Daily Readings - 20/05/2026

^20:28 ‘Be on your guard for yourselves and for all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you the overseers, to feed the Church of God which he bought with his own blood.

^20:29 I know quite well that when I have gone fierce wolves will invade you and will have no mercy on the flock.

^20:30 Even from your own ranks there will be men coming forward with a travesty of the truth on their lips to induce the disciples to follow them.

^20:31 So be on your guard, remembering how night and day for three years I never failed to keep you right, shedding tears over each one of you.

^20:32 And now I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace that has power to build you up and to give you your inheritance among all the sanctified.

^20:33 ‘I have never asked anyone for money or clothes;

^20:34 you know for yourselves that the work I did earned enough to meet my needs and those of my companions.

^20:35 I did this to show you that this is how we must exert ourselves to support the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, who himself said, “There is more happiness in giving than in receiving”.’

^20:36 When he had finished speaking he knelt down with them all and prayed.

^20:37 By now they were all in tears; they put their arms round Paul’s neck and kissed him;

^20:38 what saddened them most was his saying they would never see his face again. Then they escorted him to the ship.

^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.

^17:11 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.

^17:12 While I was with them, I kept those you had given me true to your name. I have watched over them and not one is lost except the one who chose to be lost,[*b] and this was to fulfil the scriptures.

^17:13 But now I am coming to you and while still in the world I say these things to share my joy with them to the full.

^17:14 I passed your word on to them, and the world hated them, because they belong to the world no more than I belong to the world.

^17:15 I am not asking you to remove them from the world, but to protect them from the evil one.

^17:16 They do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world.

^17:17 Consecrate them in the truth; your word is truth.

^17:18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world,

^17:19 and for their sake I consecrate myself so that they too may be consecrated in truth.