Daily Readings - 07/03/2026

^103:1 Bless Yahweh, my soul, bless his holy name, all that is in me!

^103:2 Bless Yahweh, my soul, and remember all his kindnesses:

^103:3 in forgiving all your offences, in curing all your diseases,

^103:4 in redeeming your life from the Pit, in crowning you with love and tenderness,

^103:5 in filling your years with prosperity, in renewing your youth like an eagle’s[*a]

^103:6 Yahweh, who does what is right, is always on the side of the oppressed;

^103:7 he revealed his intentions to Moses, his prowess to the sons of Israel.

^103:8 Yahweh is tender and compassionate, slow to anger, most loving;

^103:9 his indignation does not last for ever, his resentment exists a short time only;

^103:10 he never treats us, never punishes us, as our guilt and our sins deserve.

^103:11 No less than the height of heaven over earth is the greatness of his love for those who fear him;

^103:12 he takes our sins farther away than the east is from the west.

^103:13 As tenderly as a father treats his children, so Yahweh treats those who fear him;

^103:14 he knows what we are made of, he remembers we are dust.

^103:15 Man lasts no longer than grass, no longer than a wild flower he lives,

^103:16 one gust of wind, and he is gone, never to be seen there again;

^103:17 yet Yahweh’s love for those who fear him lasts from all eternity and for ever, like his goodness to their children’s children,

^103:18 as long as they keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.

^103:19 Yahweh has fixed his throne in the heavens, his empire is over all.

^103:20 Bless Yahweh, all his angels, heroes mighty to enforce his word, attentive to his word of command.

^103:21 Bless Yahweh, all his armies, servants to enforce his will.

^103:22 Bless Yahweh, all his creatures in every part of his empire! Bless Yahweh, my soul.

^15:1 The tax collectors and the sinners, meanwhile, were all seeking his company to hear what he had to say,

^15:2 and the Pharisees and the scribes complained. ‘This man’ they said ‘welcomes sinners and eats with them.’

^15:3 So he spoke this parable to them:

^15:11 He also said, ‘A man had two sons.

^15:12 The younger said to his father, “Father, let me have the share of the estate that would come to me”. So the father divided the property between them.

^15:13 A few days later, the younger son got together everything he had and left for a distant country where he squandered his money on a life of debauchery.

^15:14 ‘When he had spent it all, that country experienced a severe famine, and now he began to feel the pinch,

^15:15 so he hired himself out to one of the local inhabitants who put him on his farm to feed the pigs.

^15:16 And he would willingly have filled his belly with the husks the pigs were eating but no one offered him anything.

^15:17 Then he came to his senses and said, “How many of my father’s paid servants have more food than they want, and here am I dying of hunger!

^15:18 I will leave is this place and go to my father and say: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you;

^15:19 I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as one of your paid servants.”

^15:20 So he left the place and went back to his father. ‘While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran to the boy, clasped him in his arms and kissed him tenderly.

^15:21 Then his son said, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son.”

^15:22 But the father said to his servants, “Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.

^15:23 Bring the calf we have been fattening, and kill it; we are going to have a feast, a celebration,

^15:24 because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and is found.” And they began to celebrate.

^15:25 ‘Now the elder son was out in the fields, and on his way back, as he drew near the house, he could hear music and dancing.

^15:26 Calling one of the servants he asked what it was all about.

^15:27 “Your brother has come” replied the servant “and your father has killed the calf we had fattened because he has got him back safe and sound.”

^15:28 He was angry then and refused to go in, and his father came out to plead with him;

^15:29 but he answered his father, “Look, all these years I have slaved for you and never once disobeyed your orders, yet you never offered me so much as a kid for me to celebrate with my friends.

^15:30 But, for this son of yours, when he comes back after swallowing up your property – he and his women – you kill the calf we had been fattening.”

^15:31 The father said, “My son, you are with me always and all I have is yours.

^15:32 But it was only right we should celebrate and rejoice, because your brother here was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found.”‘