Daily Reading for Monday, August 19th, 2024

Reading 1, Ezekiel 24:15-24

¹⁵ The word of Yahweh was addressed to me as follows,

¹⁶ 'Son of man, at a blow I am about to deprive you of the delight of your eyes. But you are not to lament, not to weep, not to let your tears run down.

¹⁷ Groan in silence, do not go into mourning for the dead, knot your turban round your head, put your sandals on your feet, do not cover your beard, do not eat the usual food.'

¹⁸ I told this to the people in the morning, and my wife died in the evening, and the next morning I did as I had been ordered.

¹⁹ The people then said to me, 'Will you not explain what meaning these actions have for us?'

²⁰ I replied, 'The word of Yahweh has been addressed to me as follows,

²¹ "Say to the House of Israel, the Lord Yahweh says this: I am about to profane my sanctuary, the pride of your strength, the delight of your eyes, the joy of your hearts. Your sons and daughters whom you have left behind will fall by the sword.

²² Then you will do as I have done: you will not cover your beards or eat the usual food;

²³ you will keep your turbans on your heads and your sandals on your feet; you will not lament or weep but will waste away for your crimes, groaning among yourselves.

²⁴ Thus Ezekiel is a sign for you. You will do exactly what he has done. And when this happens, you will know that I am Lord Yahweh!"

Responsorial Psalm, Deuteronomy 32:18-19, 20, 21

¹⁸ (You forget the Rock who fathered you, the God who made you, you no longer remember.)

¹⁹ Yahweh saw it and, in anger, he spurned his sons and daughters.

²⁰ 'I shall hide my face from them,' he said, 'and see what will become of them. For they are a deceitful brood, children with no loyalty in them.

²¹ They have roused me to jealousy with a non-god, they have exasperated me with their idols. In my turn I shall rouse them to jealousy with a non-people, I shall exasperate them with a stupid nation.