The Wartburg Project

Daily Lectionary

June 5, 2025

June 4, 2025 June 6, 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.

Numbers 16:41-17:13

41But on the next day the entire Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. They said, “You have killed the people of the Lord!”
42When the community assembled together against Moses and Aaron and turned toward the Tent of Meeting, the cloud covered it, and the Glory of the Lord appeared. 43Moses and Aaron went in front of the Tent of Meeting. 44The Lord spoke to Moses: 45“Get away from this community so that I may put an end to them instantly!” Moses and Aaron fell facedown to the ground.
46Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, put fire from the altar in it, place incense on it, go quickly to the community, and make atonement for them, because wrath has gone out from the Lord! The plague has begun.”
47Aaron did as Moses said and ran into the middle of the assembly. The plague had already begun among the people. He put the incense on his censer and made atonement for the people. 48He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped. 49Now those who died by the plague totaled 14,700, besides those who died because of the offense of Korah. 50Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, and the plague was stopped.
Aaron's Staff Is Chosen
171The Lord spoke to Moses: 2“Speak to the Israelites, and collect staffs from them, one from each father's house, from all their tribal chiefs according to their fathers' houses, twelve staffs in all. Write each man's name on his staff. 3Write Aaron's name on the staff of Levi, because there will be one staff for each head of their fathers' houses. 4You are to place them in the Tent of Meeting before the Testimony, where I meet with you. 5The staff of the man whom I will choose will sprout. I will rid myself of the Israelites' constant grumbling against you.”
6So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and each one of their tribal chiefs gave him a staff, one staff for each tribal chief according to their fathers' houses, twelve staffs in all. Aaron's staff was among their staffs. 7Moses placed the staffs before the Lord in the Tent of the Testimony.
8On the next day Moses went into the Tent of the Testimony and discovered that Aaron's staff representing the house of Levi had sprouted, budded, blossomed, and produced almonds. 9Moses brought out all the staffs from the Lord's presence to all the Israelites. They looked, and each man took his staff.
10The Lord said to Moses, “Put Aaron's staff back in front of the Testimony to be kept as a sign against the rebellious.[] In this way you will put an end to their grumblings against me, so that they do not die.” 11That is what Moses did. He did just as the Lord commanded him.
12The Israelites said to Moses, “Look, we are perishing! We are lost! We are all lost! 13Everyone who approaches the Lord's Dwelling dies! Must we all perish?”

Luke 20:1-18

Jesus' Authority Is Questioned
(Matthew 21:23-27; Mark 11:27-33)
201One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple courts and preaching the good news, the chief priests and experts in the law came to him with the elders. 2They asked him, “Tell us by what authority you are doing these things. Or who is the one who gave you this authority?”
3He answered them, “I will also ask you one question. Tell me: 4the baptism of John—was it from heaven or from men?”
5They discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ 6But if we say, ‘From men,’ all the people will stone us, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.” 7So they answered that they did not know where it was from.
8Jesus said to them, “Neither am I going to tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”
The Parable of the Wicked Tenants
(Matthew 21:33-46; Mark 12:1-12)
9He began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, leased it to some tenant farmers, and went away on a journey for a long time. 10When it was the right time, he sent a servant to the tenants to collect his share of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenant farmers beat the servant and sent him away empty-handed. 11The man went ahead and sent yet another servant, but they also beat him, treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. 12He then sent yet a third. They also wounded him and threw him out. 13The owner of the vineyard said, ‘What should I do? I will send my son, whom I love. Perhaps they will respect him.’
14“But when the tenant farmers saw him, they talked it over with one another. They said, ‘This is the heir. Let's kill him, so that the inheritance will be ours.’ 15They threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. So what will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16He will come and destroy those tenant farmers and give the vineyard to others.”
When they heard this, they said, “May it never be!”
17But he looked at them and said, “Then what about this that is written:
The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.[]
18“Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and it will crush the one on whom it falls.”