19 Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.

John 16:16-33

16 “A little while, and you will see me no longer; and again a little while, and you will see me.” 17 So some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this that he says to us, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’; and, ‘because I am going to the Father’?” 18 So they were saying, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is talking about.” 19 Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? 20 Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. 21 When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. 22 So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. 23 In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. 25 “I have said these things to you in figures of speech. The hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech but will tell you plainly about the Father. 26 In that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf; 27 for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. 28 I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.” 29 His disciples said, “Ah, now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative speech! 30 Now we know that you know all things and do not need anyone to question you; this is why we believe that you came from God.” 31 Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? 32 Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. 33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

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