Daily Lectionary

October 17, 2023

October 16, 2023 October 18, 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 15:19-16:22

Dedication of the Firstborn

¹⁹Set apart for the Lord your God every firstborn male from your herd and your flock. Do not work the firstborn of your oxen, and do not shear the firstborn of your flock. ²⁰You and your household are to eat the firstborn in the presence of the Lord each year, in the place that the Lord will choose. ²¹But if it has a defect (if it is lame or blind, or if it has any other serious defect), you must not sacrifice it to the Lord your God. ²²You may eat it within the gates of your towns. The unclean and the clean person alike may eat it, as you would a gazelle or a deer. ²³But you must not eat its blood. You are to pour it out on the ground like water.

The Festivals

(Exodus 23:10-19; Leviticus 23; Numbers 28—29)

The Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread

(Exodus 12:1-3,14-20, Leviticus 23:5-8, Numbers 28:16-25)

16¹Observe the month of Abib^[] and keep the Passover for the Lord your God, because it was in the month of Abib that the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt at night.

²As a Passover sacrifice to the Lord your God, slaughter an animal from the flock or herd at the place where the Lord will choose to establish his name. ³Do not eat leavened bread with it. For seven days eat unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you went out of the land of Egypt in a hurry. Do this so that you may remember the day that you went out from the land of Egypt for all the days of your life.

⁴No yeast or leaven is to be found among you for seven days, and none of the meat that you sacrifice on the evening of the first day is to be left until morning.

⁵You are not allowed to sacrifice the Passover inside the gates of any of the cities that the Lord your God is giving you. ⁶Rather, it is at the place where the Lord your God will choose to establish his name that you are to sacrifice the Passover, in the evening at the setting of the sun, the time of day that you went out of Egypt.

⁷Cook it and eat it at the place that the Lord your God will choose. In the morning return to your tents.

⁸Six days you are to eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there is to be a special convocation to the Lord your God. Do not do any regular work.

The Festival of Weeks

(Leviticus 23:15-22, Numbers 28:26-31)

⁹Count off seven weeks. As the starting point of the seven weeks, mark the time that the sickle first strikes the standing grain.

¹⁰Then observe the Festival of Weeks^[] for the Lord your God and give a voluntary offering of as much as you can afford, in keeping with how much the Lord has blessed you.

¹¹Rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within the gates of your city, and the alien and the fatherless and the widow who are among you. Do this in the place where the Lord your God will choose to establish his name.

¹²Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, so you are to be careful to carry out these statutes.

The Festival of Shelters

(Leviticus 23:33-43, Numbers 29:12-39)

¹³After you have gathered in the produce from your threshing floor and your winepress, celebrate the Festival of Shelters^[] for seven days.

¹⁴Rejoice in your festival, you and your son and your daughter, and your male servant and your female servant, and the alien and the orphan and the widow within your gates.

¹⁵For seven days celebrate to the Lord your God in the place that the Lord will choose, because the Lord your God will bless you in all of your crops and in all the work of your hands, and you will most certainly be joyful.

¹⁶Three times a year all of your males are to present themselves before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, at the Festival of Weeks, and at the Festival of Shelters. They are not to present themselves before the Lord empty-handed, ¹⁷but each person is to have in his hand a gift that is in keeping with the blessing that the Lord your God has given you.

Laws to Promote Justice

¹⁸Appoint judges and officers for your tribes to serve at the gates of all the cities that the Lord your God is giving you. They are to judge the people with righteous judgment.

¹⁹Do not distort justice. Do not show partiality. Do not take a bribe, because a bribe blinds the eyes of wise people and twists the actions of righteous people.

²⁰Justice! You are to pursue justice, so that you may live and possess the land that the Lord your God is giving you!

²¹Do not set up any kind of wooden Asherah pole beside the altar of the Lord your God that you have made for yourself. ²²Do not set up for yourself a sacred memorial stone, which is something that the Lord your God hates.

Matthew 13:44-58

The Parables of the Treasure, the Pearl, and the Net

⁴⁴“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid again. In his joy, he goes away and sells all that he has and buys that field.

⁴⁵“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls. ⁴⁶When he found one very valuable pearl, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.

⁴⁷“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. ⁴⁸When the net was filled, they pulled it onto the shore. They sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but threw the bad ones away. ⁴⁹That is how it will be at the end of the world. The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous who are among them. ⁵⁰And they will throw the wicked into the fiery furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” ⁵¹Jesus said to them, “Did you understand all these things?”

They answered him, “Yes.”

⁵²He said to them, “Therefore every expert in the law who has been trained as a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his treasure both new things and old things.”

⁵³When Jesus had finished these parables, he left that place.

A Prophet Without Honor

(Mark 6:1-6; Compare Luke 4:16-30)

⁵⁴Jesus entered his hometown and taught in their synagogue. As a result, the people were amazed and said, “Where did this fellow get this wisdom and these miracles? ⁵⁵Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't his mother named Mary? And aren't James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas his brothers? ⁵⁶And aren't all of his sisters here with us? Where then did this fellow get all of these things?” ⁵⁷And they took offense at him.

But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his own hometown and in his own house.” ⁵⁸He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.