DAILY OFFICE

Daily scripture readings from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer

Wednesday, March 15

Today's readings include passages from Psalms, Jeremiah, Romans and John.

Psalm 81

1 Sing aloud to God our strength;     shout for joy to the God of Jacob! 2 Raise a song; sound the tambourine,     the sweet lyre with the harp. 3 Blow the trumpet at the new moon,     at the full moon, on our feast day. 4 For it is a statute for Israel,     a rule of the God of Jacob. 5 He made it a decree in Joseph     when he went out over the land of Egypt.     I hear a language I had not known: 6 “I relieved your shoulder of the burden;     your hands were freed from the basket. 7 In distress you called, and I delivered you;     I answered you in the secret place of thunder;     I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah 8 Hear, O my people, while I admonish you!     O Israel, if you would but listen to me! 9 There shall be no strange god among you;     you shall not bow down to a foreign god. 10 I am the Lord your God,     who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.     Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. 11 “But my people did not listen to my voice;     Israel would not submit to me. 12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,     to follow their own counsels. 13 Oh, that my people would listen to me,     that Israel would walk in my ways! 14 I would soon subdue their enemies     and turn my hand against their foes. 15 Those who hate the Lord would cringe toward him,     and their fate would last forever. 16 But he would feed you with the finest of the wheat,     and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.” 

 

Psalm 82

1 God has taken his place in the divine council;     in the midst of the gods he holds judgment: 2 “How long will you judge unjustly     and show partiality to the wicked? Selah 3 Give justice to the weak and the fatherless;     maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute. 4 Rescue the weak and the needy;     deliver them from the hand of the wicked.” 5 They have neither knowledge nor understanding,     they walk about in darkness;     all the foundations of the earth are shaken. 6 I said, “You are gods,     sons of the Most High, all of you; 7 nevertheless, like men you sh 8 Arise, O God, judge the earth;     for you shall inherit all the nations! 

 

Psalm 119:97-120

97 Oh how I love your law!     It is my meditation all the day. 98 Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies,     for it is ever with me. 99 I have more understanding than all my teachers,     for your testimonies are my meditation. 100 I understand more than the aged,     for I keep your precepts. 101 I hold back my feet from every evil way,     in order to keep your word. 102 I do not turn aside from your rules,     for you have taught me. 103 How sweet are your words to my taste,     sweeter than honey to my mouth! 104 Through your precepts I get understanding;     therefore I hate every false way. 105 Your word is a lamp to my feet     and a light to my path. 106 I have sworn an oath and confirmed it,     to keep your righteous rules. 107 I am severely afflicted;     give me life, O Lord, according to your word! 108 Accept my freewill offerings of praise, O Lord,     and teach me your rules. 109 I hold my life in my hand continually,     but I do not forget your law. 110 The wicked have laid a snare for me,     but I do not stray from your precepts. 111 Your testimonies are my heritage forever,     for they are the joy of my heart. 112 I incline my heart to perform your statutes     forever, to the end. 113 I hate the double-minded,     but I love your law. 114 You are my hiding place and my shield;     I hope in your word. 115 Depart from me, you evildoers,     that I may keep the commandments of my God. 116 Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live,     and let me not be put to shame in my hope! 117 Hold me up, that I may be safe     and have regard for your statutes continually! 118 You spurn all who go astray from your statutes,     for their cunning is in vain. 119 All the wicked of the earth you discard like dross,     therefore I love your testimonies. 120 My flesh trembles for fear of you,     and I am afraid of your judgments. 

 

Jeremiah 8:18-9:6

18 My joy is gone; grief is upon me;     my heart is sick within me. 19 Behold, the cry of the daughter of my people     from the length and breadth of the land:     “Is the Lord not in Zion?     Is her King not in her?”     “Why have they provoked me to anger with their carved images     and with their foreign idols?” 20 “The harvest is past, the summer is ended,     and we are not saved.” 21 For the wound of the daughter of my people is my heart wounded;     I mourn, and dismay has taken hold on me. 22 Is there no balm in Gilead?     Is there no physician there?     Why then has the health of the daughter of my people     not been restored? 9:1 Oh that my head were waters,     and my eyes a fountain of tears,     that I might weep day and night     for the slain of the daughter of my people! 2 Oh that I had in the desert     a travelers' lodging place,     that I might leave my people     and go away from them!     For they are all adulterers,     a company of treacherous men. 3 They bend their tongue like a bow;     falsehood and not truth has grown strong in the land;     for they proceed from evil to evil,     and they do not know me, declares the Lord. 4 Let everyone beware of his neighbor,     and put no trust in any brother,     for every brother is a deceiver,     and every neighbor goes about as a slanderer. 5 Everyone deceives his neighbor,     and no one speaks the truth;     they have taught their tongue to speak lies;     they weary themselves committing iniquity. 6 Heaping oppression upon oppression, and deceit upon deceit,     they refuse to know me, declares the Lord

 

Romans 5:1-11

1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. 6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. 

 

John 8:12-20

12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” 13 So the Pharisees said to him, “You are bearing witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.” 14 Jesus answered, “Even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. 15 You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. 16 Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. 17 In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. 18 I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” 19 They said to him therefore, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” 20 These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

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