The Wartburg Project

Daily Lectionary

July 20, 2025

July 19, 2025 July 21, 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.

1 Samuel 3:1-21

Samuel Becomes a Prophet
31The boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli. The word of the Lord was rare in those days. Prophetic vision was not common.
2Now it happened that Eli's eyes had begun to grow dim, so that he could not see. Once when Eli was lying down in his place 3and God's lamp had not yet gone out, Samuel was lying down in the Lord's temple, where God's ark was. 4The Lord called Samuel, and Samuel said, “I am here.” 5He ran to Eli, and said, “I am here, since you called me.”
Eli said, “I did not call. Lie down again.” So he went and lay down.
6Then the Lord called once more, “Samuel!”
So Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “I am here, since you called me.”
He answered, “I did not call, my son. Lie down again.”
7Now Samuel had not yet experienced the Lord's presence,[] that is, the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.
8The Lord called Samuel for the third time. So he got up and went to Eli and said, “I am here, since you called me.”
Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the young man. 9So Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’”
So Samuel went and once again lay down in his place. 10The Lord came and stood there and called as he had the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”
Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
11The Lord said to Samuel, “Look, I am going to do something in Israel that will make both ears of everyone who hears about it tingle. 12On that day I am going to carry out against Eli everything that I have spoken against his house, from beginning to end. 13I have told him that I am going to judge his house forever because of their guilty behavior, which he knew about. This will happen because his sons brought a curse on themselves, and he did not restrain them. 14I have sworn to the house of Eli that the guilt of Eli's house shall never be atoned for with sacrifice or offering.”
15So Samuel lay there until morning.[] Then he opened the doors to the Lord's house. Samuel was afraid to tell Eli about the vision. 16But Eli called to Samuel, “Samuel, my son!”
He said, “I am here.”
17Eli said, “What is the message that he has spoken to you? Please do not hide it from me. May God punish you severely and double it,[] if you hide from me one word of all of the things that he spoke to you.”
18So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him.
Eli said, “He is the Lord. Let him do whatever is good in his eyes.”
19Samuel continued to grow, and the Lord was with him. The Lord let none of his words fall to the ground. 20So all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord. 21The Lord continued to appear in Shiloh, because at Shiloh the Lord revealed himself to Samuel by the word of the Lord. ˻So Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord for all Israel, from one end of the land to the other end.˼

Acts 16:1-22

Timothy Joins Paul and Silas
161Paul arrived in Derbe and in Lystra, where there was a disciple named Timothy, who was the son of a believing Jewish woman, but his father was a Greek. 2The brothers in Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him. 3Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, so he took him and circumcised him on account of the Jews who lived in those places, because they all knew that his father was a Greek. 4As they traveled through the towns, they delivered the resolutions decided by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to keep. 5So the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in number day by day.
The Call to Go to Macedonia in Europe
6They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, because they were prevented by the Holy Spirit from speaking the word in the province of Asia. 7When they went as far as Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. 8So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. 9A vision appeared to Paul during the night. A Macedonian man was standing there, urging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” 10As soon as he had seen the vision, we[] immediately made plans to proceed to Macedonia, because we concluded that God[] had called us to preach the good news to them.
At Philippi
11After we put out to sea from Troas, we sailed straight to Samothrace, and the next day to Neapolis. 12From there we went to Philippi, which is a leading city in that part of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We stayed in this city for a number of days.
13On the Sabbath day we went outside the city gate alongside the river, where we thought there was a place of prayer.[] We sat down and began to talk to the women who had gathered there. 14A woman named Lydia, who worshipped God, was listening. She was a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira. The Lord opened her heart to pay close attention to what Paul was saying. 15When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, “If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.
Paul and Silas Put in Prison
16Once when we were going to the place of prayer, a slave girl met us. She had a spirit that foretold the future, and she made a large profit for her owners by fortune-telling. 17As she followed Paul and us, she kept crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you[] the way to be saved.” 18When she kept doing this for many days, Paul became so annoyed that he turned to the spirit and said, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out at that very moment.
19When her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities. 20They had brought them to the magistrates and said, “These men are throwing our city into a state of confusion. They are Jews, 21and they are teaching customs that are not lawful for us to accept or practice, since we are Romans.”
22When the crowd also joined in the attack against them, the magistrates tore off their clothes and ordered them to be beaten with rods.