DAILY OFFICE

Daily scripture readings from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer

Sunday, March 24

Today's readings include passages from Psalms, Zechariah, 1 Timothy and Luke.

Psalm 24

1 The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof,     the world and those who dwell therein, 2 for he has founded it upon the seas     and established it upon the rivers. 3 Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?     And who shall stand in his holy place? 4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart,     who does not lift up his soul to what is false     and does not swear deceitfully. 5 He will receive blessing from the Lord     and righteousness from the God of his salvation. 6 Such is the generation of those who seek him,     who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Selah 7 Lift up your heads, O gates!     And be lifted up, O ancient doors,     that the King of glory may come in. 8 Who is this King of glory?     The Lord, strong and mighty,     the Lord, mighty in battle! 9 Lift up your heads, O gates!     And lift them up, O ancient doors,     that the King of glory may come in. 10 Who is this King of glory?     The Lord of hosts,     he is the King of glory! Selah

Psalm 29

1 Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings,     ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. 2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;     worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness. 3 The voice of the Lord is over the waters;     the God of glory thunders,     the Lord, over many waters. 4 The voice of the Lord is powerful;     the voice of the Lord is full of majesty. 5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;     the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon. 6 He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf,     and Sirion like a young wild ox. 7 The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire. 8 The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;     the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. 9 The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth     and strips the forests bare,     and in his temple all cry, “Glory!” 10 The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;     the Lord sits enthroned as king forever. 11 May the Lord give strength to his people!     May the Lord bless his people with peace!

Psalm 103

1 Bless the Lord, O my soul,     and all that is within me,     bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul,     and forget not all his benefits, 3 who forgives all your iniquity,     who heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit,     who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 5 who satisfies you with good     so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. 6 The Lord works righteousness     and justice for all who are oppressed. 7 He made known his ways to Moses,     his acts to the people of Israel. 8 The Lord is merciful and gracious,     slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 9 He will not always chide,     nor will he keep his anger forever. 10 He does not deal with us according to our sins,     nor repay us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,     so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west,     so far does he remove our transgressions from us. 13 As a father shows compassion to his children,     so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. 14 For he knows our frame;     he remembers that we are dust. 15 As for man, his days are like grass;     he flourishes like a flower of the field; 16 for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,     and its place knows it no more. 17 But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,     and his righteousness to children's children, 18 to those who keep his covenant     and remember to do his commandments. 19 The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,     and his kingdom rules over all. 20 Bless the Lord, O you his angels,     you mighty ones who do his word,     obeying the voice of his word! 21 Bless the Lord, all his hosts,     his ministers, who do his will! 22 Bless the Lord, all his works,     in all places of his dominion.     Bless the Lord, O my soul!

Zechariah 9:9-12, 12:9-11, 13:1, 7-9

9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!     Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!     Behold, your king is coming to you;     righteous and having salvation is he,     humble and mounted on a donkey,     on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim     and the war horse from Jerusalem;     and the battle bow shall be cut off,     and he shall speak peace to the nations;     his rule shall be from sea to sea,     and from the River to the ends of the earth. 11 As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you,     I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. 12 Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope;     today I declare that I will restore to you double. ... 12:9 And on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. 10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. 11 On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. ... 13:1 “On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness. ... 7 “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,     against the man who stands next to me,”     declares the Lord of hosts.     “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered;     I will turn my hand against the little ones. 8 In the whole land, declares the Lord,     two thirds shall be cut off and perish,     and one third shall be left alive. 9 And I will put this third into the fire,     and refine them as one refines silver,     and test them as gold is tested.     They will call upon my name,     and I will answer them.     I will say, ‘They are my people’;     and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’”

1 Timothy 6:12-16

12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13 I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony beforePontius Pilate made the good confession, 14 to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

Luke 19:41-48

41 And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side 44 and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.” 45 And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, 46 saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.” 47 And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, 48 but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.