Daily Lectionary

December 22, 2021

December 21, 2021 December 23, 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 43:1-24

The Lord's New Act of Salvation

43¹But now this is what the Lord says,

the Lord who created you, O Jacob,

the Lord who formed you, O Israel.

Do not be afraid, because I have redeemed you.

I have called you by name. You are mine.

²When you cross through the waters, I will be with you.

When you cross the rivers, they will not sweep you away.

When you walk through fire, you will not be burned,

and the flame will not set you on fire.

³Because I am the Lord your God,

the Holy One of Israel, your Savior,

I gave Egypt as your ransom,

Cush and Seba in exchange for you.

⁴Because you are precious and honored in my eyes,

and I myself love you,

I will give people in exchange for you,

and peoples in exchange for your life.

⁵Do not be afraid, because I am with you.

From the east I will bring your offspring,

and from the west I will gather you.

⁶I will say to the north, “Give them back!”

and to the south, “Do not hold them.”

Bring my sons from far away

and my daughters from the end of the earth—

⁷everyone who is called by my name,

everyone I created for my glory,

everyone I formed,

yes, everyone I have made.

⁸Bring out the people who are blind, though they have eyes,

and the people who are deaf, though they have ears.

⁹Let all the nations be gathered together,

and let peoples be assembled.

Who among them has declared this?

Who has made known to us the former things?

Let them produce their witnesses to show that they were right,

so that people can hear and say, “This is truth.”

¹⁰You are my witnesses, declares the Lord.

You are my servant, whom I have chosen,

so that you may know me and believe in me,

so that you will understand that I am he.

Before me no god was formed,

and after me there will not be another.

¹¹I, yes I, am the Lord,

and apart from me there is no savior.

¹²I myself declared it.

I brought salvation, and I announced it.

It was not some strange god among you.

You are my witnesses, declares the Lord,

and I am God.

¹³Indeed, from the first day, I am he.

There is no one who can deliver anyone from my hand.

I act, and who can reverse it?

¹⁴This is what the Lord says,

the Lord your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

For your sake I am taking action against Babylon,

and I will bring down all the Chaldeans as refugees,

in the ships over which they rejoiced.

¹⁵I am the Lord, your Holy One,

Israel's Creator, your King.

¹⁶This is what the Lord says,

who makes a road through the sea

and a path through mighty waters,

¹⁷who brings out the chariot and the horses,

the army and the strong warrior.

They will all lie down together.

They will not get up.

They are extinguished.

Like a wick they go out.

¹⁸Do not remember the former^[] things.

Do not keep thinking about ancient things.

¹⁹Watch, I am about to do a new thing.

Now it will spring up. Don't you know about it?

Indeed I will make a road in the wilderness.

In the wasteland I will make rivers.

²⁰The wild animals, the jackals and ostriches, will honor me,

because I am providing water in the wilderness,

rivers in a parched wasteland,

water for my chosen people to drink.

²¹This people that I formed for myself will declare my praise.

²²But you have not called on me, O Jacob.

Instead, you have become weary of me, O Israel.

²³You have not brought me sheep as your whole burnt offerings.

You did not glorify me with your sacrifices.

I did not make you serve me with a grain offering.

I did not make you weary with demands for incense.

²⁴You did not purchase fragrant cane for me with silver

or satisfy me with the fat from your sacrifices.

Instead you have made me serve because of your sins.

You have made me weary because of your guilt.

Revelation 9:13-10:11

The Sixth Trumpet

¹³Then the sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice speak from the four^[] horns of the gold incense altar that is before God. ¹⁴It said to the sixth angel, the one with the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” ¹⁵And the four angels who had been prepared for this hour, day, month, and year were let loose so that they could kill a third of the people.

¹⁶The number of soldiers on horseback was two hundred million. I heard their number. ¹⁷And this is what I saw in the vision of the horses and their riders: They had breastplates that were fiery-red, hyacinth-blue, and sulfur-yellow. The heads of the horses were like the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire and smoke and sulfur. ¹⁸As a result of these three plagues, the fire and the smoke and the sulfur that came out of their mouths, a third of mankind was killed. ¹⁹For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails are like snakes that have heads, which they use to cause injuries.

²⁰The rest of the people, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands by giving up their worship of demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, or wood, which cannot see, hear, or walk. ²¹And they did not repent of their murders, their sorceries, their sexual immoralities, or their thefts.

The Angel With a Little Scroll

10¹Then I saw another powerful angel coming down out of heaven. He was clothed with a cloud, a rainbow was over his head, his face was like the sun, his feet were like pillars of fire, ²and he had in his hand a little scroll, which had been opened. He put his right foot on the sea and his left on the land, ³and he cried out with a loud voice, just as a lion roars. And when he cried out, the seven thunders spoke using their own voices.

⁴When the seven thunders had spoken, I was about to write. But I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Seal up the things the seven thunders said, and do not write them down.”

⁵The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven, ⁶and he swore by the one who lives forever and ever, who created the sky and the things in it, the earth and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it. He said, “There will be no more delay. ⁷Instead, in the days of the sound made by the seventh angel, that is, when he is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will also be completed, exactly as he made this good news known to his servants the prophets.”

John's Commission to Prophesy

⁸The voice that I heard from heaven also spoke to me again, saying, “Go, take the scroll that has been opened in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” ⁹I went to the angel and said to him, “Give me the little scroll.”

He said to me, “Take it and eat it. It will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.” ¹⁰I took the little scroll out of the angel's hand and ate it. It was as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter. ¹¹And they said to me, “It is necessary that you prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.”