Daily Readings for Wednesday, 4 December 2013

Daily Readings for Wednesday, 4 December 2013

Isaiah 25: 6 On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples

    a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines,

    of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear.

7 And he will destroy on this mountain

    the shroud that is cast over all peoples,

    the sheet that is spread over all nations;

8     he will swallow up death forever.

Then the Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces,

    and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth,

    for the Lord has spoken.

9 It will be said on that day,

    Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us.

    This is the Lord for whom we have waited;

    let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

10 For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain.

The Moabites shall be trodden down in their place

    as straw is trodden down in a dung-pit.(NRSV)

Psalm 23: The Divine Shepherd

A Psalm of David.

1 The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.

2     He makes me lie down in green pastures;

he leads me beside still waters;[a]

3     he restores my soul.[b]

He leads me in right paths[c]

    for his name’s sake.

4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley,[d]

    I fear no evil;

for you are with me;

    your rod and your staff—

    they comfort me.

5 You prepare a table before me

    in the presence of my enemies;

you anoint my head with oil;

    my cup overflows.

6 Surely[e] goodness and mercy[f] shall follow me

    all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord

    my whole life long.[g]

Footnotes:

Psalm 23:2 Heb waters of rest

Psalm 23:3 Or life

Psalm 23:3 Or paths of righteousness

Psalm 23:4 Or the valley of the shadow of death

Psalm 23:6 Or Only

Psalm 23:6 Or kindness

Psalm 23:6 Heb for length of days(NRSV)

Matthew 15: Jesus Cures Many People

29 After Jesus had left that place, he passed along the Sea of Galilee, and he went up the mountain, where he sat down. 30 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, 31 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.

Feeding the Four Thousand

32 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.” 33 The disciples said to him, “Where are we to get enough bread in the desert to feed so great a crowd?” 34 Jesus asked them, “How many loaves have you?” They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” 35 Then ordering the crowd to sit down on the ground, 36 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. 37 And all of them ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full.(NRSV)

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