The Wartburg Project

Daily Lectionary

August 1, 2025

July 31, 2025 August 2, 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 17:1-19

David and Goliath
171Now the Philistines gathered their troops for battle. They gathered at Sokoh, which belongs to Judah, and they camped between Sokoh[] and Azekah at Ephes Dammim. 2Saul and the men of Israel also gathered together and camped in the Valley of Elah. They lined up in battle formation opposite the Philistines. 3The Philistines took up a position in front of the mountain on one side of the valley, and the Israelites stationed themselves in front of the mountain on the other side of the valley.
4A challenger who represented the Philistines came out from the camp of the Philistines. He was named Goliath of Gath. He was nine feet, six inches tall.[] 5He had a bronze helmet on his head, and he wore scaled body armor, which was made of more than one hundred pounds[] of bronze. 6He had bronze greaves on his shins and a bronze spear slung between his shoulders. 7The shaft[] of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his spearhead was made of fifteen pounds[] of iron. His shield bearer went out ahead of him.
8He would stand up and shout to the armies of Israel, “Why have you come out to line up in battle formation? I am a Philistine, and you are servants of Saul, aren't you? Choose a man to represent you, and let him come down to me. 9If he is able to fight with me and kill me, we will be your servants. But if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our servants, and you will serve us.” 10The Philistine would say, “I defy the ranks of Israel today! Give me a man, and we will fight each other!” 11When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they lost their courage and were terrified.
12Now[] David was the son of an Ephrathite from Bethlehem in Judah, whose name was Jesse. Jesse had eight sons. In the days of Saul, Jesse was a very old man. 13The three oldest sons of Jesse had accompanied Saul to the battleground. The names of his three sons who went to the battle were his firstborn Eliab, next Abinadab, and third Shammah. 14David was the youngest son. The three oldest accompanied Saul. 15During this time David went back and forth from Saul to take care of his father's sheep at Bethlehem.
16The Philistine came out each morning and evening for forty days and presented his challenge.
17Jesse said to his son David, “Take twenty-five pounds[] of this roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers. Deliver them quickly to the camp for your brothers. 18Also take these ten blocks of cheese to the commander of their unit.[] See how your brothers are doing and bring back some assurance they are okay.”
19Now Saul, David's brothers, and all the men of Israel were in the Valley of Elah to fight with the Philistines.

Acts 26:1-23

261Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.”
Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense. 2“King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate that I am going to make my defense before you today concerning all the things about which I am being accused by the Jews, 3especially because you are an expert in all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently.
4“All the Jews know the way I have lived from the earliest days of my youth, among my own people and in Jerusalem. 5They have known about me for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that I lived as a Pharisee according to the strictest party of our religion.
6“And now I stand on trial because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers, 7the promise that our twelve tribes hope to attain as they earnestly serve God night and day. I am being accused by the Jews concerning this hope, O King. 8Why does it seem unbelievable to any of you that God raises the dead?
9“I too was convinced that it was necessary to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus the Nazarene. 10And that is what I did in Jerusalem. After receiving authority from the chief priests, I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. 11I often tried to make them blaspheme by punishing them throughout all the synagogues. Because I was so insanely angry with them, I even pursued them to foreign cities.
12“That is how I came to be traveling to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. 13At noon along the road, O King, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those traveling with me. 14We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect,[] ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’[]
15“Then I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’
“The Lord replied, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 16Now get up and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose: to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things you have seen[] and to the things I will reveal to you. 17I will rescue you from your people and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you. 18You are to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive the forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
19“Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven. 20Rather, I first told those in Damascus and Jerusalem about it, and then throughout the entire country of Judea and also the Gentiles. I told them that they should repent and turn to God, while also doing works that are consistent with repentance. 21These are the reasons the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me.
22“But I have had help from God right up to this day, and so I stand testifying to both small and great. I am saying nothing other than what the prophets and Moses said would happen, 23that the Christ would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light to our people and to the Gentiles.”