The Daily Practice

1 You have rejected us, God, and burst upon us;     you have been angry—now restore us! 2 You have shaken the land and torn it open;     mend its fractures, for it is quaking. 3 You have shown your people desperate times;     you have given us wine that makes us stagger. 4 But for those who fear you, you have raised a banner     to be unfurled against the bow.[e]

5 Save us and help us with your right hand,     that those you love may be delivered. 6 God has spoken from his sanctuary:     “In triumph I will parcel out Shechem     and measure off the Valley of Sukkoth. 7 Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine;     Ephraim is my helmet,     Judah is my scepter. 8 Moab is my washbasin,     on Edom I toss my sandal;     over Philistia I shout in triumph.”

9 Who will bring me to the fortified city?     Who will lead me to Edom? 10 Is it not you, God, you who have now rejected us     and no longer go out with our armies? 11 Give us aid against the enemy,     for human help is worthless. 12 With God we will gain the victory,     and he will trample down our enemies.

28 After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.

2 There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 4 The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.

5 The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. 6 He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”

8 So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

11 While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. 12 When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, 13 telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 If this report gets to the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.

16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

41 The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.

42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”[a]; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we[b] bear the image of the heavenly man.

50 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

13 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether human or animal.”

11 “After the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites and gives it to you, as he promised on oath to you and your ancestors, 12 you are to give over to the Lord the first offspring of every womb. All the firstborn males of your livestock belong to the Lord. 13 Redeem with a lamb every firstborn donkey, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem every firstborn among your sons.

14 “In days to come, when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ say to him, ‘With a mighty hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 15 When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed the firstborn of both people and animals in Egypt. This is why I sacrifice to the Lord the first male offspring of every womb and redeem each of my firstborn sons.’ 16 And it will be like a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead that the Lord brought us out of Egypt with his mighty hand.”

1 Deliver me from my enemies, O God;     be my fortress against those who are attacking me. 2 Deliver me from evildoers     and save me from those who are after my blood.

3 See how they lie in wait for me!     Fierce men conspire against me     for no offense or sin of mine, Lord. 4 I have done no wrong, yet they are ready to attack me.     Arise to help me; look on my plight! 5 You, Lord God Almighty,     you who are the God of Israel, rouse yourself to punish all the nations;     show no mercy to wicked traitors.[c]

6 They return at evening,     snarling like dogs,     and prowl about the city. 7 See what they spew from their mouths—     the words from their lips are sharp as swords,     and they think, “Who can hear us?” 8 But you laugh at them, Lord;     you scoff at all those nations.

9 You are my strength, I watch for you;     you, God, are my fortress, 10     my God on whom I can rely.

God will go before me     and will let me gloat over those who slander me. 11 But do not kill them, Lord our shield,[d]     or my people will forget. In your might uproot them     and bring them down. 12 For the sins of their mouths,     for the words of their lips,     let them be caught in their pride. For the curses and lies they utter, 13     consume them in your wrath,     consume them till they are no more. Then it will be known to the ends of the earth     that God rules over Jacob.

14 They return at evening,     snarling like dogs,     and prowl about the city. 15 They wander about for food     and howl if not satisfied. 16 But I will sing of your strength,     in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress,     my refuge in times of trouble.

17 You are my strength, I sing praise to you;     you, God, are my fortress,     my God on whom I can rely.

[The earliest manuscripts and some other ancient witnesses do not have verses 9–20.]

9 When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons. 10 She went and told those who had been with him and who were mourning and weeping. 11 When they heard that Jesus was alive and that she had seen him, they did not believe it.

12 Afterward Jesus appeared in a different form to two of them while they were walking in the country. 13 These returned and reported it to the rest; but they did not believe them either.

14 Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; he rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe those who had seen him after he had risen.

15 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18 they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”

19 After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. 20 Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.

29 Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? 30 And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? 31 I face death every day—yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord. 32 If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised,

“Let us eat and drink,     for tomorrow we die.”[a]

33 Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”[b] 34 Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.

35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” 36 How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38 But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. 39 Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. 40 There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. 41 The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.

3 Then Moses said to the people, “Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, because the Lord brought you out of it with a mighty hand. Eat nothing containing yeast. 4 Today, in the month of Aviv, you are leaving. 5 When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites and Jebusites—the land he swore to your ancestors to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey—you are to observe this ceremony in this month: 6 For seven days eat bread made without yeast and on the seventh day hold a festival to the Lord. 7 Eat unleavened bread during those seven days; nothing with yeast in it is to be seen among you, nor shall any yeast be seen anywhere within your borders. 8 On that day tell your son, ‘I do this because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ 9 This observance will be for you like a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that this law of the Lord is to be on your lips. For the Lord brought you out of Egypt with his mighty hand. 10 You must keep this ordinance at the appointed time year after year.

1 Do you rulers indeed speak justly?     Do you judge people with equity? 2 No, in your heart you devise injustice,     and your hands mete out violence on the earth.

3 Even from birth the wicked go astray;     from the womb they are wayward, spreading lies. 4 Their venom is like the venom of a snake,     like that of a cobra that has stopped its ears, 5 that will not heed the tune of the charmer,     however skillful the enchanter may be.

6 Break the teeth in their mouths, O God;     Lord, tear out the fangs of those lions! 7 Let them vanish like water that flows away;     when they draw the bow, let their arrows fall short. 8 May they be like a slug that melts away as it moves along,     like a stillborn child that never sees the sun.

9 Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns—     whether they be green or dry—the wicked will be swept away.[c] 10 The righteous will be glad when they are avenged,     when they dip their feet in the blood of the wicked. 11 Then people will say,     “Surely the righteous still are rewarded;     surely there is a God who judges the earth.”

16 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body. 2 Very early on the first day of the week, just after sunrise, they were on their way to the tomb 3 and they asked each other, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?”

4 But when they looked up, they saw that the stone, which was very large, had been rolled away. 5 As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

6 “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. 7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”

8 Trembling and bewildered, the women went out and fled from the tomb. They said nothing to anyone, because they were afraid.[a]