Churches, Denominations and Religions

Daily Lectionary Readings
(Two-Year Cycle)

Daily Lectionary Readings for April 02, 2025

By Daily Lectionary Readings, Wednesday, April 2, 2025 12:00 AM

Morning Psalm 5

¹   Give ear to my words, O LORD;
          give heed to my sighing.
²   Listen to the sound of my cry,
          my King and my God,
          for to you I pray.
³   O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice;
          in the morning I plead my case to you, and watch.

⁴   For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
          evil will not sojourn with you.
⁵   The boastful will not stand before your eyes;
          you hate all evildoers.
⁶   You destroy those who speak lies;
          the LORD abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful.

⁷   But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,
          will enter your house,
     I will bow down toward your holy temple
          in awe of you.
⁸   Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness
          because of my enemies;
          make your way straight before me.

⁹   For there is no truth in their mouths;
          their hearts are destruction;
     their throats are open graves;
          they flatter with their tongues.
¹⁰  Make them bear their guilt, O God;
          let them fall by their own counsels;
     because of their many transgressions cast them out,
          for they have rebelled against you.

¹¹  But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;
          let them ever sing for joy.
     Spread your protection over them,
          so that those who love your name may exult in you.
¹²  For you bless the righteous, O LORD;
          you cover them with favor as with a shield.

Morning Psalm 147:1-11

¹   Praise the Lord!
          How good it is to sing praises to our God;
          for he is gracious, and a song of praise is fitting.
²   The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
          he gathers the outcasts of Israel.
³   He heals the brokenhearted,
          and binds up their wounds.
⁴   He determines the number of the stars;
          he gives to all of them their names.
⁵   Great is our Lord, and abundant in power;
          his understanding is beyond measure.
⁶   The Lord lifts up the downtrodden;
          he casts the wicked to the ground.

⁷   Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving;
          make melody to our God on the lyre.
⁸   He covers the heavens with clouds,
          prepares rain for the earth,
          makes grass grow on the hills.
⁹   He gives to the animals their food,
          and to the young ravens when they cry.
¹⁰  His delight is not in the strength of the horse,
          nor his pleasure in the speed of a runner;
¹¹  but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him,
          in those who hope in his steadfast love.

First Reading Jeremiah 18:1-11

¹The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: ²“Come, go down to the potter’s house, and there I will let you hear my words.” ³So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was working at his wheel. ⁴The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him.

⁵Then the word of the LORD came to me: ⁶Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the LORD. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. ⁷At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, ⁸but if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will change my mind about the disaster that I intended to bring on it. ⁹And at another moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, ¹⁰but if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will change my mind about the good that I had intended to do to it. ¹¹Now, therefore, say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus says the LORD: Look, I am a potter shaping evil against you and devising a plan against you. Turn now, all of you from your evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.

Second Reading Romans 8:1-11

¹There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. ²For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. ³For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. ⁵For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. ⁶To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law — indeed it cannot, ⁸and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

⁹But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. ¹⁰But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. ¹¹If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.

Gospel Reading John 6:27-40

²⁷“Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.” ²⁸Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” ²⁹Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” ³⁰So they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? ³¹Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” ³²Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” ³⁴They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

³⁵Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. ³⁶But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. ³⁷Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; ³⁸for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. ³⁹And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. ⁴⁰This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.”

Evening Psalm 27

¹   The LORD is my light and my salvation;
          whom shall I fear?
     The LORD is the stronghold of my life;
          of whom shall I be afraid?

²   When evildoers assail me
          to devour my flesh —
     my adversaries and foes —
          they shall stumble and fall.

³   Though an army encamp against me,
          my heart shall not fear;
     though war rise up against me,
          yet I will be confident.

⁴   One thing I asked of the LORD,
          that will I seek after:
     to live in the house of the LORD
          all the days of my life,
     to behold the beauty of the LORD,
          and to inquire in his temple.

⁵   For he will hide me in his shelter
          in the day of trouble;
     he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
          he will set me high on a rock.

⁶   Now my head is lifted up
          above my enemies all around me,
     and I will offer in his tent
          sacrifices with shouts of joy;
     I will sing and make melody to the LORD.

⁷   Hear, O LORD, when I cry aloud,
          be gracious to me and answer me!
⁸   “Come,” my heart says, “seek his face!”
          Your face, LORD, do I seek.
⁹        Do not hide your face from me.

     Do not turn your servant away in anger,
          you who have been my help.
     Do not cast me off, do not forsake me,
          O God of my salvation!
¹⁰   If my father and mother forsake me,
          the LORD will take me up.

¹¹  Teach me your way, O LORD,
          and lead me on a level path
          because of my enemies.
¹²  Do not give me up to the will of my adversaries,
          for false witnesses have risen against me,
          and they are breathing out violence.

¹³  I believe that I shall see the goodness of the LORD
          in the land of the living.
¹⁴   Wait for the LORD;
          be strong, and let your heart take courage;
          wait for the LORD!

Evening Psalm 51

¹   Have mercy on me, O God,
          according to your steadfast love;
     according to your abundant mercy
          blot out my transgressions.
²   Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
          and cleanse me from my sin.

³   For I know my transgressions,
          and my sin is ever before me.
⁴   Against you, you alone, have I sinned,
          and done what is evil in your sight,
     so that you are justified in your sentence
          and blameless when you pass judgment.

⁵ Indeed, I was born guilty,
a sinner when my mother conceived me.

⁶   You desire truth in the inward being;
          therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.
⁷   Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
          wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
⁸   Let me hear joy and gladness;
          let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.
⁹   Hide your face from my sins,
          and blot out all my iniquities.

¹⁰  Create in me a clean heart, O God,
          and put a new and right spirit within me.
¹¹  Do not cast me away from your presence,
          and do not take your holy spirit from me.
¹²  Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
          and sustain in me a willing spirit.

¹³  Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
          and sinners will return to you.
¹⁴  Deliver me from bloodshed, O God,
          O God of my salvation,
          and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.

¹⁵  O Lord, open my lips,
          and my mouth will declare your praise.
¹⁶  For you have no delight in sacrifice;
          if I were to give a burnt offering, you would not be pleased.
¹⁷  The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit;
          a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

¹⁸  Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
          rebuild the walls of Jerusalem,
¹⁹  then you will delight in right sacrifices,
          in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;
          then bulls will be offered on your altar.

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