DAILY OFFICE

Daily scripture readings from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer

Tuesday, January 10

Today's readings include passages from Psalms, Isaiah, Ephesians and Mark.

Psalm 5

1 Give ear to my words, O Lord;     consider my groaning. 2 Give attention to the sound of my cry,     my King and my God,     for to you do I pray. 3 Lord, in the morning you hear my voice;     in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch. 4 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;     evil may not dwell with you. 5 The boastful shall not stand before your eyes;     you hate all evildoers. 6 You destroy those who speak lies;     the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man. 7 But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,     will enter your house.     I will bow down toward your holy temple     in the fear of you. 8 Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness     because of my enemies;     make your way straight before me. 9 For there is no truth in their mouth;     their inmost self is destruction;     their throat is an open grave;     they flatter with their tongue. 10 Make them bear their guilt, O God;     let them fall by their own counsels;     because of the abundance of their transgressions cast them out,     for they have rebelled against you. 11 But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;     let them ever sing for joy,     and spread your protection over them,     that those who love your name may exult in you. 12 For you bless the righteous, O Lord;     you cover him with favor as with a shield.

 

Psalm 6

1 Lord, rebuke me not in your anger,     nor discipline me in your wrath. 2 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing;     heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled. 3 My soul also is greatly troubled.     But you, O Lord—how long? 4 Turn, O Lord, deliver my life;     save me for the sake of your steadfast love. 5 For in death there is no remembrance of you;     in Sheol who will give you praise? 6 I am weary with my moaning;     every night I flood my bed with tears;     I drench my couch with my weeping. 7 My eye wastes away because of grief;     it grows weak because of all my foes. 8 Depart from me, all you workers of evil,     for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping. 9 The Lord has heard my plea;     the Lord accepts my prayer. 10 All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled;     they shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment.

 

Psalm 10

1 Why, O Lord, do you stand far away?     Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? 2 In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor;     let them be caught in the schemes that they have devised. 3 For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul,     and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord. 4 In the pride of his face the wicked does not seek him;     all his thoughts are, “There is no God.” 5 His ways prosper at all times;     your judgments are on high, out of his sight;     as for all his foes, he puffs at them. 6 He says in his heart, “I shall not be moved;     throughout all generations I shall not meet adversity.” 7 His mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression;     under his tongue are mischief and iniquity. 8 He sits in ambush in the villages;     in hiding places he murders the innocent.     His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless; 9 he lurks in ambush like a lion in his thicket;     he lurks that he may seize the poor;     he seizes the poor when he draws him into his net. 10 The helpless are crushed, sink down,     and fall by his might. 11 He says in his heart, “God has forgotten,     he has hidden his face, he will never see it.” 12 Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up your hand;     forget not the afflicted. 13 Why does the wicked renounce God     and say in his heart, “You will not call to account”? 14 But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation,     that you may take it into your hands;     to you the helpless commits himself;     you have been the helper of the fatherless. 15 Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer;     call his wickedness to account till you find none. 16 The Lord is king forever and ever;     the nations perish from his land. 17 Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted;     you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear 18 to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed,     so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.

 

Psalm 11

1 In the Lord I take refuge;     how can you say to my soul,     “Flee like a bird to your mountain, 2 for behold, the wicked bend the bow;     they have fitted their arrow to the string     to shoot in the dark at the upright in heart; 3 if the foundations are destroyed,     what can the righteous do?” 4 The Lord is in his holy temple;     the Lord's throne is in heaven;     his eyes see, his eyelids test the children of man. 5 The Lord tests the righteous,     but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence. 6 Let him rain coals on the wicked;     fire and sulfur and a scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup. 7 For the Lord is righteous;     he loves righteous deeds;     the upright shall behold his face.

 

Isaiah 40:25-31

25 To whom then will you compare me,     that I should be like him? says the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes on high and see:     who created these?     He who brings out their host by number,     calling them all by name;     by the greatness of his might     and because he is strong in power,     not one is missing. 27 Why do you say, O Jacob,     and speak, O Israel,      “My way is hidden from the Lord,     and my right is disregarded by my God”? 28 Have you not known? Have you not heard?     The Lord is the everlasting God,     the Creator of the ends of the earth.     He does not faint or grow weary;     his understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the faint,     and to him who has no might he increases strength. 30 Even youths shall faint and be weary,     and young men shall fall exhausted; 31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;     they shall mount up with wings like eagles;     they shall run and not be weary;     they shall walk and not faint.

 

Ephesians 1:15-23

15 For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18 having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might 20 that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. 22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

 

Mark 1:14-28

14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand;repent and believe in the gospel.” 16 Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” 18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19 And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20 And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him. 21 And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching. 22 And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. 23 And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, 24 “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” 25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” 26 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. 27 And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” 28 And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.

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