Daily Lectionary

March 15, 2025

March 14, 2025 March 16, 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.

Genesis 15:1-21

The Promise of an Heir

15¹After these events the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision. He said, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your very great reward.”

²Abram said, “Lord God^[] what can you give me, since I remain childless, and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³Abram also said, “Look, you have given me no offspring, so a servant born in my house will be my heir.”

⁴Just then, the word of the Lord came to him. God said, “This man will not be your heir, but instead one who will come out of your own body will be your heir.” ⁵The Lord then brought him outside and said, “Now look toward the sky and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” He said to Abram, “This is what your descendants will be like.” ⁶Abram believed in^[] the Lord, and the Lord credited it to him as righteousness. ⁷He said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land as a possession.”

⁸He said, “Lord God, how will I know that I will possess it?”

⁹The Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” ¹⁰Abram gathered all of these, divided them in half, and laid the two halves across from each other, but he did not divide the birds in two. ¹¹Birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.

¹²When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. Then terrifying, deep darkness fell on him. ¹³The Lord said to Abram, “Know this! Your descendants will live as aliens in a land that is not theirs, and they will serve its people, who will afflict them for four hundred years. ¹⁴But I will surely judge the nation that they will serve. Afterward your descendants will come out with great wealth, ¹⁵but you will go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried at a good old age. ¹⁶In the fourth generation your descendants will come here again, because the guilt of the Amorites is not yet full.” ¹⁷Then when the sun had gone down and it was dark, suddenly a smoking oven and a flaming torch passed between the pieces. ¹⁸On that day the Lord made^[] a covenant with Abram. He said, “To your descendants I have given this land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates. ¹⁹I will give you the territory of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, ²⁰the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaites, ²¹the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”

Mark 5:21-43

The Daughter of Jairus

(Matthew 9:18-26; Luke 8:40-56)

²¹When Jesus had again crossed over in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him near the sea. ²²Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came. When he saw Jesus, he fell at his feet ²³and repeatedly pleaded with him, “My little daughter is near death. Please come and place your hands on her so that she may be healed and live.”

²⁴Jesus went with him, and a large crowd was following him, pressing tightly against him. ²⁵A certain woman who was there had a discharge of blood for twelve years. ²⁶She had suffered much under the care of many physicians and had spent all that she had. Yet instead of getting better, she grew worse. ²⁷When she heard what was being said about Jesus, she went up behind him in the crowd and touched his robe. ²⁸She said, “If I just touch his robe, I will be healed.” ²⁹Immediately her flow of blood stopped, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.

³⁰At that moment, Jesus knew that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my robe?”

³¹His disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing tightly against you and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’”

³²Nevertheless he kept looking around to see who had done this. ³³The woman was trembling with fear since she knew what had happened to her. She came forward, fell down in front of him, and told him the whole truth.

³⁴He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed of your suffering.”

³⁵While he was still speaking, people from the synagogue ruler's house arrived, saying, “Your daughter is dead. Why bother the Teacher anymore?”

³⁶But when Jesus heard this report, he told the synagogue ruler, “Don't be afraid. Only believe.” ³⁷He did not allow anyone to follow him except Peter, James, and John the brother of James. ³⁸They went into the house of the synagogue ruler, and Jesus saw a commotion with people weeping and wailing loudly. ³⁹When he entered, he said to them, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping.”

⁴⁰They laughed at him. But after he put everyone out, he took the father of the child, her mother, and those who were with him and went in where the child was. ⁴¹Grasping the hand of the child, he said to her, “Talitha, koum!” (When translated, that means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!”) ⁴²Immediately the little girl stood up and began to walk around. (She was twelve years old.) They were completely and utterly amazed. ⁴³Then he gave them strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and he told them to give her something to eat.