Daily Readings - 19/05/2026

^20:17 From Miletus he sent for the elders of the church of Ephesus.

^20:18 When they arrived he addressed these words to them: ‘You know what my way of life has been ever since the first day I set foot among you in Asia,

^20:19 how I have served the Lord in all humility, with all the sorrows and trials that came to me through the plots of the Jews.

^20:20 I have not hesitated to do anything that would be helpful to you; I have preached to you, and instructed you both in public and in your homes,

^20:21 urging both Jews and Greeks to turn to God and to believe in our Lord Jesus.

^20:22 ‘And now you see me a prisoner already in spirit; I am on my way to Jerusalem, but have no idea what will happen to me there,

^20:23 except that the Holy Spirit, in town after town, has made it clear enough that imprisonment and persecution await me.

^20:24 But life to me is not a thing to waste words on, provided that when I finish my race I have carried out the mission the Lord Jesus gave me – and that was to bear witness to the Good News of God’s grace.

^20:25 ‘I now feel sure that none of you among whom I have gone about proclaiming the kingdom will ever see my face again.

^20:26 And so here and now I swear that my conscience is clear as far as all of you are concerned,

^20:27 for I have without faltering put before you the whole of God’s purpose.

^68:1 Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered, let those who hate him flee before him!

^68:2 As smoke disperses, they disperse; as wax melts when near the fire, so the wicked perish when God approaches.

^68:3 But at God’s approach, the virtuous rejoice, exulting and singing for joy.

^68:4 Sing to Yahweh, play music to his name, build a road for the Rider of the Clouds, rejoice in Yahweh, exult at his coming!

^68:5 Father of orphans, defender of widows, such is God in his holy dwelling;

^68:6 God gives the lonely a permanent home, makes prisoners happy by setting them free, but rebels must live in an arid land.

^68:7 God, when you set out at the head of your people, and marched across the desert,

^68:8 the earth rocked, (pause) the heavens deluged at God’s coming, at the coming of God, the God of Israel.

^68:9 God, you rained a downpour of blessings, when your heritage was faint you gave it strength;

^68:10 your family found a home, where you in your goodness, God, provided for the needy.

^68:12 Kings are in flight, armies in flight, the women at home take their pick of the loot.

^68:13 Meanwhile you others were lolling in the sheepfolds. There were dove-wings covered with silver, on their pinions the sheen of green gold;

^68:15 That peak of Bashan, a mountain of God? Rather, a mountain of pride, that peak of Bashan!

^68:16 Peaks of pride, have you the right to look down on a mountain where God has chosen to live, where Yahweh is going to live for ever?

^68:17 With thousands of myriads of divine chariots the Lord has left Sinai for his sanctuary.

^68:18 God, you have ascended to the height, and captured prisoners, you have taken men as tribute, yes, taken rebels to your dwelling, Yahweh!

^68:19 Blessed be the Lord day after day, the God who saves us and bears our burdens!

^68:20 This God of ours is a God who saves, to the Lord Yahweh belong the ways of escape from death;

^68:21 but God will smash the heads of his enemies, the hairy skull of the man who parades his guilt.

^68:22 The Lord has promised, ‘I will bring them back from Bashan, I will bring them back from the bottom of the sea,

^68:23 for your feet to wade in blood, for the tongues of your dogs to lap their share of the enemy’.

^68:24 God, your procession can be seen, my God’s, my king’s procession to the sanctuary,

^68:25 with cantors marching in front, musicians behind, and between them maidens playing tambourines.

^68:26 Bless God in your choirs, bless the Lord, you who spring from Israel!

^68:27 Benjamin, the youngest, is there in the lead, the princes of Judah in brocaded robes, the princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali.

^68:28 Take command, God, as befits your power, that power, God, you have wielded on our behalf

^68:29 from your Temple high above Jerusalem! Kings will come to you, bringing presents.

^68:30 Rebuke the Beast of the Reeds,[*a] that herd of bulls, those calves, that people, until, humbled, they bring gold and silver. Scatter those warmongering pagans!

^68:31 Ambassadors will come from Egypt, Ethiopia will stretch out her hands to God.

^68:32 Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth, play for

^68:33 the Rider of the Heavens, the ancient heavens! (pause) Listen to him shouting, to his thundering,

^68:34 and acknowledge the power of God! Over Israel his splendour, in the clouds his power,

^68:35 God in his sanctuary is greatly to be feared. He, the God of Israel, gives power and strength to his people. Blessed be God.

^17:1 ‘Father, the hour has come: glorify your Son so that your Son may glorify you;

^17:2 and, through the power over all mankind[*a] that you have given him, let him give eternal life to all those you have entrusted to him.

^17:3 And eternal life is this: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.

^17:4 I have glorified you on earth and finished the work that you gave me to do.

^17:5 Now, Father, it is time for you to glorify me with that glory I had with you before ever the world was.

^17:6 I have made your name known to the men you took from the world to give me. They were yours and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.

^17:7 Now at last they know that all you have given me comes indeed from you;

^17:8 for I have given them the teaching you gave to me, and they have truly accepted this, that I came from you, and have believed that it was you who sent me.

^17:9 I pray for them; I am not praying for the world but for those you have given me, because they belong to you:

^17:10 all I have is yours and all you have is mine, and in them I am glorified.

^17:11 I am not in the world any longer, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep those you have given me true to your name, so that they may be one like us.