Daily Readings For March 9

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Daily Readings Sunday/Festival Readings

Daily Readings for Saturday, March 9, 2024


Morning Psalm 43

1   Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause
          against an ungodly people;
     from those who are deceitful and unjust
          deliver me!
2   For you are the God in whom I take refuge;
          why have you cast me off?
     Why must I walk about mournfully
          because of the oppression of the enemy?


3   O send out your light and your truth;
          let them lead me;
     let them bring me to your holy hill
          and to your dwelling.
4   Then I will go to the altar of God,
          to God my exceeding joy;
     and I will praise you with the harp,
          O God, my God.


5   Why are you cast down, O my soul,
          and why are you disquieted within me?
     Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
          my help and my God.

Morning Psalm 149

1   Praise the Lord!
     Sing to the Lord a new song,
          his praise in the assembly of the faithful.
2   Let Israel be glad in its Maker;
          let the children of Zion rejoice in their King.
3   Let them praise his name with dancing,
          making melody to him with tambourine and lyre.
4   For the Lord takes pleasure in his people;
          he adorns the humble with victory.
5   Let the faithful exult in glory;
          let them sing for joy on their couches.
6   Let the high praises of God be in their throats
          and two-edged swords in their hands,
7   to execute vengeance on the nations
          and punishment on the peoples,
8   to bind their kings with fetters
          and their nobles with chains of iron,
9   to execute on them the judgment decreed.
          This is glory for all his faithful ones.
     Praise the Lord!

First Reading Genesis 47:27-48:7

27Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the region of Goshen; and they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied exceedingly. 28Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years; so the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were one hundred forty-seven years.

29When the time of Israel's death drew near, he called his son Joseph and said to him, "If I have found favor with you, put your hand under my thigh and promise to deal loyally and truly with me. Do not bury me in Egypt. 30When I lie down with my ancestors, carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place." He answered, "I will do as you have said." 31And he said, "Swear to me"; and he swore to him. Then Israel bowed himself on the head of his bed.

1After this Joseph was told, "Your father is ill." So he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. 2When Jacob was told, "Your son Joseph has come to you," he summoned his strength and sat up in bed. 3And Jacob said to Joseph, "God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and he blessed me, 4and said to me, 'I am going to make you fruitful and increase your numbers; I will make of you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your offspring after you for a perpetual holding.' 5Therefore your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are now mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are. 6As for the offspring born to you after them, they shall be yours. They shall be recorded under the names of their brothers with regard to their inheritance. 7For when I came from Paddan, Rachel, alas, died in the land of Canaan on the way, while there was still some distance to go to Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath" (that is, Bethlehem).

Second Reading 1 Corinthians 10:1-13

1I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3and all ate the same spiritual food, 4and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. 5Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness.

6Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did. 7Do not become idolaters as some of them did; as it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play." 8We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents. 10And do not complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. 11These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come. 12So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. 13No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.

Gospel Reading Mark 7:1-23

1Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, 2they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. 3(For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; 4and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) 5So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?" 6He said to them, "Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written, 'This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; 7in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.' 8You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition."

9Then he said to them, "You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition! 10For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.' 11But you say that if anyone tells father or mother, 'Whatever support you might have had from me is Corban' (that is, an offering to God) - 12then you no longer permit doing anything for a father or mother, 13thus making void the word of God through your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many things like this."

14Then he called the crowd again and said to them, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand: 15there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile."

17When he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18He said to them, "Then do you also fail to understand? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile, 19since it enters, not the heart but the stomach, and goes out into the sewer?" (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20And he said, "It is what comes out of a person that defiles. 21For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, 22adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. 23All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."

Evening Psalm 31

1   In you, O LORD, I seek refuge;
          do not let me ever be put to shame;
          in your righteousness deliver me.
2   Incline your ear to me;
          rescue me speedily.
     Be a rock of refuge for me,
          a strong fortress to save me.


3   You are indeed my rock and my fortress;
          for your name’s sake lead me and guide me,
4   take me out of the net that is hidden for me,
          for you are my refuge.
5   Into your hand I commit my spirit;
          you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God.


6   You hate those who pay regard to worthless idols,
          but I trust in the LORD.
7   I will exult and rejoice in your steadfast love,
          because you have seen my affliction;
          you have taken heed of my adversities,
8   and have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy;
          you have set my feet in a broad place.


9   Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am in distress;
          my eye wastes away from grief,
          my soul and body also.
10  For my life is spent with sorrow,
          and my years with sighing;
     my strength fails because of my misery,
          and my bones waste away.


11  I am the scorn of all my adversaries,
          a horror to my neighbors,
     an object of dread to my acquaintances;
          those who see me in the street flee from me.
12  I have passed out of mind like one who is dead;
          I have become like a broken vessel.
13  For I hear the whispering of many —
          terror all around! —
     as they scheme together against me,
          as they plot to take my life.


14  But I trust in you, O LORD;
          I say, “You are my God.”
15  My times are in your hand;
          deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors.
16  Let your face shine upon your servant;
          save me in your steadfast love.
17  Do not let me be put to shame, O LORD,
          for I call on you;
     let the wicked be put to shame;
          let them go dumbfounded to Sheol.
18  Let the lying lips be stilled
          that speak insolently against the righteous
          with pride and contempt.


19  O how abundant is your goodness
          that you have laid up for those who fear you,
     and accomplished for those who take refuge in you,
          in the sight of everyone!
20  In the shelter of your presence you hide them
          from human plots;
     you hold them safe under your shelter
          from contentious tongues.


21  Blessed be the LORD,
          for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me
          when I was beset as a city under siege.
22  I had said in my alarm,
          “I am driven far from your sight.”
     But you heard my supplications
          when I cried out to you for help.


23  Love the LORD, all you his saints.
          The LORD preserves the faithful,
          but abundantly repays the one who acts haughtily.
24  Be strong, and let your heart take courage,
          all you who wait for the LORD.

Evening Psalm 143

1   Hear my prayer, O LORD;
          give ear to my supplications in your faithfulness;
          answer me in your righteousness.
2   Do not enter into judgment with your servant,
          for no one living is righteous before you.


3   For the enemy has pursued me,
          crushing my life to the ground,
          making me sit in darkness like those long dead.
4   Therefore my spirit faints within me;
          my heart within me is appalled.


5   I remember the days of old,
          I think about all your deeds,
          I meditate on the works of your hands.
6   I stretch out my hands to you;
          my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.                    Selah


7   Answer me quickly, O LORD;
          my spirit fails.
     Do not hide your face from me,
          or I shall be like those who go down to the Pit.
8   Let me hear of your steadfast love in the morning,
          for in you I put my trust.
     Teach me the way I should go,
          for to you I lift up my soul.


9   Save me, O LORD, from my enemies;
          I have fled to you for refuge.
10  Teach me to do your will,
          for you are my God.
     Let your good spirit lead me
          on a level path.


11  For your name’s sake, O LORD, preserve my life.
          In your righteousness bring me out of trouble.
12  In your steadfast love cut off my enemies,
          and destroy all my adversaries,
          for I am your servant.