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

February 25

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

The Lectionary According to the Common Calendar

Psalm 51

1 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness;
according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I acknowledge my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
4 Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned and done this evil in Thy sight,
that Thou mightest be justified when Thou speakest, and be clear when Thou judgest.

5 Behold, I was shaped in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
6 Behold, Thou desirest truth in my inward parts;
in the hidden part Thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
8 Make me to hear joy and gladness,
that the bones which Thou hast broken may rejoice.
9 Hide Thy face from my sins,
and blot out all mine iniquities.

10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
11 Cast me not away from Thy presence,
and take not Thy holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation,
and uphold me with Thy free Spirit.
13 Then will I teach transgressors Thy ways,
and sinners shall be converted unto Thee.
14 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, Thou God of my salvation,
and my tongue shall sing aloud of Thy righteousness.
15 O Lord, open Thou my lips,
and my mouth shall show forth Thy praise.
16 For Thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it;
Thou delightest not in burnt offering.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.

18 Do good in Thy good pleasure unto Zion;
build Thou the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then shalt Thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering;
then shall they offer bullocks upon Thine altar.

Matthew 17:14-23

14 And when they had come to the multitude, there came to Him a certain man, kneeling down to Him and saying, 15 "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is lunatic and sorely vexed; for ofttimes he falleth into the fire and oft into the water. 16 And I brought him to Thy disciples, and they could not cure him." 17 Then Jesus answered and said,

"O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him hither to Me."

18 And Jesus rebuked the devil, and he departed out of him, and the child was cured from that very hour.

19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart and said, "Why could we not cast him out?" 20 And Jesus said unto them,

"Because of your unbelief; for verily I say unto you, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, `Remove hence to yonder place,' and it shall remove. And nothing shall be impossible unto you. 21 However this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting."

22 And while they abode in Galilee, Jesus said unto them, "The Son of Man shall be betrayed into the hands of men. 23 And they shall kill Him, and the third day He shall be raised again."

And they were exceeding sorry.

Acts 27:27-44

27 But when the fourteenth night had come, as we were being driven up and down in the Adriatic, about midnight the shipmen deemed that we were drawing near to some land. 28 And they took a sounding and found it to be twenty fathoms deep; and when they had gone a little further, they sounded again and found it fifteen fathoms. 29 Then, fearing lest we should be driven upon rocks, they cast four anchors out of the stern, and wished for the day. 30 And as the shipmen were about to flee from the ship, and had let down the boat into the sea under the pretext that they would cast anchors out of the prow, 31 Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, "Unless these remain in the ship, ye cannot be saved." 32 Then the soldiers cut off the ropes of the boat, and let her fall off.

33 And as the day was coming on, Paul besought them all to take meat, saying, "This day is the fourteenth day that ye have tarried and continued fasting, having taken nothing. 34 Therefore I pray you to take some meat, for this is for your health; for there shall not a hair fall from the head of any of you." 35 And when he had thus spoken, he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of them all; and when he had broken it, he began to eat. 36 Then they were all of good cheer, and they also took some meat. 37 And we were in all on the ship, two hundred threescore and sixteen souls. 38 And when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship and cast out the wheat into the sea.

39 And when it was day, they knew not the land, but they discovered a certain creek with a shore, into which they were minded, if it were possible, to thrust in the ship. 40 And when they had taken up the anchors, they committed themselves unto the sea, and loosed the rudder ropes, and hoisted up the mainsail into the wind, and made toward shore. 41 And falling into a place where two currents met, they ran the ship aground; and the forepart stuck fast and remained immovable, but the stern began to break up with the violence of the waves. 42 And the soldier's counsel was to kill the prisoners, lest any of them should swim out and escape. 43 But the centurion, desiring to save Paul, kept them from their purpose, and commanded that those who could swim should cast themselves first into the sea and get to land, 44 and the rest, some on boards and some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it came to pass that they all escaped safely to land.

Exodus 32:1-14

1 And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron and said unto him, "Arise, make us gods which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we know not what has become of him." 2 And Aaron said unto them, "Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons and of your daughters, and bring them unto me." 3 And all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. 4 And he received them from their hand, and fashioned it with an engraving tool after he had made it a molten calf; and they said, "These are thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt!" 5 And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation and said, "Tomorrow is a feast to the LORD." 6 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.

7 And the LORD said unto Moses, "Go, get thee down; for thy people which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. 8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molten calf and have worshiped it, and have sacrificed thereunto and said, `These are thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt!'" 9 And the LORD said unto Moses, "I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiffnecked people. 10 Now therefore let Me alone, that My wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of thee a great nation." 11 And Moses besought the LORD his God and said, "LORD, why doth Thy wrath wax hot against Thy people, whom Thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians speak and say, `For mischief did He bring them out, to slay them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from Thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against Thy people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Thy servants to whom Thou sworest by Thine own self and saidst unto them, `I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.'" 14 And the LORD repented of the evil which He thought to do unto His people.

Words of Wisdom - Ecclesiasticus 4:31

Let not thine hand be stretched out to receive,
and shut when thou shouldest repay.