Daily Readings - 23/02/2026

^18:1 I love you, Yahweh, my strength (my saviour, you rescue me from violence.)

^18:2 Yahweh is my rock and my bastion, my deliverer is my God. I take shelter in him, my rock, my shield, my horn of salvation, my stronghold and my refuge. From violence you rescue me.

^18:3 He is to be praised; on Yahweh I call and am saved from my enemies.

^18:4 The waves of death encircled me, the torrents of Belial burst on me;

^18:5 the cords of Sheol girdled me, the snares of death were before me.

^18:6 In my distress I called to Yahweh and to my God I cried; from his Temple he heard my voice, my cry came to his ears.

^18:7 Then the earth quivered and quaked, the foundations of the mountains trembled (they quivered because he was angry);

^18:8 from his nostrils a smoke ascended, and from his mouth a fire that consumed (live embers were kindled at it).

^18:9 He bent the heavens and came down, a dark cloud under his feet;

^18:10 he mounted a cherub and flew, and soared on the wings of the wind.

^18:11 Darkness he made a veil to surround him, his tent a watery darkness, dense cloud;

^18:12 before him a flash enkindled hail and fiery embers.

^18:13 Yahweh thundered from heaven, the Most High made his voice heard;

^18:14 he let his arrows fly and scattered them, launched the lightnings and routed them.

^18:15 The bed of the seas was revealed, the foundations of the world were laid bare, at your muttered threat, Yahweh, at the blast of your nostrils’ breath.

^18:16 He sends from on high and takes me, he draws me from deep waters,

^18:17 he delivers me from my powerful enemy, from a foe too strong for me.

^18:18 They assailed me on my day of disaster, but Yahweh was my support;

^18:19 he freed me, set me at large, he rescued me, since he loves me.

^18:20 Yahweh requites me as I act justly, as my hands are pure so he repays me,

^18:21 since I have kept the ways of Yahweh, nor fallen away from my God.

^18:22 His judgements are all before me, his statutes I have not put from me;

^18:23 I am blameless in his presence, I keep sin at arm’s length.

^18:24 And Yahweh repays me as I act justly, as my purity is in his sight.

^18:25 Faithful you are with the faithful, blameless with the blameless,

^18:26 pure with the one who is pure, but crafty with the devious,

^18:27 you save a people that is humble and humiliate eyes that are haughty.

^18:28 Yahweh, you yourself are my lamp, my God lights up my darkness;

^18:29 with you I storm the barbican, with my God I leap the rampart.

^18:30 This God, his way is blameless; the word of Yahweh is without dross. He it is who is the shield of all who take shelter in him.

^18:31 Who else is God but Yahweh, who else a rock save our God?

^18:32 This God who girds me with strength and makes my way without blame,

^18:33 who makes my feet like the hinds’ and holds me from falling on the heights,

^18:34 who trains my hands for battle, my arms to bend a bow of bronze.

^18:35 You give me your saving shield (your right hand upholds me), with care you train me,

^18:36 wide room you make for my steps under me, my feet have never faltered.

^18:37 I pursue my enemies and overtake them, nor turn back till an end is made of them;

^18:38 I strike them down, and they cannot rise, they fall, they are under my feet:

^18:39 You have girt me with strength for the fight, bent down my assailants beneath me,

^18:40 made my enemies turn their backs to me; and those who hate me I destroy.

^18:41 They cry out, there is no one to save, to Yahweh, but there is no reply;

^18:42 I crush them fine as dust before the wind, trample them like the mud of the streets.

^18:43 You deliver me from a people in revolt, you place me at the head of the nations, a people I did not know are now my servants,

^18:44 foreigners come wooing my favour, no sooner do they hear than they obey me,

^18:45 foreigners grow faint of heart, they come trembling out of their fastnesses.

^18:46 Life to Yahweh! Blessed be my rock! Exalted be the God of my salvation,

^18:47 the God who gives me vengeance and subjects the peoples to me,

^18:48 who rescues me from my raging enemies. who attack me, you deliver me from the man of violence.

^18:49 For this I will praise you, Yahweh, among the heathen and sing praise to your name.

^18:50 His king he saves and saves again, displays his love for his anointed, for David and his heirs for ever.

^25:31 ‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, escorted by all the angels, then he will take his seat on his throne of glory.

^25:32 All the nations will be assembled before him and he will separate men one from another as the shepherd separates sheep from goats.

^25:33 He will place the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left.

^25:34 Then the King will say to those on his right hand, “Come, you whom my Father has blessed, take for your heritage the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world.

^25:35 For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you made me welcome;

^25:36 naked and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me.”

^25:37 Then the virtuous will say to him in reply, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you; or thirsty and give you drink?

^25:38 When did we see you a stranger and make you welcome; naked and clothe you;

^25:39 sick or in prison and go to see you?”

^25:40 And the King will answer, “I tell you solemnly, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me”.

^25:41 Next he will say to those on his left hand, “Go away from me, with your curse upon you, to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

^25:42 For I was hungry and you never gave me food; I was thirsty and you never gave me anything to drink;

^25:43 I was a stranger and you never made me welcome, naked and you never clothed me, sick and in prison and you never visited me.”

^25:44 Then it will be their turn to ask, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, a stranger or naked, sick or in prison, and did not come to your help?”

^25:45 Then he will answer, “I tell you solemnly, in so far as you neglected to do this to one of the least of these, you neglected to do it to me”.

^25:46 And they will go away to eternal punishment, and the virtuous to eternal life.’