Daily Readings - 30/01/2026

^51:1 Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness, in your great tenderness wipe away my faults;

^51:2 wash me clean of my guilt, purify me from my sin.

^51:3 For I am well aware of my faults, I have my sin constantly in mind,

^51:4 having sinned against none other than you, having done what you regard as wrong. You are just when you pass sentence on me, blameless when you give judgement.

^51:5 You know I was born guilty, a sinner from the moment of conception.

^51:6 Yet, since you love sincerity of heart, teach me the secrets of wisdom.

^51:7 Purify me with hyssop[*a] until I am clean; wash me until I am whiter than snow.

^51:8 Instil some joy and gladness into me, let the bones you have crushed rejoice again.

^51:9 Hide your face from my sins, wipe out all my guilt.

^51:10 God, create a clean heart in me, put into me a new and constant spirit,

^51:11 do not banish me from your presence, do not deprive me of your holy spirit.

^51:12 Be my saviour again, renew my joy, keep my spirit steady and willing;

^51:13 and I shall teach transgressors the way to you, and to you the sinners will return.

^51:14 Save me from death, God my saviour, and my tongue will acclaim your righteousness;

^51:15 Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will speak out your praise.

^51:16 Sacrifice gives you no pleasure, were I to offer holocaust, you would not have it.

^51:17 My sacrifice is this broken spirit, you will not scorn this crushed and broken heart.

^51:18 Show your favour graciously to Zion, rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.[*b]

^51:19 Then there will be proper sacrifice to please you – holocaust and whole oblation – and young bulls to be offered on your altar.

^4:26 He also said, ‘This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man throws seed on the land.

^4:27 Night and day, while he sleeps, when he is awake, the seed is sprouting and growing; how, he does not know.

^4:28 Of its own accord the land produces first the shoot, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.

^4:29 And when the crop is ready, he loses no time: he starts to reap because the harvest has come.’

^4:30 He also said, ‘What can we say the kingdom of God is like? What parable can we find for it?

^4:31 It is like a mustard seed which at the time of its sowing in the soil is the smallest of all the seeds on earth;

^4:32 yet once it is sown it grows into the biggest shrub of them all and puts out big branches so that the birds of the air can shelter in its shade.’

^4:33 Using many parables like these, he spoke the word to them, so far as they were capable of understanding it.

^4:34 He would not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything to his disciples when they were alone.