Daily Lectionary

May 21, 2025

May 20, 2025 May 22, 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.

Leviticus 23:23-44

The Festival of the Ram's Horn^[]

²³The Lord told Moses ²⁴to speak to the people of Israel:

In the seventh month, on the first of the month, you shall have a complete rest, a memorial celebration with loud blasts of the ram's horn, proclaimed as a holy convocation. ²⁵You shall not do any work in your regular occupation, and you shall present a gift made by fire to the Lord.

The Day of Atonement

(Leviticus 16)

²⁶The Lord spoke to Moses:

²⁷It is the tenth day of this seventh month that is the Day of Atonement. It shall be proclaimed as a holy convocation for you. You shall humble yourselves,^[] and you shall present an offering made by fire to the Lord. ²⁸You shall not do any work on this special day,^[] because it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. ²⁹Indeed, anyone who does not humble himself on this special day will be cut off from his people. ³⁰Anyone who does any work on this very special day, I will exterminate from the midst of his people. ³¹You shall do no work. This is a permanent regulation throughout your generations in all your places where you live. ³²It is a sabbath of complete rest for you. You shall humble yourselves on the ninth day of the month at evening. From that evening until the next evening, you shall observe a sabbath rest.

The Festival of Shelters

³³The Lord told Moses ³⁴to tell the people of Israel this:

Beginning on the fifteenth day of this seventh month, celebrate the Festival of Shelters^[] for seven days for the Lord. ³⁵On the first day proclaim a holy convocation. You shall not do any work for your regular occupation. ³⁶For seven days you shall bring an offering made by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day proclaim a holy convocation for yourselves, and you shall present an offering made by fire to the Lord. This is a closing ceremony. You shall not do any work for your regular occupation.

³⁷These are the appointed times of the Lord, which you shall proclaim as holy convocations for the presentation of offerings made by fire to the Lord—burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings as commanded for each day. ³⁸Offer these in addition to the Sabbath offerings of the Lord, in addition to your personal wave offerings, in addition to all your offerings to fulfill a vow, and in addition to all your voluntary^[] offerings that you give to the Lord.

³⁹Beginning exactly on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, when you go to celebrate the festival of the Lord for seven days as a pilgrim, there shall be a complete sabbath rest on the first day and a complete sabbath rest on the eighth day. ⁴⁰On the first day you shall select for yourselves fruit from splendid trees, branches of palm trees, boughs from leafy trees, and willows from by the stream— and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. ⁴¹Celebrate the festival for the Lord as a pilgrim for seven days each year. This is a permanent regulation throughout your generations. In the seventh month you shall celebrate the festival as a pilgrim. ⁴²You shall live in temporary shelters for seven days—every native-born person in Israel shall live in shelters— ⁴³so that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel live in shelters when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

⁴⁴That is what Moses said about the appointed times of the Lord to the people of Israel.

Luke 12:35-53

Be Ready!

(Matthew 24:36-51; Mark 13:32-37)

³⁵“Be dressed, ready for service, and keep your lamps burning. ³⁶Be like people waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. ³⁷Blessed are those servants, whom the master will find watching when he comes. Amen I tell you: He will dress himself and have them recline at the table, and he will come and serve them. ³⁸Even if he comes in the second or third watch,^[] they will be blessed if he finds them alert. ³⁹But know this: If the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. ⁴⁰You also be ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you are not expecting him.”

⁴¹Peter said, “Lord, are you telling this parable to us or to everybody?”

⁴²The Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager,^[] whom the master will put in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? ⁴³Blessed is that servant whom his master will find doing so when he comes. ⁴⁴Truly I tell you: He will put him in charge of all his possessions. ⁴⁵But if that servant says in his heart, ‘My master is staying away for a long time.’ And he begins to beat the male and female servants, to eat and drink and become drunk, ⁴⁶then the master of that servant will arrive on a day when he was not expected, and at an hour that his servant does not know. The master will cut him in two and assign him a place with the unbelievers. ⁴⁷That servant who knew his master's will and did not prepare or act according to what his master wanted, will be punished severely. ⁴⁸But the one who did not know, and did something worthy of punishment, will be punished lightly. From everyone to whom much was given, much will be expected. From the one who was entrusted with much, much more will be asked.

Division

⁴⁹“I came to throw fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already ignited. ⁵⁰But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is finished! ⁵¹Do you think that I came to bring peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. ⁵²Yes, from now on there will be five divided in one household: three against two, and two against three. ⁵³They will be divided: father against son, and son against father; mother against daughter, and daughter against mother; mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”^[]