Daily Lectionary

October 18, 2023

October 17, 2023 October 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.

Deuteronomy 17:1-20

17¹Do not sacrifice to the Lord your God any ox or sheep that has any kind of defect or serious flaw, because that is something detestable to the Lord your God.

²If there is found among you (within the gates of one of your cities that the Lord your God is giving you) a man or a woman who is doing something that is evil in the eyes of the Lord your God by transgressing his covenant, ³or a man or a woman who is going and serving other gods and bowing down to them or to the sun or to the moon or to any of the army of the heavens (something that I have not commanded), ⁴and you are told about it and you listen and investigate diligently, and it is established that the charge is true and that this abomination has been committed in Israel, ⁵then you are to bring that man or that woman who has committed this evil out to your city gate, and you are to stone that person to death, whether man or woman.

⁶A person is to be put to death on the basis of the testimony of two or three witnesses. No one is to be put to death based on the testimony of one witness. ⁷The hands of the witnesses are to be the first ones raised against him when putting him to death, and after that the hands of all the other people. In that way you are to purge the evil from among you.

⁸If a case is too difficult for you to make a decision, whether it involves a homicide, a lawsuit, or an assault, or any matters of controversy within the gates of your cities, then proceed by going up to the place that the Lord your God will choose. ⁹Go to the priests, who are from the tribe of Levi, and to the presiding judge at that time and lay out the case. They will declare the verdict to you. ¹⁰Then you are to act according to the verdict that they will declare to you from the place that the Lord will choose, and you are to be careful to carry out everything that they instruct you to do.

¹¹Act according to the instructions they give you and according to the judgment that they speak to you. Do not turn to the right or to the left from the word that they declare to you.

¹²Any man who acts presumptuously by not listening to the priest, who presides and serves the Lord your God there, or by not listening to the judge, that man is condemned to die. In that way you will purge the evil from Israel. ¹³Then all the people will hear and fear and not act presumptuously anymore.

The King

¹⁴When you have entered the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “I am determined to set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,” ¹⁵you may set a king over yourself, one whom the Lord your God will choose. You may set over yourself a king who is from among your brother Israelites. You must not set a foreigner over you, one who is not your brother.

¹⁶But the king must not accumulate more and more horses for himself, and he must not send people back to Egypt in order to accumulate more horses, because the Lord has said to you, “You must not go back that way again.” ¹⁷He must not accumulate more and more wives for himself, or his heart may go astray. He must not accumulate excessive silver and gold for himself.

¹⁸When he sits on his royal throne, he is to have a copy of this law written for him on a scroll in the presence of the priests, who are from the tribe of Levi. ¹⁹It is to remain with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he learns to fear the Lord his God by being careful to carry out all the words of this law and these statutes, ²⁰so that his heart does not grow haughty toward his brothers and turn away from this set of commands, either to the right or to the left, so that the days of his royal reign in Israel, as well as that of his sons, may be many.

Matthew 14:1-21

Recalling the Death of John the Baptist

(Mark 6:14-29; Luke 9:7-9)

14¹At that time, Herod the tetrarch heard the news about Jesus. ²He said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist! He has risen from the dead! That is why these powers are working in him.” ³For Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison because of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. ⁴John had been telling him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” ⁵Although Herod wanted to put him to death, he feared the crowd, because they regarded him as a prophet. ⁶But when it was Herod's birthday, the daughter of Herodias danced among them. This pleased Herod. ⁷So he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask. ⁸Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.”

⁹Although this saddened the king, because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he ordered that it be done. ¹⁰He sent the order and had John beheaded in prison. ¹¹His head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. ¹²John's disciples came, took the body, and buried it. Then they went and reported this to Jesus.

Jesus Feeds More Than Five Thousand

(Mark 6:30-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-14)

¹³When Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place to be alone. When the crowds heard this, they followed him on foot from the towns.

¹⁴When Jesus got out of the boat, he saw a large crowd. He had compassion on them and healed their sick. ¹⁵When evening came, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place and the hour is already late. Send the crowds away, so that they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”

¹⁶But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”

¹⁷They told him, “We have here only five loaves and two fish.”

¹⁸“Bring them here to me,” he replied. ¹⁹Then he instructed the people to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves and the two fish. After looking up to heaven, he blessed them. He broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples. The disciples gave the food to the people. ²⁰They all ate and were filled. They picked up twelve basketfuls of what was left over from the broken pieces. ²¹Those who ate were about five thousand men, not even counting women and children.