Morning Prayer (Matins) | Evening Prayer (Vespers) | Prayer at the Close of Day (Compline)

Isaiah 49:13–26 (Listen)

13   Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;
    break forth, O mountains, into singing!
  For the LORD has comforted his people
    and will have compassion on his afflicted.
14   But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me;
    my Lord has forgotten me.”
15   “Can a woman forget her nursing child,
    that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?
  Even these may forget,
    yet I will not forget you.
16   Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
    your walls are continually before me.
17   Your builders make haste;
    your destroyers and those who laid you waste go out from you.
18   Lift up your eyes around and see;
    they all gather, they come to you.
  As I live, declares the LORD,
    you shall put them all on as an ornament;
    you shall bind them on as a bride does.
19   “Surely your waste and your desolate places
    and your devastated land—
  surely now you will be too narrow for your inhabitants,
    and those who swallowed you up will be far away.
20   The children of your bereavement
    will yet say in your ears:
  ‘The place is too narrow for me;
    make room for me to dwell in.’
21   Then you will say in your heart:
    ‘Who has borne me these?
  I was bereaved and barren,
    exiled and put away,
    but who has brought up these?
  Behold, I was left alone;
    from where have these come?’”
22   Thus says the Lord GOD:
  “Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations,
    and raise my signal to the peoples;
  and they shall bring your sons in their arms,
    and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.
23   Kings shall be your foster fathers,
    and their queens your nursing mothers.
  With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you,
    and lick the dust of your feet.
  Then you will know that I am the LORD;
    those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.”
24   Can the prey be taken from the mighty,
    or the captives of a tyrant be rescued?
25   For thus says the LORD:
  “Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken,
    and the prey of the tyrant be rescued,
  for I will contend with those who contend with you,
    and I will save your children.
26   I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,
    and they shall be drunk with their own blood as with wine.
  Then all flesh shall know
    that I am the LORD your Savior,
    and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

Galatians 3:1–14 (Listen)

By Faith, or by Works of the Law?

3:1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. 2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? 5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith—6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?

7 Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” 9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

The Righteous Shall Live by Faith

10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” 11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” 12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

Mark 6:30–46 (Listen)

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

30 The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. 31 And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 32 And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. 33 Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. 35 And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. 36 Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” 37 But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said to him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?” 38 And he said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” 39 Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. 41 And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. 42 And they all ate and were satisfied. 43 And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. 44 And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men.

Jesus Walks on the Water

45 Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46 And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray.

Morning Psalms

Psalm 116 (Listen)

I Love the Lord

116:1   I love the LORD, because he has heard
    my voice and my pleas for mercy.
2   Because he inclined his ear to me,
    therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
3   The snares of death encompassed me;
    the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;
    I suffered distress and anguish.
4   Then I called on the name of the LORD:
    “O LORD, I pray, deliver my soul!”
5   Gracious is the LORD, and righteous;
    our God is merciful.
6   The LORD preserves the simple;
    when I was brought low, he saved me.
7   Return, O my soul, to your rest;
    for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.
8   For you have delivered my soul from death,
    my eyes from tears,
    my feet from stumbling;
9   I will walk before the LORD
    in the land of the living.
10   I believed, even when I spoke:
    “I am greatly afflicted”;
11   I said in my alarm,
    “All mankind are liars.”
12   What shall I render to the LORD
    for all his benefits to me?
13   I will lift up the cup of salvation
    and call on the name of the LORD,
14   I will pay my vows to the LORD
    in the presence of all his people.
15   Precious in the sight of the LORD
    is the death of his saints.
16   O LORD, I am your servant;
    I am your servant, the son of your maidservant.
    You have loosed my bonds.
17   I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving
    and call on the name of the LORD.
18   I will pay my vows to the LORD
    in the presence of all his people,
19   in the courts of the house of the LORD,
    in your midst, O Jerusalem.
  Praise the LORD!

Psalm 147:13–20 (Listen)

13   For he strengthens the bars of your gates;
    he blesses your children within you.
14   He makes peace in your borders;
    he fills you with the finest of the 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 his crystals of ice 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 rules to Israel.
20   He has not dealt thus with any other nation;
    they do not know his rules.
  Praise the LORD!

Evening Psalms

Psalm 26 (Listen)

I Will Bless the Lord

Of David.

26:1   Vindicate me, O LORD,
    for I have walked in my integrity,
    and I have trusted in the LORD without wavering.
2   Prove me, O LORD, and try me;
    test my heart and my mind.
3   For your steadfast love is before my eyes,
    and I walk in your faithfulness.
4   I do not sit with men of falsehood,
    nor do I consort with hypocrites.
5   I hate the assembly of evildoers,
    and I will not sit with the wicked.
6   I wash my hands in innocence
    and go around your altar, O LORD,
7   proclaiming thanksgiving aloud,
    and telling all your wondrous deeds.
8   O LORD, I love the habitation of your house
    and the place where your glory dwells.
9   Do not sweep my soul away with sinners,
    nor my life with bloodthirsty men,
10   in whose hands are evil devices,
    and whose right hands are full of bribes.
11   But as for me, I shall walk in my integrity;
    redeem me, and be gracious to me.
12   My foot stands on level ground;
    in the great assembly I will bless the LORD.

Psalm 130 (Listen)

My Soul Waits for the Lord

A Song of Ascents.

130:1   Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD!
2     O Lord, hear my voice!
  Let your ears be attentive
    to the voice of my pleas for mercy!
3   If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities,
    O Lord, who could stand?
4   But with you there is forgiveness,
    that you may be feared.
5   I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
    and in his word I hope;
6   my soul waits for the Lord
    more than watchmen for the morning,
    more than watchmen for the morning.
7   O Israel, hope in the LORD!
    For with the LORD there is steadfast love,
    and with him is plentiful redemption.
8   And he will redeem Israel
    from all his iniquities.