Scripture Reading for the
Common Calendar Year
(beginning January 1st)

April 8

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

The Lectionary According to the Common Calendar

Psalm 88

1 O LORD God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before Thee.
2 Let my prayer come before Thee; incline Thine ear unto my cry.
3 For my soul is full of troubles,
and my life draweth nigh unto the grave.
4 I am counted with them that go down into the pit;
I am as a man that hath no strength,
5 cast among the dead like the slain that lie in the grave,
whom Thou rememberest no more, and who are cut off from Thy hand.
6 Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit,
in darkness, in the deeps.
7 Thy wrath lieth hard upon me,
and Thou hast afflicted me with all Thy waves.

8 Thou hast put away mine acquaintances far from me;
Thou hast made me an abomination unto them.
I am shut up, and I cannot come forth;
9 mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction.
LORD, I have called daily upon Thee;
I have stretched out my hands unto Thee.
10 Wilt Thou show wonders to the dead?
Shall the dead arise and praise Thee?
11 Shall Thy lovingkindness be declared in the grave?
Or Thy faithfulness in destruction?
12 Shall Thy wonders be known in the dark?
And Thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?

13 But unto Thee have I cried, O LORD,
and in the morning shall my prayer come before Thee.
14 LORD, why castest Thou off my soul?
Why hidest Thou Thy face from me?
15 I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up;
while I suffer Thy terrors I am distraught.
16 Thy fierce wrath goeth over me;
Thy terrors have cut me off.
17 They came round about me daily like water;
they compassed me about together.
18 Lover and friend hast Thou put far from me,
and mine acquaintances into darkness.

Matthew 27:45-54

45 Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying,

"Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?"

that is to say, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" 47 Some of those who stood there, when they heard that, said, "This man calleth for Elijah." 48 And straightway one of them ran and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed and gave Him to drink. 49 The rest said, "Let be; let us see whether Elijah will come to save him."

50 Jesus, when He had cried out again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. 51 And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in two from the top to the bottom, and the earth quaked and the rocks rent. 52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who slept arose, 53 and came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the Holy City and appeared unto many. 54 Now when the centurion, and those who were with him watching Jesus, saw the earthquake and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, "Truly, this was the Son of God!"

1 Corinthians 5:1-8 

1 It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, of such a kind as is not so much as even named among the Gentiles: that one should have his father's wife. 2 And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. 3 For I verily, though absent in body but present in spirit, have judged already as though I were present concerning him who hath so done this deed: 4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, I being there in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 5 deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the Day of the Lord Jesus. 

6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? 7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us. 8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Joshua 8:1-23

1 And the LORD said unto Joshua, "Fear not, neither be thou dismayed. Take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai and his people and his city and his land. 2 And thou shalt do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king. Only the spoil thereof and the cattle thereof shall ye take for booty unto yourselves. Lay thee an ambush for the city behind it."

3 So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai; and Joshua chose out thirty thousand mighty men of valor, and sent them away by night. 4 And he commanded them, saying, "Behold, ye shall lie in wait against the city, even behind the city. Go not very far from the city, but be ye all ready; 5 and I and all the people who are with me will approach unto the city. And it shall come to pass, when they come out against us as at the first, that we will flee before them 6 (for they will come out after us) till we have drawn them from the city; for they will say, `They flee before us, as at the first.' Therefore we will flee before them. 7 Then ye shall rise up from the ambush and seize upon the city, for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand. 8 And it shall be, when ye have taken the city, that ye shall set the city on fire. According to the commandment of the LORD shall ye do. See, I have commanded you." 9 Joshua therefore sent them forth; and they went to lie in ambush, and stayed between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai; but Joshua lodged that night among the people.

10 And Joshua rose up early in the morning and numbered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai. 11 And all the people, even the people of war who were with him, went up and drew nigh, and came before the city and pitched camp on the north side of Ai. Now there was a valley between them and Ai. 12 And he took about five thousand men and set them to lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city. 13 And when they had set the people, even all the host that was on the north of the city and those lying in wait on the west of the city, Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley. 14 And it came to pass, when the king of Ai saw it, that they hastened and rose up early; and the men of the city went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at a time appointed before the plain; but he knew not that there lay an ambush against him behind the city. 15 And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness. 16 And all the people who were in Ai were called together to pursue after them, and they pursued after Joshua and were drawn away from the city. 17 And there was not a man left in Ai or Bethel who went not out after Israel; and they left the city open and pursued after Israel.

18 And the LORD said unto Joshua, "Stretch out the spear that is in thy hand toward Ai, for I will give it into thine hand." And Joshua stretched out the spear that he had in his hand toward the city. 19 And the ambush arose quickly out of their place, and they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand; and they entered into the city and took it, and hastened and set the city on fire. 20 And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and behold, the smoke of the city ascended up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that way; and the people who fled to the wilderness turned back upon the pursuers. 21 And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that the smoke of the city ascended, then they turned again and slew the men of Ai. 22 And the others issued out of the city against them; so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side and some on that side. And they smote them, so that they let none of them remain or escape; 23 and the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua.

Words of Wisdom - Ecclesiasticus 10:23

It is not meet to despise the poor man that hath understanding; 
neither is it proper to magnify a sinful man.