The Daily Readings for February 17, 2014

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.

Genesis 30:1-24

When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, she envied her sister; and she said to Jacob, "Give me children, or I shall die!" Jacob became very angry with Rachel and said, "Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?" Then she said, "Here is my maid Bilhah; go in to her, that she may bear upon my knees and that I too may have children through her." So she gave him her maid Bilhah as a wife; and Jacob went in to her. And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son. Then Rachel said, "God has judged me, and has also heard my voice and given me a son" therefore she named him Dan. Rachel's maid Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son. Then Rachel said, "With mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and have prevailed" so she named him Naphtali. When Leah saw that she had ceased bearing children, she took her maid Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife. Then Leah's maid Zilpah bore Jacob a son. And Leah said, "Good fortune!" so she named him Gad. Leah's maid Zilpah bore Jacob a second son. And Leah said, "Happy am I! For the women will call me happy" so she named him Asher. In the days of wheat harvest Reuben went and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, "Please give me some of your son's mandrakes." But she said to her, "Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son's mandrakes also?" Rachel said, "Then he may lie with you tonight for your son's mandrakes." When Jacob came from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him, and said, "You must come in to me; for I have hired you with my son's mandrakes." So he lay with her that night. And God heeded Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son. Leah said, "God has given me my hire because I gave my maid to my husband" so she named him Issachar. And Leah conceived again, and she bore Jacob a sixth son. Then Leah said, "God has endowed me with a good dowry; now my husband will honor me, because I have borne him six sons" so she named him Zebulun. Afterwards she bore a daughter, and named her Dinah. Then God remembered Rachel, and God heeded her and opened her womb. She conceived and bore a son, and said, "God has taken away my reproach" and she named him Joseph, saying, "May the LORD add to me another son!"

1 John 1:1-10

We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life-- this life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify to it, and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us-- we declare to you what we have seen and heard so that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete. This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

John 9:1-17

As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man's eyes, saying to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, "Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?" Some were saying, "It is he." Others were saying, "No, but it is someone like him." He kept saying, "I am the man." But they kept asking him, "Then how were your eyes opened?" He answered, "The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, 'Go to Siloam and wash.' Then I went and washed and received my sight." They said to him, "Where is he?" He said, "I do not know." They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, "He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see." Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath." But others said, "How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?" And they were divided. So they said again to the blind man, "What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened." He said, "He is a prophet."

Morning Psalms

Psalm 89: Part I Misericordias Domini

¹   Your love, O LORD, for ever will I sing; *
from age to age my mouth will proclaim your faithfulness.
²   For I am persuaded that your love is established for ever; *
you have set your faithfulness firmly in the heavens.
³   I have made a covenant with my chosen one; *
I have sworn an oath to David my servant:
⁴   'I will establish your line for ever, *
and preserve your throne for all generations.'"
⁵   The heavens bear witness to your wonders, O LORD, *
and to your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones;
⁶   For who in the skies can be compared to the LORD? *
who is like the LORD among the gods?
⁷   God is much to be feared in the council of the holy ones, *
great and terrible to all those round about him.
⁸   Who is like you, LORD God of hosts? *
O mighty LORD, your faithfulness is all around you.
⁹   You rule the raging of the sea *
and still the surging of its waves.
¹⁰   You have crushed Rahab of the deep with a deadly wound; *
you have scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.
¹¹   Yours are the heavens; the earth also is yours; *
you laid the foundations of the world and all that is in it.
¹²   You have made the north and the south; *
Tabor and Hermon rejoice in your Name.
¹³   You have a mighty arm; *
strong is your hand and high is your right hand.
¹⁴   Righteousness and justice are the foundations of your throne; *
love and truth go before your face.
¹⁵   Happy are the people who know the festal shout! *
they walk, O LORD, in the light of your presence.
¹⁶   They rejoice daily in your Name; *
they are jubilant in your righteousness.
¹⁷   For you are the glory of their strength, *
and by your favor our might is exalted.
¹⁸   Truly, the LORD is our ruler; *
The Holy One of Israel is our King.

Evening Psalms

Psalm 89: Part II Tunc locutus es
¹⁹   You spoke once in vision and said to your faithful people: *
"I have set the crown upon a warrior and have exalted one chosen out of the people.
²⁰   I have found David my servant; *
with my holy oil have I anointed him.
²¹   My hand will hold him fast *
and my arm will make him strong.
²²   No enemy shall deceive him, *
nor any wicked man bring him down.
²³   I will crush his foes before him *
and strike down those who hate him.
²⁴   My faithfulness and love shall be with him, *
and he shall be victorious through my Name.
²⁵   I shall make his dominion extend *
from the Great Sea to the River.
²⁶   He will say to me, 'You are my Father, *
my God, and the rock of my salvation.'
²⁷   I will make him my firstborn *
and higher than the kings of the earth.
²⁸   I will keep my love for him for ever, *
and my covenant will stand firm for him.
²⁹   I will establish his line for ever *
and his throne as the days of heaven."
³⁰   If his children forsake my law *
and do not walk according to my judgments;
³¹   If they break my statutes *
and do not keep my commandments;
³²   I will punish their transgressions with a rod *
and their iniquities with the lash;
³³   But I will not take my love from him, *
nor let my faithfulness prove false.
³⁴   I will not break my covenant, *
nor change what has gone out of my lips.
³⁵   Once for all I have sworn by my holiness: *
'I will not lie to David.
³⁶   His line shall endure for ever *
and his throne as the sun before me;
³⁷   It shall stand fast for evermore like the moon, *
the abiding witness in the sky.'"
³⁸   But you have cast off and rejected your anointed; *
you have become enraged at him.
³⁹   You have broken your covenant with your servant, *
defiled his crown, and hurled it to the ground.
⁴⁰   You have breached all his walls *
and laid his strongholds in ruins.
⁴¹   All who pass by despoil him; *
he has become the scorn of his neighbors.
⁴²   You have exalted the right hand of his foes *
and made all his enemies rejoice.
⁴³   You have turned back the edge of his sword *
and have not sustained him in battle.
⁴⁴   You have put an end to his splendor *
and cast his throne to the ground.
⁴⁵   You have cut short the days of his youth *
and have covered him with shame.
⁴⁶   How long will you hide yourself, O LORD? will you hide yourself for ever? *
how long will your anger burn like fire?
⁴⁷   Remember, LORD, how short life is, *
how frail you have made all flesh.
⁴⁸   Who can live and not see death? *
who can save himself from the power of the grave?
⁴⁹   Where, Lord, are your loving-kindnesses of old, *
which you promised David in your faithfulness?
⁵⁰   Remember, Lord, how your servant is mocked, *
how I carry in my bosom the taunts of many peoples,
⁵¹   The taunts your enemies have hurled, O LORD, *
which they hurled at the heels of your anointed.
⁵²   Blessed be the LORD for evermore! *
Amen, I say, Amen.

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.