Daily Reading for Tuesday, January 14th, 2014

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Reading 1, First Samuel 1:9-20

⁹ When they had finished eating in the room, Hannah got up and stood before Yahweh. Eli the priest was sitting on his seat by the doorpost of the temple of Yahweh.

¹⁰ In the bitterness of her soul she prayed to Yahweh with many tears,

¹¹ and she made this vow, 'Yahweh Sabaoth! Should you condescend to notice the humiliation of your servant and keep her in mind instead of disregarding your servant, and give her a boy, I will give him to Yahweh for the whole of his life and no razor shall ever touch his head.'

¹² While she went on praying to Yahweh, Eli was watching her mouth,

¹³ for Hannah was speaking under her breath; her lips were moving but her voice could not be heard, and Eli thought that she was drunk.

¹⁴ Eli said, 'How much longer are you going to stay drunk? Get rid of your wine.'

¹⁵ 'No, my lord,' Hannah replied, 'I am a woman in great trouble; I have not been drinking wine or strong drink -- I am pouring out my soul before Yahweh.

¹⁶ Do not take your servant for a worthless woman; all this time I have been speaking from the depth of my grief and my resentment.'

¹⁷ Eli then replied, 'Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant what you have asked of him.'

¹⁸ To which she said, 'May your servant find favour in your sight.' With that, the woman went away; she began eating and was dejected no longer.

¹⁹ They got up early in the morning and, after worshipping Yahweh, set out and went home to Ramah. Elkanah lay with his wife Hannah, and Yahweh remembered her.

²⁰ Hannah conceived and, in due course, gave birth to a son, whom she named Samuel, 'since', she said, 'I asked Yahweh for him.'

Responsorial Psalm, First Samuel 2:1, 4-5, 6-7, 8

¹ Hannah then prayed as follows: My heart exults in Yahweh, in my God is my strength lifted up, my mouth derides my foes, for I rejoice in your deliverance.

⁴ The bow of the mighty has been broken but those who were tottering are now braced with strength.

⁵ The full fed are hiring themselves out for bread but the hungry need labour no more; the barren woman bears sevenfold but the mother of many is left desolate.

⁶ Yahweh gives death and life, brings down to Sheol and draws up;

⁷ Yahweh makes poor and rich, he humbles and also exalts.

⁸ He raises the poor from the dust, he lifts the needy from the dunghill to give them a place with princes, to assign them a seat of honour; for to Yahweh belong the pillars of the earth, on these he has poised the world.

Gospel, Mark 1:21-28

²¹ They went as far as Capernaum, and at once on the Sabbath he went into the synagogue and began to teach.

²² And his teaching made a deep impression on them because, unlike the scribes, he taught them with authority.

²³ And at once in their synagogue there was a man with an unclean spirit, and he shouted,

²⁴ 'What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are: the Holy One of God.'

²⁵ But Jesus rebuked it saying, 'Be quiet! Come out of him!'

²⁶ And the unclean spirit threw the man into convulsions and with a loud cry went out of him.

²⁷ The people were so astonished that they started asking one another what it all meant, saying, 'Here is a teaching that is new, and with authority behind it: he gives orders even to unclean spirits and they obey him.'

²⁸ And his reputation at once spread everywhere, through all the surrounding Galilean countryside.