Daily Readings - 09/07/2026

^11:1 When Israel was a child I loved him, and I called my son out of Egypt.

^11:2 But the more I called to them, the further they went from me; they have offered sacrifice to the Baals and set their offerings smoking before the idols.

^11:3 I myself taught Ephraim to walk, I took them in my arms; yet they have not understood that I was the one looking after them.

^11:4 I led them with reins of kindness, with leading-strings of love. I was like someone who lifts an infant close against his cheek; stooping down to him I gave him his food.

^11:8 Ephraim, how could I part with you? Israel, how could I give you up? How could I treat you like Admah, or deal with you like Zeboiim?[*a] My heart recoils from it, my whole being trembles at the thought.

^11:9 I will not give rein to my fierce anger, I will not destroy Ephraim again, for I am God, not man: I am the Holy One in your midst and have no wish to destroy.

^80:1 Shepherd of Israel, listen, you who lead Joseph like a flock; enthroned on the cherubs, shine

^80:2 on Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh;[*a] rouse your strength, come to us and save us!

^80:3 Yahweh Sabaoth, bring us back, let your face smile on us and we shall be safe.

^80:4 Yahweh Sabaoth, how much longer will you smoulder at your people’s prayer?

^80:5 Having fed us on the bread of tears, having made us drink them in such measure,

^80:6 you now let our neighbours quarrel over us and our enemies deride us.

^80:7 Yahweh Sabaoth, bring us back, let your face smile on us and we shall be safe.

^80:8 There was a vine: you uprooted it from Egypt; to plant it, you drove out other nations,

^80:9 you cleared a space where it could grow, it took root and filled the whole country.

^80:10 It covered the mountains with its shade, the cedars of God with its branches,

^80:11 its tendrils extended to the sea, its offshoots all the way to the river.[*b]

^80:12 Why have you destroyed its fences? Now anyone can go and steal its grapes,

^80:13 the forest boar can ravage it and wild animals eat it.

^80:14 Please, Yahweh Sabaoth, relent! Look down from heaven, look at this vine, visit it,

^80:15 protect what your own right hand has planted.

^80:16 They threw it on the fire like dung, but one look of reproof from you and they will be doomed.

^80:17 May your hand protect the man at your right, the son of man who has been authorised by you.

^80:18 We shall never turn from you again; our life renewed, we shall invoke your name.

^80:19 Yahweh Sabaoth, bring us back, let your face smile on us and we shall be safe.

^10:7 And as you go, proclaim that the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.

^10:8 Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out devils. You received without charge, give without charge.

^10:9 Provide yourselves with no gold or silver, not even with a few coppers for your purses,

^10:10 with no haversack for the journey or spare tunic or footwear or a staff, for the workman deserves his keep.

^10:11 ‘Whatever town or village you go into, ask for someone trustworthy and stay with him until you leave.

^10:12 As you enter his house, salute it,

^10:13 and if the house deserves it, let your peace descend upon it; if it does not, let your peace come back to you.

^10:14 And if anyone does not welcome you or listen to what you have to say, as you walk out of the house or town shake the dust from your feet.

^10:15 I tell you solemnly, on the day of Judgement it will not go as hard with the land of Sodom and Gomorrah as with that town.