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Daily Readings For November 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 Sunday, November 24, 2024


Morning Psalm 108

1   My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast;
          I will sing and make melody.
          Awake, my soul!
2   Awake, O harp and lyre!
          I will awake the dawn.
3   I will give thanks to you, O LORD, among the peoples,
          and I will sing praises to you among the nations.
4   For your steadfast love is higher than the heavens,
          and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.


5   Be exalted, O God, above the heavens,
          and let your glory be over all the earth.
6   Give victory with your right hand, and answer me,
          so that those whom you love may be rescued.


7   God has promised in his sanctuary:
          “With exultation I will divide up Shechem,
          and portion out the Vale of Succoth.
8   Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine;
          Ephraim is my helmet;
          Judah is my scepter.
9   Moab is my wash-basin;
          on Edom I hurl my shoe;
          over Philistia I shout in triumph."


10  Who will bring me to the fortified city?
          Who will lead me to Edom?
11  Have you not rejected us, O God?
          You do not go out, O God, with our armies.
12  O grant us help against the foe,
          for human help is worthless.
13  With God we shall do valiantly;
          it is he who will tread down our foes.

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 Zechariah 9:9-16

9Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion!
     Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem!
Lo, your king comes to you;
     triumphant and victorious is he,
humble and riding on a donkey,
     on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
10He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
     and the war horse from Jerusalem;
and the battle bow shall be cut off,
     and he shall command peace to the nations;
his dominion shall be from sea to sea,
     and from the River to the ends of the earth.

11As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you,
     I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.
12Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope;
     today I declare that I will restore to you double.
13For I have bent Judah as my bow;
     I have made Ephraim its arrow.
I will arouse your sons, O Zion,
     against your sons, O Greece,
     and wield you like a warrior's sword.

14Then the LORD will appear over them,
     and his arrow go forth like lightning;
the Lord GOD will sound the trumpet
     and march forth in the whirlwinds of the south.
15The LORD of hosts will protect them,
     and they shall devour and tread down the slingers;
they shall drink their blood like wine,
     and be full like a bowl,
     drenched like the corners of the altar.

16On that day the LORD their God will save them
     for they are the flock of his people;
for like the jewels of a crown
     they shall shine on his land.

Second Reading 1 Peter 3:13-22

13Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? 14But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, 15but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; 16yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. 17For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God's will, than to suffer for doing evil. 18For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, 19in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, 20who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. 21And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you - not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.

Gospel Reading Matthew 21:1-13

1When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2saying to them, "Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. 3If anyone says anything to you, just say this, 'The Lord needs them.' And he will send them immediately." 4This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying, 5"Tell the daughter of Zion, Look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey." 6The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; 7they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. 8A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.9The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!" 10When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, "Who is this?' 11The crowds were saying, "This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee."

12Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 13He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer'; but you are making it a den of robbers."

Evening Psalm 66

1   Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth;
2        sing the glory of his name;
          give to him glorious praise.
3   Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!
          Because of your great power, your enemies cringe before you.
4   All the earth worships you;
          they sing praises to you,
          sing praises to your name. Selah


5   Come and see what God has done:
          he is awesome in his deeds among mortals.
6   He turned the sea into dry land;
          they passed through the river on foot.
     There we rejoiced in him,
7        who rules by his might forever,
     whose eyes keep watch on the nations —
          let the rebellious not exalt themselves. Selah


8   Bless our God, O peoples,
          let the sound of his praise be heard,
9   who has kept us among the living,
          and has not let our feet slip.
10  For you, O God, have tested us;
          you have tried us as silver is tried.
11  You brought us into the net;
          you laid burdens on our backs;
12  you let people ride over our heads;
          we went through fire and through water;
     yet you have brought us out to a spacious place.


13  I will come into your house with burnt offerings;
          I will pay you my vows,
14  those that my lips uttered
          and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.
15  I will offer to you burnt offerings of fatlings,
          with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams;
     I will make an offering of bulls and goats. Selah


16  Come and hear, all you who fear God,
          and I will tell what he has done for me.
17  I cried aloud to him,
          and he was extolled with my tongue.
18  If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
          the Lord would not have listened.
19  But truly God has listened;
          he has given heed to the words of my prayer.


20  Blessed be God,
          because he has not rejected my prayer
          or removed his steadfast love from me.

Evening Psalm 23

1   The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.
2        He makes me lie down in green pastures;
     he leads me beside still waters;
3        he restores my soul.
     He leads me in right paths
          for his name’s sake.

4   Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
          I fear no evil;
     for you are with me;
          your rod and your staff —
          they comfort me.


5   You prepare a table before me
          in the presence of my enemies;
     you anoint my head with oil;
          my cup overflows.
6   Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
          all the days of my life,
     and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
          my whole life long.