Daily Readings

¹   Hear my prayer, O LORD;
          give ear to my supplications in your faithfulness;
          answer me in your righteousness.
²   Do not enter into judgment with your servant,
          for no one living is righteous before you.

³   For the enemy has pursued me,
          crushing my life to the ground,
          making me sit in darkness like those long dead.
⁴   Therefore my spirit faints within me;
          my heart within me is appalled.

⁵   I remember the days of old,
          I think about all your deeds,
          I meditate on the works of your hands.
⁶   I stretch out my hands to you;
          my soul thirsts for you like a parched land.                    Selah

⁷   Answer me quickly, O LORD;
          my spirit fails.
     Do not hide your face from me,
          or I shall be like those who go down to the Pit.
⁸   Let me hear of your steadfast love in the morning,
          for in you I put my trust.
     Teach me the way I should go,
          for to you I lift up my soul.

⁹   Save me, O LORD, from my enemies;
          I have fled to you for refuge.
¹⁰  Teach me to do your will,
          for you are my God.
     Let your good spirit lead me
          on a level path.

¹¹  For your name’s sake, O LORD, preserve my life.
          In your righteousness bring me out of trouble.
¹²  In your steadfast love cut off my enemies,
          and destroy all my adversaries,
          for I am your servant.

12 Jerusalén, alaba al Señor;
Sión, alaba a tu Dios.
13 Pues él reforzó los cerrojos de tus puertas
y bendijo a tus hijos dentro de la ciudad.
14 Él trae la paz a tu territorio
y te satisface con lo mejor del trigo.
15 Él envía su palabra a la tierra,
y su palabra corre a toda prisa.
16 Él produce la nieve como si fuera lana,
y esparce la escarcha como si fuera polvo.
17 Él envía el hielo en forma de granizo;
con el frío que envía, el agua se congela.
18 Pero envía su palabra, y la derrite;
hace soplar el viento, y el agua corre.
19 Él dio a conocer a Jacob, a Israel,
su palabra, sus leyes y decretos.
20 No hizo lo mismo con las otras naciones,
las cuales nunca conocieron sus decretos.

¡Aleluya!

⁵The Philistines mustered to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, and six thousand horsemen, and troops like the sand on the seashore in multitude; they came up and encamped at Michmash, to the east of Beth-aven. ⁶When the Israelites saw that they were in distress (for the troops were hard pressed), the people hid themselves in caves and in holes and in rocks and in tombs and in cisterns. ⁷Some Hebrews crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.

⁸He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people began to slip away from Saul. ⁹So Saul said, “Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the offerings of well-being.” And he offered the burnt offering. ¹⁰ As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, Samuel arrived; and Saul went out to meet him and salute him. ¹¹ Samuel said, “What have you done?” Saul replied, “When I saw that the people were slipping away from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines were mustering at Michmash, ¹² I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down upon me at Gilgal, and I have not entreated the favor of the LORD’; so I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.” ¹³Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly; you have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which he commanded you. The LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever, ¹⁴ but now your kingdom will not continue; the LORD has sought out a man after his own heart; and the LORD has appointed him to be ruler over his people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.” ¹⁵And Samuel left and went on his way from Gilgal. The rest of the people followed Saul to join the army; they went up from Gilgal toward Gibeah of Benjamin.

Saul counted the people who were present with him, about six hundred men. ¹⁶Saul, his son Jonathan, and the people who were present with them stayed in Geba of Benjamin; but the Philistines encamped at Michmash. ¹⁷And raiders came out of the camp of the Philistines in three companies; one company turned toward Ophrah, to the land of Shual, ¹⁸another company turned toward Beth-horon, and another company turned toward the mountain that looks down upon the valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness.

²⁶Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a wilderness road.) ²⁷So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship ²⁸and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. ²⁹Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to this chariot and join it.” ³⁰So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” ³¹He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. ³²Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this:
     “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter,
          and like a lamb silent before its shearer,
               so he does not open his mouth.
³³  In his humiliation justice was denied him.
          Who can describe his generation?
               For his life is taken away from the earth.”
³⁴The eunuch asked Philip, “About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” ³⁵Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. ³⁶As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?” [³⁷And Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” And he replied, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”] ³⁸He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. ³⁹When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

¹³Pilate then called together the chief priests, the leaders, and the people, ¹⁴and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was perverting the people; and here I have examined him in your presence and have not found this man guilty of any of your charges against him. ¹⁵Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us. Indeed, he has done nothing to deserve death. ¹⁶I will therefore have him flogged and release him.”

¹⁸Then they all shouted out together, “Away with this fellow! Release Barabbas for us!” ¹⁹(This was a man who had been put in prison for an insurrection that had taken place in the city, and for murder.) ²⁰Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again; ²¹but they kept shouting, “Crucify, crucify him!” ²²A third time he said to them, “Why, what evil has he done? I have found in him no ground for the sentence of death; I will therefore have him flogged and then release him.” ²³But they kept urgently demanding with loud shouts that he should be crucified; and their voices prevailed. ²⁴So Pilate gave his verdict that their demand should be granted. ²⁵He released the man they asked for, the one who had been put in prison for insurrection and murder, and he handed Jesus over as they wished.

¹   Sing aloud to God our strength;
          shout for joy to the God of Jacob.
²   Raise a song, sound the tambourine,
          the sweet lyre with the harp.
³   Blow the trumpet at the new moon,
          at the full moon, on our festal day.
⁴   For it is a statute for Israel,
          an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
⁵   He made it a decree in Joseph,
          when he went out over the land of Egypt.

     I hear a voice I had not known:
⁶   “I relieved your shoulder of the burden;
          your hands were freed from the basket.
⁷   In distress you called, and I rescued you;
          I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
          I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah
⁸   Hear, O my people, while I admonish you;
          O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
⁹   There shall be no strange god among you;
          you shall not bow down to a foreign god.
¹⁰  I am the LORD your God,
          who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
          Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.

¹¹“But my people did not listen to my voice;
          Israel would not submit to me.
¹²  So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
          to follow their own counsels.
¹³  O that my people would listen to me,
          that Israel would walk in my ways!
¹⁴  Then I would quickly subdue their enemies,
          and turn my hand against their foes.
¹⁵  Those who hate the LORD would cringe before him,
          and their doom would last forever.
¹⁶  I would feed you with the finest of the wheat,
          and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

1 Amo al Señor porque ha escuchado mis súplicas,
2 porque me ha prestado atención.
¡Toda mi vida lo invocaré!
3 La muerte me enredó en sus lazos,
la angustia del sepulcro me alcanzó
y me hallé preso del miedo y del dolor.
4 Entonces invoqué el nombre del Señor
y le rogué que me salvara la vida.

5 El Señor es justo y compasivo;
nuestro Dios es todo ternura.
6 El Señor cuida de los sencillos.
Cuando yo estaba sin fuerzas, me salvó.
7 Ahora sí, puedo volver a sentirme tranquilo
porque el Señor ha sido bueno conmigo,
8 porque me ha librado de la muerte,
porque me ha librado de llorar y de caer.
9 Seré obediente al Señor
en el mundo de los que viven.

10 Yo tenía fe, a pesar de que decía
que era grande mi aflicción.
11 Desesperado, afirmé
que todo hombre es mentiroso.

12 ¿Cómo podré pagar al Señor
todo el bien que me ha hecho?
13 ¡Levantaré la copa de la salvación
e invocaré su nombre!
14 Cumpliré mis promesas al Señor
en presencia de todo su pueblo.

15 Mucho le cuesta al Señor
ver morir a los que lo aman.
16 ¡Oh Señor, yo soy tu siervo!
¡Yo soy el hijo de tu sierva!
Tú has roto los lazos que me ataban.
17 En gratitud, te ofreceré sacrificios,
e invocaré, Señor, tu nombre.
18 Cumpliré mis promesas al Señor
en presencia de todo su pueblo,
19 en los atrios del templo del Señor,
¡en medio de ti, Jerusalén!

¡Aleluya!