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Daily Readings For January 31

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 Tuesday, January 31, 2023


Morning Psalm 12

1   Help, O LORD, for there is no longer anyone who is godly;
          the faithful have disappeared from humankind.
2   They utter lies to each other;
          with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.


3   May the LORD cut off all flattering lips,
          the tongue that makes great boasts,
4   those who say, “With our tongues we will prevail;
          our lips are our own — who is our master?”


5   “Because the poor are despoiled, because the needy groan,
          I will now rise up,” says the LORD;
          “I will place them in the safety for which they long.”
6   The promises of the LORD are promises that are pure,
          silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
          purified seven times.


7   You, O LORD, will protect us;
          you will guard us from this generation forever.
8   On every side the wicked prowl,
          as vileness is exalted among humankind.

Morning Psalm 146

1   Praise the LORD!
     Praise the LORD, O my soul!
2   I will praise the LORD as long as I live;
          I will sing praises to my God all my life long.


3   Do not put your trust in princes,
          in mortals, in whom there is no help.
4   When their breath departs, they return to the earth;
          on that very day their plans perish.


5   Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
          whose hope is in the LORD their God,
6   who made heaven and earth,
          the sea, and all that is in them;
     who keeps faith forever;
7        who executes justice for the oppressed;
          who gives food to the hungry.


     The LORD sets the prisoners free;
8        the LORD opens the eyes of the blind.
     The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down;
          the LORD loves the righteous.
9   The LORD watches over the strangers;
          he upholds the orphan and the widow,
          but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.


10  The LORD will reign forever,
          your God, O Zion, for all generations.
     Praise the LORD!

First Reading Isaiah 52:1-12

1   Awake, awake,
          put on your strength, O Zion!
     Put on your beautiful garments,
          O Jerusalem, the holy city;
     for the uncircumcised and the unclean
          shall enter you no more.
2   Shake yourself from the dust, rise up,
          O captive Jerusalem;
     loose the bonds from your neck,
          O captive daughter Zion!

3For thus says the LORD: You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money. 4For thus says the Lord GOD: Long ago, my people went down into Egypt to reside there as aliens; the Assyrian, too, has oppressed them without cause. 5Now therefore what am I doing here, says the LORD, seeing that my people are taken away without cause? Their rulers howl, says the LORD, and continually, all day long, my name is despised. 6Therefore my people shall know my name; therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here am I.

7    How beautiful upon the mountains
          are the feet of the messenger who announces peace,
     who brings good news,
          who announces salvation,
          who says to Zion, "Your God reigns."
8   Listen! Your sentinels lift up their voices,
          together they sing for joy;
     for in plain sight they see
          the return of the LORD to Zion.
9   Break forth together into singing,
          you ruins of Jerusalem;
     for the LORD has comforted his people,
          he has redeemed Jerusalem.
10  The LORD has bared his holy arm
          before the eyes of all the nations;
     and all the ends of the earth shall see
          the salvation of our God.

11  Depart, depart, go out from there!
          Touch no unclean thing;
     go out from the midst of it, purify yourselves,
          you who carry the vessels of the LORD.
12  For you shall not go out in haste,
          and you shall not go in flight;
     for the LORD will go before you,
          and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

Second Reading Galatians 4:12-20

12Friends, I beg you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. You have done me no wrong. 13You know that it was because of a physical infirmity that I first announced the gospel to you; 14though my condition put you to the test, you did not scorn or despise me, but welcomed me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. 15What has become of the good will you felt? For I testify that, had it been possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me. 16Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth? 17They make much of you, but for no good purpose; they want to exclude you, so that you may make much of them. 18It is good to be made much of for a good purpose at all times, and not only when I am present with you. 19My little children, for whom I am again in the pain of childbirth until Christ is formed in you, 20I wish I were present with you now and could change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.

Gospel Reading Mark 8:1-10

1In those days when there was again a great crowd without anything to eat, he called his disciples and said to them, 2“I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. 3If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way — and some of them have come from a great distance.” 4His disciples replied, “How can one feed these people with bread here in the desert?” 5He asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.” 6Then he ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground; and he took the seven loaves, and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute; and they distributed them to the crowd. 7They had also a few small fish; and after blessing them, he ordered that these too should be distributed. 8They ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. 9Now there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. 10And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.

Evening Psalm 36

1   Transgression speaks to the wicked
          deep in their hearts;
     there is no fear of God
          before their eyes.
2   For they flatter themselves in their own eyes
          that their iniquity cannot be found out and hated.
3   The words of their mouths are mischief and deceit;
          they have ceased to act wisely and do good.
4   They plot mischief while on their beds;
          they are set on a way that is not good;
          they do not reject evil.


5   Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens,
          your faithfulness to the clouds.
6   Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
          your judgments are like the great deep;
          you save humans and animals alike, O LORD.


7   How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
          All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
8   They feast on the abundance of your house,
          and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
9   For with you is the fountain of life;
          in your light we see light.


10  O continue your steadfast love to those who know you,
          and your salvation to the upright of heart!
11  Do not let the foot of the arrogant tread on me,
          or the hand of the wicked drive me away.
12  There the evildoers lie prostrate;
          they are thrust down, unable to rise.

Evening Psalm 7

1   O LORD my God, in you I take refuge;
          save me from all my pursuers, and deliver me,
2   or like a lion they will tear me apart;
          they will drag me away, with no one to rescue.


3   O LORD my God, if I have done this,
          if there is wrong in my hands,
4   if I have repaid my ally with harm
          or plundered my foe without cause,
5   then let the enemy pursue and overtake me,
          trample my life to the ground,
          and lay my soul in the dust. Selah


6   Rise up, O LORD, in your anger;
          lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies;
          awake, O my God; you have appointed a judgment.
7   Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered around you,
          and over it take your seat on high.
8   The LORD judges the peoples;
          judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness
          and according to the integrity that is in me.


9   O let the evil of the wicked come to an end,
          but establish the righteous,
     you who test the minds and hearts,
          O righteous God.
10  God is my shield,
          who saves the upright in heart.
11  God is a righteous judge,
          and a God who has indignation every day.


12  If one does not repent, God will whet his sword;
          he has bent and strung his bow;
13  he has prepared his deadly weapons,
          making his arrows fiery shafts.
14  See how they conceive evil,
          and are pregnant with mischief,
          and bring forth lies.
15  They make a pit, digging it out,
          and fall into the hole that they have made.
16  Their mischief returns upon their own heads,
          and on their own heads their violence descends.


17   I will give to the LORD the thanks due to his righteousness,
          and sing praise to the name of the LORD, the Most High.