Daily Readings

¹   Lord, you have been our dwelling place
          in all generations.
²   Before the mountains were brought forth,
          or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
          from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

³   You turn us back to dust,
          and say, “Turn back, you mortals.”
⁴   For a thousand years in your sight
          are like yesterday when it is past,
          or like a watch in the night.

⁵   You sweep them away; they are like a dream,
          like grass that is renewed in the morning;
⁶   in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
          in the evening it fades and withers.

⁷   For we are consumed by your anger;
          by your wrath we are overwhelmed.
⁸   You have set our iniquities before you,
          our secret sins in the light of your countenance.

⁹   For all our days pass away under your wrath;
          our years come to an end like a sigh.
¹⁰  The days of our life are seventy years,
          or perhaps eighty, if we are strong;
     even then their span is only toil and trouble;
          they are soon gone, and we fly away.

¹¹  Who considers the power of your anger?
          Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.
¹²  So teach us to count our days
          that we may gain a wise heart.

¹³  Turn, O LORD! How long?
          Have compassion on your servants!
¹⁴  Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
          so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
¹⁵  Make us glad as many days as you have afflicted us,
          and as many years as we have seen evil.
¹⁶  Let your work be manifest to your servants,
          and your glorious power to their children.
¹⁷  Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
          and prosper for us the work of our hands —
          O prosper the work of our hands!

¹   Praise the Lord!
     Sing to the Lord a new song,
          his praise in the assembly of the faithful.
²   Let Israel be glad in its Maker;
          let the children of Zion rejoice in their King.
³   Let them praise his name with dancing,
          making melody to him with tambourine and lyre.
⁴   For the Lord takes pleasure in his people;
          he adorns the humble with victory.
⁵   Let the faithful exult in glory;
          let them sing for joy on their couches.
⁶   Let the high praises of God be in their throats
          and two-edged swords in their hands,
⁷   to execute vengeance on the nations
          and punishment on the peoples,
⁸   to bind their kings with fetters
          and their nobles with chains of iron,
⁹   to execute on them the judgment decreed.
          This is glory for all his faithful ones.
     Praise the Lord!

²⁰On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on the one who struck them, but will lean on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. ²¹A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. ²²For though your people Israel were like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness. ²³For the Lord GOD of hosts will make a full end, as decreed, in all the earth.

²⁴Therefore thus says the LORD GOD of hosts: O my people, who live in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrians when they beat you with a rod and lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did. ²⁵For in a very little while my indignation will be directed to their destruction. ²⁶The LORD of hosts will wield a whip against them, as when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb; his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it as he did in Egypt. ²⁷On that day his burden will be removed from your shoulder, and his yoke will be destroyed from your neck.

¹⁷But you, beloved, must remember the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; ¹⁸for they said to you, "In the last time there will be scoffers, indulging their own ungodly lusts." ¹⁹It is these worldly people, devoid of the Spirit, who are causing divisions. ²⁰But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; ²¹keep yourselves in the love of God; look forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. ²²And have mercy on some who are wavering; ²³save others by snatching them out of the fire; and have mercy on still others with fear, hating even the tunic defiled by their bodies.

¹In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, ²during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. ³He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, ⁴as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah, "The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. ⁵Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; ⁶and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'"

⁷John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our ancestor'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. ⁹Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."

¹   Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
          you who lead Joseph like a flock!
     You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth
²        before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh.
     Stir up your might,
          and come to save us!

³   Restore us, O God;
     let your face shine, that we may be saved.

⁴   O LORD God of hosts,
          how long will you be angry with your people's prayers?
⁵   You have fed them with the bread of tears,
          and given them tears to drink in full measure.
⁶   You make us the scorn of our neighbors;
          our enemies laugh among themselves.

⁷   Restore us, O God of hosts;
          let your face shine, that we may be saved.

⁸   You brought a vine out of Egypt;
     you drove out the nations and planted it.
⁹   You cleared the ground for it;
          it took deep root and filled the land.
¹⁰  The mountains were covered with its shade,
          the mighty cedars with its branches;
¹¹  it sent out its branches to the sea,
          and its shoots to the River.
¹²  Why then have you broken down its walls,
          so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
¹³  The boar from the forest ravages it,
          and all that move in the field feed on it.

¹⁴  Turn again, O God of hosts;
          look down from heaven, and see;
     have regard for this vine,
¹⁵       the stock that your right hand planted.
¹⁶  They have burned it with fire, they have cut it down;
          may they perish at the rebuke of your countenance.
¹⁷  But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand,
          the one whom you made strong for yourself.
¹⁸  Then we will never turn back from you;
          give us life, and we will call on your name.

¹⁹  Restore us, O LORD God of hosts;
          let your face shine, that we may be saved.

¹   Give the king your justice, O God,
          and your righteousness to a king’s son.
²   May he judge your people with righteousness,
          and your poor with justice.
³   May the mountains yield prosperity for the people,
          and the hills, in righteousness.
⁴   May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,
          give deliverance to the needy,
          and crush the oppressor.
⁵   May he live while the sun endures,
          and as long as the moon, throughout all generations.
⁶   May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass,
          like showers that water the earth.
⁷   In his days may righteousness flourish
          and peace abound, until the moon is no more.

⁸   May he have dominion from sea to sea,
          and from the River to the ends of the earth.
⁹   May his foes bow down before him,
          and his enemies lick the dust.
¹⁰  May the kings of Tarshish and of the isles
          render him tribute,
     may the kings of Sheba and Seba
          bring gifts.
¹¹  May all kings fall down before him,
          all nations give him service.

¹²  For he delivers the needy when they call,
          the poor and those who have no helper.
¹³  He has pity on the weak and the needy,
          and saves the lives of the needy.
¹⁴  From oppression and violence he redeems their life;
          and precious is their blood in his sight.

¹⁵  Long may he live!
          May gold of Sheba be given to him.
     May prayer be made for him continually,
          and blessings invoked for him all day long.
¹⁶  May there be abundance of grain in the land;
          may it wave on the tops of the mountains;
          may its fruit be like Lebanon;
     and may people blossom in the cities
          like the grass of the field.
¹⁷  May his name endure forever,
          his fame continue as long as the sun.
     May all nations be blessed in him;
          may they pronounce him happy.

¹⁸  Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,
          who alone does wondrous things.
¹⁹  Blessed be his glorious name forever;
          may his glory fill the whole earth. Amen and Amen.

²⁰The prayers of David son of Jesse are ended.