Daily Readings - 14/03/2026

^6:1 ‘Come, let us return to Yahweh. He has torn us to pieces, but he will heal us; he has struck us down, but he will bandage our wounds;

^6:2 after a day or two he will bring us back to life, on the third day he will raise us and we shall live in his presence.

^6:4 What am I to do with you, Ephraim? What am I to do with you, Judah? This love of yours is like a morning cloud, like the dew that quickly disappears.

^6:6 since what I want is love, not sacrifice; knowledge of God, not holocausts.

^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.

^18:9 He spoke the following parable to some people who prided themselves on being virtuous and despised everyone else,

^18:10 ‘Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax collector.

^18:11 The Pharisee stood there and said this prayer to himself, “I thank you, God, that I am not grasping, unjust, adulterous like the rest of mankind, and particularly that I am not like this tax collector here.

^18:12 I fast twice a week; I pay tithes on all I get.”

^18:13 The tax collector stood some distance away, not daring even to raise his eyes to heaven; but he beat his breast and said, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner”.

^18:14 This man, I tell you, went home again at rights with God; the other did not. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the man who humbles himself will be exalted.’