Readings

The Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

    The Collect of the Day

    Proper 16

    The Sunday closest to August 24

    Grant, O merciful God, that your Church, being gathered together in unity by your Holy Spirit, may show forth your power among all peoples, to the glory of your Name;through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

    Psalms

    146

    Lauda, anima meaBCP p. 803

    1Hallelujah! Praise the Lord, O my soul! *I will praise the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

    2Put not your trust in rulers, nor in any child of earth, *for there is no help in them.

    3When they breathe their last, they return to earth, *and in that day their thoughts perish.

    4Happy are they who have the God of Jacob for their help! *whose hope is in the Lord their God;

    5Who made heaven and earth, the seas, and all that is in them; *who keeps his promise for ever;

    6Who gives justice to those who are oppressed, *and food to those who hunger.

    7The Lord sets the prisoners free; the Lord opens the eyes of the blind; *the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;

    8The Lord loves the righteous; the Lord cares for the stranger; *he sustains the orphan and widow, but frustrates the way of the wicked.

    9The Lord shall reign for ever, *your God, O Zion, throughout all generations. Hallelujah!

    147

    Laudate DominumBCP p. 804

    1Hallelujah! How good it is to sing praises to our God! *how pleasant it is to honor him with praise!

    2The Lord rebuilds Jerusalem; *he gathers the exiles of Israel.

    3He heals the brokenhearted *and binds up their wounds.

    4He counts the number of the stars *and calls them all by their names.

    5Great is our Lord and mighty in power; *there is no limit to his wisdom.

    6The Lord lifts up the lowly, *but casts the wicked to the ground.

    7Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; *make music to our God upon the harp.

    8He covers the heavens with clouds *and prepares rain for the earth;

    9He makes grass to grow upon the mountains *and green plants to serve mankind.

    10He provides food for flocks and herds *and for the young ravens when they cry.

    11He is not impressed by the might of a horse; *he has no pleasure in the strength of a man;

    12But the Lord has pleasure in those who fear him, *in those who await his gracious favor.

    13Worship the Lord, O Jerusalem; *praise your God, O Zion;

    14For he has strengthened the bars of your gates; *he has blessed your children within you.

    15He has established peace on your borders; *he satisfies you with the finest wheat.

    16He sends out his command to the earth, *and his word runs very swiftly.

    17He gives snow like wool; *he scatters hoarfrost like ashes.

    18He scatters his hail like bread crumbs; *who can stand against his cold?

    19He sends forth his word and melts them; *he blows with his wind, and the waters flow.

    20He declares his word to Jacob, *his statutes and his judgments to Israel.

    21He has not done so to any other nation; *to them he has not revealed his judgments. Hallelujah!

    Daily Office Readings

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    2 Samuel 24:1-2,10-25

    1 Again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go, count the people of Israel and Judah.” 2 So the king said to Joab and the commanders of the army, who were with him, “Go through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beer-sheba, and take a census of the people, so that I may know how many there are.” 10 But afterward, David was stricken to the heart because he had numbered the people. David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, I pray you, take away the guilt of your servant; for I have done very foolishly.” 11 When David rose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, 12 “Go and say to David: Thus says the Lord: Three things I offer you; choose one of them, and I will do it to you.” 13 So Gad came to David and told him; he asked him, “Shall three years of famine come to you on your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now consider, and decide what answer I shall return to the one who sent me.” 14 Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress; let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into human hands.” 15 So the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel from that morning until the appointed time; and seventy thousand of the people died, from Dan to Beer-sheba. 16 But when the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented concerning the evil, and said to the angel who was bringing destruction among the people, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” The angel of the Lord was then by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. 17 When David saw the angel who was destroying the people, he said to the Lord, “I alone have sinned, and I alone have done wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Let your hand, I pray, be against me and against my father’s house.” 18 That day Gad came to David and said to him, “Go up and erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” 19 Following Gad’s instructions, David went up, as the Lord had commanded. 20 When Araunah looked down, he saw the king and his servants coming toward him; and Araunah went out and prostrated himself before the king with his face to the ground. 21 Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you in order to build an altar to the Lord, so that the plague may be averted from the people.” 22 Then Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him; here are the oxen for the burnt offering, and the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. 23 All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the Lord your God respond favorably to you.” 24 But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy them from you for a price; I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 25 David built there an altar to the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and offerings of well-being. So the Lord answered his supplication for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel.

    Gal. 3:23-4:7

    23 Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. 27 As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise. 1 My point is this: heirs, as long as they are minors, are no better than slaves, though they are the owners of all the property; 2 but they remain under guardians and trustees until the date set by the father. 3 So with us; while we were minors, we were enslaved to the elemental spirits of the world. 4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. 6 And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God.

    John 8:12-20

    12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.” 13 Then the Pharisees said to him, “You are testifying on your own behalf; your testimony is not valid.” 14 Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid because I know where I have come from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. 15 You judge by human standards; I judge no one. 16 Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is valid; for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. 17 In your law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is valid. 18 I testify on my own behalf, and the Father who sent me testifies on my behalf.” 19 Then they said to him, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.” 20 He spoke these words while he was teaching in the treasury of the temple, but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.