The Wartburg Project

Daily Lectionary

June 11, 2025

June 10, 2025 June 12, 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 23:4-28

4God met Balaam, and Balaam said to him, “I have set up seven altars, and I have offered up a bull and a ram on each altar.”
5The Lord put a message into Balaam's mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and you are to deliver this message.”
6Balaam returned to Balak and found him standing by his burnt offering, along with all the officials of Moab. 7Balaam took up his oracle.
The First Message: No One Can Curse God's Chosen People
Balaam said:
From Aram Balak has brought me.
Balak, the king of Moab from the eastern mountains, said,
“Come, curse Jacob for me.
Come, denounce Israel.”
8How can I curse someone God has not cursed?
How can I denounce someone the Lord has not denounced?
9Yes, from the rocky peaks I see him.
From the hills I look at him.
Look! A people that dwells apart,
that does not consider itself to be one of the nations.
10Who can count the dust of Jacob,
or number even a fourth of Israel?
May I die the death of the righteous!
May my final end be like his!
11Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but you have just blessed them.”
12Balaam answered, “Don't I have to speak accurately whatever the Lord puts in my mouth?”
Balaam's Second Message
13Balak said to Balaam, “Please come with me to another place where you can see them. You will see only their outskirts. You will not see all of them. From there curse them for me.”
14Balak took Balaam into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah. Balak built seven altars and offered up a bull and a ram on each altar. 15Balaam said to Balak, “Stand here by your burnt offering, while I meet the Lord over there.”
16The Lord met with Balaam and put a message in his mouth. The Lord said, “Return to Balak, and you are to deliver this message.”
17Balaam came back to Balak and found him standing by his burnt offering, and the officials of Moab were with him. Balak said to him, “What did the Lord say?”
The Second Message: The Lord Will Never Break His Promise to Bless His People
18Balaam took up his oracle and said:
Get up, Balak, and listen!
Give ear to me, son of Zippor.
19God is not a man, that he should lie,
nor a son of man, that he changes his mind.
Does he say something, and then not carry it out?
Does he speak, and then not bring it about?
20Look, I have received a command to bless.
He has blessed, and I cannot change that.
21No disaster is in sight for Jacob.
No suffering is seen in Israel.
The Lord his God is with him.
A shout for the King is among them.
22God brings them out of Egypt.
God is like the horns of a wild ox for him.
23Surely there is no occult power against Jacob,
no omen against Israel.
They will say about Jacob and Israel,
“What great things God has done!”
24Look, the people rise up like a lioness.
Like a lion they lift themselves up.
He will not lie down until he eats the prey,
until he drinks the blood of the slain.
25Then Balak said to Balaam, “Do not curse them at all! Do not bless them at all!”
26But Balaam answered Balak, “Didn't I say to you that I must do everything the Lord says?”
Balaam's Third Message
27Balak said to Balaam, “Come on, I will take you to another place. Maybe God will agree to let you curse them for me from there.”
28Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the wasteland.

Luke 22:47-71

Jesus' Arrest
(Matthew 26:47-56; Mark 14:43-52; John 18:1-14)
47While he was still speaking, suddenly a crowd appeared, and the man called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He came near to Jesus to kiss him. 48But Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”
49When those who were around him saw what was about to happen, they said to him, “Lord, should we strike with a sword?” 50Then one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear.
51But Jesus responded, “Stop! No more of this!” Then he touched the servant's ear and healed him. 52Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders, who had come out against him, “Have you come out as you would against a robber, with swords and clubs? 53Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour—when darkness rules.”
54Then they seized him, led him away, and brought him into the high priest's house.
Peter Denies Jesus
(Matthew 26:69-75; Mark 14:66-72; John 18:15-18,25-27)
Peter followed at a distance. 55When they had lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, Peter sat down among them. 56A servant girl saw him sitting near the light. She looked closely at him and said, “This man also was with him.”
57But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.”
58After a little while someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them!”
But Peter answered, “Man, I am not!”
59After about one hour had passed, someone else was firmly insisting, “Truly this man was with him too, because he is a Galilean!”
60But Peter said, “Man, I don't know what you are talking about!” At that very moment, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed. 61The Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the Lord's word, how he had said to him, “Before the rooster crows today you will deny me three times.” 62He went outside and wept bitterly.
The Guards Mock Jesus
63The men who were holding Jesus in custody mocked him while they were beating him. 64They blindfolded him and kept asking him, “Prophesy! Who hit you?” 65And they went on saying many other blasphemous things against him.
The Jewish Court
66As soon as it was day, the council of the elders of the people met together, both the chief priests and experts in the law. They brought him into their Sanhedrin and said, 67“If you are the Christ, tell us.”
But he said to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe, 68and if I ask you, you will not answer me or release me.[] 69But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God.”[]
70They all said, “Are you then the Son of God?”
He said to them, “I am what you are saying.”
71Then they said, “Why do we need any more testimony? For we ourselves have heard it from his own mouth!”