Daily Lectionary

Deuteronomy 25:17-26:19

¹⁷ “Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you came out of Egypt,
¹⁸ how he attacked you on the way when you were faint and weary, and cut off your tail, those who were lagging behind you, and he did not fear God.
¹⁹ Therefore when the LORD your God has given you rest from all your enemies around you, in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget.
¹ “When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance and have taken possession of it and live in it,
² you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from your land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket, and you shall go to the place that the LORD your God will choose, to make his name to dwell there.
³ And you shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, ‘I declare today to the LORD your God that I have come into the land that the LORD swore to our fathers to give us.’
⁴ Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down before the altar of the LORD your God.
⁵ “And you shall make response before the LORD your God, ‘A wandering Aramean was my father. And he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number, and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous.
⁶ And the Egyptians treated us harshly and humiliated us and laid on us hard labor.
⁷ Then we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression.
⁸ And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great deeds of terror, with signs and wonders.
⁹ And he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
¹⁰ And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, O LORD, have given me.’ And you shall set it down before the LORD your God and worship before the LORD your God.
¹¹ And you shall rejoice in all the good that the LORD your God has given to you and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the sojourner who is among you.
¹² “When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce in the third year, which is the year of tithing, giving it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your towns and be filled,
¹³ then you shall say before the LORD your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion out of my house, and moreover, I have given it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all your commandment that you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, nor have I forgotten them.
¹⁴ I have not eaten of the tithe while I was mourning, or removed any of it while I was unclean, or offered any of it to the dead. I have obeyed the voice of the LORD my God. I have done according to all that you have commanded me.
¹⁵ Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the ground that you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.’
¹⁶ “This day the LORD your God commands you to do these statutes and rules. You shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul.
¹⁷ You have declared today that the LORD is your God, and that you will walk in his ways, and keep his statutes and his commandments and his rules, and will obey his voice.
¹⁸ And the LORD has declared today that you are a people for his treasured possession, as he has promised you, and that you are to keep all his commandments,
¹⁹ and that he will set you in praise and in fame and in honor high above all nations that he has made, and that you shall be a people holy to the LORD your God, as he promised.” (ESV)

Matthew 14:1-21

¹ At that time Herod the tetrarch heard about the fame of Jesus,
² and he said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.”
³ For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife,
⁴ because John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”
⁵ And though he wanted to put him to death, he feared the people, because they held him to be a prophet.
⁶ But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company and pleased Herod,
⁷ so that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she might ask.
⁸ Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.”
⁹ And the king was sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he commanded it to be given.
¹⁰ He sent and had John beheaded in the prison,
¹¹ and his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother.
¹² And his disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus.
¹³ Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns.
¹⁴ When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
¹⁵ Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”
¹⁶ But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.”
¹⁷ They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.”
¹⁸ And he said, “Bring them here to me.”
¹⁹ Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.
²⁰ And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over.
²¹ And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children. (ESV)