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Daily Readings For September 8

Please note that two distinct lectionaries are provided on this page: the two-year Daily Lectionary from the Book of Common Worship and the three-year Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) for Sundays and festivals; be sure you select the appropriate one.

Daily Readings Sunday/Festival Readings

Daily Readings for Friday, September 8, 2023


Morning Psalm 84

1   How lovely is your dwelling place,
          O LORD of hosts!
2   My soul longs, indeed it faints
          for the courts of the LORD;
     my heart and my flesh sing for joy
          to the living God.


3   Even the sparrow finds a home,
          and the swallow a nest for herself,
          where she may lay her young,
     at your altars, O LORD of hosts,
          my King and my God.
4   Happy are those who live in your house,
          ever singing your praise. Selah


5   Happy are those whose strength is in you,
          in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
6   As they go through the valley of Baca
          they make it a place of springs;
          the early rain also covers it with pools.
7   They go from strength to strength;
          the God of gods will be seen in Zion.


8   O LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer;
          give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah
9   Behold our shield, O God;
          look on the face of your anointed.


10  For a day in your courts is better
          than a thousand elsewhere.
     I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
          than live in the tents of wickedness.
11  For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
          he bestows favor and honor.
     No good thing does the LORD withhold
          from those who walk uprightly.
12  O LORD of hosts,
          happy is everyone who trusts in you.

Morning Psalm 148

1   Praise the Lord!
     Praise the Lord from the heavens;
          praise him in the heights!
2   Praise him, all his angels;
          praise him, all his host!


3   Praise him, sun and moon;
          praise him, all you shining stars!
4   Praise him, you highest heavens,
          and you waters above the heavens!


5   Let them praise the name of the Lord,
          for he commanded and they were created.
6   He established them forever and ever;
          he fixed their bounds, which cannot be passed.


7   Praise the Lord from the earth,
          you sea monsters and all deeps,
8   fire and hail, snow and frost,
          stormy wind fulfilling his command!


9   Mountains and all hills,
          fruit trees and all cedars!
10  Wild animals and all cattle,
          creeping things and flying birds!


11  Kings of the earth and all peoples,
          princes and all rulers of the earth!
12  Young men and women alike,
          old and young together!


13  Let them praise the name of the Lord,
          for his name alone is exalted;
          his glory is above earth and heaven.
14  He has raised up a horn for his people,
          praise for all his faithful,
          for the people of Israel who are close to him.
     Praise the Lord!

First Reading 1 Kings 11:26-43

26Jeroboam son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zeredah, a servant of Solomon, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow, rebelled against the king. 27The following was the reason he rebelled against the king. Solomon built the Millo, and closed up the gap in the wall of the city of his father David. 28The man Jeroboam was very able, and when Solomon saw that the young man was industrious he gave him charge over all the forced labor of the house of Joseph. 29About that time, when Jeroboam was leaving Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite found him on the road. Ahijah had clothed himself with a new garment. The two of them were alone in the open country 30when Ahijah laid hold of the new garment he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces. 31He then said to Jeroboam: Take for yourself ten pieces; for thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, “See, I am about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon, and will give you ten tribes. 32One tribe will remain his, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel. 33This is because he has forsaken me, worshiped Astarte the goddess of the Sidonians, Chemosh the god of Moab, and Milcom the god of the Ammonites, and has not walked in my ways, doing what is right in my sight and keeping my statutes and my ordinances, as his father David did. 34Nevertheless I will not take the whole kingdom away from him but will make him ruler all the days of his life, for the sake of my servant David whom I chose and who did keep my commandments and my statutes; 35but I will take the kingdom away from his son and give it to you — that is, the ten tribes. 36Yet to his son I will give one tribe, so that my servant David may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city where I have chosen to put my name. 37I will take you, and you shall reign over all that your soul desires; you shall be king over Israel. 38If you will listen to all that I command you, walk in my ways, and do what is right in my sight by keeping my statutes and my commandments, as David my servant did, I will be with you, and will build you an enduring house, as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you. 39For this reason I will punish the descendants of David, but not forever.” 40Solomon sought therefore to kill Jeroboam; but Jeroboam promptly fled to Egypt, to King Shishak of Egypt, and remained in Egypt until the death of Solomon.

41Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, all that he did as well as his wisdom, are they not written in the Book of the Acts of Solomon? 42The time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years. 43Solomon slept with his ancestors and was buried in the city of his father David; and his son Rehoboam succeeded him.

Second Reading James 4:13-5:6

4:13Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.” 14Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that.” 16As it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. 17Anyone, then, who knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, commits sin.

5:1Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. 2Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are moth-eaten. 3Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure for the last days. 4Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. 5You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. 6You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who does not resist you.

Gospel Reading Mark 15:22-32

22Then they brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means the place of a skull). 23And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh; but he did not take it. 24And they crucified him, and divided his clothes among them, casting lots to decide what each should take.

25It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him. 26The inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.” 27And with him they crucified two bandits, one on his right and one on his left. 29Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, 30save yourself, and come down from the cross!” 31In the same way the chief priests, along with the scribes, were also mocking him among themselves and saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. 32Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe.” Those who were crucified with him also taunted him.

Evening Psalm 25

1   To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul.
2   O my God, in you I trust;
          do not let me be put to shame;
          do not let my enemies exult over me.
3   Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame;
          let them be ashamed who are wantonly treacherous.


4   Make me to know your ways, O LORD;
          teach me your paths.
5   Lead me in your truth, and teach me,
          for you are the God of my salvation;
          for you I wait all day long.


6   Be mindful of your mercy, O LORD, and of your steadfast love,
          for they have been from of old.
7   Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions;
          according to your steadfast love remember me,
          for your goodness’ sake, O LORD!


8   Good and upright is the LORD;
          therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
9   He leads the humble in what is right,
          and teaches the humble his way.
10  All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness,
          for those who keep his covenant and his decrees.


11  For your name’s sake, O LORD,
          pardon my guilt, for it is great.

12  Who are they that fear the LORD?
          He will teach them the way that they should choose.


13  They will abide in prosperity,
          and their children shall possess the land.
14  The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him,
          and he makes his covenant known to them.
15  My eyes are ever toward the LORD,
          for he will pluck my feet out of the net.


16  Turn to me and be gracious to me,
          for I am lonely and afflicted.
17  Relieve the troubles of my heart,
          and bring me out of my distress.
18  Consider my affliction and my trouble,
          and forgive all my sins.


19  Consider how many are my foes,
          and with what violent hatred they hate me.
20  O guard my life, and deliver me;
          do not let me be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.
21  May integrity and uprightness preserve me,
          for I wait for you.


22  Redeem Israel, O God,
          out of all its troubles.

Evening Psalm 40

1   I waited patiently for the LORD;
          he inclined to me and heard my cry.
2   He drew me up from the desolate pit,
          out of the miry bog,
     and set my feet upon a rock,
          making my steps secure.
3   He put a new song in my mouth,
          a song of praise to our God.
     Many will see and fear,
          and put their trust in the LORD.


4   Happy are those who make
          the LORD their trust,
     who do not turn to the proud,
          to those who go astray after false gods.
5   You have multiplied, O LORD my God,
          your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us;
          none can compare with you.
     Were I to proclaim and tell of them,
          they would be more than can be counted.


6   Sacrifice and offering you do not desire,
          but you have given me an open ear.
     Burnt offering and sin offering
          you have not required.
7   Then I said, “Here I am;
          in the scroll of the book it is written of me.
8   I delight to do your will, O my God;
          your law is within my heart.”


9   I have told the glad news of deliverance
          in the great congregation;
     see, I have not restrained my lips,
          as you know, O LORD.
10  I have not hidden your saving help within my heart,
          I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation;
     I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness
          from the great congregation.


11  Do not, O LORD, withhold
          your mercy from me;
     let your steadfast love and your faithfulness
          keep me safe forever.
12  For evils have encompassed me
          without number;
     my iniquities have overtaken me,
          until I cannot see;
     they are more than the hairs of my head,
          and my heart fails me.


13  Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me;
          O LORD, make haste to help me.
14  Let all those be put to shame and confusion
          who seek to snatch away my life;
     let those be turned back and brought to dishonor
          who desire my hurt.
15  Let those be appalled because of their shame
          who say to me, “Aha, Aha!”


16  But may all who seek you
          rejoice and be glad in you;
     may those who love your salvation
          say continually, “Great is the LORD!”
17  As for me, I am poor and needy,
          but the Lord takes thought for me.
     You are my help and my deliverer;
          do not delay, O my God.