The Wartburg Project

Daily Lectionary

October 15, 2023

October 14, 2023 October 16, 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 13:1-18

Judging False Prophets and Fortune Tellers
131If a prophet or a receiver of dreams arises among you, and he predicts a sign or wonder for you,[] 2and the sign or wonder that he promised you comes true, and he says, “Let's go after other gods that you do not know, and let's serve them,” 3do not listen to the words of that prophet or that receiver of dreams, because the Lord your God is testing you to see whether you really love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
4Follow the Lord your God, fear him, keep his commandments, listen to his voice, serve him, and cling to him.
5That prophet or that receiver of dreams is to be put to death because he advised you to turn against the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, in order to draw you away from the path on which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. Purge the evil from among you.
The Penalty for Idolatry
6If your full brother or your mother's son, your son or your daughter, the wife you embrace, or your closest friend tempts you by saying secretly, “Let's go and serve other gods”—gods that neither you nor your fathers have known, 7from among the gods of the peoples around you, either near or far from you, anywhere from one end of the land to the other— 8do not be influenced by him and do not listen to him. Your eye is not to look on him with compassion. Do not spare him and do not pardon him, 9but kill him. Your hand is to be the first one on him when putting him to death, and afterward the hands of all the other people. 10Stone him to death, because he tried to pull you away from the Lord your God, who led you out of the land of Egypt, where you were slaves. 11Then all of Israel will hear and fear, and such an evil thing as this will not be done among you again.
12If you hear that in one of your cities which the Lord your God is giving you so that you can live in them, 13men of worthless character have gone out from among you and have pulled the inhabitants of their city away from the Lord, saying, “Let's go and serve other gods,” gods whom you have not known, 14then investigate, search out the truth, and inquire diligently. If it becomes established as truth that this abomination has been done among you, 15you are to strike down the inhabitants of that city with the blade of the sword. Devote it and everything in it to complete destruction by the blade of the sword, including its cattle. 16Gather all its plunder at the center of its town square. Then burn the city and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. It is to be a permanent mound of ruins, never to be rebuilt.
17Let nothing that has been devoted to destruction stick to your hands, so that the Lord will turn away from his anger and show you compassion. In his compassion he will increase your population, as he swore to your fathers, 18if you obey the voice of the Lord your God by keeping all of his commandments that I am commanding you today, by doing what is right in the eyes of the Lord your God.

Matthew 13:1-23

The Parable of the Sower
(Mark 4:1-20; Luke 8:4-15)
131That same day Jesus left the house and was sitting by the sea. 2A large crowd gathered around him. So he stepped into a boat and sat down, while all the people stood on the shore. 3He told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen, a sower went out to sow. 4As he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it. 5Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil. Immediately the seed sprang up, because the soil was not deep. 6But when the sun rose, the seed was scorched. Because it had no root, it withered away. 7Other seed fell among thorns. The thorns grew up and choked it. 8But some seed fell on good ground and produced grain: some one hundred times, some sixty, and some thirty times more than was sown. 9Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.”
10The disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”
11He answered them, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but it has not been given to them. 12For whoever has will be given even more, and he will have an abundance. But whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. 13This is why I speak to them in parables, because even though they see, they do not see; and even though they hear, they do not hear or understand. 14In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled which says,
You will hear clearly, but you will never understand. You will see clearly, but you will never perceive. 15Because this people's heart has grown callous, their ears are hard of hearing. They have closed their eyes. Otherwise they would see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, turn, and I would heal them.[]
16“But blessed are your eyes because they see and your ears because they hear. 17Amen I tell you: Many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you are seeing, but they did not see it. They longed to hear what you are hearing, but they did not hear it.
18“So listen carefully to the parable of the sower. 19When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the Evil One comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the seed that was sown along the path. 20The seed that was sown on rocky ground is the person who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy, 21yet he is not deeply rooted and does not endure. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he immediately falls away. 22The seed that was sown among the thorns is the one who hears the word, but the worry of this world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it produces no fruit. 23But the seed that was sown on the good ground is the one who continues to hear and understand the word. Indeed he continues to produce fruit: some a hundred, some sixty, and some thirty times more than was sown.”