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

March 19

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

The Lectionary According to the Common Calendar

Psalm 71 

1 In Thee, O LORD, do I put my trust; 
let me never be put to confusion. 
2 Deliver me in Thy righteousness, and cause me to escape; 
incline Thine ear unto me, and save me. 
3 Be Thou my strong habitation, 
whereunto I may continually resort; 
Thou hast given commandment to save me, 
for Thou art my rock and my fortress.

4 Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, 
out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man. 
5 For Thou art my hope, O Lord GOD; 
Thou art my trust from my youth. 
6 By Thee have I been held from the womb; Thou art He that took me out of my mother's womb. 
My praise shall be continually of Thee. 
7 I am as a wonder unto many, 
but Thou art my strong refuge. 
8 Let my mouth be filled with Thy praise, 
and with Thy honor all the day.

9 Cast me not off in the time of old age; 
forsake me not when my strength faileth. 
10 For mine enemies speak against me, 
and they that lie in wait for my soul take counsel together, 
11 saying, "God hath forsaken him;
persecute and take him, for there is none to deliver him." 

12 O God, be not far from me; 
O my God, make haste to help me. 
13 Let them be confounded and consumed that are adversaries to my soul; 
let them be covered with reproach and dishonor that seek my hurt. 
14 But I will hope continually 
and will yet praise Thee more and more. 
15 My mouth shall show forth Thy righteousness and Thy salvation all the day, 
for I know not the numbers thereof. 
16 I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD; 
I will make mention of Thy righteousness, even of Thine only. 
17 O God, Thou hast taught me from my youth, 
and hitherto have I declared Thy wondrous works. 
18 Now also when I am old and gray-headed, O God, forsake me not, 
until I have shown Thy strength unto this generation and Thy power to every one that is to come. 
19 Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high, who hast done great things. 
O God, who is like unto Thee! 
20 Thou, who hast shown me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, 
and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth. 
21 Thou shalt increase my greatness, 
and comfort me on every side.

22 I will also praise Thee with the psaltery for Thy truth, O my God; 
unto Thee will I sing with the harp, O Thou Holy One of Israel. 
23 My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto Thee, 
and my soul which Thou hast redeemed. 
24 My tongue also shall talk of Thy righteousness all the day long;
for they are confounded, for they are brought to shame that seek my hurt.

Matthew 23:1-12

1 Then spoke Jesus to the multitude and to His disciples, 2 saying,

"The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. 3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do ye not according to their works; for they say, and do not. 4 For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. 5 But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, 6 and love the uppermost places at feasts and the chief seats in the synagogues, 7 and greetings in the markets, and to be called by men, 'Rabbi, Rabbi.' 8 But be not ye called 'Rabbi,' for One is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.

9 "And call no man your father upon earth, for One is your Father, who is in Heaven. 10 Neither be ye called masters, for One is your Master, even Christ. 11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased, and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

Romans 9:19-33

19 Thou wilt say then unto me, "Why doth He yet find fault, for who hath resisted His will?" 20 But nay, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, "Why hast thou made me thus?" 21 Hath not the potter power over the clay to make from the same lump one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor? 22 What if God, choosing to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction; 23 and this, that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, whom He had prepared before unto glory, 24 even us whom He hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? 25 As He saith also in Hosea: "I will call them `My people,' who were not My people, and `her beloved' who was not beloved." 26 And, "It shall come to pass that in the place where it was said unto them, `Ye are not My people,' there shall they be called the children of the living God." 27 Isaiah also crieth concerning Israel: "Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved. 28 For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth." 29 And as Isaiah said before: "Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we would have been as Sodom and been made like unto Gomorrah."

30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith; 31 but Israel, who followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. 32 Why so? Because they sought it not by faith but, as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. 33 As it is written:

"Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense,
and whosoever believeth in Him shall not be ashamed."

Deuteronomy 5:1-21

1 And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, "Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them. 2 The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. 3 The LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day. 4 The LORD talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire 5 (I stood between the LORD and you at that time to show you the word of the LORD, for ye were afraid by reason of the fire and went not up into the mount), saying:

6 "`I am the LORD thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.

7 "`Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.

8 Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth. 9 Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them; for I, the LORD thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me, 10 and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love Me and keep My commandments.

11 "`Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.

12 "`Keep the Sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee. 13 Six days thou shalt labor and do all thy work, 14 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: In it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates, that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou. 15 And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm; therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day.

16 "`Honor thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee, that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.

17 "`Thou shalt not kill.

18 "`Neither shalt thou commit adultery.

19 "`Neither shalt thou steal.

20 "`Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbor.

21 "`Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbor's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbor's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbor's.'

Words of Wisdom - Ecclesiastes 3:22

Therefore I perceived that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his own works, for that is his portion; for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?