The Wartburg Project

Daily Lectionary

December 13, 2021

December 12, 2021 December 14, 2021

These daily readings from the EHV follow the one-year daily lectionary provided in Christian Worship: Hymnal, the Lutheran Service Book, and the Treasury of Daily Prayer. In this lectionary, two readings of 15-25 verses each are provided for each day. Under this plan, nearly all of the New Testament and approximately one-third of the Old Testament are read each year. These readings fit well within the daily offices of Matins, Vespers, or Compline as daily family devotions.

Isaiah 29:15-30:14

Hope for the Future
15Woe to those who try to hide their plans from the Lord.
Their deeds are done in darkness,
and they think that no one sees them
or knows what they are doing.
16You turn things upside down!
Should the potter be treated like clay?
Should the thing that was made say to its maker,
“You didn't make me”?
Should the creation say to the creator,
“You know nothing”?
17Isn't it true that in a very short time
Lebanon will be turned into a fertile field,
and the fertile field will seem like a forest?
18On that day, the deaf will hear the words from a book,
and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.
19The humble will rejoice in the Lord once again,
and the poor will delight in the Holy One of Israel.
20But the ruthless will come to nothing.
Those who mock will be no more,
and all those who plan evil will be cut off—
21all those who slander others with a word,
all those who argue cases at the city gate,
all those who use false testimony to deprive the innocent of justice.
22Therefore this is what the Lord, who redeemed Abraham,
says about the house of Jacob:
Jacob will not be ashamed anymore.
His face will not grow pale.
23But when his children see what I do among them,
they will honor my name.
They will honor the Holy One of Jacob.
They will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24Those who are confused will come to understand,
and those who complain will gladly receive instruction.
A Useless Treaty With Egypt
301Woe to this rebellious people, says the Lord.
They take advice, but not from me.
They establish an alliance, but not by my Spirit.
Then they sin more and more.
2Woe to those who go down to Egypt, without consulting me.
They seek Pharaoh's protection,
and they take refuge in the shade of Egypt!
3So Pharaoh's protection will bring you shame.
Taking refuge in the shade of Egypt will be your downfall.
4Even though Israel's officials are in Zoan,
and their envoys have gone as far as Hanes,
5they will all be humiliated
because of a people that is useless to them.
They can neither help nor provide any benefit.
They bring only shame and reproach.
Judah's Envoys Take Tribute to Egypt
6An oracle about the animals of the Negev.
Through the land of trouble and distress,
the land of the lioness and the lion,
of the viper and the venomous flying serpent,
Judah's envoys carry their wealth on the backs of donkeys
and their treasures on camels' humps,
to a nation that cannot help them.
7For Egypt's help is useless and serves no purpose.
That is why I have called her “the dragon that just sits there.”[]
8Go and write it on a tablet for them.
Record it on a scroll,
so that it may serve in the future as a permanent witness.
9These are a rebellious people, lying children,
children unwilling to hear the law of the Lord,
10who tell the seers, “Stop seeing!”
who tell the prophets, “Stop prophesying what is right!
Tell us pleasant things. Prophesy illusions.
11Leave the way! Turn from the path!
Stop getting in our face about the Holy One of Israel!”
12This is what the Holy One of Israel says:
Since you have rejected my word,
and you trust in oppression and deceit,
and you rely on them,
13your guilt will be like a crack in a wall,
bulging out and about to collapse.
It will suddenly fall without warning.
14It will crash like a broken clay pot,
smashed to pieces so violently that not one useful piece will be left,
not even a piece good enough to pick up a coal from the hearth
or to ladle water from a cistern.

Revelation 1:1-20

Introduction
11The revelation from Jesus Christ that God gave him to show his servants the things that must soon take place. Christ expressed this revelation by means of symbols sent[] through his angel to his servant John. 2John spoke as a witness to the word of God and to the testimony about[] Jesus Christ, that is, to everything he saw. 3Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy and blessed are those who hear it and hold on to the things written in it, because the time is near.
Greeting
4John,
To the seven churches in the province of Asia:[]
Grace to you and peace from him who is, who was, and who is coming, and from the seven spirits that are before his throne, 5and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us and has freed[] us from our sins by his own blood 6and made us a kingdom and priests to God his Father—to him be the glory and the power forever. Amen.
7Look, he is coming with clouds,
and every eye will see him,
including those who pierced him.
And all the nations of the earth will mourn because of him.
Yes. Amen.
8“I am the Alpha and the Omega,”[] says the Lord God, the one who is, and who was, and who is coming, the Almighty.
God Tells John to Write Down What He Sees
9I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingship and patient endurance in Jesus,[] was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony about Jesus.[]
10I was in spirit on the Lord's Day, and I heard a loud voice behind me, like a trumpet, 11saying, “Write what you see on a scroll and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”
Jesus Appears
12I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me. When I turned, I saw seven gold lampstands, 13and among the lampstands was one like a son of man. He was clothed with a robe that reached to his feet, and around his chest he wore a gold sash. 14His head and his hair were white, like white wool or like snow. His eyes were like blazing flames. 15His feet were like polished bronze being refined in a furnace. His voice was like the roar of many waters. 16He held seven stars in his right hand. A sharp two-edged sword was coming out of his mouth. His face was shining as the sun shines in all its brightness.
17When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He placed his right hand on me and said, “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last— 18the Living One. I was dead and, see, I am alive forever and ever! I also hold the keys of death and hell.[]
19“So write what you have seen, both those things that are and those that will take place after this.
20“The mystery of the seven stars, which you saw in my right hand, and the seven gold lampstands is this: The seven stars are the messengers of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.”