DAILY OFFICE

Psalm 94

¹ O Lord, God of vengeance,
    O God of vengeance, shine forth!
² Rise up, O judge of the earth;
    repay to the proud what they deserve!
³ O Lord, how long shall the wicked,
    how long shall the wicked exult?
⁴ They pour out their arrogant words;
    all the evildoers boast.
⁵ They crush your people, O Lord,
    and afflict your heritage.
⁶ They kill the widow and the sojourner,
    and murder the fatherless;
⁷ and they say, “The Lord does not see;
    the God of Jacob does not perceive.”
⁸ Understand, O dullest of the people!
    Fools, when will you be wise?
⁹ He who planted the ear, does he not hear?
    He who formed the eye, does he not see?
¹⁰ He who disciplines the nations, does he not rebuke?
    He who teaches man knowledge—
¹¹  the Lord—knows the thoughts of man,
    that they are but a breath.
¹² Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O Lord,
    and whom you teach out of your law,
¹³ to give him rest from days of trouble,
    until a pit is dug for the wicked.
¹⁴ For the Lord will not forsake his people;
    he will not abandon his heritage;
¹⁵ for justice will return to the righteous,
    and all the upright in heart will follow it.
¹⁶ Who rises up for me against the wicked?
    Who stands up for me against evildoers?
¹⁷ If the Lord had not been my help,
    my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence.
¹⁸ When I thought, “My foot slips,”
    your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up.
¹⁹ When the cares of my heart are many,
    your consolations cheer my soul.
²⁰ Can wicked rulers be allied with you,
    those who frame injustice by statute?
²¹ They band together against the life of the righteous
    and condemn the innocent to death.
²² But the Lord has become my stronghold,
    and my God the rock of my refuge.
²³ He will bring back on them their iniquity
    and wipe them out for their wickedness;
    the Lord our God will wipe them out.

Psalm 95

¹ Oh come, let us sing to the Lord;
    let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!
² Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving;
    let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
³ For the Lord is a great God,
    and a great King above all gods.
⁴ In his hand are the depths of the earth;
    the heights of the mountains are his also.
⁵ The sea is his, for he made it,
    and his hands formed the dry land.
⁶ Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
    let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!
⁷ For he is our God,
    and we are the people of his pasture,
    and the sheep of his hand.
    Today, if you hear his voice,
⁸  do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
    as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
⁹ when your fathers put me to the test
    and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
¹⁰ For forty years I loathed that generation
    and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart,
    and they have not known my ways.”
¹¹ Therefore I swore in my wrath,
    “They shall not enter my rest.”

Psalm 97

¹The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice;
    let the many coastlands be glad!
² Clouds and thick darkness are all around him;
    righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
³ Fire goes before him
    and burns up his adversaries all around.
⁴ His lightnings light up the world;
    the earth sees and trembles.
⁵ The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
    before the Lord of all the earth.
⁶ The heavens proclaim his righteousness,
    and all the peoples see his glory.
⁷ All worshipers of images are put to shame,
    who make their boast in worthless idols;
    worship him, all you gods!
⁸ Zion hears and is glad,
    and the daughters of Judah rejoice,
    because of your judgments, O Lord.
⁹ For you, O Lord, are most high over all the earth;
    you are exalted far above all gods.
¹⁰ O you who love the Lord, hate evil!
    He preserves the lives of his saints;
    he delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
¹¹ Light is sown for the righteous,
    and joy for the upright in heart.
¹² Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous,
    and give thanks to his holy name!

Psalm 99

¹ The Lord reigns; let the peoples tremble!
    He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!
² The Lord is great in Zion;
    he is exalted over all the peoples.
³ Let them praise your great and awesome name!
    Holy is he!
⁴ The King in his might loves justice.
    You have established equity;
    you have executed justice
    and righteousness in Jacob.
⁵ Exalt the Lord our God;
    worship at his footstool!
    Holy is he!
⁶ Moses and Aaron were among his priests,
    Samuel also was among those who called upon his name.
    They called to the Lord, and he answered them.
⁷ In the pillar of the cloud he spoke to them;
    they kept his testimonies
    and the statute that he gave them.
⁸ O Lord our God, you answered them;
    you were a forgiving God to them,
    but an avenger of their wrongdoings.
⁹ Exalt the Lord our God,
    and worship at his holy mountain;
    for the Lord our God is holy!

Psalm 100

¹ Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
²  Serve the Lord with gladness!
    Come into his presence with singing!
³ Know that the Lord, he is God!
    It is he who made us, and we are his;
    we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
    and his courts with praise!
    Give thanks to him; bless his name!
⁵ For the Lord is good;
    his steadfast love endures forever,
    and his faithfulness to all generations.

Judges 13:1-15

¹And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years. ² There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. And his wife was barren and had no children. ³ And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son. ⁴ Therefore be careful and drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, ⁵ for behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor shall come upon his head, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he shall begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” ⁶ Then the woman came and told her husband, “A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like the appearance of the angel of God, very awesome. I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name, ⁷ but he said to me, ‘Behold, you shall conceive and bear a son. So then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the child shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb to the day of his death.’” ⁸ Then Manoah prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, please let the man of God whom you sent come again to us and teach us what we are to do with the child who will be born.” ⁹ And God listened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field. But Manoah her husband was not with her. ¹⁰ So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, “Behold, the man who came to me the other day has appeared to me.” ¹¹ And Manoah arose and went after his wife and came to the man and said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to this woman?” And he said, “I am.” ¹² And Manoah said, “Now when your words come true, what is to be the child’s manner of life, and what is his mission?” ¹³ And the angel of the Lord said to Manoah, “Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful. ¹⁴ She may not eat of anything that comes from the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, or eat any unclean thing. All that I commanded her let her observe.” ¹⁵ Manoah said to the angel of the Lord, “Please let us detain you and prepare a young goat for you.”

Acts 5:27-42

²⁷ And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, ²⁸ saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” ²⁹ But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. ³⁰ The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. ³¹ God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. ³² And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.” ³³ When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them. ³⁴ But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while. ³⁵ And he said to them, “Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. ³⁶ For before these days Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. ³⁷ After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered. ³⁸ So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; ³⁹ but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!” So they took his advice, ⁴⁰ and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. ⁴¹ Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. ⁴² And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.

John 3:22-36

²² After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he remained there with them and was baptizing. ²³ John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptized ²⁴ (for John had not yet been put in prison). ²⁵ Now a discussion arose between some of John’s disciples and a Jew over purification. ²⁶ And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.” ²⁷ John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. ²⁸ You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’ ²⁹ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. ³⁰ He must increase, but I must decrease.” ³¹ He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. ³² He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. ³³ Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true. ³⁴ For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. ³⁵ The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. ³⁶ Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

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