Daily Readings - 29/08/2026

^1:26 Take yourselves for instance, brothers, at the time when you were called: how many of you were wise in the ordinary sense of the word, how many were influential people, or came from noble families?

^1:27 No, it was to shame the wise that God chose what is foolish by human reckoning, and to shame what is strong that he chose what is weak by human reckoning;

^1:28 those whom the world thinks common and contemptible are the ones that God has chosen – those who are nothing at all to show up those who are everything.

^1:29 The human race has nothing to boast about to God,

^1:30 but you, God has made members of Christ Jesus and by God’s doing he has become our wisdom, and our virtue, and our holiness, and our freedom.

^1:31 As scripture says: if anyone wants to boast, let him boast about the Lord.[*d]

^32:1 Happy the man whose fault is forgiven, whose sin is blotted out;

^32:2 happy the man whom Yahweh accuses of no guilt, whose spirit is incapable of deceit!

^32:3 All the time I kept silent, my bones were wasting away with groans, day in, day out;

^32:4 day and night your hand lay heavy on me; my heart grew parched as stubble in summer drought (Pause)

^32:5 At last I admitted to you I had sinned; no longer concealing my guilt, I said, ‘I will go to Yahweh and confess my fault’. And you, you have forgiven the wrong I did, have pardoned my sin. (Pause)

^32:6 That is why each of your servants prays to you in time of trouble; even if floods come rushing down, they will never reach him.

^32:7 You are a hiding place for me, you guard me when in trouble, you surround me with songs of deliverance. (Pause)

^32:8 I will instruct you, and teach you the way to go; I will watch over you and be your adviser.

^32:9 Do not be like senseless horse or mule that need bit and bridle to curb their spirit (to let you get near them).

^32:10 Many torments await the wicked, but grace enfolds the man who trusts in Yahweh.

^32:11 Rejoice in Yahweh, exult, you virtuous, shout for joy, all upright hearts.

^6:17 Now it was this same Herod who had sent to have John arrested, and had him chained up in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife whom he had married.

^6:18 For John had told Herod, ‘It is against the law for you to have your brother’s wife’.

^6:19 As for Herodias, she was furious with him and wanted to kill him; but she was not able to,

^6:20 because Herod was afraid of John, knowing him to be a good and holy man, and gave him his protection. When he had heard him speak he was greatly perplexed, and yet he liked to listen to him.

^6:21 An opportunity came on Herod’s birthday when he gave a banquet for the nobles of his court, for his army officers and for the leading figures in Galilee.

^6:22 When the daughter of this same Herodias came in and danced, she delighted Herod and his guests; so the king said to the girl, ‘Ask me anything you like and I will give it you’.

^6:23 And he swore her an oath, ‘I will give you anything you ask, even half my kingdom’.

^6:24 She went out and said to her mother, ‘What shall I ask for?’ She replied, ‘The head of John the Baptist’

^6:25 The girl hurried straight back to the king and made her request, ‘I want you to give me John the Baptist’s head, here and now, on a dish’.

^6:26 The king was deeply distressed but, thinking of the oaths he had sworn and of his guests, he was reluctant to break his word to her.

^6:27 So the king at once sent one of the bodyguard with orders to bring John’s head.

^6:28 The man went off and beheaded him in prison; then he brought the head on a dish and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother.

^6:29 When John’s disciples heard about this, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

^20:7 You have seduced me, Yahweh, and I have let myself be seduced; you have overpowered me: you were the stronger. I am a daily laughing-stock, everybody’s butt.

^20:8 Each time I speak the word, I have to howl and proclaim: ‘Violence and ruin!’ The word of Yahweh has meant for me insult, derision, all day long.

^20:9 I used to say, ‘I will not think about him, I will not speak in his name any more. Then there seemed to be a fire burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones. The effort to restrain it wearied me, I could not bear it.

^62:1 In God alone there is rest for my soul, from him comes my safety;

^62:2 with him alone for my rock, my safety, my fortress, I can never fall.

^62:3 How many times will you come rushing at a man, all of you, to bring him down like a wall already leaning over, like a rampart undermined?

^62:4 Deceit their sole intention, their delight is to mislead; with lies on their lips they bless aloud, while cursing inwardly. (pause)

^62:5 Rest in God alone, my soul! He is the source of my hope;

^62:6 with him alone for my rock, my safety, my fortress, I can never fall;

^62:7 rest in God, my safety, my glory, the rock of my strength. In God, I find shelter;

^62:8 rely on him people, at all times; unburden your hearts to him, God is a shelter for us (pause)

^62:9 Ordinary men are only a puff of wind, important men[*a] delusion; put both in the scales and up they go, lighter than a puff of wind.

^62:10 Put no reliance on extortion, no empty hopes in robbery; though riches may increase, keep your heart detached.

^62:11 God has spoken once, twice I have heard this: it is for God to be strong, for you,

^62:12 Lord, to be loving; and you yourself repay man as his works deserve.

^12:1 Think of God’s mercy, my brothers, and worship him, I beg you, in a way that is worthy of thinking beings, by offering your living bodies as a holy sacrifice, truly pleasing to God.

^12:2 Do not model yourselves on the behaviour of the world around you, but let your behaviour change, modelled by your new mind. This is the only way to discover the will of God and know what is good, what it is that God wants, what is the perfect thing to do.

^16:21 From that time Jesus began to make it clear to his disciples that he was destined to go to Jerusalem and suffer grievously at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, to be put to death and to be raised up on the third day.

^16:22 Then, taking him aside, Peter started to remonstrate with him. ‘Heaven preserve you, Lord;’ he said ‘this must not happen to you’.

^16:23 But he turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle in my path, because the way you think is not God’s way but man’s.’

^16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If anyone wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me.

^16:25 For anyone who wants to save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake will find it.

^16:26 What, then, will a man gain if he wins the whole world and ruins his life? Or what has a man to offer in exchange for his life?

^16:27 ‘For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and, when he does, he will reward each one according to his behaviour.