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]

^33:1 Shout for joy to Yahweh, all virtuous men, praise comes well from upright hearts;

^33:2 give thanks to Yahweh on the lyre, play to him on the ten-string harp;

^33:3 sing a new song in his honour, play with all your skill as you acclaim[*a] him!

^33:4 The word of Yahweh is integrity itself, all he does is done faithfully;

^33:5 he loves virtue and justice, Yahweh’s love fills the earth.

^33:6 By the word of Yahweh the heavens were made, their whole array by the breath of his mouth;

^33:7 he collects the ocean waters as though in a wineskin, he stores the deeps in cellars.

^33:8 Let the whole world fear Yahweh, let all who live on earth revere him!

^33:9 He spoke, and it was created; he commanded, and there it stood.

^33:10 Yahweh thwarts the plans of nations, frustrates the intentions of peoples;

^33:11 but Yahweh’s plans hold good for ever, the intentions of his heart from age to age.

^33:12 Happy the nation whose God is Yahweh, the people he has chosen for his heritage.

^33:13 Yahweh looks down from heaven, he sees the whole human race;

^33:14 from where he sits he watches all who live on the earth,

^33:15 he who moulds every heart and takes note of all men do.

^33:16 A large army will not keep a king safe, nor does the hero escape by his great strength;

^33:17 it is delusion to rely on the horse for safety, for all its power, it cannot save.

^33:18 But see how the eye of Yahweh is on those who fear him, on those who rely on his love,

^33:19 to rescue their souls from death and keep them alive in famine.

^33:20 Our soul awaits Yahweh, he is our help and shield;

^33:21 our hearts rejoice in him, we trust in his holy name.

^33:22 Yahweh, let your love rest on us as our hope has rested in you.

^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.

^63:1 God, you are my God, I am seeking you, my soul is thirsting for you, my flesh is longing for you, a land parched, weary and waterless;

^63:2 I long to gaze on you in the Sanctuary, and to see your power and glory.

^63:3 Your love is better than life itself, my lips will recite your praise;

^63:4 all my life I will bless you, in your name lift up my hands;

^63:5 my soul will feast most richly, on my lips a song of joy and, in my mouth, praise.

^63:6 On my bed I think of you, I meditate on you all night long,

^63:7 for you have always helped me. I sing for joy in the shadow of your wings;

^63:8 my soul clings close to you, your right hand supports me.

^63:9 But may those now hounding me to death go down to the earth below,

^63:10 consigned to the edge of the sword, and left as food for jackals.

^63:11 Then will the king rejoice in God, and all who swear by him be able to boast once these lying mouths are silenced.

^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.