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

August 12

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

The Lectionary According to the Common Calendar

Psalm 35:1-21

1 Plead my cause, O LORD, with them that strive with me; 
fight against them that fight against me. 
2 Take hold of shield and buckler, 
and stand up for mine help. 
3 Draw out also the spear, and block the way against them that persecute me. 
Say unto my soul, "I am thy salvation." 
4 Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul; 
let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt. 
5 Let them be as chaff before the wind, 
and let the angel of the LORD chase them. 
6 Let their way be dark and slippery, 
and let the angel of the LORD persecute them. 
7 For without cause they have hid their net for me in a pit, 
which without cause they have dug for my soul. 

8 Let destruction come upon him unawares; and let the net which he hath hidden catch himself; 
into that very destruction let him fall. 
9 Then my soul shall be joyful in the LORD; 
it shall rejoice in His salvation.
10 All my bones shall say, "LORD, who is like unto Thee, 
who deliverest the poor from him that is too strong for him, yea, the poor and needy from him that would plunder him?" 

11 False witnesses rose up; 
they laid to my charge things that I knew not. 
12 They rewarded me evil for good, 
to the grieving of my soul. 
13 But as for me, when they were sick my clothing was sackcloth; 
I humbled my soul with fasting, and my prayer returned unto mine own bosom. 
14 I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother; 
I bowed down in heaviness, as one that mourneth for his mother. 
15 But in mine adversity they rejoiced and gathered themselves together; 
yea, the abjects gathered themselves together against me, and I knew it not; they tore at me and ceased not. 
16 With hypocritical mockers at feasts 
they gnashed their teeth against me. 
17 Lord, how long wilt Thou look on? 
Rescue my soul from their destructions, my precious soul from the lions. 
18 I will give Thee thanks in the great congregation; 
I will praise Thee among many people. 
19 Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me; 
neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause.
20 For they speak not peace, 
but they devise deceitful matters against them that are quiet in the land. 
21 Yea, they opened their mouths wide against me and said, 
"Aha, aha! Our eyes have seen it." 

Luke 12:49-59

49 "I am come to send fire on the earth, and what will I, if it be already kindled? 50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how I am straitened till it be accomplished! 51 Suppose ye that I have come to give peace on earth? I tell you, nay, but rather division. 52 For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided: three against two, and two against three. 53 The father shall be divided against the son and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter and the daughter against the mother; the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."

54 And He said also to the people, "When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, `There cometh a shower'; and so it is. 55 And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, `There will be heat'; and it cometh to pass. 56 Ye hypocrites! Ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it that ye do not discern this time?

57 "Yea, and why even for yourselves judge ye not what is right? 58 When thou goest with thine adversary to the magistrate, as thou art on the way, be diligent that thou mayest be delivered from him, lest he hale thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and the officer cast thee into prison. 59 I tell thee, thou shall not depart thence till thou hast paid the very last mite."

1 Timothy 4:1-11

1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, 2 speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, 3 forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving; 5 for it is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer.

6 If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished in the words of faith and of good doctrine unto which thou hast attained. 7 But reject profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. 8 For bodily exercise profiteth little, but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. 9 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance. 10 For therefor we both labor and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe. 11 These things command and teach. 

Isaiah 25:1-10a

1 O LORD, Thou art my God.
I will exalt Thee, I will praise Thy name,
for Thou hast done wonderful things;
Thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
2 For Thou hast made of a city a heap,
of a fortified city a ruin,
a palace of strangers to be no city;
it shall never be rebuilt.
3 Therefore shall the strong people glorify Thee;
the city of the terrible nations shall fear Thee.
4 For Thou hast been a strength to the poor,
a strength to the needy in his distress,
a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat,
when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.
5 Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers,
as the heat in a dry place,
even the heat with the shadow of a cloud;
the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low.

6 And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things,
a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.
7 And He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people,
and the veil that is spread over all nations.
8 He will swallow up death in victory;
and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces,
and the rebuke of His people shall He take away from off all the earth;
for the LORD hath spoken it.

9 And it shall be said in that day: "Lo, this is our God;
we have waited for Him, and He will save us.
This is the LORD; we have waited for Him;
we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation."

Words of Wisdom - Ecclesiasticus 29:11

Lay up thy treasure according to the commandments of the Most High, 
and it shall bring thee more profit than gold.