Daily Lectionary

December 25, 2021

December 24, 2021 December 26, 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 49:1-18

The Second Servant Song

The Lord's Servant Saves the Nations

49¹Listen to me, you coastlands.

Pay attention, you faraway peoples!

The Lord called me from the womb.

When I was inside my mother, he mentioned my name.

²He made my mouth like a sharpened sword.

He hid me in the shadow of his hand.

He made me a polished arrow.

He concealed me in his quiver.

³He said to me, “You are my servant Israel,

in whom I will display my glory.”

⁴But I said to myself, “I have labored in vain.

I spent my strength and came up empty, with nothing.

Yet a just verdict for me rests with the Lord,

and my reward is with my God.”

⁵But now the Lord,

who formed me from the womb to be his servant,

to turn Jacob back to him,

so that Israel might be gathered to him,

so that I will be honored in the eyes of the Lord,

because my God has been my strength—

⁶the Lord said:

It is too small a thing that you should just be my servant

to raise up only the tribes of Jacob

and to restore the ones I have preserved in Israel,

so I will appoint you to be a light for the nations,

so that my salvation will be known to the end of the earth.

⁷This is what the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, its Holy One,

says to the one deeply despised,

to the one who is detested by the nation,

to the servant of rulers.

Kings will see and stand up.

Officials will see and bow down,

because of the Lord, who is faithful,

because of the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.

⁸This is what the Lord says.

In the time of favor, I will answer you.

In the day of salvation, I will help you.

I will guard you,

and I will appoint you to be a covenant for the people,

to re-establish the land,

to redistribute inheritances that are now deserted,

⁹to say to the prisoners, “Go forth!”

to those who are in the darkness, “Show yourselves!”

They will graze beside roads,

and they will find pasture on all the barren heights.

¹⁰They will not hunger, and they will not thirst,

and neither scorching wind nor sun will strike them,

because the one who shows them mercy will lead them.

He will guide them beside springs of water.

¹¹I will make all my mountains into a smooth road,

and my highways will be raised up.

¹²Look, people will come from far away.

Look, some will come from the north and the west,

and some from the land of Sinim.^[]

¹³Shout for joy, O heavens,

and rejoice, O earth.

Let mountains burst forth with shouts of joy,

because the Lord is comforting his people,

and he is showing mercy to his afflicted ones.

The Faithful Few Are Not Forgotten

¹⁴But Zion said, “The Lord has abandoned me.

The Lord has forgotten me.”

¹⁵Can a woman forget her nursing child

and not show mercy to the son from her womb?

Even if these women could forget,

I will never forget you.

¹⁶Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands.

Your walls are never out of my sight.

¹⁷Your children^[] are hurrying back.

Those who destroyed and devastated you will depart from you.

¹⁸Lift up your eyes all around and see!

All of them are gathered. They are coming to you.

As surely as I live, declares the Lord,

all of them are like jewelry that you will put on.

You will wear them like a bride.

Matthew 1:1-17

The Genealogy of Jesus Christ

(Luke 3:23-38)

1¹A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

²Abraham was the father of Isaac. Isaac was the father of Jacob. Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers. ³Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar. Perez was the father of Hezron. Hezron was the father of Ram. ⁴Ram was the father of Amminadab. Amminadab was the father of Nahshon. Nahshon was the father of Salmon. ⁵Salmon was the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab. Boaz was the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth. Obed was the father of Jesse. ⁶Jesse was the father of King David.

David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been the wife of Uriah. ⁷Solomon was the father of Rehoboam. Rehoboam was the father of Abijah. Abijah was the father of Asa. ⁸Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat was the father of Joram. Joram was the father^[] of Uzziah. ⁹Uzziah was the father of Jotham. Jotham was the father of Ahaz. Ahaz was the father of Hezekiah. ¹⁰Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh. Manasseh was the father of Amon. Amon was the father of Josiah. ¹¹Josiah was the father of Jeconiah and his brothers, at the time of the Babylonian exile.

¹²After the Babylonian exile, Jeconiah was the father of Shealtiel. Shealtiel was the father of Zerubbabel. ¹³Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud. Abiud was the father of Eliakim. Eliakim was the father of Azor. ¹⁴Azor was the father of Zadok. Zadok was the father of Achim. Achim was the father of Eliud. ¹⁵Eliud was the father of Eleazar. Eleazar was the father of Matthan. Matthan was the father of Jacob. ¹⁶Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, from whom Jesus was born (who is called Christ).

¹⁷So altogether there were fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen generations from David to the Babylonian exile, and fourteen generations from the Babylonian exile to Christ.