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Daily Readings For January 23

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, January 23, 2025


Morning Psalm 36

1   Transgression speaks to the wicked
          deep in their hearts;
     there is no fear of God
          before their eyes.
2   For they flatter themselves in their own eyes
          that their iniquity cannot be found out and hated.
3   The words of their mouths are mischief and deceit;
          they have ceased to act wisely and do good.
4   They plot mischief while on their beds;
          they are set on a way that is not good;
          they do not reject evil.


5   Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens,
          your faithfulness to the clouds.
6   Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
          your judgments are like the great deep;
          you save humans and animals alike, O LORD.


7   How precious is your steadfast love, O God!
          All people may take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
8   They feast on the abundance of your house,
          and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
9   For with you is the fountain of life;
          in your light we see light.


10  O continue your steadfast love to those who know you,
          and your salvation to the upright of heart!
11  Do not let the foot of the arrogant tread on me,
          or the hand of the wicked drive me away.
12  There the evildoers lie prostrate;
          they are thrust down, unable to rise.

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 Isaiah 45:5-17

5   I am the LORD, and there is no other;
          besides me there is no god.
          I arm you, though you do not know me,
6   so that they may know, from the rising of the sun
          and from the west, that there is no one besides me;
          I am the LORD, and there is no other.
7   I form light and create darkness,
          I make weal and create woe;
          I the LORD do all these things.

8   Shower, O heavens, from above,
          and let the skies rain down righteousness;
     let the earth open, that salvation may spring up,
          and let it cause righteousness to sprout up also;
          I the LORD have created it.

9   Woe to you who strive with your Maker,
          earthen vessels with the potter!
     Does the clay say to the one who fashions it, “What are you making”?
          or “Your work has no handles”?
10  Woe to anyone who says to a father, “What are you begetting?”
          or to a woman, “With what are you in labor?”
11  Thus says the LORD,
          the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker:
     Will you question me about my children,
          or command me concerning the work of my hands?
12  I made the earth,
          and created humankind upon it;
     it was my hands that stretched out the heavens,
          and I commanded all their host.
13  I have aroused Cyrus in righteousness,
          and I will make all his paths straight;
     he shall build my city
          and set my exiles free,
     not for price or reward,
          says the LORD of hosts.
14  Thus says the LORD:
     The wealth of Egypt and the merchandise of Ethiopia,
          and the Sabeans, tall of stature,
     shall come over to you and be yours,
          they shall follow you;
          they shall come over in chains and bow down to you.
     They will make supplication to you, saying,
          “God is with you alone, and there is no other;
          there is no god besides him.”
15  Truly, you are a God who hides himself,
          O God of Israel, the Savior.
16  All of them are put to shame and confounded,
          the makers of idols go in confusion together.
17  But Israel is saved by the LORD
          with everlasting salvation;
     you shall not be put to shame or confounded
          to all eternity.

Second Reading Ephesians 5:15-33

15Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, 16making the most of the time, because the days are evil. 17So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. 18Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, 19as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, 20giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

21Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.

22Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Savior. 24Just as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands.

25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, 27so as to present the church to himself in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind — yes, so that she may be holy and without blemish. 28In the same way, husbands should love their wives as they do their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29For no one ever hates his own body, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, 30because we are members of his body. 31“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” 32This is a great mystery, and I am applying it to Christ and the church. 33Each of you, however, should love his wife as himself, and a wife should respect her husband.

Gospel Reading Mark 4:21-34

21He said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under the bushel basket, or under the bed, and not on the lampstand? 22For there is nothing hidden, except to be disclosed; nor is anything secret, except to come to light. 23Let anyone with ears to hear listen!” 24And he said to them, ”Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and still more will be given you. 25For to those who have, more will be given; and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.”

26He also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, 27and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. 28The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. 29But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.”

30He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? 31It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; 32yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

33With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; 34he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.

Evening Psalm 80

1   Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
          you who lead Joseph like a flock!
     You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth
2        before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh.
     Stir up your might,
          and come to save us!


3   Restore us, O God;
     let your face shine, that we may be saved.


4   O LORD God of hosts,
          how long will you be angry with your people's prayers?
5   You have fed them with the bread of tears,
          and given them tears to drink in full measure.
6   You make us the scorn of our neighbors;
          our enemies laugh among themselves.


7   Restore us, O God of hosts;
          let your face shine, that we may be saved.


8   You brought a vine out of Egypt;
     you drove out the nations and planted it.
9   You cleared the ground for it;
          it took deep root and filled the land.
10  The mountains were covered with its shade,
          the mighty cedars with its branches;
11  it sent out its branches to the sea,
          and its shoots to the River.
12  Why then have you broken down its walls,
          so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
13  The boar from the forest ravages it,
          and all that move in the field feed on it.


14  Turn again, O God of hosts;
          look down from heaven, and see;
     have regard for this vine,
15       the stock that your right hand planted.
16  They have burned it with fire, they have cut it down;
          may they perish at the rebuke of your countenance.
17  But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand,
          the one whom you made strong for yourself.
18  Then we will never turn back from you;
          give us life, and we will call on your name.


19  Restore us, O LORD God of hosts;
          let your face shine, that we may be saved.

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!