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Daily Readings For February 21

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 Wednesday, February 21, 2024


Morning Psalm 5

1   Give ear to my words, O LORD;
          give heed to my sighing.
2   Listen to the sound of my cry,
          my King and my God,
          for to you I pray.
3   O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice;
          in the morning I plead my case to you, and watch.


4   For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
          evil will not sojourn with you.
5   The boastful will not stand before your eyes;
          you hate all evildoers.
6   You destroy those who speak lies;
          the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful.


7   But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,
          will enter your house,
     I will bow down toward your holy temple
          in awe of you.
8   Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness
          because of my enemies;
          make your way straight before me.


9   For there is no truth in their mouths;
          their hearts are destruction;
     their throats are open graves;
          they flatter with their tongues.
10  Make them bear their guilt, O God;
          let them fall by their own counsels;
     because of their many transgressions cast them out,
          for they have rebelled against you.


11  But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;
          let them ever sing for joy.
     Spread your protection over them,
          so that those who love your name may exult in you.
12  For you bless the righteous, O LORD;
          you cover them with favor as with a shield.

Morning Psalm 147:1-11

1   Praise the Lord!
          How good it is to sing praises to our God;
          for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting.
2   The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
          he gathers the outcasts of Israel.
3   He heals the brokenhearted,
          and binds up their wounds.
4   He determines the number of the stars;
          he gives to all of them their names.
5   Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;
          his understanding is beyond measure.
6   The Lord lifts up the downtrodden;
          he casts the wicked to the ground.


7   Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;
          make melody to our God on the lyre.
8   He covers the heavens with clouds,
          prepares rain for the earth,
          makes grass grow on the hills.
9   He gives to the animals their food,
          and to the young ravens when they cry.
10  His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
          nor his pleasure in the speed of a runner;
11  but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
          in those who hope in his steadfast love.

First Reading Genesis 37:25-36

25Then they sat down to eat; and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying gum, balm, and resin, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. 26Then Judah said to his brothers, "What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? 27Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh." And his brothers agreed. 28When some Midianite traders passed by, they drew Joseph up, lifting him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.

29When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he tore his clothes. 30He returned to his brothers, and said, "The boy is gone; and I, where can I turn?" 31Then they took Joseph's robe, slaughtered a goat, and dipped the robe in the blood. 32They had the long robe with sleeves taken to their father, and they said, "This we have found; see now whether it is your son's robe or not." 33He recognized it, and said, "It is my son's robe! A wild animal has devoured him; Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces." 34Then Jacob tore his garments, and put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned for his son many days. 35All his sons and all his daughters sought to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted, and said, "No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning." Thus his father bewailed him. 36Meanwhile the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard.

Second Reading 1 Corinthians 2:1-13

1When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. 2For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 3And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. 4My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.

6Yet among the mature we do speak wisdom, though it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to perish. 7But we speak God's wisdom, secret and hidden, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9But, as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him" - 10these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11For what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God's except the Spirit of God. 12Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. 13And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual.

Gospel Reading Mark 1:29-45

29As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30Now Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. 31He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

32That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. 33And the whole city was gathered around the door. 34And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

35In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. 36And Simon and his companions hunted for him. 37When they found him, they said to him, "Everyone is searching for you." 38He answered, "Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do." 39And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

40A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, "If you choose, you can make me clean." 41Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, "I do choose. Be made clean!" 42Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. 43After sternly warning him he sent him away at once, 44saying to him, "See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them." 45But he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the word, so that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.

Evening Psalm 27

1   The LORD is my light and my salvation;
          whom shall I fear?
     The LORD is the stronghold of my life;
          of whom shall I be afraid?


2   When evildoers assail me
          to devour my flesh —
     my adversaries and foes —
          they shall stumble and fall.


3   Though an army encamp against me,
          my heart shall not fear;
     though war rise up against me,
          yet I will be confident.


4   One thing I asked of the LORD,
          that will I seek after:
     to live in the house of the LORD
          all the days of my life,
     to behold the beauty of the LORD,
          and to inquire in his temple.


5   For he will hide me in his shelter
          in the day of trouble;
     he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
          he will set me high on a rock.


6   Now my head is lifted up
          above my enemies all around me,
     and I will offer in his tent
          sacrifices with shouts of joy;
     I will sing and make melody to the LORD.


7   Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud,
          be gracious to me and answer me!
8   “Come,” my heart says, “seek his face!”
          Your face, LORD, do I seek.
9        Do not hide your face from me.


     Do not turn your servant away in anger,
          you who have been my help.
     Do not cast me off, do not forsake me,
          O God of my salvation!
10   If my father and mother forsake me,
          the LORD will take me up.


11  Teach me your way, O LORD,
          and lead me on a level path
          because of my enemies.
12  Do not give me up to the will of my adversaries,
          for false witnesses have risen against me,
          and they are breathing out violence.


13  I believe that I shall see the goodness of the LORD
          in the land of the living.
14   Wait for the LORD;
          be strong, and let your heart take courage;
          wait for the LORD!

Evening Psalm 51

1   Have mercy on me, O God,
          according to your steadfast love;
     according to your abundant mercy
          blot out my transgressions.
2   Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
          and cleanse me from my sin.


3   For I know my transgressions,
          and my sin is ever before me.
4   Against you, you alone, have I sinned,
          and done what is evil in your sight,
     so that you are justified in your sentence
          and blameless when you pass judgment.

5   Indeed, I was born guilty,
          a sinner when my mother conceived me.


6   You desire truth in the inward being;
          therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
7   Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
          wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8   Let me hear joy and gladness;
          let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
9   Hide your face from my sins,
          and blot out all my iniquities.


10  Create in me a clean heart, O God,
          and put a new and right spirit within me.
11  Do not cast me away from your presence,
          and do not take your holy spirit from me.
12  Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
          and sustain in me a willing spirit.


13  Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
          and sinners will return to you.
14  Deliver me from bloodshed, O God,
          O God of my salvation,
          and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.


15  O Lord, open my lips,
          and my mouth will declare your praise.
16  For you have no delight in sacrifice;
          if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased.
17  The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;
          a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.


18  Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
          rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,
19  then you will delight in right sacrifices,
          in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;
          then bulls will be offered on your altar.