Preparing for the Fourth
Sunday after Pentecost
Year B

Daily Readings for Friday
June 18, 2021

Prayer

God our protector, 

you stood by David in the time of trial. 

Stand with us through all life’s storms, 

giving us courage to risk danger 

to protect those who are oppressed and poor, 

that they may know you 

as their stronghold and hope. Amen.

 

Psalm 9:9-20

Refuge in the time of trouble

 

The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed,

a stronghold in times of trouble.

And those who know your name put their trust in you,

for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.

Sing praises to the Lord, who dwells in Zion.

Declare his deeds among the peoples.

For he who avenges blood is mindful of them;

he does not forget the cry of the afflicted.

Be gracious to me, O Lord.

See what I suffer from those who hate me;

you are the one who lifts me up from the gates of death,

so that I may recount all your praises,

and, in the gates of daughter Zion,

rejoice in your deliverance.

The nations have sunk in the pit that they made;

in the net that they hid has their own foot been caught.

The Lord has made himself known, he has executed judgment;

the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands.    Higgaion.    Selah

The wicked shall depart to Sheol,

all the nations that forget God.

For the needy shall not always be forgotten,

nor the hope of the poor perish forever.

Rise up, O Lord! Do not let mortals prevail;

let the nations be judged before you.

Put them in fear, O Lord;

let the nations know that they are only human.    Selah

 

1 Samuel 17:55—18:5

David becomes one of Saul’s officers

 

When Saul saw David go out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is this young man?” Abner said, “As your soul lives, O king, I do not know.” The king said, “Inquire whose son the stripling is.” On David’s return from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with the head of the Philistine in his hand. Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?” And David answered, “I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”

 

When David had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was bound to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father’s house. Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul. Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that he was wearing, and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt. David went out and was successful wherever Saul sent him; as a result, Saul set him over the army. And all the people, even the servants of Saul, approved.

 

Acts 21:1-16

Paul is warned about future persecution

 

When we had parted from them and set sail, we came by a straight course to Cos, and the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara. When we found a ship bound for Phoenicia, we went on board and set sail. We came in sight of Cyprus; and leaving it on our left, we sailed to Syria and landed at Tyre, because the ship was to unload its cargo there. We looked up the disciples and stayed there for seven days. Through the Spirit they told Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. When our days there were ended, we left and proceeded on our journey; and all of them, with wives and children, escorted us outside the city. There we knelt down on the beach and prayed and said farewell to one another. Then we went on board the ship, and they returned home.

 

When we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais; and we greeted the believers and stayed with them for one day. The next day we left and came to Caesarea; and we went into the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the seven, and stayed with him. He had four unmarried daughters who had the gift of prophecy. While we were staying there for several days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. He came to us and took Paul’s belt, bound his own feet and hands with it, and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘This is the way the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’” When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” Since he would not be persuaded, we remained silent except to say, “The Lord’s will be done.”

 

After these days we got ready and started to go up to Jerusalem. Some of the disciples from Caesarea also came along and brought us to the house of Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we were to stay.

 

 

Prayer

Keeper of our lives, 

you know the hardness and gentleness of human hearts. 

You call your people to faithful living. 

Through the storms of life 

that bring suffering and fear, joy and laughter, 

teach us to turn to you for all we need, 

so that we may come to know your presence 

even in the midst of the trials that surround us. Amen.

 

Psalm 107:1-3, 23-32

God stilled the storm

 

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;

for his steadfast love endures forever.

Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,

those he redeemed from trouble

and gathered in from the lands,

from the east and from the west,

from the north and from the south.

Some went down to the sea in ships,

doing business on the mighty waters;

they saw the deeds of the Lord,

his wondrous works in the deep.

For he commanded and raised the stormy wind,

which lifted up the waves of the sea.

They mounted up to heaven, they went down to the depths;

their courage melted away in their calamity;

they reeled and staggered like drunkards,

and were at their wits’ end.

Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble,

and he brought them out from their distress;

he made the storm be still,

and the waves of the sea were hushed.

Then they were glad because they had quiet,

and he brought them to their desired haven.

Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,

for his wonderful works to humankind.

Let them extol him in the congregation of the people,

and praise him in the assembly of the elders.

 

Job 29:21—30:15

Job laments his losses

 

“They listened to me, and waited,

and kept silence for my counsel.

After I spoke they did not speak again,

and my word dropped upon them like dew.

They waited for me as for the rain;

they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.

I smiled on them when they had no confidence;

and the light of my countenance they did not extinguish.

I chose their way, and sat as chief,

and I lived like a king among his troops,

like one who comforts mourners.

“But now they make sport of me,

those who are younger than I,

whose fathers I would have disdained

to set with the dogs of my flock.

What could I gain from the strength of their hands?

All their vigor is gone.

Through want and hard hunger

they gnaw the dry and desolate ground,

they pick mallow and the leaves of bushes,

and to warm themselves the roots of broom.

They are driven out from society;

people shout after them as after a thief.

In the gullies of wadis they must live,

in holes in the ground, and in the rocks.

Among the bushes they bray;

under the nettles they huddle together.

A senseless, disreputable brood,

they have been whipped out of the land.

“And now they mock me in song;

I am a byword to them.

They abhor me, they keep aloof from me;

they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.

Because God has loosed my bowstring and humbled me,

they have cast off restraint in my presence.

On my right hand the rabble rise up;

they send me sprawling,

and build roads for my ruin.

They break up my path,

they promote my calamity;

no one restrains them.

As through a wide breach they come;

amid the crash they roll on.

Terrors are turned upon me;

my honor is pursued as by the wind,

and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.”

 

Acts 21:1-16

Paul is warned about future persecution

 

When we had parted from them and set sail, we came by a straight course to Cos, and the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara. When we found a ship bound for Phoenicia, we went on board and set sail. We came in sight of Cyprus; and leaving it on our left, we sailed to Syria and landed at Tyre, because the ship was to unload its cargo there. We looked up the disciples and stayed there for seven days. Through the Spirit they told Paul not to go on to Jerusalem. When our days there were ended, we left and proceeded on our journey; and all of them, with wives and children, escorted us outside the city. There we knelt down on the beach and prayed and said farewell to one another. Then we went on board the ship, and they returned home.

 

When we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais; and we greeted the believers and stayed with them for one day. The next day we left and came to Caesarea; and we went into the house of Philip the evangelist, one of the seven, and stayed with him. He had four unmarried daughters who had the gift of prophecy. While we were staying there for several days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. He came to us and took Paul’s belt, bound his own feet and hands with it, and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘This is the way the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’” When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go up to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” Since he would not be persuaded, we remained silent except to say, “The Lord’s will be done.”

 

After these days we got ready and started to go up to Jerusalem. Some of the disciples from Caesarea also came along and brought us to the house of Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we were to stay.

 

 

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Prayer reprinted from Revised Common Lectionary Prayers, © 2002 Consultation on Common Texts. Reproduced by permission.

Revised Common Lectionary Daily Readings copyright © 2005 Consultation on Common Texts admin. Augsburg Fortress. Reproduced by permission. No further reproduction allowed without the written permission of Augsburg Fortress.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.


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