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Daily Readings For November 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 Thursday, November 30, 2023


Morning Psalm 116

1   I love the LORD, because he has heard
          my voice and my supplications.
2   Because he inclined his ear to me,
          therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
3   The snares of death encompassed me;
          the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;
          I suffered distress and anguish.
4   Then I called on the name of the LORD:
          “O LORD, I pray, save my life!”


5   Gracious is the LORD, and righteous;
          our God is merciful.
6   The LORD protects the simple;
          when I was brought low, he saved me.
7   Return, O my soul, to your rest,
          for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.


8   For you have delivered my soul from death,
          my eyes from tears,
          my feet from stumbling.
9   I walk before the LORD
          in the land of the living.
10  I kept my faith, even when I said,
          “I am greatly afflicted”;
11  I said in my consternation,
          “Everyone is a liar.”


12  What shall I return to the LORD
          for all his bounty to me?
13   I will lift up the cup of salvation
          and call on the name of the LORD,
14  I will pay my vows to the LORD
          in the presence of all his people.
15  Precious in the sight of the LORD
          is the death of his faithful ones.
16  O LORD, I am your servant;
          I am your servant, the child of your serving girl.
          You have loosed my bonds.
17  I will offer to you a thanksgiving sacrifice
          and call on the name of the LORD.
18  I will pay my vows to the LORD
          in the presence of all his people,
19  in the courts of the house of the LORD,
          in your midst, O Jerusalem.
     Praise the LORD!

Morning Psalm 147:12-20

12  Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem!
          Praise your God, O Zion!
13  For he strengthens the bars of your gates;
          he blesses your children within you.
14  He grants peace within your borders;
          he fills you with the finest of wheat.
15  He sends out his command to the earth;
          his word runs swiftly.
16  He gives snow like wool;
          he scatters frost like ashes.
17  He hurls down hail like crumbs —
          who can stand before his cold?
18  He sends out his word, and melts them;
          he makes his wind blow, and the waters flow.
19  He declares his word to Jacob,
          his statutes and ordinances to Israel.
20  He has not dealt thus with any other nation;
          they do not know his ordinances.
     Praise the Lord!

First Reading Zephaniah 3:1-13

1   Ah, soiled, defiled,
          oppressing city!
2  It has listened to no voice;
          it has accepted no correction.
     It has not trusted in the LORD;
          it has not drawn near to its God.

3   The officials within it
          are roaring lions;
     its judges are evening wolves
          that leave nothing until the morning.
4   Its prophets are reckless,
          faithless persons;
     its priests have profaned what is sacred,
          they have done violence to the law.
5  The LORD within it is righteous;
          he does no wrong.
     Every morning he renders his judgment,
          each dawn without fail;
          but the unjust knows no shame.

6   I have cut off nations;
          their battlements are in ruins;
     I have laid waste their streets
          so that no one walks in them;
     their cities have been made desolate,
          without people, without inhabitants.
7   I said, “Surely the city will fear me,
          it will accept correction;
     it will not lose sight
          of all that I have brought upon it.”
     But they were the more eager
          to make all their deeds corrupt.

8   Therefore wait for me, says the LORD,
          for the day when I arise as a witness.
     For my decision is to gather nations,
          to assemble kingdoms,
     to pour out upon them my indignation,
          all the heat of my anger;
          all the earth shall be consumed.

9   At that time I will change the speech of the peoples
          to a pure speech,
     that all of them may call on the name of the LORD
          and serve him with one accord.
10  From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia
          my suppliants, my scattered ones,
          shall bring my offering.

11  On that day you shall not be put to shame
          because of all the deeds by which you have rebelled against me;
     for then I will remove from your midst
          your proudly exultant ones,
     and you shall no longer be haughty
          in my holy mountain.
12  For I will leave in the midst of you
          a people humble and lowly.
     They shall seek refuge in the name of the LORD —
13       the remnant of Israel;
     they shall do no wrong
          and utter no lies,
     nor shall a deceitful tongue
          be found in their mouths.
     Then they will pasture and lie down,
          and no one shall make them afraid.

Second Reading 1 Peter 2:11-25

11Beloved, I urge you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul. 12Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that, though they malign you as evildoers, they may see your honorable deeds and glorify God when he comes to judge.

13For the Lord’s sake accept the authority of every human institution, whether of the emperor as supreme, 14or of governors, as sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right. 15For it is God’s will that by doing right you should silence the ignorance of the foolish. 16As servants of God, live as free people, yet do not use your freedom as a pretext for evil. 17Honor everyone. Love the family of believers. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

18Slaves, accept the authority of your masters with all deference, not only those who are kind and gentle but also those who are harsh. 19For it is a credit to you if, being aware of God, you endure pain while suffering unjustly. 20If you endure when you are beaten for doing wrong, what credit is that? But if you endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God’s approval. 21For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps.
22  “He committed no sin,
          and no deceit was found in his mouth.”
23When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. 24He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. 25For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.

Gospel Reading Matthew 20:1-16

1“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. 3When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; 4and he said to them, “You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.” So they went. 5When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. 6And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ‘Why are you standing here idle all day?’ 7They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’ 8When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.’ 9When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. 10Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. 11And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, 12saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ 13But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? 14Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. 15Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ 16So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

Evening Psalm 26

1   Vindicate me, O LORD,
          for I have walked in my integrity,
          and I have trusted in the LORD without wavering.
2   Prove me, O LORD, and try me;
          test my heart and mind.
3   For your steadfast love is before my eyes,
          and I walk in faithfulness to you.


4   I do not sit with the worthless,
          nor do I consort with hypocrites;
5   I hate the company of evildoers,
          and will not sit with the wicked.


6   I wash my hands in innocence,
          and go around your altar, O LORD,
7   singing aloud a song of thanksgiving,
          and telling all your wondrous deeds.


8   O LORD, I love the house in which you dwell,
          and the place where your glory abides.
9   Do not sweep me away with sinners,
          nor my life with the bloodthirsty,
10  those in whose hands are evil devices,
          and whose right hands are full of bribes.


11  But as for me, I walk in my integrity;
          redeem me, and be gracious to me.
12  My foot stands on level ground;
          in the great congregation I will bless the LORD.

Evening Psalm 130

1   Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD.
2       Lord, hear my voice!
     Let your ears be attentive
          to the voice of my supplications!


3   If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities,
          Lord, who could stand?
4   But there is forgiveness with you,
          so that you may be revered.


5   I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
          and in his word I hope;
6   my soul waits for the Lord
          more than those who watch for the morning,
          more than those who watch for the morning.


7   O Israel, hope in the LORD!
          For with the LORD there is steadfast love,
          and with him is great power to redeem.
8   It is he who will redeem Israel
          from all its iniquities.