Daily Readings - 07/03/2026

^102:1 Yahweh, hear my prayer, let my cry for help reach you;

^102:2 do not hide your face from me when I am in trouble; bend down to listen to me, when I call, be quick to answer me!

^102:3 For my days are vanishing like smoke, my bones smouldering like logs,

^102:4 my heart shrivelling like scorched grass and my appetite has gone;

^102:5 whenever I heave a sigh, my bones stick through my skin.

^102:6 I live in a desert like the pelican, in a ruin like the screech owl,

^102:7 I stay awake, lamenting like a lone bird on the roof;

^102:8 my enemies insult me all day long, those who used to praise me now use me as a curse.

^102:9 Ashes are the bread I eat, what I drink I lace with tears,

^102:10 under your furious anger, since you only picked me up to throw me down;

^102:11 my days dwindle away like a shadow, I am as dry as hay.

^102:12 Whereas, Yahweh, you remain for ever; each generation in turn remembers you!

^102:13 Rise, take pity on Zion! – the time has come to have mercy on her, the hour has come;

^102:14 for your servants prize her stones and are moved to pity by her dust.

^102:15 Then will the nations fear the name of Yahweh and all kings on earth respect your glory;

^102:16 when Yahweh builds Zion anew, he will be seen in his glory;

^102:17 he will answer the prayer of the abandoned, he will not scorn their petitions.

^102:18 Put this on record for the next generation, so that a race still to be born can praise God:

^102:19 Yahweh has leaned down from the heights of his sanctuary, has looked down at earth from heaven,

^102:20 to hear the sighing of the captive, and to set free those doomed to die.

^102:28 Your servants’ sons will have a permanent home, and their descendants be in your presence always,

^102:21 to proclaim the name of Yahweh in Zion, his praise in Jerusalem;

^102:22 nations and kingdoms will be united and offer worship to Yahweh together.

^102:25 Aeons ago, you laid earth’s foundations, the heavens are the work of your hands;

^102:26 all will vanish, though you remain, all wear out like a garment, like clothes that need changing you will change them;

^102:27 but yourself, you never change, and your years are unending.

^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.”‘