Support our siblings affected by disaster, hunger and oppression through One Great Hour of Sharing.

Daily Readings For October 6

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 Sunday, October 6, 2024


Morning Psalm 103

1   Bless the LORD, O my soul,
          and all that is within me,
          bless his holy name.
2   Bless the LORD, O my soul,
          and do not forget all his benefits —
3   who forgives all your iniquity,
          who heals all your diseases,
4   who redeems your life from the Pit,
          who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
5   who satisfies you with good as long as you live
          so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.


6   The LORD works vindication
          and justice for all who are oppressed.
7   He made known his ways to Moses,
          his acts to the people of Israel.
8   The LORD is merciful and gracious,
          slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9   He will not always accuse,
          nor will he keep his anger for ever.
10  He does not deal with us according to our sins,
          nor repay us according to our iniquities.
11  For as the heavens are high above the earth,
          so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
12  as far as the east is from the west,
          so far he removes our transgressions from us.
13  As a father has compassion for his children,
          so the LORD has compassion for those who fear him.
14  For he knows how we were made;
          he remembers that we are dust.


15  As for mortals, their days are like grass;
          they flourish like a flower of the field;
16  for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
          and its place knows it no more.
17  But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting
          on those who fear him,
          and his righteousness to children’s children,
18  to those who keep his covenant
          and remember to do his commandments.


19  The LORD has established his throne in the heavens,
          and his kingdom rules over all.
20  Bless the LORD, O you his angels,
          you mighty ones who do his bidding,
          obedient to his spoken word.
21  Bless the LORD, all his hosts,
          his ministers that do his will.
22  Bless the LORD, all his works,
          in all places of his dominion.
     Bless the LORD, O my soul.

Morning Psalm 150

1   Praise the Lord!
     Praise God in his sanctuary;
          praise him in his mighty firmament!
2   Praise him for his mighty deeds;
          praise him according to his surpassing greatness!


3   Praise him with trumpet sound;
          praise him with lute and harp!
4   Praise him with tambourine and dance;
          praise him with strings and pipe!
5   Praise him with clanging cymbals;
          praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
6   Let everything that breathes praise the Lord!
     Praise the Lord!

First Reading Hosea 5:8-6:6

8Blow the horn in Gibeah,
   the trumpet in Ramah.
Sound the alarm at Beth-aven;
   look behind you, Benjamin!
9Ephraim shall become a desolation
   on the day of punishment;
among the tribes of Israel
   I declare what is sure.
10The princes of Judah have become
   like those who remove the landmark;
on them I will pour out
   my wrath like water.
11Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment,
   because he was determined to go after vanity.
12Therefore I am like maggots to Ephraim,
   and like rottenness to the house of Judah.
13When Ephraim saw his sickness,
   and Judah his wound,
then Ephraim went to Assyria,
   and sent to the great king.
But he is not able to cure you
   or heal your wound.
14For I will be like a lion to Ephraim,
   and like a young lion to the house of Judah.
I myself will tear and go away;
   I will carry off, and no one shall rescue.
15I will return again to my place
   until they acknowledge their guilt and seek my face.
   In their distress they will beg my favor:

1"Come, let us return to the Lord;
   for it is he who has torn, and he will heal us;
   he has struck down, and he will bind us up.
2After two days he will revive us;
   on the third day he will raise us up,
   that we may live before him.
3Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord;
   his appearing is as sure as the dawn;
he will come to us like the showers,
   like the spring rains that water the earth."

4What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?
   What shall I do with you, O Judah?
Your love is like a morning cloud,
   like the dew that goes away early.
5Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets,
   I have killed them by the words of my mouth,
   and my judgment goes forth as the light.
6For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,
   the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

Second Reading 1 Corinthians 2:6-16

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.

14Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God's Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15Those who are spiritual discern all things, and they are themselves subject to no one else's scrutiny. 16"For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.

Gospel Reading Matthew 14:1-12

1At that time Herod the ruler heard reports about Jesus; 2and he said to his servants, "This is John the Baptist; he has been raised from the dead, and for this reason these powers are at work in him." 3For Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, 4because John had been telling him, "It is not lawful for you to have her." 5Though Herod wanted to put him to death, he feared the crowd, because they regarded him as a prophet. 6But when Herod's birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company, and she pleased Herod 7so much that he promised on oath to grant her whatever she might ask. 8Prompted by her mother, she said, "Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter." 9The king was grieved, yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he commanded it to be given; 10he sent and had John beheaded in the prison. 11The head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, who brought it to her mother. 12His disciples came and took the body and buried it; then they went and told Jesus.

Evening Psalm 117

1   Praise the LORD, all you nations!
          Extol him, all you peoples!
2   For great is his steadfast love toward us,
          and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever.
     Praise the LORD!

Evening Psalm 139

1   O LORD, you have searched me and known me.

2   You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
          you discern my thoughts from far away.
3   You search out my path and my lying down,
          and are acquainted with all my ways.
4   Even before a word is on my tongue,
          O LORD, you know it completely.
5   You hem me in, behind and before,
          and lay your hand upon me.
6   Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
          it is so high that I cannot attain it.


7   Where can I go from your spirit?
          Or where can I flee from your presence?

8   If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
          if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
9   If I take the wings of the morning
          and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
10  even there your hand shall lead me,
          and your right hand shall hold me fast.
11  If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
          and the light around me become night,”
12  even the darkness is not dark to you;
          the night is as bright as the day,
          for darkness is as light to you.


13  For it was you who formed my inward parts;
          you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14  I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
          Wonderful are your works;
     that I know very well.
15       My frame was not hidden from you,
     when I was being made in secret,
          intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16  Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
     In your book were written
          all the days that were formed for me,
          when none of them as yet existed.
17  How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
          How vast is the sum of them!
18  I try to count them — they are more than the sand;
          I come to the end — I am still with you.


19  O that you would kill the wicked, O God,
          and that the bloodthirsty would depart from me —
20  those who speak of you maliciously,
          and lift themselves up against you for evil!
21  Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD?
          And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
22  I hate them with perfect hatred;
          I count them my enemies.
23  Search me, O God, and know my heart;
          test me and know my thoughts.
24  See if there is any wicked way in me,
          and lead me in the way everlasting.