Daily Readings - 01/08/2026

^26:11 The priests and prophets then addressed the officials and all the people, ‘This man deserves to die, since he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears’.

^26:12 Jeremiah, however, replied to the people as follows, ‘Yahweh himself sent me to say all the things you have heard against this Temple and this city.

^26:13 So now amend your behaviour and actions, listen to the voice of Yahweh your God: if you do, he will relent and not bring down on you the disaster he has pronounced against you.

^26:14 For myself, I am as you see in your hands. Do whatever you please or think right with me.

^26:15 But be sure of this, that if you put me to death, you will be bringing innocent blood on yourselves, on this city and on its citizens, since Yahweh has truly sent me to you to say all these words in your hearing.’

^26:16 The officials and all the people then said to the priests and prophets, ‘This man does not deserve to die: he has spoken to us in the name of Yahweh our God’.

^26:24 But Jeremiah had a protector in Ahikam son of Shaphan,[*b] so he was not handed over to the people to be put to death.

^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.

^14:1 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the reputation of Jesus,

^14:2 and said to his court, ‘This is John the Baptist himself; he has risen from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him’.

^14:3 Now it was Herod who had arrested John, chained him up and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s[*a] wife:.

^14:4 For John had told him, ‘It is against the Law for you to have her’.

^14:5 He had wanted to kill him but was afraid of the people, who regarded John as a prophet.

^14:6 Then, during the celebrations for Herod’s birthday, the daughter of Herodias[*b] danced before the company, and so delighted Herod

^14:7 that he promised on oath to give her anything she asked.

^14:8 Prompted by her mother she said, ‘Give me John the Baptist’s head, here, on a dish’.

^14:9 The king was distressed but, thinking of the oaths he had sworn and of his guests, he ordered it to be given her,

^14:10 and sent and had John beheaded in the prison.

^14:11 The head was brought in on a dish and given to the girl who took it to her mother.

^14:12 John’s disciples came and took the body and buried it; then they went off to tell Jesus.

^55:1 Oh, come to the water all you who are thirsty; though you have no money, come! Buy corn without money, and eat, and, at no cost, wine and milk.

^55:2 Why spend money on what is not bread, your wages on what fails to satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and you will have good things to eat and rich food to enjoy.

^55:3 Pay attention, come to me; listen, and your soul will live.

^144:1 Blessed be Yahweh, my rock, who trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle,

^144:2 my love, my bastion, my citadel, my saviour, I shelter behind him, my shield, he makes the nations submit to me.

^144:3 Yahweh, what is man, that you should notice him? A human being, that you should think about him?

^144:4 Man’s life, a mere puff of wind, his days, as fugitive as shadows.

^144:5 Yahweh, lower your heavens, come down to us! Touch the mountains, make them smoke,

^144:6 flash your lightning – scatter them, shoot your arrows – rout them.

^144:7 Reach down your hand from above, save me, rescue me from deep waters, from the power of aliens

^144:8 who tell nothing but lies, who are prepared to swear to falsehood!

^144:9 God, I have made a new song for you to be played on the ten-string lyre,

^144:10 you who give victory to kings and safety to your servant David. From peril of sword

^144:11 save me, rescue me from the power of aliens who tell nothing but lies, who are prepared to swear to falsehood!

^144:12 May our sons be like plants growing strong from their earliest days, our daughters like corner-statues,[*a] carvings fit for a palace;

^144:13 may our barns overflow with every possible crop, may the sheep in our fields be counted in their thousands and tens of thousands,

^144:14 may our cattle be stout and strong; and may there be an end of raids and exile, and of panic in our streets.

^144:15 Happy the nation of whom this is true, happy the nation whose God is Yahweh!

^8:35 Nothing therefore can come between us and the love of Christ, even if we are troubled or worried, or being persecuted, or lacking food or clothes, or being threatened or even attacked.

^8:37 These are the trials through which we triumph, by the power of him who loved us.

^8:38 For I am certain of this: neither death nor life, no angel, no prince, nothing that exists, nothing still to come, not any power,

^8:39 or height or depth,[*d] nor any created thing, can ever come between us and the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord.

^14:13 When Jesus received this news he withdrew by boat to a lonely place where they could be by themselves. But the people heard of this and, leaving the towns, went after him on foot.

^14:14 So as he stepped ashore he saw a large crowd; and he took pity on them and healed their sick.

^14:15 When evening came, the disciples went to him and said, ‘This is a lonely place, and the time has slipped by; so send the people away, and they can go to the villages to buy themselves some food’.

^14:16 Jesus replied, ‘There is no need for them to go: give them something to eat yourselves’.

^14:17 But they answered ‘All we have with us is five loaves and two fish’.

^14:18 ‘Bring them here to me’ he said.

^14:19 He gave orders that the people were to sit down on the grass; then he took the five loaves and the two fish, raised his eyes to heaven and said the blessing. And breaking the loaves handed them to his disciples who gave them to the crowds.

^14:20 They all ate as much as they wanted, and they collected the scraps remaining; twelve baskets full.

^14:21 Those who ate numbered about five thousand men, to say nothing of women and children.