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Daily Readings For October 30

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 Monday, October 30, 2023


Morning Psalm 62

1   For God alone my soul waits in silence;
          from him comes my salvation.
2   He alone is my rock and my salvation,
          my fortress; I shall never be shaken.


3   How long will you assail a person,
          will you batter your victim, all of you,
          as you would a leaning wall, a tottering fence?
4   Their only plan is to bring down a person of prominence.
          They take pleasure in falsehood;
     they bless with their mouths,
          but inwardly they curse. Selah


5   For God alone my soul waits in silence,
          for my hope is from him.
6   He alone is my rock and my salvation,
          my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
7   On God rests my deliverance and my honor;
          my mighty rock, my refuge is in God.


8   Trust in him at all times, O people;
          pour out your heart before him;
          God is a refuge for us. Selah


9   Those of low estate are but a breath,
          those of high estate are a delusion;
     in the balances they go up;
          they are together lighter than a breath.
10  Put no confidence in extortion,
          and set no vain hopes on robbery;
          if riches increase, do not set your heart on them.


11  Once God has spoken;
          twice have I heard this:
     that power belongs to God,
12       and steadfast love belongs to you, O Lord.
     For you repay to all
          according to their work.

Morning Psalm 145

1   I will extol you, my God and King,
          and bless your name forever and ever.
2   Every day I will bless you,
          and praise your name forever and ever.
3   Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
          his greatness is unsearchable.


4   One generation shall laud your works to another,
          and shall declare your mighty acts.
5   On the glorious splendor of your majesty,
          and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.
6   The might of your awesome deeds shall be proclaimed,
          and I will declare your greatness.
7   They shall celebrate the fame of your abundant goodness,
          and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.


8   The Lord is gracious and merciful,
          slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9   The Lord is good to all,
          and his compassion is over all that he has made.


10  All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord,
          and all your faithful shall bless you.
11  They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom,
          and tell of your power,
12  to make known to all people your mighty deeds,
          and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
13  Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
          and your dominion endures throughout all generations.


     The Lord is faithful in all his words,
          and gracious in all his deeds.
14  The Lord upholds all who are falling,
          and raises up all who are bowed down.
15  The eyes of all look to you,
          and you give them their food in due season.
16  You open your hand,
          satisfying the desire of every living thing.
17  The Lord is just in all his ways,
          and kind in all his doings.
18  The Lord is near to all who call on him,
          to all who call on him in truth.
19  He fulfills the desire of all who fear him;
          he also hears their cry, and saves them.
20  The Lord watches over all who love him,
          but all the wicked he will destroy.


21  My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,
          and all flesh will bless his holy name forever and ever.

First Reading Zechariah 1:7-17

7On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah son of Iddo; and Zechariah said, 8In the night I saw a man riding on a red horse! He was standing among the myrtle trees in the glen; and behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses. 9Then I said, “What are these, my lord?” The angel who talked with me said to me, “I will show you what they are.” 10So the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered, “They are those whom the LORD has sent to patrol the earth.” 11Then they spoke to the angel of the LORD who was standing among the myrtle trees, “We have patrolled the earth, and lo, the whole earth remains at peace.” 12Then the angel of the LORD said, “O LORD of hosts, how long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which you have been angry these seventy years?” 13Then the LORD replied with gracious and comforting words to the angel who talked with me. 14So the angel who talked with me said to me, Proclaim this message: Thus says the LORD of hosts; I am very jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion. 15And I am extremely angry with the nations that are at ease; for while I was only a little angry, they made the disaster worse. 16Therefore, thus says the LORD, I have returned to Jerusalem with compassion; my house shall be built in it, says the LORD of hosts, and the measuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem. 17Proclaim further: Thus says the LORD of hosts: My cities shall again overflow with prosperity; the LORD will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.

Or alternate First Reading Jeremiah 45:1-5

1The word that the prophet Jeremiah spoke to Baruch son of Neriah, when he wrote these words in a scroll at the dictation of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah: 2Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to you, O Baruch: 3You said, “Woe is me! The LORD has added sorrow to my pain; I am weary with my groaning, and I find no rest.” 4Thus you shall say to him, “Thus says the LORD: I am going to break down what I have built, and pluck up what I have planted — that is, the whole land. 5And you, do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them; for I am going to bring disaster upon all flesh, says the LORD; but I will give you your life as a prize of war in every place to which you may go.”

Second Reading Revelation 1:4-20

4John to the seven churches that are in Asia:

Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, 5and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, 6and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
7   Look! He is coming with the clouds;
          every eye will see him,
     even those who pierced him;
          and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail.
So it is to be. Amen.

8“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

9I, John, your brother who share with you in Jesus the persecution and the kingdom and the patient endurance, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet 11saying, “Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamum, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”

12Then I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13and in the midst of the lampstands I saw one like the Son of Man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash across his chest. 14His head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow; his eyes were like a flame of fire, 15his feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters. 16In his right hand he held seven stars, and from his mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining with full force.

17When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he placed his right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, 18and the living one. I was dead, and see, I am alive forever and ever; and I have the keys of Death and of Hades. 19Now write what you have seen, what is, and what is to take place after this. 20As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

Gospel Reading Matthew 12:43-50

43“When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it wanders through waterless regions looking for a resting place, but it finds none. 44Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ When it comes, it finds it empty, swept, and put in order. 45Then it goes and brings along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and live there; and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So will it be also with this evil generation.”

46While he was still speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers were standing outside, wanting to speak to him. 47Someone told him, “Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.” 48But to the one who had told him this, Jesus replied, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” 49And pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 50For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

Evening Psalm 73

1   Truly God is good to the upright,
          to those who are pure in heart.
2   But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled;
          my steps had nearly slipped.
3   For I was envious of the arrogant;
          I saw the prosperity of the wicked.


4   For they have no pain;
          their bodies are sound and sleek.
5   They are not in trouble as others are;
          they are not plagued like other people.
6   Therefore pride is their necklace;
          violence covers them like a garment.
7   Their eyes swell out with fatness;
          their hearts overflow with follies.
8   They scoff and speak with malice;
          loftily they threaten oppression.
9   They set their mouths against heaven,
          and their tongues range over the earth.


10  Therefore the people turn and praise them,
          and find no fault in them.
11  And they say, “How can God know?
          Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
12  Such are the wicked;
          always at ease, they increase in riches.
13  All in vain I have kept my heart clean
          and washed my hands in innocence.
14  For all day long I have been plagued,
          and am punished every morning.


15  If I had said, “I will talk on in this way,”
          I would have been untrue to the circle of your children.
16  But when I thought how to understand this,
          it seemed to me a wearisome task,
17  until I went into the sanctuary of God;
          then I perceived their end.
18  Truly you set them in slippery places;
          you make them fall to ruin.
19  How they are destroyed in a moment,
          swept away utterly by terrors!
20  They are like a dream when one awakes;
          on awaking you despise their phantoms.


21  When my soul was embittered,
          when I was pricked in heart,
22  I was stupid and ignorant;
          I was like a brute beast toward you.
23  Nevertheless I am continually with you;
          you hold my right hand.
24  You guide me with your counsel,
          and afterward you will receive me with honor.
25  Whom have I in heaven but you?
          And there is nothing on earth that I desire other than you.
26  My flesh and my heart may fail,
          but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.


27  Indeed, those who are far from you will perish;
          you put an end to those who are false to you.
28  But for me it is good to be near God;
          I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,
          to tell of all your works.

Evening Psalm 9

1   I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart;
          I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
2   I will be glad and exult in you;
          I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.


3   When my enemies turned back,
          they stumbled and perished before you.
4   For you have maintained my just cause;
          you have sat on the throne giving righteous judgment.


5   You have rebuked the nations, you have destroyed the wicked;
          you have blotted out their name forever and ever.
6   The enemies have vanished in everlasting ruins;
          their cities you have rooted out;
          the very memory of them has perished.


7   But the LORD sits enthroned forever,
          he has established his throne for judgment.
8   He judges the world with righteousness;
          he judges the peoples with equity.


9   The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed,
          a stronghold in times of trouble.
10  And those who know your name put their trust in you,
          for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.


11  Sing praises to the LORD, who dwells in Zion.
          Declare his deeds among the peoples.
12  For he who avenges blood is mindful of them;
          he does not forget the cry of the afflicted.


13  Be gracious to me, O LORD.
          See what I suffer from those who hate me;
          you are the one who lifts me up from the gates of death,
14  so that I may recount all your praises,
          and, in the gates of daughter Zion,
          rejoice in your deliverance.


15  The nations have sunk in the pit that they made;
          in the net that they hid has their own foot been caught.
16  The LORD has made himself known, he has executed judgment;
          the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands. Higgaion. Selah


17  The wicked shall depart to Sheol,
          all the nations that forget God.


18  For the needy shall not always be forgotten,
          nor the hope of the poor perish forever.


19  Rise up, O LORD! Do not let mortals prevail;
          let the nations be judged before you.
20  Put them in fear, O LORD;
          let the nations know that they are only human. Selah