Daily Lectionary

October 14, 2023

October 13, 2023 October 15, 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.

Deuteronomy 12:13-32

¹³Be careful that you do not offer up your burnt offering in just any place that you see fit, ¹⁴but only in the place that the Lord will choose in one of your tribes. That is where you are to offer up your burnt offerings and where you are to do everything that I am commanding you.

¹⁵But in any town you may butcher and eat meat to your heart's content, as the Lord your God has blessed you. The unclean and the clean person alike may eat it as they would a gazelle or a deer, ¹⁶but you must never eat the blood. Pour it on the ground like water.

¹⁷You are not to eat the tithe from your grain, your new wine, or your fresh oil in your towns. The same applies to the firstborn of your herd and your flock, or anything you vow, or your voluntary offerings, or your special elevated offerings. ¹⁸Eat those things before the Lord your God in the place that the Lord your God will choose—you and your sons and your daughters, your male servants and your female servants, and the Levites within your cities. Rejoice before the Lord your God in everything that you are doing.

¹⁹Be careful that you do not neglect the Levites as long as you live on your land.

²⁰When the Lord your God expands your territory as he promised you, and you say, “I would like to eat meat,” because you are hungry for meat, then you may eat it to your heart's content. ²¹If the place that the Lord your God will choose to establish his name is too far away for you, then you may slaughter^[] animals from your herd and flock which the Lord has given you, just as I commanded you, and you may eat within your cities as you desire. ²²Yes, just as gazelle and deer are eaten, you may eat it. The unclean and the clean person alike may eat it. ²³Only be very sure not to eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life together with the flesh. ²⁴Do not eat it. Pour it out on the ground like water. ²⁵Do not eat it, so that it may go well for you and for your children after you when you do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.

²⁶But as for the holy things that you have and your voluntary offerings, gather them up and take them to the place that the Lord will choose. ²⁷Offer your burnt offerings, both the flesh and the blood, on the altar of the Lord your God. The blood of the sacrifice is to be poured out on the altar of the Lord your God, but the meat you may eat.

²⁸Be careful that you obey all these words that I am commanding you so that it may go well for you and for your children after you in the distant future when you do what is good and right in the eyes of the Lord your God.

²⁹When the Lord your God cuts off the nations where you are going and drives them out before you, and when you take possession of their land and settle in it, ³⁰be careful that you are not snared after they have been destroyed before you. Do not inquire about their gods and ask, “How did these people serve their gods? I also want to do the same thing.”

³¹Do not serve the Lord your God in the way that they worship, because they do for their gods every detestable thing that the Lord hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in fire for their gods.

³²Be careful to do everything that I am commanding you. Do not add to it, and do not subtract from it.e

Matthew 12:38-50

The Sign of Jonah

(Luke 11:29-32)

³⁸Then some of the experts in the law and Pharisees replied, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”

³⁹But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation wishes for a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. ⁴⁰For just as Jonah was in the belly of the huge fish for three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. ⁴¹The men of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. But one even greater than Jonah is here. ⁴²The Queen of the South will be raised up in the judgment with this generation and will condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. But one even greater than Solomon is here.

⁴³“When an unclean spirit has gone out of someone, it passes through dry places looking for rest, but it does not find it. ⁴⁴Then it says, ‘I will return to the home I came from.’ And when it has returned, it finds the place empty, swept, and put in order. ⁴⁵Then it takes along with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter in and live there. So the last condition of that person becomes worse than the first. That is how it will be for this evil generation too.”

Jesus' Mother and Brothers

(Mark 3:31-35; Luke 8:19-21)

⁴⁶While he was still speaking to the crowd, his mother and his brothers happened to be standing outside, wanting to talk to him. ⁴⁷Someone said to him, “Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to talk to you.”

⁴⁸But he replied to the one who told him, “Who is my mother? And who are my brothers?” ⁴⁹He reached out his hand toward his disciples and said, “See, my mother and my brothers! ⁵⁰For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”