Daily Readings - 20/08/2026

^50:1 Yahweh, God of gods, speaks, he summons the earth. From east to west,

^50:2 from Zion, perfection of beauty, he shines.

^50:3 Let our God come, and be silent no more! Preceding him, a devouring fire, round him, a raging storm;

^50:4 he summons the heavens above and the earth, to his people’s trial:

^50:5 ‘Assemble my faithful before me who sealed my covenant by sacrifice!’

^50:6 Let the heavens proclaim his righteousness when God himself is judge! (Pause)

^50:8 ‘I am not finding fault with your sacrifices, those holocausts constantly before me;

^50:9 I do not claim one extra bull from your homes, nor one extra goat from your pens,

^50:10 ‘since all the forest animals are already mine, and the cattle on my mountains in their thousands;

^50:11 I know all the birds of the air, nothing moves in the field that does not belong to me.

^50:12 ‘If I were hungry, I should not tell you, since the world and all it holds is mine.

^50:13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink goats’ blood?

^50:14 ‘No, let thanksgiving be your sacrifice to God, fulfil the vows you make to the Most High;

^50:15 then you can invoke me in your troubles and I will rescue you, and you shall honour me.’

^50:16 But to the wicked man God says: ‘What business have you reciting my statutes, standing there mouthing my covenant,

^50:17 since you detest my discipline and thrust my words behind you?

^50:18 ‘You make friends with a thief as soon as you see one, you feel at home with adulterers,

^50:19 your mouth is given freely to evil and your tongue to inventing lies.

^50:20 ‘You sit there, slandering your own brother, you malign your own mother’s son.

^50:21 You do this, and expect me to say nothing?

^50:22 ‘You are leaving God out of account; take care! Or I will tear you to pieces where no one can rescue you!

^50:23 Whoever makes thanksgiving his sacrifice honours me; to the upright man I will show how God can save.’

^22:1 Jesus began to speak to them in parables once again,

^22:2 ‘The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a feast for his son’s wedding.

^22:3 He sent his servants to call those who had been invited, but they would not come.

^22:4 Next he sent some more servants. “Tell those who have been invited” he said “that I have my banquet all prepared, my oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, everything is ready. Come to the wedding.”

^22:5 But they were not interested: one went off to his farm, another to his business,

^22:6 and the rest seized his servants, maltreated them and killed them.

^22:7 The king was furious. He despatched his troops, destroyed those murderers and burnt their town.

^22:8 Then he said to his servants, “The wedding is ready; but as those who were invited proved to be unworthy,

^22:9 go to the crossroads in the town and invite everyone you can find to the wedding”.

^22:10 So these servants went out on to the roads and collected together everyone they could find, bad and good alike; and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

^22:11 When the king came in to look at the guests he noticed one man who was not wearing a wedding garment,

^22:12 and said to him, “How did you get in here, my friend, without a wedding garment?” And the man was silent.

^22:13 Then the king said to the attendants, “Bind him hand and foot and throw him out into the dark, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth”.

^22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen.’