The Wartburg Project

Daily Lectionary

January 14, 2025

January 13, 2025 January 15, 2025

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.

Ezekiel 36:33-37:14

33This is what the Lord God says. On the day that I cleanse you from all your guilty deeds, I will resettle your cities, and the ruins will be rebuilt. 34The desolate land will be cultivated instead of remaining desolate in the sight of every passerby. 35People will say, “This land that was devastated has become like the Garden of Eden, and the cities that were ruined, desolate, and destroyed are now fortified and inhabited.” 36Then the nations that remain around you will know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the places that were destroyed and have replanted what was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do it.
37This is what the Lord God says. I will also allow the house of Israel to ask me to do this for them. I will multiply them so their people are like flocks. 38Like flocks consecrated for sacrifice, like the flocks of Jerusalem on its festival days, so the ruined cities will be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the Lord.
Resurrection of the Dry Bones
371The hand of the Lord was upon me. He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley, which was full of bones. 2He had me pass through them and go all over among them. There were very many on the valley floor, and they were very dry.
3He said to me, “Son of man, can these dry bones live?”[] I answered, “Lord God, you know.” 4Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.’”
5This is what the Lord God says to these bones.
I am about to make breath[] enter you so that you will live. 6I will attach tendons to you. I will put flesh back on you. I will cover you with skin and put breath in you, and you will live. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
7So I prophesied as I had been commanded, and as I was prophesying there was a noise, a rattling, as the bones came together, one bone connecting to another. 8As I watched, tendons were attached to them, then flesh grew over them, and skin covered them. But there was no breath in them.
9Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the wind.[] Prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind that this is what the Lord God says. From the four winds, come, O wind, and breathe into these slain so that they may live.”
10So I prophesied as he commanded me. Breath entered them, and they came back to life. They stood on their feet, a very, very large army.
11Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They are saying, ‘Our bones are dried up. Our hope is lost. We have been completely cut off.’ 12Therefore, prophesy and say to them that this is what the Lord God says. My people, I am going to open your graves and raise you up from your graves and bring you back to the soil of Israel. 13Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and raise you up from your graves, O my people. 14I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live. I will settle you on your own land, and you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.”

Romans 5:1-21

Justification Brings Peace and Joy
51Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace[] with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2Through him we also have obtained access by faith[] into this grace in which we stand. And we rejoice confidently on the basis of our hope for the glory[] of God.
3Not only this, but we also rejoice confidently in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces patient endurance, 4and patient endurance produces tested character, and tested character produces hope. 5And hope will not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who was given to us.
God's Love Is Evident in Christ's Death for the Ungodly
6For at the appointed time, while we were still helpless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7It is rare indeed that someone will die for a righteous person. Perhaps someone might actually go so far as to die for a person who has been good to him. 8But God shows his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9Therefore, since we have now been justified by his blood, it is even more certain that we will be saved from God's wrath through him. 10For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, it is even more certain that, since we have been reconciled, we will be saved by his life. 11And not only is this so, but we also go on rejoicing confidently in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received this reconciliation.
Both Adam and Christ Had an Effect on All People
12So then, just as sin entered the world through one man and death through sin, so also death spread to all people because all sinned. 13For even before the law was given, sin was in the world. Now, sin is not charged to one's account if there is no law, 14and yet death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those whose sin was not like the transgression of Adam, who is a pattern[] of the one who was to come.
15But the gracious gift is not like Adam's trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of this one man, it is even more certain that God's grace, and the gift given by the grace of the one man Jesus Christ, overflowed to the many!
16And the gift is not like the effect of the one man's sin, for the judgment that followed the one trespass resulted in a verdict of condemnation, but the gracious gift that followed many trespasses resulted in a verdict of justification.
17Indeed, if by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through the one man, it is even more certain that those who receive the overflowing grace of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ!
18So then, just as one trespass led to a verdict of condemnation for all people, so also one righteous verdict led to life-giving justification[] for all people. 19For just as through the disobedience of one man the many became sinners, so also through the obedience of one man the many will become righteous.
20The law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace overflowed much more, 21so that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace would reign through righteousness resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.