The Wartburg Project

Daily Lectionary

May 30, 2024

May 29, 2024 May 31, 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.

Ecclesiastes 7:11-29

11Wisdom along with an inheritance[] is good. It is an advantage for those who see the sun, 12because wisdom gives shade as money gives shade, but the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom keeps its owner alive.
Keep Your Balance
13Look at the work of God. Indeed, who can straighten what he has bent?
14On a good day, enjoy the good, but on a bad day, consider carefully. God has made the one as well as the other, so no man can find out about anything that will come later.
15During my days that vanish like vapor, I have seen it all. For instance, a righteous man perishes despite being righteous, while an evil man lives for a long time in spite of his evil.
16Do not be overly righteous. Do not trust too much in wisdom. Why ruin yourself? 17Do not be overly wicked, either, and do not be a fool. Why die before your time? 18It is good that you hang on to one alternative, but do not let go of the other, for one who fears God will avoid both extremes.[]
19Wisdom makes one wise man stronger than ten rulers who are in the city.
20There is surely not a righteous man on earth who does good and does not sin.
21Furthermore, do not take to heart all the words people say, so that you do not hear your servant cursing you. 22Yes, you know in your heart that many times you too have cursed others.
23All this I tested with wisdom. I said, “I will be wise,” but it was out of reach for me. 24What has already happened is out of reach, and deeper than deep. Who can find it?
25I turned my heart to know, to investigate, and to seek wisdom, and to find out how things fit together,[] and to know that wickedness is foolishness and stupidity is madness.
26I kept finding out that a woman whose heart is a trap is more bitter than death. Her heart is a hunter's net. Her hands are chains. The man whom God recognizes as good will escape from her, but the sinner gets trapped by her.
27“Look,” says Ecclesiastes, “this is what I found by adding one thing to another in my attempts to find how things fit together— 28this is something my soul keeps seeking but has not found. One man out of a thousand I have found, but a woman among all these I have not found.[]
29“Look, I have found only this: I have found that God made mankind[] upright, but they have gone off looking for many schemes.”

John 8:39-59

39“Our father is Abraham!” they answered.
“If you were Abraham's children,” Jesus told them, “you would do the works of Abraham. 40But now you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard at the side of God. Abraham did not do this. 41You are doing the works of your father.”
“We were not born of sexual immorality!” they said. “We have one Father: God.”
42Jesus replied, “If God were your Father, you would love me, because I came from God and I am here. Indeed, I have not come on my own, but he sent me. 43Why do you not understand my message? It is because you are not able to listen to my word. 44You belong to your father, the Devil, and you want to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and did not remain standing in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he lies, he speaks from what is his, because he is a liar and the father of lying. 45But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. 46Who of you can convict me of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don't you believe me? 47Whoever belongs to God listens to what God says. The reason you do not listen is that you do not belong to God.”
48The Jews responded, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?”
49Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon. On the contrary, I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. 50I do not seek my own glory. There is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. 51Amen, Amen, I tell you: If anyone holds on to my word, he will certainly never see death.”
52So the Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and so did the prophets. Yet you say, ‘If anyone holds on to my word, he will certainly never taste death.’ 53You are not greater than our father, Abraham, are you? He died. And the prophets died. Who do you think you are?”
54Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, about whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ 55Yet you do not really know him, but I do know him. If I said, ‘I do not know him,’ I would be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I hold on to his word. 56Your father Abraham was glad that he would see my day. He saw it and rejoiced.”
57The Jews replied, “You aren't even fifty years old, and you have seen Abraham?”
58Jesus said to them, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: Before Abraham was born, I am.” 59Then they picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus was hidden and left the temple area.[]