Daily Readings

¹ And David spake unto the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul:² And he said, The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;³ The God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my saviour; thou savest me from violence.⁴ I will call on the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.⁵ When the waves of death compassed me, the floods of ungodly men made me afraid;⁶ The sorrows of hell compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me;⁷ In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried to my God: and he did hear my voice out of his temple, and my cry did enter into his ears.⁸ Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations of heaven moved and shook, because he was wroth.⁹ There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.¹⁰ He bowed the heavens also, and came down; and darkness was under his feet.¹¹ And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: and he was seen upon the wings of the wind.¹² And he made darkness pavilions round about him, dark waters, and thick clouds of the skies.¹³ Through the brightness before him were coals of fire kindled.¹⁴ The LORD thundered from heaven, and the most High uttered his voice.¹⁵ And he sent out arrows, and scattered them; lightning, and discomfited them.¹⁶ And the channels of the sea appeared, the foundations of the world were discovered, at the rebuking of the LORD, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils.¹⁷ He sent from above, he took me; he drew me out of many waters;¹⁸ He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them that hated me: for they were too strong for me.¹⁹ They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay.²⁰ He brought me forth also into a large place: he delivered me, because he delighted in me.²¹ The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness: according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.²² For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God.²³ For all his judgments were before me: and as for his statutes, I did not depart from them.²⁴ I was also upright before him, and have kept myself from mine iniquity.²⁵ Therefore the LORD hath recompensed me according to my righteousness; according to my cleanness in his eye sight.²⁶ With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful, and with the upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright.²⁷ With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself unsavoury.²⁸ And the afflicted people thou wilt save: but thine eyes are upon the haughty, that thou mayest bring them down.²⁹ For thou art my lamp, O LORD: and the LORD will lighten my darkness.³⁰ For by thee I have run through a troop: by my God have I leaped over a wall.³¹ As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all them that trust in him.³² For who is God, save the LORD? and who is a rock, save our God?³³ God is my strength and power: and he maketh my way perfect.³⁴ He maketh my feet like hinds' feet: and setteth me upon my high places.³⁵ He teacheth my hands to war; so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.³⁶ Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy gentleness hath made me great.³⁷ Thou hast enlarged my steps under me; so that my feet did not slip.³⁸ I have pursued mine enemies, and destroyed them; and turned not again until I had consumed them.³⁹ And I have consumed them, and wounded them, that they could not arise: yea, they are fallen under my feet.⁴⁰ For thou hast girded me with strength to battle: them that rose up against me hast thou subdued under me.⁴¹ Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies, that I might destroy them that hate me.⁴² They looked, but there was none to save; even unto the LORD, but he answered them not.⁴³ Then did I beat them as small as the dust of the earth, I did stamp them as the mire of the street, and did spread them abroad.⁴⁴ Thou also hast delivered me from the strivings of my people, thou hast kept me to be head of the heathen: a people which I knew not shall serve me.⁴⁵ Strangers shall submit themselves unto me: as soon as they hear, they shall be obedient unto me.⁴⁶ Strangers shall fade away, and they shall be afraid out of their close places.⁴⁷ The LORD liveth; and blessed be my rock; and exalted be the God of the rock of my salvation.⁴⁸ It is God that avengeth me, and that bringeth down the people under me.⁴⁹ And that bringeth me forth from mine enemies: thou also hast lifted me up on high above them that rose up against me: thou hast delivered me from the violent man.⁵⁰ Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto thy name.⁵¹ He is the tower of salvation for his king: and sheweth mercy to his anointed, unto David, and to his seed for evermore.

¹ The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, that was the first year of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon;² The which Jeremiah the prophet spake unto all the people of Judah, and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying,³ From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, even unto this day, that is the three and twentieth year, the word of the LORD hath come unto me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but ye have not hearkened.⁴ And the LORD hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear.⁵ They said, Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD hath given unto you and to your fathers for ever and ever:⁶ And go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands; and I will do you no hurt.⁷ Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the LORD; that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.⁸ Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Because ye have not heard my words,⁹ Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations.¹⁰ Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle.¹¹ And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.¹² And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations.¹³ And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations.¹⁴ For many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of them also: and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.¹⁵ For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it.¹⁶ And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.¹⁷ Then took I the cup at the LORD's hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me:¹⁸ To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as it is this day;¹⁹ Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people;²⁰ And all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod,²¹ Edom, and Moab, and the children of Ammon,²² And all the kings of Tyrus, and all the kings of Zidon, and the kings of the isles which are beyond the sea,²³ Dedan, and Tema, and Buz, and all that are in the utmost corners,²⁴ And all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the mingled people that dwell in the desert,²⁵ And all the kings of Zimri, and all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of the Medes,²⁶ And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth: and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them.²⁷ Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.²⁸ And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink.²⁹ For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts.³⁰ Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.³¹ A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the LORD.³² Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.³³ And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.³⁴ Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the ashes, ye principal of the flock: for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished; and ye shall fall like a pleasant vessel.³⁵ And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape.³⁶ A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and an howling of the principal of the flock, shall be heard: for the LORD hath spoiled their pasture.³⁷ And the peaceable habitations are cut down because of the fierce anger of the LORD.³⁸ He hath forsaken his covert, as the lion: for their land is desolate because of the fierceness of the oppressor, and because of his fierce anger.

¹ Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God.² Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation.³ For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:⁴ For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.⁵ Wherefore ye must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.⁶ For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God's ministers, attending continually upon this very thing.⁷ Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.⁸ Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.⁹ For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.¹⁰ Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.¹¹ And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.¹² The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.¹³ Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.¹⁴ But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

¹ Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations.² For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eateth herbs.³ Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not; and let not him which eateth not judge him that eateth: for God hath received him.⁴ Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.⁵ One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.⁶ He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.⁷ For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.⁸ For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.⁹ For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.¹⁰ But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.¹¹ For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.¹² So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.¹³ Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way.¹⁴ I know, and am persuaded by the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing unclean of itself: but to him that esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is unclean.¹⁵ But if thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably. Destroy not him with thy meat, for whom Christ died.¹⁶ Let not then your good be evil spoken of:¹⁷ For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.¹⁸ For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God, and approved of men.¹⁹ Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.²⁰ For meat destroy not the work of God. All things indeed are pure; but it is evil for that man who eateth with offence.²¹ It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.²² Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God. Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth.²³ And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.