Daily Readings for Wednesday, April 24, 2024

Morning Psalm 99

¹   The LORD is king; let the peoples tremble!
          He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!
²   The LORD is great in Zion;
          he is exalted over all the peoples.
³   Let them praise your great and awesome name.
          Holy is he!
⁴   Mighty King, lover of justice,
          you have established equity;
     you have executed justice
          and righteousness in Jacob.
⁵   Extol the LORD our God;
          worship at his footstool.
          Holy is he!

⁶   Moses and Aaron were among his priests,
          Samuel also was among those who called on his name.
          They cried to the LORD, and he answered them.
⁷   He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud;
          they kept his decrees,
          and the statutes that he gave them.

⁸   O LORD our God, you answered them;
          you were a forgiving God to them,
          but an avenger of their wrongdoings.
⁹   Extol the LORD our God,
          and worship at his holy mountain;
          for the LORD our God is holy.

Morning Psalm 147:1-11

¹   Praise the Lord!
          How good it is to sing praises to our God;
          for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting.
²   The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
          he gathers the outcasts of Israel.
³   He heals the brokenhearted,
          and binds up their wounds.
⁴   He determines the number of the stars;
          he gives to all of them their names.
⁵   Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;
          his understanding is beyond measure.
⁶   The Lord lifts up the downtrodden;
          he casts the wicked to the ground.

⁷   Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;
          make melody to our God on the lyre.
⁸   He covers the heavens with clouds,
          prepares rain for the earth,
          makes grass grow on the hills.
⁹   He gives to the animals their food,
          and to the young ravens when they cry.
¹⁰  His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
          nor his pleasure in the speed of a runner;
¹¹  but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
          in those who hope in his steadfast love.

First Reading Exodus 33:1-23

¹The LORD said to Moses, “Go, leave this place, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, and go to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give it.’ ²I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. ³Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, or I would consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”

⁴When the people heard these harsh words, they mourned, and no one put on ornaments. ⁵For the LORD had said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, and I will decide what to do to you.'” ⁶Therefore the Israelites stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward.

⁷Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp; he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the LORD would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. ⁸Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise and stand, each of them, at the entrance of their tents and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent. ⁹When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the LORD would speak with Moses. ¹⁰When all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise and bow down, all of them, at the entrance of their tent. ¹¹Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then he would return to the camp; but his young assistant, Joshua son of Nun, would not leave the tent.

¹²Moses said to the LORD, “See, you have said to me, ‘Bring up this people’; but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ ¹³Now if I have found favor in your sight, show me your ways, so that I may know you and find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is your people.” ¹⁴He said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” ¹⁵And he said to him, “If your presence will not go, do not carry us up from here. ¹⁶For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people, unless you go with us? In this way, we shall be distinct, I and your people, from every people on the face of the earth.”

¹⁷The LORD said to Moses, “I will do the very thing that you have asked; for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” ¹⁸Moses said, “Show me your glory, I pray.” ¹⁹And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you the name, ‘The LORD’; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. ²⁰But,” he said, “you cannot see my face; for no one shall see me and live.” ²¹And the LORD continued, “See, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock; ²²and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by; ²³then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back; but my face shall not be seen.”

Second Reading 1 Thessalonians 2:1-12

¹You yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our coming to you was not in vain, ²but though we had already suffered and been shamefully mistreated at Philippi, as you know, we had courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of great opposition. ³For our appeal does not spring from deceit or impure motives or trickery, ⁴but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, even so we speak, not to please mortals, but to please God who tests our hearts. ⁵As you know and as God is our witness, we never came with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed; ⁶nor did we seek praise from mortals, whether from you or from others, ⁷though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children. ⁸So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us.

⁹You remember our labor and toil, brothers and sisters; we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. ¹⁰You are witnesses, and God also, how pure, upright, and blameless our conduct was toward you believers. ¹¹As you know, we dealt with each one of you like a father with his children, ¹²urging and encouraging you and pleading that you lead a life worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.

Gospel Reading Matthew 5:17-20

¹⁷“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. ¹⁸For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. ¹⁹Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. ²⁰For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”