The Daily Readings for June 25, 2015

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.

1 Samuel 8:1-22

When Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel. The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beer-sheba. Yet his sons did not follow in his ways, but turned aside after gain; they took bribes and perverted justice. Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, and said to him, "You are old and your sons do not follow in your ways; appoint for us, then, a king to govern us, like other nations." But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, "Give us a king to govern us." Samuel prayed to the LORD, and the LORD said to Samuel, "Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. Just as they have done to me, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so also they are doing to you. Now then, listen to their voice; only-- you shall solemnly warn them, and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them." So Samuel reported all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king. He said, "These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen, and to run before his chariots; and he will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his courtiers. He will take one-tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and his courtiers. He will take your male and female slaves, and the best of your cattle and donkeys, and put them to his work. He will take one-tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves. And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves; but the LORD will not answer you in that day." But the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel; they said, "No! but we are determined to have a king over us, so that we also may be like other nations, and that our king may govern us and go out before us and fight our battles." When Samuel had heard all the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the LORD. The LORD said to Samuel, "Listen to their voice and set a king over them." Samuel then said to the people of Israel, "Each of you return home."

Acts 6:15-7:16

And all who sat in the council looked intently at him, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel. Then the high priest asked him, "Are these things so?" And Stephen replied: "Brothers and fathers, listen to me. The God of glory appeared to our ancestor Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, 'Leave your country and your relatives and go to the land that I will show you.' Then he left the country of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After his father died, God had him move from there to this country in which you are now living. He did not give him any of it as a heritage, not even a foot's length, but promised to give it to him as his possession and to his descendants after him, even though he had no child. And God spoke in these terms, that his descendants would be resident aliens in a country belonging to others, who would enslave them and mistreat them during four hundred years. 'But I will judge the nation that they serve,' said God, 'and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.' Then he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs. "The patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him, and rescued him from all his afflictions, and enabled him to win favor and to show wisdom when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. Now there came a famine throughout Egypt and Canaan, and great suffering, and our ancestors could find no food. But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our ancestors there on their first visit. On the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh. Then Joseph sent and invited his father Jacob and all his relatives to come to him, seventy-five in all; so Jacob went down to Egypt. He himself died there as well as our ancestors, and their bodies were brought back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

Luke 22:24-30

A dispute also arose among them as to which one of them was to be regarded as the greatest. But he said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you; rather the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. "You are those who have stood by me in my trials; and I confer on you, just as my Father has conferred on me, a kingdom, so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

Morning Psalms

Psalm 105: Part I Confitemini Domino

¹   Give thanks to the LORD and call upon his Name; *
make known his deeds among the peoples.
²   Sing to him, sing praises to him, *
and speak of all his marvelous works.
³   Glory in his holy Name; *
let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.
⁴   Search for the LORD and his strength; *
continually seek his face.
⁵   Remember the marvels he has done, *
his wonders and the judgments of his mouth,
⁶   O offspring of Abraham his servant, *
O children of Jacob his chosen.
⁷   He is the LORD our God; *
his judgments prevail in all the world.
⁸   He has always been mindful of his covenant, *
the promise he made for a thousand generations:
⁹   The covenant he made with Abraham, *
the oath that he swore to Issac,
¹⁰   Which he established as a statute for Jacob, *
an everlasting covenant for Israel,
¹¹   Saying, "To you will I give the land of Canaan *
to be your allotted inheritance."
¹²   When they were few in number, *
of little account, and sojourners in the land,
¹³   Wandering from nation to nation *
and from one kingdom to another,
¹⁴   He let no one oppress them *
and rebuked kings for their sake,
¹⁵   Saying, "Do not touch my anointed *
and do my prophets no harm."
¹⁶   Then he called for a famine in the land *
and destroyed the supply of bread.
¹⁷   He sent a man before them, *
Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
¹⁸   They bruised his feet in fetters; *
his neck they put in an iron collar.
¹⁹   Until his prediction came to pass, *
the word of the LORD tested him.
²⁰   The king sent and released him; *
the ruler of the peoples set him free.
²¹   He set him as a master over his household, *
as a ruler over all his possessions,
²²   To instruct his princes according to his will *
and to teach his elders wisdom.

Evening Psalms

Psalm 105: Part II Et intravit Israel
²³   Israel came into Egypt, *
and Jacob became a sojourner in the land of Ham.
²⁴   The LORD made his people exceedingly fruitful; *
he made them stronger than their enemies;
²⁵   Whose heart he turned, so that they hated his people, *
and dealt unjustly with his servants.
²⁶   He sent Moses his servant, *
and Aaron whom he had chosen.
²⁷   They worked his signs among them, *
and portents in the land of Ham.
²⁸   He sent darkness, and it grew dark; *
but the Egyptians rebelled against his words.
²⁹   He turned their waters into blood *
and caused their fish to die.
³⁰   Their land was overrun by frogs, *
in the very chambers of their kings.
³¹   He spoke, and there came swarms of insects *
and gnats within all their borders.
³²   He gave them hailstones instead of rain, *
and flames of fire throughout their land.
³³   He blasted their vines and their fig trees *
and shattered every tree in their country.
³⁴   He spoke, and the locust came, *
and young locusts without number,
³⁵   Which ate up all the green plants in their land *
and devoured the fruit of their soil.
³⁶   He struck down the firstborn of their land, *
the firstfruits of all their strength.
³⁷   He led out his people with silver and gold; *
in all their tribes there was not one that stumbled.
³⁸   Egypt was glad of their going, *
because they were afraid of them.
³⁹   He spread out a cloud for a covering *
and a fire to give light in the night season.
⁴⁰   They asked, and quails appeared, *
and he satisfied them with bread from heaven.
⁴¹   He opened the rock, and water flowed, *
so the river ran in the dry places.
⁴²   For God remembered his holy word *
and Abraham his servant.
⁴³   So he led forth his people with gladness, *
his chosen with shouts of joy.
⁴⁴   He gave his people the lands of the nations, *
and they took the fruit of others' toil,
⁴⁵   That they might keep his statutes *
and observe his laws. Hallelujah!

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.