Daily Lectionary

Isaiah 32:1-20

¹ Behold, a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule in justice.
² Each will be like a hiding place from the wind, a shelter from the storm, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.
³ Then the eyes of those who see will not be closed, and the ears of those who hear will give attention.
⁴ The heart of the hasty will understand and know, and the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak distinctly.
⁵ The fool will no more be called noble, nor the scoundrel said to be honorable.
⁶ For the fool speaks folly, and his heart is busy with iniquity, to practice ungodliness, to utter error concerning the LORD, to leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied, and to deprive the thirsty of drink.
⁷ As for the scoundrel—his devices are evil; he plans wicked schemes to ruin the poor with lying words, even when the plea of the needy is right.
⁸ But he who is noble plans noble things, and on noble things he stands.
⁹ Rise up, you women who are at ease, hear my voice; you complacent daughters, give ear to my speech.
¹⁰ In little more than a year you will shudder, you complacent women; for the grape harvest fails, the fruit harvest will not come.
¹¹ Tremble, you women who are at ease, shudder, you complacent ones; strip, and make yourselves bare, and tie sackcloth around your waist.
¹² Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine,
¹³ for the soil of my people growing up in thorns and briers, yes, for all the joyous houses in the exultant city.
¹⁴ For the palace is forsaken, the populous city deserted; the hill and the watchtower will become dens forever, a joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks;
¹⁵ until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.
¹⁶ Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness abide in the fruitful field.
¹⁷ And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.
¹⁸ My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.
¹⁹ And it will hail when the forest falls down, and the city will be utterly laid low.
²⁰ Happy are you who sow beside all waters, who let the feet of the ox and the donkey range free. (ESV)

Revelation 3:1-22

¹ “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. “‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.
² Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.
³ Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.
⁴ Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.
⁵ The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.
⁶ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
⁷ “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.
⁸ “‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
⁹ Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you.
¹⁰ Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth.
¹¹ I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.
¹² The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.
¹³ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
¹⁴ “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation.
¹⁵ “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot!
¹⁶ So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.
¹⁷ For you say, “I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing,” not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
¹⁸ I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.
¹⁹ Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.
²⁰ Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
²¹ The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.
²² He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’” (ESV)