Home > Reading > Daily Reading – January 22, 2023

Isaiah 47 (Listen)

The Humiliation of Babylon

47:1   Come down and sit in the dust,
    O virgin daughter of Babylon;
  sit on the ground without a throne,
    O daughter of the Chaldeans!
  For you shall no more be called
    tender and delicate.
  Take the millstones and grind flour,
    put off your veil,
  strip off your robe, uncover your legs,
    pass through the rivers.
  Your nakedness shall be uncovered,
    and your disgrace shall be seen.
  I will take vengeance,
    and I will spare no one.
  Our Redeemer—the LORD of hosts is his name—
    is the Holy One of Israel.
  Sit in silence, and go into darkness,
    O daughter of the Chaldeans;
  for you shall no more be called
    the mistress of kingdoms.
  I was angry with my people;
    I profaned my heritage;
  I gave them into your hand;
    you showed them no mercy;
  on the aged you made your yoke exceedingly heavy.
  You said, “I shall be mistress forever,”
    so that you did not lay these things to heart
    or remember their end.
  Now therefore hear this, you lover of pleasures,
    who sit securely,
  who say in your heart,
    “I am, and there is no one besides me;
  I shall not sit as a widow
    or know the loss of children”:
  These two things shall come to you
    in a moment, in one day;
  the loss of children and widowhood
    shall come upon you in full measure,
  in spite of your many sorceries
    and the great power of your enchantments.
10   You felt secure in your wickedness;
    you said, “No one sees me”;
  your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray,
  and you said in your heart,
    “I am, and there is no one besides me.”
11   But evil shall come upon you,
    which you will not know how to charm away;
  disaster shall fall upon you,
    for which you will not be able to atone;
  and ruin shall come upon you suddenly,
    of which you know nothing.
12   Stand fast in your enchantments
    and your many sorceries,
    with which you have labored from your youth;
  perhaps you may be able to succeed;
    perhaps you may inspire terror.
13   You are wearied with your many counsels;
    let them stand forth and save you,
  those who divide the heavens,
    who gaze at the stars,
  who at the new moons make known
    what shall come upon you.
14   Behold, they are like stubble;
    the fire consumes them;
  they cannot deliver themselves
    from the power of the flame.
  No coal for warming oneself is this,
    no fire to sit before!
15   Such to you are those with whom you have labored,
    who have done business with you from your youth;
  they wander about, each in his own direction;
    there is no one to save you.

Hebrews 10:19–31 (Listen)

The Full Assurance of Faith

19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

26 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. 29 How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” 31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

John 5:2–18 (Listen)

Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.

Now that day was the Sabbath. 10 So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed.” 11 But he answered them, “The man who healed me, that man said to me, ‘Take up your bed, and walk.’12 They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” 13 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. 14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you.” 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. 16 And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”

Jesus Is Equal with God

18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.


Morning Psalms

Psalm 108 (Listen)

With God We Shall Do Valiantly

A Song. A Psalm of David.

108:1   My heart is steadfast, O God!
    I will sing and make melody with all my being!
  Awake, O harp and lyre!
    I will awake the dawn!
  I will give thanks to you, O LORD, among the peoples;
    I will sing praises to you among the nations.
  For your steadfast love is great above the heavens;
    your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
  Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!
    Let your glory be over all the earth!
  That your beloved ones may be delivered,
    give salvation by your right hand and answer me!
  God has promised in his holiness:
    “With exultation I will divide up Shechem
    and portion out the Valley of Succoth.
  Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine;
    Ephraim is my helmet,
    Judah my scepter.
  Moab is my washbasin;
    upon Edom I cast 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   Oh grant us help against the foe,
    for vain is the salvation of man!
13   With God we shall do valiantly;
    it is he who will tread down our foes.

Psalm 150 (Listen)

Let Everything Praise the Lord

150:1   Praise the LORD!
  Praise God in his sanctuary;
    praise him in his mighty heavens!
  Praise him for his mighty deeds;
    praise him according to his excellent greatness!
  Praise him with trumpet sound;
    praise him with lute and harp!
  Praise him with tambourine and dance;
    praise him with strings and pipe!
  Praise him with sounding cymbals;
    praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
  Let everything that has breath praise the LORD!
  Praise the LORD!


Evening Psalms

Psalm 66 (Listen)

How Awesome Are Your Deeds

To the choirmaster. A Song. A Psalm.

66:1   Shout for joy to God, all the earth;
    sing the glory of his name;
    give to him glorious praise!
  Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!
    So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you.
  All the earth worships you
    and sings praises to you;
    they sing praises to your name.” Selah
  Come and see what God has done:
    he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man.
  He turned the sea into dry land;
    they passed through the river on foot.
  There did we rejoice in him,
    who rules by his might forever,
  whose eyes keep watch on the nations—
    let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah
  Bless our God, O peoples;
    let the sound of his praise be heard,
  who has kept our soul 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 a crushing burden on our backs;
12   you let men ride over our heads;
    we went through fire and through water;
  yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.
13   I will come into your house with burnt offerings;
    I will perform my vows to you,
14   that which my lips uttered
    and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.
15   I will offer to you burnt offerings of fattened animals,
    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 my soul.
17   I cried to him with my mouth,
    and high praise was on 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 attended to the voice of my prayer.
20   Blessed be God,
    because he has not rejected my prayer
    or removed his steadfast love from me!

Psalm 23 (Listen)

The Lord Is My Shepherd

A Psalm of David.

23:1   The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
    He makes me lie down in green pastures.
  He leads me beside still waters.
    He restores my soul.
  He leads me in paths of righteousness
    for his name’s sake.
  Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
    I will fear no evil,
  for you are with me;
    your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.
  You prepare a table before me
    in the presence of my enemies;
  you anoint my head with oil;
    my cup overflows.
  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
    all the days of my life,
  and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
    forever.

“Vincent, Deacon at Saragossa, Martyr, 304”

This daily prayer and Bible reading guide, Devoted to Prayer (based on Acts 2:42), was conceived and prepared by the Rev. Andrew S. Ames Fuller, director of communications for the North American Lutheran Church (NALC). After several challenging years in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been provided with a unique opportunity to revitalize the ancient practice of daily prayer and Scripture reading in our homes. While the Reading the Word of God three-year lectionary provided a much-needed and refreshing calendar for our congregations to engage in Scripture reading, this calendar includes a missing component of daily devotion: prayer. This guide is to provide the average layperson and pastor with the simple tools for sorting through the busyness of their lives and reclaiming an act of daily discipleship with their Lord. The daily readings follow the Lutheran Book of Worship two-year daily lectionary, which reflect the church calendar closely. The commemorations are adapted from Philip H. Pfatteicher’s New Book of Festivals and Commemorations, a proposed common calendar of the saints that builds from the Lutheran Book of Worship, but includes saints from many of those churches in ecumenical conversation with the NALC. The introductory portion is adapted from Christ Church (Plano)’s Pray Daily. Our hope is that this calendar and guide will provide new life for congregations learning and re-learning to pray in the midst of a difficult and changing world.

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