February 7 (Exodus 20–21; Psalm 35; Mark 14)

A reading from the Book of Exodus. And God spoke all these words saying, Visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me. But showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God and vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name and vain. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the solejourner who was within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor, you shall not covet your neighbor's house, you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's. Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled and they stood far off and said to Moses, you speak to us and we will listen, but do not let God speak to us less we die. Moses said to the people, do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin. The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was. And the Lord said to Moses, thus you shall say to the people of Israel, you have seen for yourselves that I have talked with you from heaven, you shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold, and altar of earth you shall make for me, and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings, and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen, and every place where I calls my name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you. If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it with hune stones, for if you willed your tool on it, you profane it, and you shall not go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness be not exposed on it. Now these are the rules that you shall set before them. When you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. If he comes in single, he shall go out single. If he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master gives him a wife, and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her masters, and he shall go out alone. But if the slave plainly says, I love my master, my wife and my children, I will not go out free. Then his master shall bring him to God, and he shall bring him to the door of the door post, and his master shall bore his ear through with an all, and he shall be his slave forever. When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do. If she does not please her master, who has designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to afforn people, since he has broken faith with her. If he does ignite her for his son, he shall deal with her as with a daughter. If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, or her marital rights, and if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out for nothing, without payment of money. Whoever strikes a man so that he dies, shall be put to death. But if he did not lie and wait for him, but God let him fall into his hand, then I will appoint for you a place to which he may flee. But if a man willfully attacks another to kill him by cunning, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die. Whoever strikes his father or his mother, shall be put to death. Whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death. Whoever curses his father or his mother, shall be put to death. When men quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone, or with his fist, and the man does not die but takes to his bed, then if the man rises again and walks outdoors with his staff, he who struck him shall be clear, only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall have him thoroughly healed. When a man strikes his slave, male or female with a rod, and the slave dies under his hand, he shall be avenged. But if the slave survives a day or two, he is not to be avenged for the slave is his money. When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fine, as the woman's husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. When a man strikes the eye of his slave, male or female, and destroys it, he shall let the slave go free because of his eye. If he knocks out the tooth of his slave, male or female, he shall let the slave go free because of his tooth. When an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner of the ox shall not be liable. But if the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has been warned, but has not kept it in, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death. If a ransom is imposed on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life, whatever is imposed on him. If it gores a man's son or daughter, he shall be dealt with according to the same rule. If the ox gores a slave, male or female, the owner shall give to their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned. When a man opens a pit, or when a man digs a pit, and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, the owner of the pit shall make restoration, he shall give money to his owner, and the dead beast shall be his. When one man's ox butts another, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live ox and share its price, and the dead beast also they shall share, or if it is known that the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past, and its owner has not kept it in, he shall repay ox for ox, and the dead beast shall be his. A reading from the book of Psalms of David. Contend O Lord with those who contend with me, fight against those who fight against me, take hold of shield and buckler, and rise for my help, draw the spear and javelin against my pursuers, say to my soul, I am your salvation. Let them be put to shame and dishonor who seek after my life. Let them be turned back and disappointed who devise evil against me. Let them be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the Lord driving them away. Let their way be dark and slippery with the angel of the Lord pursuing them. For without cause they hit their net for me. Without cause they dug a pit for my life. Let destruction come upon him when he does not know it, and let the net that he hid in snare him. Let him fall into it, to his destruction. Then my soul will rejoice in the Lord, exulting in his salvation. All my bones shall say, oh Lord, who is like you, delivering the poor from him who was too strong for him, the poor and needy from him who robs him. Milicious witnesses rise up. They ask me of things that I do not know. They repay me evil for good. My soul is bereft, but I when they were sick, I wore sack cloth. I afflicted myself with fasting. I prayed with head bowed on my chest. I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother, as one who laments his mother, I bowed down in mourning, but at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered. They gathered together against me, wretches whom I did not know, tore at me without ceasing, like profane mockers at a feast. They gnash at me with their teeth. How long, O Lord, will you look on? Rescue me from their destruction. My precious life from the lions. Thank you in the great congregation. In the mighty throng I will praise you. Let not those rejoice over me who are wrongfully my foes. And let not those wink the eye who hate me without cause. For they do not speak peace. But against those who are quiet in the land, they devise words of deceit. They open wide their mouths against me. They say, aha, aha, our eyes have seen it. You have seen, O Lord, be not silent. O Lord, be not far from me. Awake and rouse yourself from my vindication, for my cause, my God, and my Lord. Vindicate me, O Lord, my God. According to your righteousness, and let them not rejoice over me. Let them not say in their hearts, aha, our hearts desire. Let them not say we have swallowed him up. Let them be put to shame and disappointed all together, who rejoice at my calamity. Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor, who magnify themselves against me. Let those who delight in my righteousness, shout for joy and be glad and say evermore, great is the Lord who delights in the welfare of his servant. Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness and of your praise all the day long. A reading of the gospel according to Mark. It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the Chief Priest and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him, where they said, not during the Feast, lest there be an uproar from the people. And while he was at Bethany and the house of Simon the Lepper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. There were some who said to themselves indignantly, why was the ointment wasted like that? For this ointment could have been sold for more than 300 dinarion given to the poor, and they scolded her. But Jesus said, leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them, but you will not always have me. She has done what she could. She has anointed my body beforehand for burial. And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told and memory of her. Then Judas the scarier, who was one of the twelve, went to the Chief Priest in order to betray him to them, and when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money, and he sought an opportunity to betray him. And on the first day of unleavened bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover? And he sent two of his disciples and said to them, Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. And wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, the teacher says, Where is my guest room? Where I may eat the Passover with my disciples, and he will show you a large upper room furnished and ready, there, prepare for us. And the disciples said out, and went to the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover. And when it was evening, he came with the twelve, and as they were reclining a table and eating, Jesus said, Truly, I say to you, One of you will betray me, One who is eating with me. They began to be sorrowful and to say to him one after another, Is it I? He said to them. It is one of the twelve, One who was dipping bread into the dish with me, for the son of man goals as it is written of him, would wall to that man by whom the son of man is portrayed. It would have been better for that man if he had not been born. And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them and said, Take, this is my body. And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank of it, and he said to them, This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God. And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives, and Jesus said to them, You will all fall away, for it is written, I will strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered, but after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee. Peter said to him, Even though they all fall away, I will not. And Jesus said to him, Truly, I tell you, This very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times. But he said infatically, If I must die with you, I will not deny you. And they all said the same. And they went to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, Sit here while I pray. And he took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be greatly distressed and troubled. And he said to them, My soul is very sorrowful, even to death, remain here and watch. And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. And he said, Abba, Father, All things are possible for you, remove this cup from me, yet not what I will, but what you will. And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. And again, he went away and prayed, saying the same words, and again, he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they did not know what to answer him. And he came the third time and said to them, Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? It is enough. The hour has come. One of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand. And immediately, while he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a crowd with swords and clubs from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. Now, the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, the one I will kiss is the man, sees him and lead him away under guard. And when he came, he went up to him at once and said, Rabbi, and he kissed him. They laid hands on him and seized him. But one of those who stood by drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. And Jesus said to them, Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me? Day after day, I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me, but let the scriptures be fulfilled. And they all left him and fled. And a young man followed him, with nothing but a linen cloth about his body, and they seized him, but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked. And they led Jesus to the high priest, and all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together. And Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest, and he was sitting with the guards and warming himself at the fire. Now the chief priests and the whole council were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none. For many bore false witness against him, but their testimony did not agree. And some stood up and bore false witness against him, saying, we heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands. Yet even about this, their testimony did not agree. And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you? But he remained silent and made no answer. Again, the high priest asked him, are you the Christ, the son of the blessed? And Jesus said, I am, and you will see the son of man seated at the right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of heaven. And the high priest tore his garments and said, with further witnesses do we need? You have heard his blasphemy. What is your decision? And they all condemned him as deserving death, and some began to spit on him and to cover his face and to strike him, saying to him, prophesy, and the guards received him with blows. And as Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came, and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, you also were with the Nazarene, Jesus, but he denied it, saying, I neither know nor understand what you mean. And he went out into the gateway and the rooster crowed, and the servant girls saw him and began again to say to the bystanders, this man is one of them, and he began, he denied it, and after a little while, the bystanders again said to Peter, certainly you are one of them for you are Galileean, but he began to invoke a curse on himself into swear. I do not know this man of whom you speak, and immediately the rooster crowed a second time, and Peter remembered how Jesus had set to him before the rooster crowed twice, you will deny me three times, and he broke down and wept.