Daily Lectionary

May 3, 2025

May 2, 2025 May 4, 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.

Exodus 32:1-14

The Golden Calf

32¹When the people saw that it took so long for Moses to come down from the mountain, the people gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Get up, make a god^[] for us, who will go before us, because this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt—we do not know what has become of him.”

²Aaron said to them, “Pull off the gold earrings from your wives and sons and daughters and bring them to me.”

³All the people pulled off their gold earrings and brought them to Aaron. ⁴He took what they handed him and shaped it with an engraving tool and made it into a bull calf cast out of metal. Then they said, “This is your god, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”^[]

⁵When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of it, and Aaron made a proclamation. He said, “Tomorrow shall be a festival to the Lord.”

⁶They got up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought fellowship offerings. Then the people sat down to eat and to drink and got up to celebrate wildly.

⁷The Lord spoke to Moses: “Hurry down, because your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves! ⁸They have quickly turned from the way which I commanded them. They have made a calf for themselves out of metal and have worshipped it. They have sacrificed to it and said, ‘This is your god, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’”

⁹The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen these people, and they certainly are a stiff-necked people.^[] ¹⁰So now leave me alone, so that my anger can burn hot against them, so that I may consume them and make you into a great nation.”

¹¹Moses begged the Lord his God and said, “O Lord, why does your anger burn against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? ¹²Why should the Egyptians say, ‘He brought them out for an evil purpose, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn back from your fierce anger and change your mind about inflicting disaster on your people. ¹³Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self. You said to them, ‘I will multiply your seed^[] like the stars of the sky, and I will give all this land that I have spoken about to your seed, and they shall inherit it forever.’”

¹⁴Then the Lord changed his mind about the disaster which he said he would inflict on his people.

Luke 6:20-38

Blessings and Woes

(Matthew 5:3-12)

²⁰He lifted up his eyes to his disciples and said:

Blessed are you who are poor,

because yours is the kingdom of God.

²¹Blessed are you who hunger now,

because you will be satisfied.

Blessed are you who weep now,

because you will laugh.

²²Blessed are you whenever people hate you,

and whenever they exclude and insult you

and reject your name as evil because of the Son of Man.

²³Rejoice in that day and leap for joy because of this: Your reward is great in heaven!

The fact is, their fathers constantly did the same things to the prophets.

²⁴But woe to you who are rich,

because you are receiving your comfort now.

²⁵Woe to you who are well fed now,

because you will be hungry.

Woe to you who laugh now,

because you will be mourning and weeping.

²⁶Woe to you when all people speak well of you,

because that is how their fathers constantly treated the false prophets.

Love Your Enemies

(Matthew 5:38-48)

²⁷“But I say to you who are listening: Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. ²⁸Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you. ²⁹If someone strikes you on one cheek, offer the other too. If someone takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt. ³⁰Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes away your things, do not demand them back.

³¹“Treat others just as you would want them to treat you. ³²If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? To be sure, even the sinners love those who love them. ³³And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even the sinners do the same thing. ³⁴If you lend to those from whom you expect to be repaid, what credit is that to you? Even the sinners lend to sinners in order to be paid back in full. ³⁵Instead, love your enemies, do good and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the unthankful and the evil. ³⁶Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Consider the Beam in Your Own Eye

(Matthew 7:1-5)

³⁷“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. ³⁸Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. In fact, the measure with which you measure will be measured back to you.”