Daily Readings - 23/05/2026

^28:16 On our arrival in Rome Paul was allowed to stay in lodgings of his own with the soldier who guarded him.

^28:17 After three days he called together the leading Jews. When they had assembled, he said to them, ‘Brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors, I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans.

^28:18 They examined me and would have set me free, since they found me guilty of nothing involving the death penalty;

^28:19 but the Jews lodged an objection, and I was forced to appeal to Caesar, not that I had any accusation to make against my own nation.

^28:20 That is why I have asked to see you and talk to you, for it is on account of the hope of Israel that I wear this chain.’

^28:30 Paul spent the whole of the two years[*c] in his own rented lodging. He welcomed all who came to visit him,

^28:31 proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ with complete freedom and without hindrance from anyone.

^10:1 Yahweh, why do you stand aside, why hide from us now the times are hard?

^10:2 The poor man is devoured by the pride of the wicked, he is caught in the wiles that the other has devised.

^10:3 The evil man boasts of his soul’s desires, the grasping man blasphemes[*a], the wicked spurns Yahweh.

^10:4 ‘His anger is up there, he will not make me pay! There is no God!’ This is the way his mind works.

^10:5 At every moment his course is assured, your rulings are too lofty for his notice; his rivals? He sneers at them all.

^10:6 ‘Nothing can shake me’ he assures himself. Himself untouched by disaster,

^10:7 he curses others.

^10:8 there in the reeds he lies in ambush to kill the innocent where no one can see.

^10:9 lurking unseen like a lion in his hide, lurking to capture the poor man, the poor man seized, he drags him away in his net.

^10:10 Questing of eye, he stoops, he crouches, and the luckless wretch falls into his power

^10:11 as he thinks to himself, ‘God forgets, he hides his face, he does not see at all’.

^10:12 Rise, Yahweh, God raise your hand, do not forget the poor!

^10:13 Why does the wicked man spurn God, assuring himself, ‘He will not make me pay’?

^10:14 You yourself have seen the distress and the grief, you watch and then take them into your hands; the luckless man commits himself to you, you, the orphan’s certain help.

^10:15 Break the power of the wicked, of the evil man, seek out his wickedness till there is none to be found!

^10:16 Yahweh is king for ever and ever, the pagans are doomed to vanish from his country.

^10:17 Yahweh, you listen to the wants of the humble, you bring strength to their hearts, you grant them a hearing,

^10:18 judging in favour of the orphaned and exploited, so that earthborn man may strike fear no longer.

^21:20 Peter turned and saw the disciple Jesus loved following them – the one who had leaned on his breast at the supper and had said to him, ‘Lord, who is it that will betray you?’

^21:21 Seeing him, Peter said to Jesus, ‘What about him, Lord?’

^21:22 Jesus answered, ‘If I want him to stay behind till I come, what does it matter to you? You are to follow me.’

^21:23 The rumour then went out among the brothers that this disciple would not die. Yet Jesus had not said to Peter, ‘He will not die’, but, ‘If I want him to stay behind till I come’.

^21:24 This disciple is the one who vouches for these things and has written them down, and we know that his testimony is true.

^21:25 There were many other things that Jesus did; if all were written down, the world itself, I suppose, would not hold all the books that would have to be written.

^11:1 Throughout the earth men spoke the same language, with the same vocabulary.

^11:2 Now as they moved eastwards they found a plain in the land of Shinar[*b] where they settled.

^11:3 They said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks and bake them in the fire’.-For stone they used bricks, and for mortar they used bitumen.-

^11:4 ‘Come,’ they said ‘let us build ourselves a town and a tower with its top reaching heaven. Let us make a name for ourselves, so that we may not be scattered about the whole earth.’

^11:5 Now Yahweh came down to see the town and the tower that the sons of man had built.

^11:6 ‘So they are all a single people with a single language!’ said Yahweh. ‘This is but the start of their undertakings! There will be nothing too hard for them to do.

^11:7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language on the spot so that they can no longer understand one another.’

^11:8 Yahweh scattered them thence over the whole face of the earth, and they stopped building the town.

^11:9 It was named Babel therefore, because there Yahweh confused[*c] the language of the whole earth. It was from there that Yahweh scattered them over the whole face of the earth.

^32:1 Happy the man whose fault is forgiven, whose sin is blotted out;

^32:2 happy the man whom Yahweh accuses of no guilt, whose spirit is incapable of deceit!

^32:3 All the time I kept silent, my bones were wasting away with groans, day in, day out;

^32:4 day and night your hand lay heavy on me; my heart grew parched as stubble in summer drought (Pause)

^32:5 At last I admitted to you I had sinned; no longer concealing my guilt, I said, ‘I will go to Yahweh and confess my fault’. And you, you have forgiven the wrong I did, have pardoned my sin. (Pause)

^32:6 That is why each of your servants prays to you in time of trouble; even if floods come rushing down, they will never reach him.

^32:7 You are a hiding place for me, you guard me when in trouble, you surround me with songs of deliverance. (Pause)

^32:8 I will instruct you, and teach you the way to go; I will watch over you and be your adviser.

^32:9 Do not be like senseless horse or mule that need bit and bridle to curb their spirit (to let you get near them).

^32:10 Many torments await the wicked, but grace enfolds the man who trusts in Yahweh.

^32:11 Rejoice in Yahweh, exult, you virtuous, shout for joy, all upright hearts.

^19:3 Moses then went up to God, and Yahweh called to him from the mountain, saying, ‘Say this to the House of Jacob, declare this to the sons of Israel,

^19:4 “You yourselves have seen what I did with the Egyptians, how I carried you on eagle’s wings and brought you to myself.

^19:5 From this you know that now, if you obey my voice and hold fast to my covenant, you of all the nations shall be my very own for all the earth is mine.

^19:6 I will count you a kingdom of priests, a consecrated nation.” Those are the words you are to speak to the sons of Israel.’

^19:7 So Moses went and summoned the elders of the people, putting before them all that Yahweh had bidden him.

^19:8 Then all the people answered as one, ‘All that Yahweh has said, we will do.’ And Moses took the people’s reply back to Yahweh.

^19:16 Now at daybreak on the third day there were peals of thunder on the mountain and lightning flashes, a dense cloud, and a loud trumpet blast, and inside the camp all the people trembled.

^19:17 Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet God; and they stood at the bottom of the mountain.

^19:18 The mountain of Sinai was entirely wrapped in smoke, because Yahweh had descended on it in the form of fire. Like smoke from a furnace the smoke went up, and the whole mountain shook violently.

^19:19 Louder and louder grew the sound of the trumpet. Moses spoke, and God answered him with peals of thunder.

^19:20 Yahweh came down on the mountain of Sinai, on the mountain top, and Yahweh called Moses to the top of the mountain; and Moses went up.

^3:52 ‘May you be blessed, Lord, God of our ancestors, be praised and extolled for ever. Blessed be your glorious and holy name, praised and extolled for ever.

^3:53 May you be blessed in the Temple of your sacred glory, exalted and glorified above all else for ever:

^3:54 blessed on the throne of your kingdom, praised and exalted above all else for ever.

^3:55 Blessed, you fathomer of the great depths, enthroned on the cherubs, praised and glorified above all else for ever;

^3:56 blessed in the vault of heaven, exalted and glorified above all else for ever.

^18:1 I love you, Yahweh, my strength (my saviour, you rescue me from violence.)

^18:2 Yahweh is my rock and my bastion, my deliverer is my God. I take shelter in him, my rock, my shield, my horn of salvation, my stronghold and my refuge. From violence you rescue me.

^18:3 He is to be praised; on Yahweh I call and am saved from my enemies.

^18:4 The waves of death encircled me, the torrents of Belial burst on me;

^18:5 the cords of Sheol girdled me, the snares of death were before me.

^18:6 In my distress I called to Yahweh and to my God I cried; from his Temple he heard my voice, my cry came to his ears.

^18:7 Then the earth quivered and quaked, the foundations of the mountains trembled (they quivered because he was angry);

^18:8 from his nostrils a smoke ascended, and from his mouth a fire that consumed (live embers were kindled at it).

^18:9 He bent the heavens and came down, a dark cloud under his feet;

^18:10 he mounted a cherub and flew, and soared on the wings of the wind.

^18:11 Darkness he made a veil to surround him, his tent a watery darkness, dense cloud;

^18:12 before him a flash enkindled hail and fiery embers.

^18:13 Yahweh thundered from heaven, the Most High made his voice heard;

^18:14 he let his arrows fly and scattered them, launched the lightnings and routed them.

^18:15 The bed of the seas was revealed, the foundations of the world were laid bare, at your muttered threat, Yahweh, at the blast of your nostrils’ breath.

^18:16 He sends from on high and takes me, he draws me from deep waters,

^18:17 he delivers me from my powerful enemy, from a foe too strong for me.

^18:18 They assailed me on my day of disaster, but Yahweh was my support;

^18:19 he freed me, set me at large, he rescued me, since he loves me.

^18:20 Yahweh requites me as I act justly, as my hands are pure so he repays me,

^18:21 since I have kept the ways of Yahweh, nor fallen away from my God.

^18:22 His judgements are all before me, his statutes I have not put from me;

^18:23 I am blameless in his presence, I keep sin at arm’s length.

^18:24 And Yahweh repays me as I act justly, as my purity is in his sight.

^18:25 Faithful you are with the faithful, blameless with the blameless,

^18:26 pure with the one who is pure, but crafty with the devious,

^18:27 you save a people that is humble and humiliate eyes that are haughty.

^18:28 Yahweh, you yourself are my lamp, my God lights up my darkness;

^18:29 with you I storm the barbican, with my God I leap the rampart.

^18:30 This God, his way is blameless; the word of Yahweh is without dross. He it is who is the shield of all who take shelter in him.

^18:31 Who else is God but Yahweh, who else a rock save our God?

^18:32 This God who girds me with strength and makes my way without blame,

^18:33 who makes my feet like the hinds’ and holds me from falling on the heights,

^18:34 who trains my hands for battle, my arms to bend a bow of bronze.

^18:35 You give me your saving shield (your right hand upholds me), with care you train me,

^18:36 wide room you make for my steps under me, my feet have never faltered.

^18:37 I pursue my enemies and overtake them, nor turn back till an end is made of them;

^18:38 I strike them down, and they cannot rise, they fall, they are under my feet:

^18:39 You have girt me with strength for the fight, bent down my assailants beneath me,

^18:40 made my enemies turn their backs to me; and those who hate me I destroy.

^18:41 They cry out, there is no one to save, to Yahweh, but there is no reply;

^18:42 I crush them fine as dust before the wind, trample them like the mud of the streets.

^18:43 You deliver me from a people in revolt, you place me at the head of the nations, a people I did not know are now my servants,

^18:44 foreigners come wooing my favour, no sooner do they hear than they obey me,

^18:45 foreigners grow faint of heart, they come trembling out of their fastnesses.

^18:46 Life to Yahweh! Blessed be my rock! Exalted be the God of my salvation,

^18:47 the God who gives me vengeance and subjects the peoples to me,

^18:48 who rescues me from my raging enemies. who attack me, you deliver me from the man of violence.

^18:49 For this I will praise you, Yahweh, among the heathen and sing praise to your name.

^18:50 His king he saves and saves again, displays his love for his anointed, for David and his heirs for ever.

^106:1 Alleluia! Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, his love is everlasting!

^106:2 Who can count all Yahweh’s triumphs? Who can praise him enough?

^106:3 Happy are we if we exercise justice and constantly practise virtue!

^106:4 Yahweh, remember me, for the love you bear your people, come to me as a saviour,

^106:5 let me share the happiness of your chosen, the joys of your nation and take pride in being one of your heirs.

^106:6 We have sinned quite as much as our fathers, we have been wicked, we are guilty;

^106:7 our ancestors in Egypt never grasped the meaning of your marvels. They failed to appreciate your great love, they defied the Most High at the Sea of Reeds.

^106:8 For the sake of his name, he saved them to demonstrate his power.

^106:9 One word from him dried up the Sea of Reeds, he led them across the sea bed like dry land,

^106:10 he saved them from the grasp of those who hated them and rescued them from the clutches of the enemy.

^106:11 And the waters swallowed their oppressors, not one of them was left.

^106:12 Then, having faith in his promises, they immediately sang his praises.

^106:13 They forgot his achievements as quickly, going on before asking his advice;

^106:14 their desires overcame them in the desert, they challenged god in the wilds

^106:15 He granted them what they asked for, then struck them with a wasting fever;

^106:16 in camp, they grew jealous of Moses and Aaron, Yahweh’s holy one.

^106:17 The earth opened, swallowing Dathan, closing on Abiram’s faction,

^106:18 fire flamed out against their faction, the renegades went up in flames.

^106:19 They made a calf at Horeb, performed prostrations to a smelted thing,

^106:20 exchanging the one who was their glory for the image of a grass-eating ox.

^106:21 They forgot the God who had saved them by performing such feats in Egypt,

^106:22 such wonders in the land of Ham, such fearful things at the Sea of Reeds.

^106:23 He talked of putting an end to them and would have done, if Moses his chosen had not stood in the breach, confronting him, and deflecting his destructive anger.

^106:24 They refused a land of delight, having no faith in his promise;

^106:25 they stayed in their camp and grumbled, they would not listen to Yahweh’s voice.

^106:26 So, raising his hand, he swore to make them fall dead in the desert

^106:27 and their descendants to fall to the heathen, and to disperse them throughout those countries.

^106:28 They accepted the yoke of Baal-peor and ate sacrifices to the dead.

^106:29 They provoked him by their behaviour; plague broke out among them.

^106:30 Then up stood Phinehas to intervene, and the plague was checked;

^106:31 hence his reputation for virtue through successive generations for ever.

^106:32 They enraged him at the waters of Meribah; as a result, things went wrong for Moses,

^106:33 since they had embittered his spirit and he spoke without stopping to think.

^106:34 They did not destroy the pagans as Yahweh had told them to do,

^106:35 but, intermarrying with them, adopted their practices instead.

^106:36 Serving the pagans’ idols, they found themselves trapped

^106:37 into sacrificing their own sons and daughters to demons.

^106:38 They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, offering them to the idols of Canaan, they polluted the country with blood.

^106:39 They defiled themselves by such actions, their behaviour was that of a whore.

^106:40 Yahweh’s anger blazed out at his people, he came to loathe his heirs.

^106:41 He handed them over to the pagans, those who hated them became their masters;

^106:42 their enemies tyrannised over them, crushing them under their rule.

^106:43 Time and again he rescued them, but they went on defying him deliberately and plunging deeper into wickedness;

^106:44 even so, he took pity on their distress each time he heard them calling.

^106:45 For their sake, he remembered his covenant, he relented in his great love,

^106:46 making their captors mitigate the harshness of their treatment.

^106:47 Yahweh our God and saviour, gather us from among the pagans, to give thanks to your holy name and to find our happiness in praising you.

^106:48 Blessed be Yahweh the God of Israel, from all eternity and for ever! Here, all the people are to say, ‘Amen'[*a]

^103:1 Bless Yahweh, my soul, bless his holy name, all that is in me!

^103:2 Bless Yahweh, my soul, and remember all his kindnesses:

^103:3 in forgiving all your offences, in curing all your diseases,

^103:4 in redeeming your life from the Pit, in crowning you with love and tenderness,

^103:5 in filling your years with prosperity, in renewing your youth like an eagle’s[*a]

^103:6 Yahweh, who does what is right, is always on the side of the oppressed;

^103:7 he revealed his intentions to Moses, his prowess to the sons of Israel.

^103:8 Yahweh is tender and compassionate, slow to anger, most loving;

^103:9 his indignation does not last for ever, his resentment exists a short time only;

^103:10 he never treats us, never punishes us, as our guilt and our sins deserve.

^103:11 No less than the height of heaven over earth is the greatness of his love for those who fear him;

^103:12 he takes our sins farther away than the east is from the west.

^103:13 As tenderly as a father treats his children, so Yahweh treats those who fear him;

^103:14 he knows what we are made of, he remembers we are dust.

^103:15 Man lasts no longer than grass, no longer than a wild flower he lives,

^103:16 one gust of wind, and he is gone, never to be seen there again;

^103:17 yet Yahweh’s love for those who fear him lasts from all eternity and for ever, like his goodness to their children’s children,

^103:18 as long as they keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.

^103:19 Yahweh has fixed his throne in the heavens, his empire is over all.

^103:20 Bless Yahweh, all his angels, heroes mighty to enforce his word, attentive to his word of command.

^103:21 Bless Yahweh, all his armies, servants to enforce his will.

^103:22 Bless Yahweh, all his creatures in every part of his empire! Bless Yahweh, my soul.

^8:22 From the beginning till now the entire creation, as we know, has been groaning in one great act of giving birth;

^8:23 and not only creation, but all of us who possess the first-fruits of the Spirit, we too groan inwardly as we wait for our bodies to be set free.

^8:24 For we must be content to hope that we shall be saved – our salvation is not in sight, we should not have to be hoping for it if it were –

^8:25 but, as I say, we must hope to be saved since we are not saved yet – it is something we must wait for with patience.

^8:26 The Spirit too comes to help us in our weakness. For when we cannot choose words in order to pray properly, the Spirit himself expresses our plea in a way that could never be put into words,

^8:27 and God who knows everything in our hearts knows perfectly well what he means, and that the pleas of the saints expressed by the Spirit are according to the mind of God.

^7:37 On the last day and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood there and cried out: ‘If any man is thirsty, let him come to me! Let the man come and drink

^7:38 who believes in me!’ As scripture says: From his breast shall flow fountains of living water.[*e]

^7:39 He was speaking of the Spirit which those who believed in him were to receive; for there was no Spirit as yet because Jesus had not yet been glorified.