Daily Readings - 24/10/2026

^4:7 Each one of us, however, has been given his own share of grace, given as Christ allotted it.

^4:8 It was said that he would: When he ascended to the height, he captured prisoners, he gave gifts to men.[*a]

^4:9 When it says, ‘he ascended’, what can it mean if not that he descended right down to the lower regions of the earth?

^4:10 The one who rose higher than all the heavens to fill all things is none other than the one who descended.

^4:11 And to some, his gift was that they should be apostles; to some, prophets; to some, evangelists; to some, pastors and teachers;

^4:12 so that the saints together make a unity in the work of service, building up the body of Christ.

^4:13 In this way we are all to come to unity in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God, until we become the perfect Man, fully mature with the fullness of Christ himself.

^4:14 Then we shall not be children any longer, or tossed one way and another and carried along by every wind of doctrine, at the mercy of all the tricks men play and their cleverness in practising deceit.

^4:15 If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ, who is the head

^4:16 by whom the whole body is fitted and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to its function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love.

^122:1 How I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of Yahweh!’

^122:2 And now our feet are standing in your gateways, Jerusalem.

^122:3 Jerusalem restored! The city, one united whole!

^122:4 Here the tribes come up, the tribes of Yahweh, they come to praise Yahweh’s name, as he ordered Israel,

^122:5 here where the tribunals of justice are, the royal tribunals of David.

^122:6 Pray for peace in Jerusalem, ‘Prosperity to your houses!

^122:7 Peace inside your city walls! Prosperity to your palaces!’

^122:8 Since all are my brothers and friends, I say ‘Peace be with you!’

^122:9 Since Yahweh our God lives here, I pray for your happiness.

^13:1 It was just about this time that some people arrived and told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with that of their sacrifices[*a].

^13:2 At this he said to them, ‘Do you suppose these Galileans who suffered like that were greater sinners than any other Galileans?

^13:3 They were not, I tell you. No; but unless you repent you will all perish as they did.

^13:4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower at Siloam fell and killed them? Do you suppose that they were more guilty than all the other people living in Jerusalem?

^13:5 They were not, I tell you. No; but unless you repent you will all perish as they did.’

^13:6 He told this parable: ‘A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it but found none.

^13:7 He said to the man who looked after the vineyard, “Look here, for three years now I have been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and finding none. Cut it down: why should it be taking up the ground?”

^13:8 “Sir,” the man replied “leave it one more year and give me time to dig round it and manure it:

^13:9 it may bear fruit next year; if not, then you can cut it down.”‘

^22:20 “You must not molest the stranger or oppress him, for you lived as strangers in the land of Egypt.

^22:21 You must not be harsh with the widow, or with the orphan;

^22:22 if you are harsh with them, they will surely cry out to me, and be sure I shall hear their cry;

^22:23 my anger will flare and I shall kill you with the sword, your own wives will be widows, your own children orphans.

^22:24 “If you lend money to any of my people, to any poor man among you, you must not play the usurer with him: you must not demand interest from him.

^22:25 “If you take another’s cloak as a pledge, you must give it back to him before sunset.

^22:26 It is all the covering he has; it is the cloak he wraps his body in; what else would he sleep in? If he cries to me, I will listen, for I am full of pity.

^18:1 I love you, Yahweh, my strength (my saviour, you rescue me from violence.)

^18:2 Yahweh is my rock and my bastion, my deliverer is my God. I take shelter in him, my rock, my shield, my horn of salvation, my stronghold and my refuge. From violence you rescue me.

^18:3 He is to be praised; on Yahweh I call and am saved from my enemies.

^18:4 The waves of death encircled me, the torrents of Belial burst on me;

^18:5 the cords of Sheol girdled me, the snares of death were before me.

^18:6 In my distress I called to Yahweh and to my God I cried; from his Temple he heard my voice, my cry came to his ears.

^18:7 Then the earth quivered and quaked, the foundations of the mountains trembled (they quivered because he was angry);

^18:8 from his nostrils a smoke ascended, and from his mouth a fire that consumed (live embers were kindled at it).

^18:9 He bent the heavens and came down, a dark cloud under his feet;

^18:10 he mounted a cherub and flew, and soared on the wings of the wind.

^18:11 Darkness he made a veil to surround him, his tent a watery darkness, dense cloud;

^18:12 before him a flash enkindled hail and fiery embers.

^18:13 Yahweh thundered from heaven, the Most High made his voice heard;

^18:14 he let his arrows fly and scattered them, launched the lightnings and routed them.

^18:15 The bed of the seas was revealed, the foundations of the world were laid bare, at your muttered threat, Yahweh, at the blast of your nostrils’ breath.

^18:16 He sends from on high and takes me, he draws me from deep waters,

^18:17 he delivers me from my powerful enemy, from a foe too strong for me.

^18:18 They assailed me on my day of disaster, but Yahweh was my support;

^18:19 he freed me, set me at large, he rescued me, since he loves me.

^18:20 Yahweh requites me as I act justly, as my hands are pure so he repays me,

^18:21 since I have kept the ways of Yahweh, nor fallen away from my God.

^18:22 His judgements are all before me, his statutes I have not put from me;

^18:23 I am blameless in his presence, I keep sin at arm’s length.

^18:24 And Yahweh repays me as I act justly, as my purity is in his sight.

^18:25 Faithful you are with the faithful, blameless with the blameless,

^18:26 pure with the one who is pure, but crafty with the devious,

^18:27 you save a people that is humble and humiliate eyes that are haughty.

^18:28 Yahweh, you yourself are my lamp, my God lights up my darkness;

^18:29 with you I storm the barbican, with my God I leap the rampart.

^18:30 This God, his way is blameless; the word of Yahweh is without dross. He it is who is the shield of all who take shelter in him.

^18:31 Who else is God but Yahweh, who else a rock save our God?

^18:32 This God who girds me with strength and makes my way without blame,

^18:33 who makes my feet like the hinds’ and holds me from falling on the heights,

^18:34 who trains my hands for battle, my arms to bend a bow of bronze.

^18:35 You give me your saving shield (your right hand upholds me), with care you train me,

^18:36 wide room you make for my steps under me, my feet have never faltered.

^18:37 I pursue my enemies and overtake them, nor turn back till an end is made of them;

^18:38 I strike them down, and they cannot rise, they fall, they are under my feet:

^18:39 You have girt me with strength for the fight, bent down my assailants beneath me,

^18:40 made my enemies turn their backs to me; and those who hate me I destroy.

^18:41 They cry out, there is no one to save, to Yahweh, but there is no reply;

^18:42 I crush them fine as dust before the wind, trample them like the mud of the streets.

^18:43 You deliver me from a people in revolt, you place me at the head of the nations, a people I did not know are now my servants,

^18:44 foreigners come wooing my favour, no sooner do they hear than they obey me,

^18:45 foreigners grow faint of heart, they come trembling out of their fastnesses.

^18:46 Life to Yahweh! Blessed be my rock! Exalted be the God of my salvation,

^18:47 the God who gives me vengeance and subjects the peoples to me,

^18:48 who rescues me from my raging enemies. who attack me, you deliver me from the man of violence.

^18:49 For this I will praise you, Yahweh, among the heathen and sing praise to your name.

^18:50 His king he saves and saves again, displays his love for his anointed, for David and his heirs for ever.

^22:34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees they got together

^22:35 and, to disconcert him, one of them put a question,

^22:36 ‘Master, which is the greatest commandment of the Law?’

^22:37 Jesus said, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.

^22:38 This is the greatest and the first commandment.

^22:39 The second resembles it: You must love your neighbour as yourself.

^22:40 On these two commandments hang the whole Law, and the Prophets also.’