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

August 23

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

The Lectionary According to the Common Calendar

Psalm 44

1 We have heard with our ears, O God,
our fathers have told us what work Thou didst in their days, in the times of old:
2 how Thou didst drive out the heathen with Thy hand, and planted them;
how Thou didst afflict the people, and cast them out.
3 For they got not the land in possession by their own sword,
neither did their own arm save them,
but by Thy right hand and Thine arm and the light of Thy countenance,
because Thou hadst favor unto them.

4 Thou art my King, O God;
command deliverances for Jacob.
5 Through Thee will we push down our enemies;
through Thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us.
6 For I will not trust in my bow,
neither shall my sword save me;
7 but Thou hast saved us from our enemies,
and hast put them to shame that hated us.
8 In God we boast all the day long,
and praise Thy name for ever.

9 But Thou hast cast us off and put us to shame,
and goest not forth with our armies.
10 Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy,
and they that hate us despoil us for themselves.
11 Thou hast given us up like sheep appointed for slaughter, and hast scattered us among the heathen.
12 Thou sellest Thy people for nought,
and dost not increase Thy wealth by their price.
13 Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbors,
a scorn and a derision to them that are round about us.
14 Thou makest us a byword among the heathen,
a shaking of the head among the people.

15 My confusion is continually before me,
and the shame of my face hath covered me,
16 for the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth
by reason of the enemy and avenger.

17 All this has come upon us; yet have we not forgotten Thee,
neither have we dealt falsely in Thy covenant.
18 Our heart has not turned back,
neither have our steps turned from Thy way,
19 though Thou hast sorely broken us in the place of dragons,
and covered us with the shadow of death.

20 If we had forgotten the name of our God,
or stretched out our hands to a strange god,
21 shall not God search this out?
For He knoweth the secrets of the heart.
22 Yea, for Thy sake are we killed all the day long;
we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

23 Awake! Why sleepest Thou, O Lord?
Arise! Cast us not off for ever.
24 Why hidest Thou Thy face,
and forgettest our affliction and our oppression?
25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust;
our belly cleaveth unto the earth.
26 Arise for our help,
and redeem us for Thy mercies' sake.

Luke 16:14-18

14 And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things, and they derided Him. 15 And He said unto them,

"Ye are they who justify yourselves before men, but God knoweth your hearts. For that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.

16 "The Law and the Prophets were until John. Since that time the Kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it. 17 And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than one tittle of the law to fail.

18 "Whosoever putteth away his wife and marrieth another committeth adultery; and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.

2 Timothy 1:15-18

15 This thou knowest, that all those who are in Asia have turned away from me, among whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes. 16 The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains; 17 but when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently and found me. 18 The Lord grant unto him that he may find mercy from the Lord in that Day! And in how many things he ministered unto me in Ephesus,thou knowest very well.

2 Timothy 2:1-7

1 Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 And the things that thou hast heard from me among many witnesses, commit thou the same to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also. 3 Endure thou therefore hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 4 No man who warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. 5 And if also a man strive for masteries, yet he is not crowned unless he strive lawfully. 6 The husbandman who laboreth must be the first partaker of the fruits. 7 Consider what I say, and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.

Isaiah 53

1 Who hath believed our report?
And to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
and as a root out of a dry ground.
He hath no form nor comeliness,
and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him.
3 He is despised and rejected of men,
a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.
And we hid as it were our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.

4 Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;
yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions;
He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon Him,
and with His stripes we are healed.

6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way;
and the LORD hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and He was afflicted,
yet He opened not his mouth;
He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter;
and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment;
and who shall declare His generation?
For He was cut off out of the land of the living;
for the transgression of My people was He stricken.
9 And He made His grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in His death,
because He had done no violence,
neither was any deceit in His mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him;
He hath put Him to grief.
When thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed,
He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.
11 He shall see of the travail of His soul,
and shall be satisfied.
By His knowledge shall My righteous Servant justify many,
for He shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because He hath poured out His soul unto death.
And He was numbered with the transgressors;
and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Words of Wisdom - Proverbs 22:28

Remove not the ancient landmark 
which thy fathers have set.