The Daily Readings for November 12, 2021

We've included both the Morning and Evening Psalms for the Daily Office; they are listed after the other readings. If you'd like to filter for a particular day's readings, you can do it at The Daily Readings Anytime.

Nehemiah 7:73-8:18

So the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the temple servants, and all Israel settled in their towns. When the seventh month came-- the people of Israel being settled in their towns-- all the people gathered together into the square before the Water Gate. They told the scribe Ezra to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had given to Israel. Accordingly, the priest Ezra brought the law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could hear with understanding. This was on the first day of the seventh month. He read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law. The scribe Ezra stood on a wooden platform that had been made for the purpose; and beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand; and Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hash-baddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam on his left hand. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up. Then Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God, and all the people answered, "Amen, Amen," lifting up their hands. Then they bowed their heads and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground. Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, helped the people to understand the law, while the people remained in their places. So they read from the book, from the law of God, with interpretation. They gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading. And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, "This day is holy to the LORD your God; do not mourn or weep." For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. Then he said to them, "Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our LORD; and do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength." So the Levites stilled all the people, saying, "Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved." And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them. On the second day the heads of ancestral houses of all the people, with the priests and the Levites, came together to the scribe Ezra in order to study the words of the law. And they found it written in the law, which the LORD had commanded by Moses, that the people of Israel should live in booths during the festival of the seventh month, and that they should publish and proclaim in all their towns and in Jerusalem as follows, "Go out to the hills and bring branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees to make booths, as it is written." So the people went out and brought them, and made booths for themselves, each on the roofs of their houses, and in their courts and in the courts of the house of God, and in the square at the Water Gate and in the square at the Gate of Ephraim. And all the assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in them; for from the days of Jeshua son of Nun to that day the people of Israel had not done so. And there was very great rejoicing. And day by day, from the first day to the last day, he read from the book of the law of God. They kept the festival seven days; and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly, according to the ordinance.

Revelation 18:21-24

Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, "With such violence Babylon the great city will be thrown down, and will be found no more; and the sound of harpists and minstrels and of flutists and trumpeters will be heard in you no more; and an artisan of any trade will be found in you no more; and the sound of the millstone will be heard in you no more; and the light of a lamp will shine in you no more; and the voice of bridegroom and bride will be heard in you no more; for your merchants were the magnates of the earth, and all nations were deceived by your sorcery. And in you was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slaughtered on earth."

Matthew 15:29-39

After Jesus had left that place, he passed along the Sea of Galilee, and he went up the mountain, where he sat down. Great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the maimed, the blind, the mute, and many others. They put them at his feet, and he cured them, so that the crowd was amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel. Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, "I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way." The disciples said to him, "Where are we to get enough bread in the desert to feed so great a crowd?" Jesus asked them, "How many loaves have you?" They said, "Seven, and a few small fish." Then ordering the crowd to sit down on the ground, he took the seven loaves and the fish; and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all of them ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. Those who had eaten were four thousand men, besides women and children. After sending away the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.

Morning Psalms

Psalm 119: Mem Quomodo dilexi!
⁹⁷   Oh, how I love your law! *
all the day long it is in my mind.
⁹⁸   Your commandment has made me wiser than my enemies, *
and it is always with me.
⁹⁹   I have more understanding than all my teachers, *
for your decrees are my study.
¹⁰⁰   I am wiser than the elders, *
because I observe your commandments.
¹⁰¹   I restrain my feet from every evil way, *
that I may keep your word.
¹⁰²   I do not shrink from your judgments, *
because you yourself have taught me.
¹⁰³   How sweet are your words to my taste! *
they are sweeter than honey to my mouth.
¹⁰⁴   Through your commandments I gain understanding; *
therefore I hate every lying way.

Psalm 119: Nun Lucerna pedibus meis
¹⁰⁵   Your word is a lantern to my feet *
and a light upon my path.
¹⁰⁶   I have sworn and am determined *
to keep your righteous judgments.
¹⁰⁷   I am deeply troubled; *
preserve my life, O LORD, according to your word.
¹⁰⁸   Accept, O LORD, the willing tribute of my lips, *
and teach me your judgments.
¹⁰⁹   My life is always in my hand, *
yet I do not forget your law.
¹¹⁰   The wicked have set a trap for me, *
but I have not strayed from your commandments.
¹¹¹   Your decrees are my inheritance for ever; *
truly, they are the joy of my heart.
¹¹²   I have applied my heart to fulfill your statutes *
for ever and to the end.

Psalm 119: Samekh Iniquos odio habui
¹¹³   I hate those who have a divided heart, *
but your law do I love.
¹¹⁴   You are my refuge and shield; *
my hope is in your word.
¹¹⁵   Away from me, you wicked! *
I will keep the commandments of my God.
¹¹⁶   Sustain me according to your promise, that I may live, *
and let me not be disappointed in my hope.
¹¹⁷   Hold me up, and I shall be safe, *
and my delight shall be ever in your statutes.
¹¹⁸   You spurn all who stray from your statutes; *
their deceitfulness is in vain.
¹¹⁹   In your sight all the wicked of the earth are but dross; *
therefore I love your decrees.
¹²⁰   My flesh trembles with dread of you; *
I am afraid of your judgments.

Evening Psalms

Psalm 81 Exultate Deo

¹   Sing with joy to God our strength *
and raise a loud shout to the God of Jacob.
²   Raise a song and sound the timbrel, *
the merry harp, and the lyre.
³   Blow the ram's-horn at the new moon, *
and at the full moon, the day of our feast.
⁴   For this is a statute for Israel, *
a law of the God of Jacob.
⁵   He laid it as a solemn charge upon Joseph, *
when he came out of the land of Egypt.
⁶   I heard an unfamiliar voice saying, *
"I eased his shoulder from the burden; his hands were set free from bearing the load."
⁷   You called on me in trouble, and I saved you; *
I answered you from the secret place of thunder and tested you at the waters of Meribah.
⁸   Hear, O my people, and I will admonish you: *
O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
⁹   There shall be no strange god among you; *
you shall not worship a foreign god.
¹⁰   I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and said, *
"Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it."
¹¹   And yet my people did not hear my voice, *
and Israel would not obey me.
¹²   So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their hearts, *
to follow their own devices.
¹³   Oh, that my people would listen to me! *
that Israel would walk in my ways!
¹⁴   I should soon subdue their enemies *
and turn my hand against their foes.
¹⁵   Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him, *
and their punishment would last for ever.
¹⁶   But Israel would I feed with the finest wheat *
and satisfy him with honey from the rock.

Psalm 82 Deus stetit

¹   God takes his stand in the council of heaven; *
he gives judgment in the midst of the gods:
²   How long will you judge unjustly, *
and show favor to the wicked?
³   Save the weak and the orphan; *
defend the humble and needy;
⁴   Rescue the weak and the poor; *
deliver them from the power of the wicked.
⁵   They do not know, neither do they understand; they go about in darkness; *
all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
⁶   Now I say to you, 'You are gods, *
and all of you children of the Most High;
⁷   Nevertheless, you shall die like mortals, *
and fall like any prince.'"
⁸   Arise, O God, and rule the earth, *
for you shall take all nations for your own.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The New Revised Standard Version Bible may be quoted and/or reprinted up to and inclusive of five hundred (500) verses without express written permission of the publisher, provided the verses quoted do not amount to a complete book of the Bible or account for fifty percent (50%) of the total work in which they are quoted.