Daily Lectionary

July 28, 2025

July 27, 2025 July 29, 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 13:1-18

Saul's Reign Gets Off to a Bad Start

13¹Saul was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned over Israel forty-two years.^[]

²Saul chose for himself three thousand men of Israel. Two thousand were with Saul at Mikmash and in the hill country near Bethel, and one thousand were with Jonathan at Gibeah^[] of Benjamin. He sent the rest of the people to their own tents.

³Jonathan struck the Philistine garrison^[] that was in Geba, and the Philistines heard about it. Saul blew the ram's horn throughout the land and said, “Let the Hebrews hear!” ⁴All Israel heard that Saul had struck the garrison of the Philistines and that Israel had become a stench to the Philistines. The people were summoned to meet Saul at Gilgal.

⁵The Philistines assembled their forces to fight against Israel with three thousand^[] chariots, six thousand charioteers, and soldiers as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They came up and camped at Mikmash, east of Beth Aven. ⁶When the men of Israel saw that they were in trouble because their army was under pressure, the people hid themselves in caves, in thickets,^[] among the rocks, in dugouts,^[] and in cisterns. ⁷Some of the Hebrews had gone across the Jordan River to the territory of Gad and Gilead, but Saul remained in Gilgal, and all the people who remained with him were shaking with fear. ⁸He waited there seven days, the time specified by Samuel, but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were starting to scatter from Saul. ⁹So Saul said, “Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offering.” He then presented the burnt offering.

¹⁰No sooner had he finished presenting the burnt offering than Samuel arrived. Saul went out to meet him and greet him with a blessing. ¹¹But Samuel said, “What have you done?”

Saul said, “I saw that the people were scattering from me, that you did not come within the set number of days, and that the Philistines had assembled their forces at Mikmash. ¹²So I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the Lord.’ So I forced myself to offer the burnt offering.”

¹³Samuel said to Saul, “You have acted foolishly. You have not kept the command which the Lord your God gave to you. The Lord would have established your kingship over Israel forever. ¹⁴But now your kingship will not continue. The Lord has sought for himself a man after his own heart, and the Lord has appointed him to be ruler over his people, because you have not obeyed the command the Lord gave you.”

¹⁵Then Samuel set out and went up from Gilgal. ˻The rest of the people followed Saul to meet the army. They went up from Gilgal˼^[] to Gibeah of Benjamin. Saul counted the people who were present with him. There were about six hundred men. ¹⁶Saul, and his son Jonathan, and the people who were present with them stayed in Geba^[] of Benjamin, but the Philistines camped at Mikmash.

¹⁷Raiding parties set out from the camp of the Philistines in three groups. One group headed down the road toward Ophrah, toward the land of Shual. ¹⁸Another group headed down the road to Beth Horon, and the third group headed toward the position on the border that looks down on the Valley of Zeboim, toward the wilderness.

Acts 23:12-35

The Plot to Kill Paul

¹²When day came, the Jews^[] formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath, saying that they would not eat or drink until they had killed Paul. ¹³There were more than forty who took part in this plot.

¹⁴They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have bound ourselves under a solemn oath not to taste anything until we have killed Paul. ¹⁵Now then, you and the Sanhedrin file charges with the commander so that he will bring him down to you^[] as if you were going to make a more thorough examination of his case. We are ready to kill him before he gets close to this place.”

¹⁶But when the son of Paul's sister heard about the ambush, he went into the barracks and told Paul. ¹⁷Then Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the commander, because he has something to report to him.”

¹⁸So he brought him to the commander and said, “The prisoner Paul called for me and asked me to bring this young man to you, because he has something to tell you.”

¹⁹The commander took him by the hand, led him aside, and asked him privately, “What is it that you have to tell me?”

²⁰He said, “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the Sanhedrin tomorrow, as if they want to gain more accurate information about him. ²¹Don't let them persuade you, because more than forty of their men are waiting in ambush for him. They have bound themselves under a solemn oath not to eat or drink until they have killed him. They are ready right now, waiting for your consent.”

²²So the commander dismissed the young man with this order: “Don't tell anyone that you have reported these things to me.”

²³Then he called two of the centurions and said, “Get two hundred soldiers ready, along with seventy cavalry and two hundred spearmen to go as far as Caesarea at the third hour of the night.^[] ²⁴Also provide mounts so that they can put Paul on one and bring him safely to Felix the governor.” ²⁵He wrote a letter as follows:

²⁶Claudius Lysias,

To his Excellency, Governor Felix:

Greetings.

²⁷This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them when I came with the soldiers and rescued him, because I learned that he is a Roman citizen. ²⁸Since I wanted to know the charge they were bringing against him, I brought him down to their Sanhedrin. ²⁹I found he was being accused concerning questions of their law, but there was no charge that deserved death or imprisonment. ³⁰When I was informed that there would be a plot against this man, I sent him to you at once. I also ordered his accusers to state what they have against him before you.

Farewell.^[]

³¹So the soldiers, according to their orders, took Paul and brought him to Antipatris during the night. ³²The next day they let the cavalry go on with him, while they returned to the barracks. ³³When the cavalry came to Caesarea, they delivered the letter to the governor, and they handed Paul over to him.

³⁴After the governor had read the letter, he asked what province he was from. When he learned that he was from Cilicia, ³⁵he said, “I will give you a hearing when your accusers arrive.” Then he ordered that Paul should be kept under guard in Herod's palace.