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Daily Readings For March 24

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, March 24, 2023


Morning Psalm 22

1   My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
          Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?
2   O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer;
          and by night, but find no rest.


3   Yet you are holy,
          enthroned on the praises of Israel.
4   In you our ancestors trusted;
          they trusted, and you delivered them.
5   To you they cried, and were saved;
          in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.


6   But I am a worm, and not human;
          scorned by others, and despised by the people.
7   All who see me mock at me;
          they make mouths at me, they shake their heads;
8   “Commit your cause to the LORD; let him deliver —
          let him rescue the one in whom he delights!”


9   Yet it was you who took me from the womb;
          you kept me safe on my mother’s breast.
10  On you I was cast from my birth,
          and since my mother bore me you have been my God.
11  Do not be far from me,
          for trouble is near
          and there is no one to help.


12  Many bulls encircle me,
          strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
13  they open wide their mouths at me,
          like a ravening and roaring lion.


14  I am poured out like water,
          and all my bones are out of joint;
     my heart is like wax;
          it is melted within my breast;
15  my mouth is dried up like a potsherd,
          and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
          you lay me in the dust of death.

16  For dogs are all around me;
          a company of evildoers encircles me.
     My hands and feet have shriveled;
17  I can count all my bones.
     They stare and gloat over me;
18  they divide my clothes among themselves,
          and for my clothing they cast lots.


19  But you, O LORD, do not be far away!
          O my help, come quickly to my aid!
20  Deliver my soul from the sword,
          life from the power of the dog!
21       Save me from the mouth of the lion!


     From the horns of the wild oxen you have rescued me.
22  I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters;
          in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
23  You who fear the LORD, praise him!
          All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him;
          stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
24  For he did not despise or abhor
          the affliction of the afflicted;
     he did not hide his face from me,
          but heard when I cried to him.


25  From you comes my praise in the great congregation;
          my vows I will pay before those who fear him.
26  The poor shall eat and be satisfied;
          those who seek him shall praise the LORD.
          May your hearts live forever!


27  All the ends of the earth shall remember
          and turn to the LORD;
     and all the families of the nations
          shall worship before him.
28  For dominion belongs to the LORD,
          and he rules over the nations.


29  To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down;
          before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
          and I shall live for him.
30  Posterity will serve him;
          future generations will be told about the Lord,
31  and proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn,
          saying that he has done it.

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 Jeremiah 23:1-8

1Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the LORD. 2Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the LORD. 3Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. 4I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the LORD.

5The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: “The LORD is our righteousness.”

7Therefore, the days are surely coming, says the LORD, when it shall no longer be said, “As the LORD lives who brought the people of Israel up out of the land of Egypt,” 8but “As the LORD lives who brought out and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the land of the north and out of all the lands where he had driven them.” Then they shall live in their own land.

Second Reading Romans 8:28-39

28We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. 29For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. 30And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.

31What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? 33Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. 35Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36As it is written,
     “For your sake we are being killed all day long;
          we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Gospel Reading John 6:52-59

52The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; 55for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. 56Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. 57Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. 58This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live for ever.” 59He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.

Evening Psalm 105

1   O give thanks to the LORD, call on his name,
          make known his deeds among the peoples.
2   Sing to him, sing praises to him;
          tell of all his wonderful works.
3   Glory in his holy name;
          let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.
4   Seek the LORD and his strength;
          seek his presence continually.
5   Remember the wonderful works he has done,
          his miracles, and the judgments he has uttered,
6   O offspring of his servant Abraham,
          children of Jacob, his chosen ones.


7   He is the LORD our God;
          his judgments are in all the earth.
8   He is mindful of his covenant forever,
          of the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations,
9   the covenant that he made with Abraham,
          his sworn promise to Isaac,
10  which he confirmed to Jacob as a statute,
          to Israel as an everlasting covenant,
11  saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan
          as your portion for an inheritance.”


12  When they were few in number,
          of little account, and strangers in it,
13  wandering from nation to nation,
          from one kingdom to another people,
14  he allowed no one to oppress them;
          he rebuked kings on their account,
15  saying, “Do not touch my anointed ones;
          do my prophets no harm.”

16  When he summoned famine against the land,
          and broke every staff of bread,
17  he had sent a man ahead of them,
          Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
18  His feet were hurt with fetters,
          his neck was put in a collar of iron;
19  until what he had said came to pass,
          the word of the LORD kept testing him.
20  The king sent and released him;
          the ruler of the peoples set him free.
21  He made him lord of his house,
          and ruler of all his possessions,
22  to instruct his officials at his pleasure,
          and to teach his elders wisdom.


23  Then Israel came to Egypt;
          Jacob lived as an alien in the land of Ham.
24  And the LORD made his people very fruitful,
          and made them stronger than their foes,
25  whose hearts he then turned to hate his people,
          to deal craftily with his servants.


26  He sent his servant Moses,
          and Aaron whom he had chosen.
27  They performed his signs among them,
          and miracles in the land of Ham.
28  He sent darkness, and made the land dark;
          they rebelled against his words.

29  He turned their waters into blood,
          and caused their fish to die.
30  Their land swarmed with frogs,
          even in the chambers of their kings.
31  He spoke, and there came swarms of flies,
          and gnats throughout their country.
32  He gave them hail for rain,
          and lightning that flashed through their land.
33  He struck their vines and fig trees,
          and shattered the trees of their country.
34  He spoke, and the locusts came,
          and young locusts without number;
35  they devoured all the vegetation in their land,
          and ate up the fruit of their ground.
36  He struck down all the firstborn in their land,
          the first issue of all their strength.


37  Then he brought Israel out with silver and gold,
          and there was no one among their tribes who stumbled.
38  Egypt was glad when they departed,
          for dread of them had fallen upon it.
39  He spread a cloud for a covering,
          and fire to give light by night.

40  They asked, and he brought quails,
          and gave them food from heaven in abundance.
41  He opened the rock, and water gushed out;
          it flowed through the desert like a river.
42  For he remembered his holy promise,
          and Abraham, his servant.


43  So he brought his people out with joy,
          his chosen ones with singing.
44  He gave them the lands of the nations,
          and they took possession of the wealth of the peoples,
45  that they might keep his statutes
          and observe his laws.
     Praise 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.