Daily Scripture Reading for the
Liturgical Calendar Year
(beginning the 1st Sunday of Advent)

July 18, 2008

Text taken from the
Third Millennium Bible^® (TMB^®)
(New Authorized Version^TM NAV^TM)

The Lectionary According to the Christian Seasons

Isaiah 38

1 In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came unto him and said unto him, "Thus saith the LORD: `Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die and not live.'" 2 Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the LORD 3 and said, "Remember now, O LORD, I beseech Thee, how I have walked before Thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in Thy sight." And Hezekiah wept sorely. 4 Then came the word of the LORD to Isaiah, saying, 5 "Go, and say to Hezekiah, `Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father: I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears. Behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years. 6 And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city. 7 And this shall be a sign unto thee from the LORD that the LORD will do this thing that He hath spoken: 8 Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which has gone down in the sundial of Ahaz, ten degrees backward.'" So the sun returned ten degrees by which degrees it had gone down.

9 The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah when he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness: 

10 I said, "In the cutting off of my days I shall go to the gates of the grave; 
I am deprived of the residue of my years." 
11 I said, "I shall not see the LORD, even the LORD, in the land of the living; 
I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world. 
12 Mine age is departed and is removed from me as a shepherd's tent; 
I have cut off like a weaver my life. 
He will cut me off with pining sickness; 
from day even to night wilt Thou make an end of me. 
13 I reckoned till morning that, as a lion, so will He break all my bones; 
from day even to night wilt Thou make an end of me." 

14 Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter; 
I did mourn as a dove; 
mine eyes fail with looking upward. 
O LORD, I am oppressed; undertake for me! 

15 What shall I say? He hath both spoken unto me, and Himself hath done it. 
I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul. 
16 O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit; 
so wilt Thou recover me and make me to live. 
17 Behold, for peace I had great bitterness; 
but Thou hast in love for my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption, for Thou hast cast all my sins behind Thy back. 
18 For the grave cannot praise Thee, 
death can not celebrate Thee; they that go down into the pit cannot hope for Thy truth. 
19 The living, the living, he shall praise Thee, as I do this day; 
the father to the children shall make known Thy truth. 
20 The LORD was ready to save me; 
therefore we will sing my songs with the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the LORD.

21 For Isaiah had said, "Let them take a lump of figs and lay it for a plaster upon the boil, and he shall recover." 22 Hezekiah also had said, "What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD?"

Words of Worship - John 10:27

My sheep hear My voice, and I know them and they follow Me.

Matthew 12:1-8

1 At that time, Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the corn; and His disciples were hungry and began to pluck the ears of corn and to eat. 2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto Him, "Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath day." 3 But He said unto them,

"Have ye not read what David did when he hungered and they that were with him: 4 how he entered into the house of God and ate the showbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for those who were with him, but only for the priests? 5 Or have ye not read in the law how on the Sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are blameless? 6 But I say unto you, that in this place is One greater than the temple. 7 But if ye had known what this meaneth, `I will have mercy and not sacrifice,' ye would not have condemned the guiltless. 8 For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath day."

Words of Wisdom - Ecclesiasticus 30:2

He that chastiseth his son shall have joy in him, 
and shall rejoice in him among his acquaintances.

Jesus Speaks Morals & Values - Matthew 6:25-26
         (see UniversalJesusSpeaks.info for more information)

"Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?