The Wartburg Project

Daily Lectionary

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 2:11-20, 4:1-6

Nehemiah Inspects Jerusalem's Wall
11So I arrived at Jerusalem and was there for three days. 12Then I got up in the middle of the night with a few men. I had not told anyone what God had placed into my heart to do for Jerusalem. There was no animal with me except the animal on which I was riding. 13At night I went out through the Valley Gate and went toward the vicinity of the Jackal Well[] and the Dung Gate. I began inspecting the walls of Jerusalem, which had been breached, and its gates, which had been consumed by fire. 14Then I crossed over to the Fountain Gate and to the King's Pool, but there was no place for the animal that I was riding to get through. 15So I kept going up the valley and inspecting the wall during the night. Then I turned around and went back the same way and came in through the Valley Gate.
16The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing. I had not yet told the Jews—the priests, the nobles, the officials, or the rest of the people who would be doing the work. 17So I said to them, “You see the very bad situation we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned. Come, let's rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be disgraced.” 18Then I told them that the hand of my God had been good to me, and I also told them the words the king had said to me.
They said, “Let's get up and rebuild!” Then they encouraged each other for this good work.
19When Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they ridiculed us and held us in contempt. They said, “What are you doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”
20I responded to them by saying, “The God of Heaven will make us successful. We, his servants, will rise up and rebuild. But you have no portion or right or heritage in Jerusalem.”
Opposition and Threats to the Building Project[]
41When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, it infuriated him, and he became very angry. He ridiculed the Jews 2and said in front of his allies[] and the army of Samaria, “What are those pathetic Jews doing? Will they restore[] it by themselves? Will they sacrifice? Will they finish in one day? Will they refurbish the stones that came from the piles of rubble that have been burned?”
3Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him. He said, “Whatever they are building, if even a fox climbed on it, it would break apart the wall made from their stones.”
4Listen, O our God, because we are an object of contempt. Turn their ridicule back on their own heads. Hand them over as plunder in a land of captivity. 5Do not cover over their guilt, and may their sin not be blotted out before you, because they have provoked your anger in the presence of the builders.[]
6So we built the wall, and the entire wall was completed, up to half its height, because the people were determined to do it.

1 Timothy 2:1-15

Instructions About Worship
21First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2for kings and all those who are in authority, in order that we might live a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and dignity. 3This is good and pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4who wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6who gave himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time. 7For this testimony, I was appointed a herald and an apostle—I speak the truth;[] I am not lying—a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
8Therefore, I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or argument. 9Likewise, I also want women to adorn themselves with respectable clothing,[] with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair, gold, pearls, or expensive clothes, 10but with what is proper for women who profess godliness—with good works. 11A woman should learn in a quiet manner with full submission. 12And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man. Instead, she is to continue in a quiet manner. 13For Adam was formed first, then Eve. 14And it was not Adam who was deceived, but it was the woman who was deceived and became a transgressor. 15But she will be saved—while bearing children[]—if they remain in faith and love and sanctification with self-control.