The Wartburg Project

Daily Lectionary

October 19, 2023

October 18, 2023 October 20, 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 18:1-22

The Inheritance for the Levites
181The priests, who are Levites, as well as the whole tribe of Levi, will not have any allotted inheritance with Israel. They will eat from the offerings made to the Lord by fire,[] which is their inheritance.
2So they will not have an inheritance among their brothers. The Lord is their inheritance, as he promised them.
3This then will be the prescribed allotment for the priests from the people who offer sacrifices, whether an ox or a sheep: They are to give to the priests the shoulder, both cheeks, and the stomach. 4You are also to give them the firstfruits from your grain, your new wine, your fresh oil, and the first fleece from your flock. 5For the Lord your God has chosen them from all of your tribes to stand in service in the name of the Lord—them and their sons for all time.
6When a Levite comes from any of your towns throughout Israel where he resides, and whenever he follows his heart's desire and comes to the place that the Lord will choose, 7and he serves in the name of the Lord your God, standing there before the Lord like all of his fellow Levites, 8then he may eat the same portion, regardless of any income he received from selling family property.
Prohibition of Occult Practices
9When you enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to practice anything like the abominations of those nations. 10Let no one be found among you who makes his son or his daughter pass through fire, or who uses divination, or who engages in fortune telling, or who observes omens, or who practices witchcraft, 11or who casts a magic spell, or who consults a ghost or a familiar spirit, or who inquires of the dead.[]
12Anyone doing these things is detestable to the Lord, and because of these abominations, the Lord your God is driving them out before you.
13You are to be blameless with the Lord your God.
14It is true that those nations whose land you are taking listen to fortune tellers and diviners, but the Lord your God has not permitted you to do things like that.
The Prophet
15The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brother Israelites. Listen to him.
16That is exactly what you asked from the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly. You said, “Do not let me hear the voice of the Lord my God anymore, and do not let me see this great fire again, or I will die.”
17Then the Lord said to me, “They have done well by saying what they said. 18I will raise up a prophet for them from among their brothers, like you, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he will speak to them everything that I command him. 19Anyone who will not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account. 20Any prophet who presumes to speak something in my name that I have not commanded him to speak or who speaks something in the name of other gods—that prophet shall die.”
21What if you ask yourselves, “How can we know that the Lord has not spoken that word?” 22If a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, and the thing does not come about and does not come true, the Lord has not spoken that word. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.[]

Matthew 14:22-36

Jesus Walks on Water
(Mark 6:45-52; John 6:15-21)
22Immediately Jesus urged the disciples to get into the boat and to go ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23After he had dismissed the crowd, he went up onto the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone. 24By then the boat was quite a distance from shore, being pounded by the waves because the wind was against it. 25In the fourth watch of the night,[] Jesus came toward them, walking on the sea. 26When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified and cried out in fear, “It's a ghost!” 27But Jesus spoke to them at once, saying, “Take heart! It is I! Do not be afraid.”
28Peter answered him and said, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”
29Jesus said, “Come!”
Peter stepped down from the boat, walked on the water, and went toward Jesus. 30But when he saw the strong wind, he was afraid. As he began to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”
31Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand, took hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32When they got into the boat, the wind stopped. 33Those who were in the boat worshipped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God!”
34When they had crossed over, they came to the shore at Gennesaret. 35When the men of that place recognized him, they sent word into all the surrounding region. They brought to him all who were sick 36and begged that they might just touch the fringe of his garment. All who touched it were completely cured.