The Daily Practice

10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,     and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me from your presence     or take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation     and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,     so that sinners will turn back to you. 14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God,     you who are God my Savior,     and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. 15 Open my lips, Lord,     and my mouth will declare your praise. 16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;     you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. 17 My sacrifice, O God, is[a] a broken spirit;     a broken and contrite heart     you, God, will not despise.

18 May it please you to prosper Zion,     to build up the walls of Jerusalem. 19 Then you will delight in the sacrifices of the righteous,     in burnt offerings offered whole;     then bulls will be offered on your altar.

1 Have mercy on me, O God,     according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion     blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash away all my iniquity     and cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I know my transgressions,     and my sin is always before me. 4 Against you, you only, have I sinned     and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict     and justified when you judge. 5 Surely I was sinful at birth,     sinful from the time my mother conceived me. 6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;     you taught me wisdom in that secret place.

7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;     wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 8 Let me hear joy and gladness;     let the bones you have crushed rejoice. 9 Hide your face from my sins     and blot out all my iniquity.

28 After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, 30 “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’”

32 Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. 33 As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”

34 They replied, “The Lord needs it.”

35 They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. 36 As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.

37 When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:

38 “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!”[a]

“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

39 Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”

40 “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

10 I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. 11 I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.

4 The Sovereign Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue,     to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning,     wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed. 5 The Sovereign Lord has opened my ears;     I have not been rebellious,     I have not turned away. 6 I offered my back to those who beat me,     my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face     from mocking and spitting. 7 Because the Sovereign Lord helps me,     I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint,     and I know I will not be put to shame. 8 He who vindicates me is near.     Who then will bring charges against me?     Let us face each other! Who is my accuser?     Let him confront me! 9 It is the Sovereign Lord who helps me.     Who will condemn me? They will all wear out like a garment;     the moths will eat them up.

16 But to the wicked person, God says:

“What right have you to recite my laws     or take my covenant on your lips? 17 You hate my instruction     and cast my words behind you. 18 When you see a thief, you join with him;     you throw in your lot with adulterers. 19 You use your mouth for evil     and harness your tongue to deceit. 20 You sit and testify against your brother     and slander your own mother’s son. 21 When you did these things and I kept silent,     you thought I was exactly[a] like you. But I now arraign you     and set my accusations before you.

22 “Consider this, you who forget God,     or I will tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you: 23 Those who sacrifice thank offerings honor me,     and to the blameless[b] I will show my salvation.”

1 The Mighty One, God, the Lord,     speaks and summons the earth     from the rising of the sun to where it sets. 2 From Zion, perfect in beauty,     God shines forth. 3 Our God comes     and will not be silent; a fire devours before him,     and around him a tempest rages. 4 He summons the heavens above,     and the earth, that he may judge his people: 5 “Gather to me this consecrated people,     who made a covenant with me by sacrifice.” 6 And the heavens proclaim his righteousness,     for he is a God of justice.[a][b]

7 “Listen, my people, and I will speak;     I will testify against you, Israel:     I am God, your God. 8 I bring no charges against you concerning your sacrifices     or concerning your burnt offerings, which are ever before me. 9 I have no need of a bull from your stall     or of goats from your pens, 10 for every animal of the forest is mine,     and the cattle on a thousand hills. 11 I know every bird in the mountains,     and the insects in the fields are mine. 12 If I were hungry I would not tell you,     for the world is mine, and all that is in it. 13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls     or drink the blood of goats?

14 “Sacrifice thank offerings to God,     fulfill your vows to the Most High, 15 and call on me in the day of trouble;     I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”

8 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you[a] free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh,[b] God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.[c] And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life[d] because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of[e] his Spirit who lives in you.

2 Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, a man of standing from the clan of Elimelek, whose name was Boaz.

2 And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.”

Naomi said to her, “Go ahead, my daughter.” 3 So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek.

4 Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, “The Lord be with you!”

“The Lord bless you!” they answered.

5 Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, “Who does that young woman belong to?”

6 The overseer replied, “She is the Moabite who came back from Moab with Naomi. 7 She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.’ She came into the field and has remained here from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter.”

8 So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me. 9 Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.”

8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works,[a] just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.

12 For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven,[b] Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.