The Wartburg Project

Daily Lectionary

April 28, 2024

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.

Leviticus 20:1-16, 22-27

Penalties for Defiling the Land
201Then the Lord told Moses 2to say this to the Israelites:
Any Israelite or any of the aliens who reside in Israel who give any of their children[] to Molek must certainly be put to death. The people of the land shall stone that person to death. 3I myself will set my face against that person and cut him off from among his people, because when he gave some of his children to Molek, he made my sanctuary unclean and defiled my holy name. 4Furthermore, if the people of the land deliberately shut their eyes when that man gives any of his children to Molek, and they do not put him to death, 5I myself will set my face against that man and against his clan. I will cut off from among their people both that man and all those who join with him in prostituting themselves to Molek.
6If any person turns to mediums or to spiritists[] and prostitutes himself to them, I will set my face against that person and cut him off from among his people.
7You shall set yourselves apart, and you shall be holy, for I am the Lord your God. 8You shall keep my regulations, and you shall put them into practice. I am the Lord, who has set you apart.
9Indeed, if anybody curses his father and his mother, he must certainly be put to death. Since he has cursed his father and his mother, his blood is upon him.
10If a man commits adultery with the wife of another man, if he commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor,[] both the adulterer and the adulteress must certainly be put to death.
11If a man lies down with his father's wife, he has uncovered nakedness that is reserved for his father. Both of them certainly must be put to death. Their blood is upon them.
12If a man lies down with his daughter-in-law, both of them must be put to death. They have committed an unnatural perversion. Their blood is upon them.
13If a man lies down with a male as one lies down with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They must certainly be put to death. Their blood is upon them.
14If a man takes[] a woman and her mother, it is a depraved act. Both he and they shall be burned in fire, so that there may be no depravity among you.
15If a man gives his emission to an animal, he must certainly be put to death, and you must kill the animal.
16If a woman approaches any animal to let it mate with her, you shall kill the woman and the animal. They must certainly be put to death. Their blood is on them.
22You shall keep all my regulations and all my ordinances and put them into practice, so that the land to which I am bringing you to live will not vomit you out. 23You shall not walk according to the religious practices of the nation which I am casting out before you, for I was disgusted with them because they did all these things, 24so I said to you, “You will take possession of their land.” I myself will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey.
I, the Lord, am your God, who has distinguished you from the other peoples. 25You shall therefore distinguish the clean animal from the unclean, and the unclean bird from the clean. You shall not make yourselves detestable with an animal or a bird or anything that crawls on the ground that I have distinguished by declaring what is unclean for you. 26You will be holy to me, for I, the Lord, am holy, and I have distinguished you from the other peoples so that you belong to me.
27A man or a woman who is a medium or deals with the spirits of the dead must certainly be put to death. They must be stoned to death. Their blood is on them.

Luke 11:37-54

Woes and Warnings
37After Jesus spoke, a Pharisee invited him to have a meal with him. He went in and reclined at the table. 38When the Pharisee saw this, he was amazed that he did not first wash[] before the meal. 39But the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40Fools! Didn't the one who made the outside also make the inside? 41But give those things that are inside as a gift to the poor, and see, everything will be clean for you. 42But woe to you Pharisees, because you give a tenth of mint and rue and every herb, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have done these things without neglecting the others. 43Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the best seat in the synagogues and the greetings in the marketplaces. 44Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without realizing it.”
45One of the legal experts answered him, “Teacher, by saying these things you are insulting us too.”
46But Jesus said, “Woe to you legal experts too, because you load people down with burdens too difficult to carry, and you yourselves do not touch these burdens with one of your fingers. 47Woe to you because you build monuments for the prophets, but your fathers killed them. 48So you are witnesses and agree with what your fathers did, because they killed them, and you build their monuments. 49For this reason the wisdom of God also said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles. Some of them they will kill and persecute, 50so that this generation may be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed from the foundation of the world, 51from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary.’ Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against this generation. 52Woe to you legal experts, because you took away the key of knowledge. You yourselves did not enter, and you hindered those who were trying to enter.”
53When he went away from there, the experts in the law and the Pharisees began to oppose him fiercely and to question him closely about many things. 54They were plotting against him to trap him in something he said.[]