Wednesday, August 21 | St. Andrew's Anglican Church

Psalm 119:145-176

¹⁴⁵With my whole heart I cry; answer me, O Lord!
    I will keep your statutes.
¹⁴⁶I call to you; save me,
    that I may observe your testimonies.
¹⁴⁷I rise before dawn and cry for help;
    I hope in your words.
¹⁴⁸My eyes are awake before the watches of the night,
    that I may meditate on your promise.
¹⁴⁹Hear my voice according to your steadfast love;
    O Lord, according to your justice give me life.
¹⁵⁰They draw near who persecute me with evil purpose;
    they are far from your law.
¹⁵¹But you are near, O Lord,
    and all your commandments are true.
¹⁵²Long have I known from your testimonies
    that you have founded them forever.
¹⁵³Look on my affliction and deliver me,
    for I do not forget your law.
¹⁵⁴Plead my cause and redeem me;
    give me life according to your promise!
¹⁵⁵Salvation is far from the wicked,
    for they do not seek your statutes.
¹⁵⁶Great is your mercy, O Lord;
    give me life according to your rules.
¹⁵⁷Many are my persecutors and my adversaries,
    but I do not swerve from your testimonies.
¹⁵⁸I look at the faithless with disgust,
    because they do not keep your commands.
¹⁵⁹Consider how I love your precepts!
    Give me life according to your steadfast love.
¹⁶⁰The sum of your word is truth,
    and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.
¹⁶¹Princes persecute me without cause,
    but my heart stands in awe of your words.
¹⁶²I rejoice at your word
    like one who finds great spoil.
¹⁶³I hate and abhor falsehood,
    but I love your law.
¹⁶⁴Seven times a day I praise you
    for your righteous rules.
¹⁶⁵Great peace have those who love your law;
    nothing can make them stumble.
¹⁶⁶I hope for your salvation, O Lord,
    and I do your commandments.
¹⁶⁷My soul keeps your testimonies;
    I love them exceedingly.
¹⁶⁸I keep your precepts and testimonies,
    for all my ways are before you.
¹⁶⁹Let my cry come before you, O Lord;
    give me understanding according to your word!
¹⁷⁰Let my plea come before you;
    deliver me according to your word.
¹⁷¹My lips will pour forth praise,
    for you teach me your statutes.
¹⁷²My tongue will sing of your word,
    for all your commandments are right.
¹⁷³Let your hand be ready to help me,
    for I have chosen your precepts.
¹⁷⁴I long for your salvation, O Lord,
    and your law is my delight.
¹⁷⁵Let my soul live and praise you,
    and let your rules help me.
¹⁷⁶I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant,
    for I do not forget your commandments.

Psalm 128

¹ Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord,
    who walks in his ways!
²You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands;
    you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.
³Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
    within your house;
    your children will be like olive shoots
    around your table.
⁴Behold, thus shall the man be blessed
    who fears the Lord.
⁵The Lord bless you from Zion!
    May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
    all the days of your life!
⁶May you see your children’s children!
    Peace be upon Israel!

Psalm 129

¹ “Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth”—
    let Israel now say—
² “Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth,
    yet they have not prevailed against me.
³ The plowers plowed upon my back;
    they made long their furrows.”
⁴ The Lord is righteous;
    he has cut the cords of the wicked.
⁵ May all who hate Zion
    be put to shame and turned backward!
⁶ Let them be like the grass on the housetops,
    which withers before it grows up,
⁷ with which the reaper does not fill his hand
    nor the binder of sheaves his arms,
⁸ nor do those who pass by say,
    “The blessing of the Lord be upon you!
    We bless you in the name of the Lord!”

Psalm 130

¹ Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!
²O Lord, hear my voice!
    Let your ears be attentive
    to the voice of my pleas for mercy!
³If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
    O Lord, who could stand?
⁴But with you there is forgiveness,
    that you may be feared.
⁵I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
    and in his word I hope;
⁶my soul waits for the Lord
    more than watchmen for the morning,
    more than watchmen for the morning.
⁷O Israel, hope in the Lord!
    For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
    and with him is plentiful redemption.
⁸And he will redeem Israel
    from all his iniquities.

Judges 18:16-31

¹⁶Now the 600 men of the Danites, armed with their weapons of war, stood by the entrance of the gate. ¹⁷And the five men who had gone to scout out the land went up and entered and took the carved image, the ephod, the household gods, and the metal image, while the priest stood by the entrance of the gate with the 600 men armed with weapons of war. ¹⁸And when these went into Micah’s house and took the carved image, the ephod, the household gods, and the metal image, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?” ¹⁹And they said to him, “Keep quiet; put your hand on your mouth and come with us and be to us a father and a priest. Is it better for you to be priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and clan in Israel?” ²⁰And the priest’s heart was glad. He took the ephod and the household gods and the carved image and went along with the people. ²¹So they turned and departed, putting the little ones and the livestock and the goods in front of them. ²²When they had gone a distance from the home of Micah, the men who were in the houses near Micah’s house were called out, and they overtook the people of Dan. ²³And they shouted to the people of Dan, who turned around and said to Micah, “What is the matter with you, that you come with such a company?” ²⁴And he said, “You take my gods that I made and the priest, and go away, and what have I left? How then do you ask me, ‘What is the matter with you?’” ²⁵And the people of Dan said to him, “Do not let your voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows fall upon you, and you lose your life with the lives of your household.” ²⁶Then the people of Dan went their way. And when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his home. ²⁷But the people of Dan took what Micah had made, and the priest who belonged to him, and they came to Laish, to a people quiet and unsuspecting, and struck them with the edge of the sword and burned the city with fire. ²⁸And there was no deliverer because it was far from Sidon, and they had no dealings with anyone. It was in the valley that belongs to Beth-rehob. Then they rebuilt the city and lived in it. ²⁹And they named the city Dan, after the name of Dan their ancestor, who was born to Israel; but the name of the city was Laish at the first. ³⁰And the people of Dan set up the carved image for themselves, and Jonathan the son of Gershom, son of Moses, and his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day of the captivity of the land. ³¹So they set up Micah’s carved image that he made, as long as the house of God was at Shiloh.

Acts 8:14-25

¹⁴Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, ¹⁵who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, ¹⁶for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. ¹⁷Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. ¹⁸Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, ¹⁹saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” ²⁰But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! ²¹You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. ²²Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. ²³For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.” ²⁴And Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.” ²⁵Now when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.

John 6:1-15

¹ After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. ²And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. ³Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. ⁴Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. ⁵Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” ⁶He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. ⁷Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get a little.” ⁸One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, ⁹“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?” ¹⁰Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. ¹¹Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. ¹²And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” ¹³So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. ¹⁴When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” ¹⁵Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

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