Daily Readings - 18/02/2026

^50:1 Yahweh, God of gods, speaks, he summons the earth. From east to west,

^50:2 from Zion, perfection of beauty, he shines.

^50:3 Let our God come, and be silent no more! Preceding him, a devouring fire, round him, a raging storm;

^50:4 he summons the heavens above and the earth, to his people’s trial:

^50:5 ‘Assemble my faithful before me who sealed my covenant by sacrifice!’

^50:6 Let the heavens proclaim his righteousness when God himself is judge! (Pause)

^50:8 ‘I am not finding fault with your sacrifices, those holocausts constantly before me;

^50:9 I do not claim one extra bull from your homes, nor one extra goat from your pens,

^50:10 ‘since all the forest animals are already mine, and the cattle on my mountains in their thousands;

^50:11 I know all the birds of the air, nothing moves in the field that does not belong to me.

^50:12 ‘If I were hungry, I should not tell you, since the world and all it holds is mine.

^50:13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink goats’ blood?

^50:14 ‘No, let thanksgiving be your sacrifice to God, fulfil the vows you make to the Most High;

^50:15 then you can invoke me in your troubles and I will rescue you, and you shall honour me.’

^50:16 But to the wicked man God says: ‘What business have you reciting my statutes, standing there mouthing my covenant,

^50:17 since you detest my discipline and thrust my words behind you?

^50:18 ‘You make friends with a thief as soon as you see one, you feel at home with adulterers,

^50:19 your mouth is given freely to evil and your tongue to inventing lies.

^50:20 ‘You sit there, slandering your own brother, you malign your own mother’s son.

^50:21 You do this, and expect me to say nothing?

^50:22 ‘You are leaving God out of account; take care! Or I will tear you to pieces where no one can rescue you!

^50:23 Whoever makes thanksgiving his sacrifice honours me; to the upright man I will show how God can save.’

^5:20 So we are ambassadors for Christ; it is as though God were appealing through us, and the appeal that we make in Christ’s name is: be reconciled to God.

^5:21 For our sake God made the sinless one into sin, so that in him we might become the goodness of God.

^6:1 As his fellow workers, we beg you once again not to neglect the grace of God that you have received.

^6:2 For he says: At the favourable time, I have listened to you; on the day of salvation I came to your help.[*a] Well, now is the favourable time; this is the day of salvation.

^6:1 ‘Be careful not to parade your good deeds before men to attract their notice; by doing this you will lose all reward from your Father in heaven.

^6:2 So when you give alms, do not have it trumpeted before you; this is what the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win men’s admiration. I tell you solemnly, they have had their reward.

^6:3 But when you give alms, your left hand must not know what your right is doing;

^6:4 your almsgiving must be secret, and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.

^6:5 ‘And when you pray, do not imitate the hypocrites: they love to say their prayers standing up in the synagogues and at the street corners for people to see them; I tell you solemnly, they have had their reward.

^6:6 But when you pray, go to your private room and, when you have shut your door, pray[*a] to your Father who is in that secret place, and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.

^6:16 ‘When you fast do not put on a gloomy look as the hypocrites do: they pull long faces to let men know they are fasting. I tell you solemnly, they have had their reward.

^6:17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face,

^6:18 so that no one will know you are fasting except your Father who sees all that is done in secret; and your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you.