Daily Readings - 22/06/2026

^17:5 The king of Assyria invaded the whole country and, coming to Samaria, laid siege to it for three years.

^17:6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the Israelites to Assyria. He settled them in Halah on the Habor, a river of Gozan,[*a] and in the cities of the Medes.[*b]

^17:7 This happened because the Israelites had sinned against Yahweh their God who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the grip of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshipped other gods,

^17:8 they followed the practices of the nations that Yahweh had dispossessed for them.

^17:13 And yet through all the prophets and all the seers, Yahweh had given Israel and Judah this warning, ‘Turn from your wicked ways and keep my commandments and my laws in accordance with the entire Law I laid down for your fathers and delivered to them through my servants the prophets’.

^17:14 But they would not listen, they were more stubborn than their ancestors had been who had no faith in Yahweh their God.

^17:15 They despised his laws and the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and the warnings he had given them. They pursued emptiness, and themselves became empty through copying the nations round them although Yahweh had ordered them not to act as they did.

^17:18 For this, Yahweh was enraged with Israel and thrust them away from him. There was none left but the tribe of Judah only.

^59:1 Rescue me from my enemies, my God, protect me from those attacking me,

^59:2 rescue me from these evil men, save me from these murderers!

^59:3 Look at them lurking to ambush they are strong and united against me; for no fault, no sin,

^59:4 no offence of mine, Yahweh, how they hurry into position! Wake up, stand by me and look,

^59:5 Yahweh, God of Sabaoth, God of Israel, up, now, and punish these pagans, show no mercy to these villains and traitors! (pause)

^59:6 Back they come at nightfall, snarling like curs, prowling through the town.

^59:7 See how they slaver at the mouth, with swords between their teeth, ‘There is no one listening’.

^59:8 Yahweh, you laugh at them, you make fun of these pagans.

^59:9 My Strength, I look to you. My citadel is God himself,

^59:10 the God who loves me is coming, God will show me my enemies defeated.

^59:11 Slaughter them, God, before my people forget! Harry them with your power and strike them down, Lord, our shield!

^59:12 Sin is in their mouths, sin on their lips, so let them be caught in their pride! For the curses and lies they utter,

^59:13 destroy them in anger, destroy, until they are finished, until God is acknowledged as ruler in Jacob to the remotest parts of the earth! (pause)

^59:14 Back they come at nightfall, snarling like curs, prowling through the town;

^59:15 scavenging for food, growling till they are full.

^59:16 I, for my part, celebrate your strength, I sing of your love morning by morning; you have always been my citadel, a shelter when I am in trouble.

^59:17 My Strength, I play for you, my citadel is God himself, the God who loves me.

^7:1 ‘Do not judge, and you will not be judged;

^7:2 because the judgements you give are the judgements you will get, and the amount you measure out is the amount you will be given.

^7:3 Why do you observe the splinter in your brother’s eye and never notice the plank in your own?

^7:4 How dare you say to your brother, “Let me take the splinter out of your eye”, when all the time there is a plank in your own?

^7:5 Hypocrite! Take the plank out of your own eye first, and then you will see clearly enough to take the splinter out of your brother’s eye.