Daily Readings For May 20

Please note that two distinct lectionaries are provided on this page: the two-year Daily Lectionary from the Book of Common Worship and the three-year Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) for Sundays and festivals; be sure you select the appropriate one.

Daily Readings Sunday/Festival Readings

Daily Readings for Tuesday, May 20, 2025


Morning Psalm 98

1   O sing to the LORD a new song,
          for he has done marvelous things.
     His right hand and his holy arm
          have gained him victory.
2   The LORD has made known his victory;
          he has revealed his vindication in the sight of the nations.
3   He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness
          to the house of Israel.
     All the ends of the earth have seen
          the victory of our God.


4   Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth;
          break forth into joyous song and sing praises.
5   Sing praises to the LORD with the lyre,
          with the lyre and the sound of melody.
6   With trumpets and the sound of the horn
          make a joyful noise before the King, the LORD.


7   Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
          the world and those who live in it.
8   Let the floods clap their hands;
          let the hills sing together for joy
9   at the presence of the LORD, for he is coming
          to judge the earth.
     He will judge the world with righteousness,
          and the peoples with equity.

Morning Psalm 146

1   Praise the LORD!
     Praise the LORD, O my soul!
2   I will praise the LORD as long as I live;
          I will sing praises to my God all my life long.


3   Do not put your trust in princes,
          in mortals, in whom there is no help.
4   When their breath departs, they return to the earth;
          on that very day their plans perish.


5   Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
          whose hope is in the LORD their God,
6   who made heaven and earth,
          the sea, and all that is in them;
     who keeps faith forever;
7        who executes justice for the oppressed;
          who gives food to the hungry.


     The LORD sets the prisoners free;
8        the LORD opens the eyes of the blind.
     The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down;
          the LORD loves the righteous.
9   The LORD watches over the strangers;
          he upholds the orphan and the widow,
          but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.


10  The LORD will reign forever,
          your God, O Zion, for all generations.
     Praise the LORD!

First Reading Jeremiah 32:16-25

16After I had given the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to the LORD, saying: 17Ah Lord GOD! It is you who made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you. 18You show steadfast love to the thousandth generation, but repay the guilt of parents into the laps of their children after them, O great and mighty God whose name is the LORD of hosts, 19great in counsel and mighty in deed; whose eyes are open to all the ways of mortals, rewarding all according to their ways and according to the fruit of their doings. 20You showed signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and to this day in Israel and among all humankind, and have made yourself a name that continues to this very day. 21You brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and outstretched arm, and with great terror; 22and you gave them this land, which you swore to their ancestors to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey; 23and they entered and took possession of it. But they did not obey your voice or follow your law; of all you commanded them to do, they did nothing. Therefore you have made all these disasters come upon them. 24See, the siege ramps have been cast up against the city to take it, and the city, faced with sword, famine, and pestilence, has been given into the hands of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. What you spoke has happened, as you yourself can see. 25Yet you, O Lord GOD, have said to me, “Buy the field for money and get witnesses” — though the city has been given into the hands of the Chaldeans.

Second Reading Romans 12:1-21

1I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God — what is good and acceptable and perfect.

3For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, 5so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. 6We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; 7ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; 8the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.

9Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; 10love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor. 11Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. 13Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.

14Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. 17Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. 18If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20No, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Gospel Reading Luke 8:1-15

1Soon afterwards he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him, 2as well as some women who had been cured of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, 3and Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them out of their resources.

4When a great crowd gathered and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable: 5“A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell on the path and was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. 6Some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered for lack of moisture.7Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. 8Some fell into good soil, and when it grew, it produced a hundredfold.” As he said this, he called out, “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!”

9Then his disciples asked him what this parable meant. 10He said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but to others I speak in parables, so that ‘looking they may not perceive, and listening they may not understand.’

11‘Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12The ones on the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13The ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe only for a while and in a time of testing fall away. 14As for what fell among the thorns, these are the ones who hear; but as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. 15But as for that in the good soil, these are the ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patient endurance.”

Evening Psalm 66

1   Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth;
2        sing the glory of his name;
          give to him glorious praise.
3   Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!
          Because of your great power, your enemies cringe before you.
4   All the earth worships you;
          they sing praises to you,
          sing praises to your name. Selah


5   Come and see what God has done:
          he is awesome in his deeds among mortals.
6   He turned the sea into dry land;
          they passed through the river on foot.
     There we rejoiced in him,
7        who rules by his might forever,
     whose eyes keep watch on the nations —
          let the rebellious not exalt themselves. Selah


8   Bless our God, O peoples,
          let the sound of his praise be heard,
9   who has kept us among the living,
          and has not let our feet slip.
10  For you, O God, have tested us;
          you have tried us as silver is tried.
11  You brought us into the net;
          you laid burdens on our backs;
12  you let people ride over our heads;
          we went through fire and through water;
     yet you have brought us out to a spacious place.


13  I will come into your house with burnt offerings;
          I will pay you my vows,
14  those that my lips uttered
          and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.
15  I will offer to you burnt offerings of fatlings,
          with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams;
     I will make an offering of bulls and goats. Selah


16  Come and hear, all you who fear God,
          and I will tell what he has done for me.
17  I cried aloud to him,
          and he was extolled with my tongue.
18  If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
          the Lord would not have listened.
19  But truly God has listened;
          he has given heed to the words of my prayer.


20  Blessed be God,
          because he has not rejected my prayer
          or removed his steadfast love from me.

Evening Psalm 116

1   I love the LORD, because he has heard
          my voice and my supplications.
2   Because he inclined his ear to me,
          therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
3   The snares of death encompassed me;
          the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;
          I suffered distress and anguish.
4   Then I called on the name of the LORD:
          “O LORD, I pray, save my life!”


5   Gracious is the LORD, and righteous;
          our God is merciful.
6   The LORD protects the simple;
          when I was brought low, he saved me.
7   Return, O my soul, to your rest,
          for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.


8   For you have delivered my soul from death,
          my eyes from tears,
          my feet from stumbling.
9   I walk before the LORD
          in the land of the living.
10  I kept my faith, even when I said,
          “I am greatly afflicted”;
11  I said in my consternation,
          “Everyone is a liar.”


12  What shall I return to the LORD
          for all his bounty to me?
13   I will lift up the cup of salvation
          and call on the name of the LORD,
14  I will pay my vows to the LORD
          in the presence of all his people.
15  Precious in the sight of the LORD
          is the death of his faithful ones.
16  O LORD, I am your servant;
          I am your servant, the child of your serving girl.
          You have loosed my bonds.
17  I will offer to you a thanksgiving sacrifice
          and call on the name of the LORD.
18  I will pay my vows to the LORD
          in the presence of all his people,
19  in the courts of the house of the LORD,
          in your midst, O Jerusalem.
     Praise the LORD!