Daily Lectionary

June 17, 2025

June 16, 2025 June 18, 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.

Proverbs 17:1-28

More Advice for a Son

17¹Better a piece of dry bread with peace

than a house full of feasting with quarreling.

²A wise slave will rule over a shameful son.

He will share the inheritance with the brothers.

³There is a crucible for refining silver and a smelter for gold.

In the same way the Lord examines hearts.

⁴An evildoer pays attention to wicked lips.

A liar feeds upon^[] a destructive tongue.

⁵Whoever mocks a poor person insults his Maker.

A person who rejoices over calamity will not escape.

⁶Grandchildren are a crown for the elderly,

and parents are a source of pride for their children.

Introduction to Fools and Foolishness:

The Consequences of Being a Fool

⁷Eloquent lips are^[] not fitting for a fool.

How much less lying lips for a ruler!

⁸A bribe works like a charm for the person who gives it.

Wherever he turns, he prospers.

⁹A person who covers an offense pursues love,

but one who repeats the matter separates friends.

¹⁰A reprimand impresses a discerning person

more than receiving a hundred lashes impresses a fool.

¹¹An evil person promotes only rebellion,

and a cruel messenger will be sent against him.

¹²Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs

than to meet a fool in his stupidity.

¹³A person who repays evil for good—

evil will never leave his house.

¹⁴Starting a quarrel is like opening a floodgate,

so stop the dispute before it gets started.

¹⁵Acquitting a guilty person

and convicting an innocent person—

both of these are disgusting^[] to the Lord.

¹⁶Why hand a fool money to buy wisdom,

since he has no aptitude for using it?

¹⁷A friend loves at all times,

and a brother is born for a time of trouble.

¹⁸A person without sense shakes hands

to guarantee a loan for his neighbor.

¹⁹A person who loves sin loves conflict.

A person who builds his gate high invites destruction.

²⁰A crooked mind does not find good.

A perverted tongue will fall into disaster.

²¹The man who fathers a fool has grief,

and the father of an arrogant fool will have no joy.

²²A cheerful heart is good medicine,

but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.

²³A wicked person secretly accepts a bribe

to pervert the ways of justice.

²⁴Wisdom is right in front of a discerning person,

but a fool's eyes wander to the end of the earth.

Avoiding Fools and Foolishness

²⁵A foolish son is an aggravation to his father

and bitterness to the woman who bore him.

²⁶It is not good to impose a fine on a righteous person

nor to flog officials because of their uprightness.

²⁷A person with knowledge restrains his words.

A person with understanding is even-tempered.

²⁸Even a stubborn fool who keeps silent will be considered wise.

He is considered to be perceptive if he keeps his lips shut.

John 16:17-33

¹⁷Therefore some of his disciples asked one another, “What does he mean when he tells us, ‘In a little while you are not going to see me, and again in a little while you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going away to the Father’?” ¹⁸So they kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don't understand what he's saying.”

¹⁹Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, “Are you trying to determine with one another what I meant by saying, ‘In a little while you are not going to see me, and again in a little while you will see me’? ²⁰Amen, Amen, I tell you: You will weep and wail, but the world will rejoice. You will become sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy. ²¹A woman giving birth has pain, because her time has come. But when she has delivered the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, because of her joy that a person has been born into the world.

²²“So you also have sorrow now. But I will see you again. Your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. ²³In that day you will not ask me anything. Amen, Amen, I tell you: Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you. ²⁴Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask, and you will receive, so that your joy may be made complete.

²⁵“I have told you these things using figurative language. A time is coming when I will no longer speak to you using figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father. ²⁶In that day you will ask in my name, and I am not telling you that I will make requests of the Father on your behalf. ²⁷For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. ²⁸I came from the Father and have come into the world. Now I am going to leave the world and go to the Father.”

²⁹“Yes!” his disciples said. “Now you are speaking plainly and not using figurative language. ³⁰Now we know that you know everything and do not need to have anyone ask you anything. For this reason we believe that you came from God.”

³¹Jesus answered them, “Now do you believe? ³²Listen, a time is coming, in fact it is here, when you will be scattered, everyone to his own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not going to be alone, because the Father is with me. ³³I have told you these things, so that you may have peace in me. In this world you are going to have trouble. But be courageous! I have overcome the world.”