The Wartburg Project

Daily Lectionary

May 16, 2025

May 15, 2025 May 17, 2025

These daily readings from the EHV follow the one-year daily lectionary provided in Christian Worship: Hymnal, the Lutheran Service Book, and the Treasury of Daily Prayer. In this lectionary, two readings of 15-25 verses each are provided for each day. Under this plan, nearly all of the New Testament and approximately one-third of the Old Testament are read each year. These readings fit well within the daily offices of Matins, Vespers, or Compline as daily family devotions.

Leviticus 18:1-7, 20-19:8

Defilement of the Land by Sexual Immorality
181The Lord spoke to Moses: 2“Speak to the Israelites and tell them this.”
Encouragement to Obedience
I am the Lord your God.
3You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived. You shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. Do not walk in[] their religious practices. 4Follow my ordinances and keep my regulations by walking in them. I am the Lord your God. 5Keep my regulations and my ordinances. Anyone who does them will have life through them. I am the Lord.
Laws Against Incestuous Relationships
6No one shall approach his own flesh and blood[] to uncover their nakedness.[] I am the Lord.
7You shall not uncover the nakedness that is reserved for your father, that is, the nakedness of your mother. She is your mother. You shall not uncover her nakedness.
20You shall not give the wife of your fellow citizen your deposit of semen for seed,[] so that you become unclean with her.
21You shall not dedicate any of your seed to Molek,[] thereby defiling the name of your God. I am the Lord.
22You shall not lie down with[] a male as you do with a woman. It is an abomination.
23And you shall not give your emission to any animal, so that you become unclean by it. No woman shall stand in front of an animal to let it mate with her. It is an unnatural perversion.
24You must not make yourselves unclean in any of these ways, for in all these ways the nations that I am casting out before you have made themselves unclean. 25In this way the land became unclean, so I have come to deal with its guilt, and the land will vomit out its inhabitants.
26But you yourselves must keep my regulations and ordinances. You must not practice any of these abominations. This applies both to the native and to the alien who resides among you. 27Because the people of the land who were there before you practiced all these abominations, the land became unclean. 28So do not let the land vomit you out for making it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was there before you. 29If anyone does any of these abominations, the lives of those who practice them will be cut off from the midst of their people. 30Keep my instructions. Do not perform any of the abominable[] practices which were done before you arrived, so that you do not defile yourselves by them. I am the Lord your God.
The Holiness of the Community
191The Lord told Moses 2to speak to the whole community of the Israelites and tell them these things:
You shall be holy, because I, the Lord your God, am holy.
3Each of you must respect your mother and father and keep my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God.
4You shall not[] turn to gods that really are not gods.[] You must not make for yourselves gods cast out of metal.[] I am the Lord your God.
5When you offer a sacrifice that is a fellowship offering to the Lord, you shall offer it so that you will be accepted. 6It is to be eaten on the day that you offer it or on the next day, but whatever is left over on the third day is to be burned in fire. 7If it is eaten at all on the third day, it will be regarded as rotten meat. It is not acceptable. 8Whoever eats it will bear his guilt, because he has desecrated[] what is holy to the Lord. Any such person will be cut off from his people.

Luke 11:1-13

The Lord's Prayer
(Matthew 6:9-13)
111On another occasion, Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.”
2He said to them, “When you pray, say, ‘Our Father in heaven,[] hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.[] 3Give us each day our daily bread. 4Forgive us our sins, as we also forgive everyone who sins against us.[] And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’”[]
Keep Praying
(Matthew 7:7-11)
5He said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and tell him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, 6because a friend of mine who is on a journey has come to me, and I do not have anything to set before him.’ 7And the one inside replies, ‘Don't bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can't get up and give it to you.’ 8I tell you, even if he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his bold persistence, he will get up and give him as much as he needs.
9“I tell you, keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep seeking, and you will find. Keep knocking, and it will be opened to you. 10For everyone who asks receives. The one who seeks finds. And to the one who knocks, it will be opened.
11“What father among you, if your son asks for bread, would give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, would give him a snake instead of a fish? 12Or if he asks for an egg, would give him a scorpion? 13If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”