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Daily Readings For October 31

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, October 31, 2024


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 Nahum 1:15-2:12

1:15Look! On the mountains the feet of one
     who brings good tidings,
     who proclaims peace!
Celebrate your festivals, O Judah,
     fulfill your vows,
for never again shall the wicked invade you;
     they are utterly cut off.

2:1A shatterer has come up against you.
     Guard the ramparts;
     watch the road;
gird your loins;
     collect all your strength.

2(For the Lord is restoring the majesty of Jacob,
     as well as the majesty of Israel,
though ravagers have ravaged them
     and ruined their branches.)

3The shields of his warriors are red;
     his soldiers are clothed in crimson.
The metal on the chariots flashes
     on the day when he musters them;
     the chargers prance.
4The chariots race madly through the streets,
     they rush to and fro through the squares;
their appearance is like torches,
     they dart like lightning.
5He calls his officers;
     they stumble as they come forward;
they hasten to the wall,
     and the mantelet is set up.
6The river gates are opened,
     the palace trembles.
7It is decreed that the city be exiled,
     its slave women led away,
moaning like doves
     and beating their breasts.
8Nineveh is like a pool
     whose waters run away.
"Halt! Halt!" —
     but no one turns back.
9"Plunder the silver,
     plunder the gold!
There is no end of treasure!
     An abundance of every precious thing!"

10Devastation, desolation, and destruction!
     Hearts faint and knees tremble, all loins quake,
     all faces grow pale!
11What became of the lions’ den,
     the cave of the young lions,
where the lion goes,
     and the lion’s cubs, with no one to disturb them?
12The lion has torn enough for his whelps
     and strangled prey for his lionesses;
he has filled his caves with prey
     and his dens with torn flesh.

Second Reading Revelation 12:7-17

7And war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, 8but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world - he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

10Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, proclaiming, "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah, for the accuser of our comrades has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. 11But they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they did not cling to life even in the face of death. 12Rejoice then, you heavens and those who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you with great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!"

13So when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. 14But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle, so that she could fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to her place where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. 15Then from his mouth the serpent poured water like a river after the woman, to sweep her away with the flood. 16But the earth came to the help of the woman; it opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. 17Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war on the rest of her children, those who keep the commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus.

Gospel Reading Luke 11:53-12:12

53When he went outside, the scribes and the Pharisees began to be very hostile toward him and to cross-examine him about many things, 54lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.

1Meanwhile, when the crowd gathered by the thousands, so that they trampled on one another, he began to speak first to his disciples, "Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, that is, their hypocrisy. 2Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. 3Therefore whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed from the housetops.

4"I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more. 5But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! 6Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten in God's sight. 7But even the hairs of your head are all counted. Do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.

8"And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God; 9but whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God. 101And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. 11When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how you are to defend yourselves or what you are to say; 12for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that very hour what you ought to say."

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.