The Wartburg Project

Daily Lectionary

March 22, 2026

March 21, 2026 March 23, 2026

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.

Exodus 1:1-22

The Israelites Oppressed
11These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt. Each man and his household went with Jacob: 2Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, 3Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, 4Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. 5The total number of Jacob's descendants was seventy people. (Joseph was already in Egypt.)
6Then Joseph died, as did all his brothers and that entire generation. 7However, the Israelites were fruitful, multiplied quickly, increased in number, and became very numerous. So the land was filled with them.
8Then a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9He said to his people, “Look, the Israelites are more numerous and more powerful than we are. 10Let's come up with a wise plan to prevent them from increasing in number. Otherwise, if war breaks out, they would join with our enemies and fight against us. Then they would leave the land.” 11So the Egyptians placed taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. The Israelites built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. 12But the more the Egyptians oppressed the Israelites, the more they increased in number, and the more they spread out. The Egyptians were filled with dread because of them. 13So the Egyptians oppressed the Israelites by forcing them to work very hard. 14The Egyptians made the Israelites' lives bitter with hard work, with brick and mortar, and with all kinds of work in the fields. The Egyptians were merciless in the way they imposed work on the Israelites.
15The king of Egypt also spoke to the Hebrew midwives. One of them was named Shiphrah and the other Puah. 16He said, “When you help the Hebrew women give birth, while they are still on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a son, you are to kill him, but if you see that it is a daughter, let her live.” 17The midwives, however, feared God, so they did not do what the king of Egypt told them to do, but they let the boys live.
18The king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, “Why did you do this and let the boys live?”
19The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women. They are vigorous, so they give birth before the midwife comes to them.”
20So God treated the midwives well. The people also increased in number and became very numerous. 21Because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. 22Pharaoh, however, commanded all his people, “Every son who is born you shall throw into the Nile, but every daughter you shall let live.”

Mark 14:12-31

Jesus Celebrates the Passover
(Matthew 26:17-20; Luke 22:7-17)
12On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, his disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?” 13He sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and there a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. 14Wherever he enters, tell the owner of the house that the Teacher says, ‘Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ 15He will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.”
16His disciples left and went into the city and found things just as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover.
17When it was evening, he arrived with the Twelve.
One Will Betray Jesus
(Matthew 26:21-25; Luke 22:21-23; John 13:21-30)
18While they were reclining and eating, Jesus said, “Amen I tell you: One of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.”
19They began to be sorrowful and said to him one by one, “Surely not I?”
20He said to them, “It is one of the Twelve, one who is dipping bread with me in the dish. 21Indeed, the Son of Man is going to go just as it has been written about him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”
The Lord's Supper
(Matthew 26:26-30; Luke 22:18-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-25)
22While they were eating, Jesus took bread. When he had blessed it, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “Take it.[] This is my body.”
23Then he took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them. They all drank from it. 24He said to them, “This is my blood of the new testament,[] which is poured out for many. 25Amen I tell you: I will certainly not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” 26After they sang a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Jesus Predicts Peter's Denial
(Matthew 26:31-35; Luke 22:31-34; John 13:36-38)
27Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me. For it is written: ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’[] 28But after I am raised, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”
29But Peter said to him, “Even if all fall away, I will not.”
30Jesus said to him, “Amen I tell you: Today—this very night—before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.”
31But Peter kept saying emphatically, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you.” And they all said the same thing.