Daily Readings - 25/10/2026

^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.’