Daily Lectionary

September 18, 2023

September 17, 2023 September 19, 2023

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.

Nehemiah 1:1-2:10

Heading

1¹The words of Nehemiah son of Hakaliah.

The Problem

In the month of Kislev of the twentieth year, I was in Susa, the citadel.^[] ²Hanani, one of my brothers,^[] came to me with men from Judah. I asked them about the remnant of the Jews, who had survived the captivity and had escaped from it, and about Jerusalem.

³They said to me, “The survivors from the captivity who are there in the province are in great misery and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned.”

⁴When I heard about these things, I sat down and wept. I mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God of Heaven.^[] ⁵I said:

Please, Lord, the God of Heaven, the great and awe-inspiring God, who preserves the covenant and faithfulness for those who love him and keep his commands: ⁶Let your ear be attentive and your eyes be open as you hear the prayer of your servant today, which I am now praying before you day and night, concerning the Israelites, who are your servants. I am also confessing the sins of the people of Israel that we committed against you. I and my father's house have also sinned. ⁷We have acted very corruptly against you, and we have not kept the commands, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances that you commanded Moses your servant.

⁸Please remember the command you gave to Moses your servant when you said, “If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples. ⁹But when you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, even if you have been scattered to the end of heaven, from there I will gather them, and I will bring them to the place where I have chosen to make my name dwell.”^[] ¹⁰They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed with your great power and your mighty hand.

¹¹Please, my Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant and to the prayers of your servants who are delighted to revere your name. Make your servant successful today, and give him mercy in this man's presence.

I was cupbearer^[] to the king.

Nehemiah Receives a Commission From Artaxerxes

2¹In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes,^[] wine was being served to the king, and I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had never been sad in his presence, ²so the king said to me, “Why do you look sad, since you are not sick? This must be sadness of heart.”

Then I was very much afraid. ³I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why shouldn't I look sad when the city, the place of my ancestors' tombs, lies in ruins, and its gates have been consumed by fire?”

⁴Then the king said to me, “What do you want?”

So I prayed to the God of Heaven, ⁵and I said to the king, “If it seems good to the king, and if you look upon your servant with favor, then send me to Judah, to the city where my ancestors' tombs are, and let me rebuild it.”

⁶The king said to me, while the queen was sitting next to him, “How long will your journey be and when will you return?”

The king was pleased to send me, so I gave him a definite time. ⁷I also said to the king, “If it seems good to the king, please give me letters for the governors of Trans-Euphrates,^[] so that they will grant me safe passage through that province until I come to Judah, ⁸also a letter to Asaph, superintendent of the king's forest, so that he will give me lumber to lay beams for the gates of the citadel of the temple, for the city wall, and for the house that I will occupy.” The king gave them to me, because the good hand of my God was upon me.

⁹Then I came to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, and I gave them the king's letters. The king had sent army officers and cavalry with me.

¹⁰When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official^[] heard about this, they were very upset that a man had come to seek the welfare of the Israelites.

1 Timothy 1:1-20

Greeting

1¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and Christ Jesus our hope,

²To Timothy, my true child in the faith:

Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Warning Against False Teachers

³As I urged you while I was going to Macedonia, remain in Ephesus so that you may command certain men not to teach any different doctrines ⁴or pay any attention to myths and endless genealogies that bring about aimless speculations rather than God's plan, which centers in faith. ⁵The goal of this command is love that comes from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from a sincere faith. ⁶By veering away from these things, some have turned aside into meaningless talk. ⁷They want to be teachers of the law, although they do not comprehend what they are saying or the things they so strongly affirm. ⁸Now, we know that the law is good as long as one uses it correctly— ⁹keeping in mind that the law is not laid down for a righteous person, but for lawless and rebellious people, for godless people and sinners, for unholy and worldly people, for those who kill their fathers and those who kill their mothers, for murderers, ¹⁰for sexually immoral people, for homosexuals, for kidnappers,^[] for liars, for perjurers, and for whatever else is opposed to sound teaching— ¹¹in keeping with the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I was entrusted.

God's Mercy to Paul

¹²I give thanks to the one who empowered me, namely, Christ Jesus our Lord, that he treated me as trustworthy, appointing me into his ministry. ¹³He did this even though formerly I was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent man. But I was shown mercy, because I acted ignorantly in unbelief. ¹⁴The grace of our Lord overflowed on me along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵This saying is trustworthy and worthy of full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,” of whom I am the worst. ¹⁶But I was shown mercy for this reason: that in me, the worst sinner, Christ Jesus might demonstrate his unlimited patience as an example for those who are going to believe in him, resulting in eternal life. ¹⁷Now to the King eternal, to the immortal, invisible, only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

Fight the Good Fight

¹⁸I am entrusting this instruction to you, Timothy, my child, according to the prophecies about you, which were made earlier, so that by them you may fight the good fight, ¹⁹with faith and a good conscience. By rejecting these, some people have suffered shipwreck with regard to their faith, ²⁰including Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I handed over to Satan so that they might be taught not to blaspheme.