Daily Readings - 12/07/2026

^55:10 Yes, as the rain and the snow come down from the heavens and do not return without watering the earth, making it yield and giving growth to provide seed for the sower and bread for the eating,

^55:11 so the word that goes from my mouth does not return to me empty, without carrying out my will and succeeding in what it was sent to do.

^64:1 God, hear me as I make my plea, protect me from this frightening enemy,

^64:2 hide me from the wicked and their schemes, from this mob of evil men,

^64:3 sharpening their tongues like swords, shooting bitter words like arrows,

^64:4 shooting them at the innocent from cover, shooting suddenly, without warning.

^64:5 Urging each other on to their wicked purpose, they discuss where to hide their snares. ‘Who is going to see us?’ they say

^64:6 ‘Who can probe our secrets?’ Who? He who probes the inmost mind and the depths of the heart.

^64:7 God will shoot them with his own arrow, wound them without warning.

^64:8 He will destroy them for that tongue of theirs, and all who see them fall will shake their heads.

^64:9 Then all will feel afraid, will tell others what God has done; they will understand why he has done it.

^64:10 The virtuous will rejoice in Yahweh, will make him their refuge; and upright hearts will be able to boast.

^8:18 I think that what we suffer in this life can never be compared to the glory, as yet unrevealed, which is waiting for us.

^8:19 The whole creation is eagerly waiting for God to reveal his sons.

^8:20 It was not for any fault on the part of creation that it was made unable to attain its purpose, it was made so by God; but creation still retains the hope

^8:21 of being freed, like us, from its slavery to decadence, to enjoy the same freedom and glory as the children of God.

^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.

^13:1 That same day, Jesus left the house and sat by the lakeside,

^13:2 but such large crowds gathered round him that he got into a boat and sat there. The people all stood on the beach,

^13:3 and he told them many things in parables.

^13:4 As he sowed, some seeds fell on the edge of the path, and the birds came and ate them up.

^13:5 Others fell on patches of rock where they found little soil and sprang up straight away, because there was no depth of earth;

^13:6 but as soon as the sun came up they were scorched and, not having any roots, they withered away.

^13:7 Others fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.

^13:8 Others fell on rich soil and produced their crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

^13:9 Listen, anyone who has ears!’

^13:10 Then the disciples went up to him and asked, ‘Why do you talk to them in parables?’

^13:11 ‘Because’ he replied ‘the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven are revealed to you, but they are not revealed to them.

^13:12 For anyone who has will be given more, and he will have more than enough; but from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.

^13:13 The reason I talk to them in parables is that they look without seeing and listen without hearing or understanding.

^13:14 So in their case this prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled: You will listen and listen again, but not understand, see and see again, but not perceive.

^13:15 For the heart of this nation has grown coarse, their ears are dull of hearing, and they have shut their eyes, for fear they should see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and be converted and be healed by me.[*a]

^13:16 ‘But happy are your eyes because they see, your ears because they hear!

^13:17 I tell you solemnly, many prophets and holy men longed to see what you see, and never saw it; to hear what you hear, and never heard it.

^13:18 ‘You, therefore, are to hear the parable of the sower.

^13:19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom without understanding, the evil one comes and carries off what was sown in his heart: this is the man who received the seed on the edge of the path.

^13:20 The one who received it on patches of rock is the man who hears the word and welcomes it at once with joy.

^13:21 But he has no root in him, he does not last; let some trial come, or some persecution on account of the word, and he falls away at once.

^13:22 The one who received the seed in thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this world and the lure of riches choke the word and so he produces nothing.

^13:23 And the one who received the seed in rich soil is the man who hears the word and understands it; he is the one who yields a harvest and produces now a hundredfold, now sixty, now thirty.’