Daily Readings - 08/04/2026

^3:1 Once, when Peter and John were going up to the Temple for the prayers at the ninth hour,[*a]

^3:2 it happened that there was a man being carried past. He was a cripple from birth; and they used to put him down every day near the Temple entrance called the Beautiful Gate so that he could beg from the people going in.

^3:3 When this man saw Peter and John on their way into the Temple he begged from them.

^3:4 Both Peter and John looked straight at him and said, ‘Look at us’.

^3:5 He turned to them expectantly, hoping to get something from them,

^3:6 but Peter said, ‘I have neither silver nor gold, but I will give you what I have: in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, walk!’

^3:7 Peter then took him by the hand and helped him to stand up. Instantly his feet and ankles became firm,

^3:8 he jumped up, stood, and began to walk, and he went with them into the Temple, walking and jumping and praising God.

^3:9 Everyone could see him walking and praising God,

^3:10 and they recognised him as the man who used to sit begging at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple. They were all astonished and unable to explain what had happened to him.

^105:1 Alleluia! Give thanks to Yahweh, call his name aloud, proclaim his deeds to the peoples!

^105:2 Sing to him, play to him, tell over all his marvels!

^105:3 Glory in his holy name, let the hearts that seek Yahweh rejoice!

^105:4 Seek Yahweh and his strength, seek his face untiringly;

^105:5 remember the marvels he has done, his wonders, the judgements from his mouth.

^105:6 Stock of Abraham his servant, sons of Jacob his chosen one!

^105:7 He is Yahweh our God, his authority is over all the earth.

^105:8 Remember his covenant for ever, his word of command for a thousand generations,

^105:9 the pact he made with Abraham, his oath to Isaac.

^105:10 He established it as a statute for Jacob, an everlasting covenant for Israel.

^105:11 ‘I give you a land,’ he said ‘Canaan, your allotted heritage.

^105:12 There where you were easily counted, few in number, strangers to the country.’

^105:13 They went from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people;

^105:14 he let no man oppress them, he punished kings on their behalf.

^105:15 ‘Do not touch my anointed ones,’ he said ‘do not harm my prophets!’

^105:16 Next, he called down famine on the country, he broke their staff, that is, their bread;

^105:17 he sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, sold as a slave.

^105:18 They tortured his feet with fetters, they put his neck in irons;

^105:19 time passed, Joseph’s oracle came true, Yahweh’s word proved him right.

^105:20 The king gave orders to release him, that master of nations set him free,

^105:21 putting him in charge of his household, in control of all he possessed,

^105:22 to train his officials as he thought fit and convert his elders into sages.

^105:23 Israel then migrated to Egypt, Jacob settled in the land of Ham.

^105:24 He made his people fertile and more vigorous than their oppressors,

^105:25 whose hearts he then disposed to hatred of his people and double-dealing with his servants.

^105:26 He sent his servant Moses, and Aaron, the man of his choice;

^105:27 there they displayed his signs, his wonders in the land of Ham.

^105:28 He sent darkness, darkness fell, but still they defied his word.

^105:29 He turned their rivers into blood, thus killing all their fish.

^105:30 Their country was overrun with frogs even in the royal apartments;

^105:31 he spoke: flies and mosquitoes swarmed throughout the country.

^105:32 He sent them hail instead of rain, fire swept across their land;

^105:33 he blasted their vines and fig trees, he shattered the trees throughout the country.

^105:34 He spoke: there came locusts, grasshoppers, more than you could count,

^105:35 eating every scrap of greenstuff, every blade their soil produced.

^105:36 Next, he struck down all the first-born in their land, the entire first-fruits of their fertility;

^105:37 then he led Israel out with gold and silver, and not one man of their tribes was left behind.

^105:38 Egypt was glad to see them go, they had filled her with alarm;

^105:39 he spread a cloud to cover them, and a fire to glow at night.

^105:40 They demanded food, he sent them quails, he satisfied them with the bread of heaven;

^105:41 he opened the rock, the waters gushed to flow through the desert like a river.

^105:42 Yes, faithful to the sacred promise given to his servant Abraham,

^105:43 he led his happy people forward, to joyful shouts from his chosen,

^105:44 and gave them the pagans’ territories. Where others had toiled, they took possession,

^105:45 on condition that they kept his statutes and remained obedient to his laws.

^24:13 That very same day, two of them were on their way to a village called Emmaus, seven miles[*a] from Jerusalem,

^24:14 and they were talking together about all that had happened.

^24:15 Now as they talked this over, Jesus himself came up and walked by their side;

^24:16 but something prevented them from recognising him.

^24:17 He said to them, ‘What matters are you discussing as you walk along?’ They stopped short, their faces downcast.

^24:18 Then one of them, called Cleopas, answered him, ‘You must be the only is person staying in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have been happening there these last few days’.

^24:19 ‘What things?’ he asked. ‘All about Jesus of Nazareth’ they answered ‘who proved he was a great prophet by the things he said and did in the sight of God and of the whole people;

^24:20 and how our chief priests and our leaders handed him over to be sentenced to death, and had him crucified.

^24:21 Our own hope had been that he would be the one to set Israel free. And this is not all: two whole days have gone by since it all happened;

^24:22 and some women from our group have astounded us: they went to the tomb in the early morning,

^24:23 and when they did not find the body, they came back to tell us they had seen a vision of angels who declared he was alive.

^24:24 Some of our friends went to the tomb and found everything exactly as the women had reported, but of him they saw nothing.’

^24:25 Then he said to them, ‘You foolish men! So slow to believe the full message of the prophets!

^24:26 Was it not ordained that the Christ should suffer and so enter into his glory?’

^24:27 Then, starting with Moses and going through all the prophets, he explained to them the passages throughout the scriptures that were about himself.

^24:28 When they drew near to the village to which they were going, he made as if to go on;

^24:29 but they pressed him to stay with them. ‘It is nearly evening’ they said ‘and the day is almost over.’ So he went in to stay with them.

^24:30 Now while he was with them at table, he took the bread and said the blessing; then he broke it and handed it to them.

^24:31 And their eyes were opened and they recognised him; but he had vanished from their sight.

^24:32 Then they said to each other, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us as he talked to us on the road and explained the scriptures to us?’

^24:33 They set out that instant and returned to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven assembled together with their companions,

^24:34 who said to them, ‘Yes, it is true. The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.’

^24:35 Then they told their story of what had happened on the road and how they had recognised him at the breaking of bread.