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Daily Readings For January 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 Tuesday, January 30, 2024


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 Genesis 21:1-21

1The LORD dealt with Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as he had promised. 2Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which God had spoken to him. 3Abraham gave the name Isaac to his son whom Sarah bore him. 4And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6Now Sarah said, "God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me." 7And she said, "Who would ever have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."

8The child grew, and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. 9But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac. 10So she said to Abraham, "Cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac." 11The matter was very distressing to Abraham on account of his son. 12But God said to Abraham, "Do not be distressed because of the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named for you. 13As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring." 14So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.

15When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes. 16Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot; for she said, "Do not let me look on the death of the child." And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. 17And God heard the voice of the boy; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, "What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid; for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. 18Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation of him." 19Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. She went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink.

20God was with the boy, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow. 21He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

Second Reading Hebrews 11:13-22

13All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, 14for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. 16But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.

17By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac. He who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only son, 18of whom he had been told, "It is through Isaac that descendants shall be named for you." 19He considered the fact that God is able even to raise someone from the dead — and figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. 20By faith Isaac invoked blessings for the future on Jacob and Esau. 21By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, "bowing in worship over the top of his staff." 22By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave instructions about his burial.

Gospel Reading John 6:41-51

41Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." 42They were saying, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?" 43Jesus answered them, "Do not complain among yourselves. 44No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. 45It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. 46Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48I am the bread of life. 49Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."

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.