The Wartburg Project

Daily Lectionary

December 27, 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 51:17-52:12

The Cup of the Lord's Wrath
17Rouse yourself! Rouse yourself! Get up, Jerusalem!
You have drunk the cup filled with the Lord's wrath from his hand.
You drank it. You drained the chalice, the cup that makes you stagger.
18There is no one to guide her from among all the sons she bore.
There is no one to take her hand from among all the sons she raised.
19Those two things are happening to you.[]
Who will grieve for you?
Devastation and destruction and famine and sword!
Who will comfort you?[]
20Your children faint and collapse at the corner of every street,
like an antelope in a net.
They are full of the wrath of the Lord,
full of the rebuke of your God.
21Therefore hear this, you afflicted woman,
a woman drunk, but not from wine.
22This is what the Lord God says,
your God, who will contend for his people.
Look, I am taking the cup that makes you stagger out of your hand,
the chalice, the cup filled with my wrath.
Never again will you drink from it,
23because I will place it into the hand of your tormentors,
who have said to you,
“Lie down so that we can walk over you.”
You made your back like the ground
and like the street for those who walked over you.
Freedom for Zion
521Wake, awake!
Clothe yourself with strength, O Zion.
Put on your beautiful garments,
Jerusalem, you holy city,
for never again will the uncircumcised
and the unclean enter you.
2Shake off the dust.
Get up and take your seat, Jerusalem.
Loosen the chains from your neck,
you captive daughter of Zion.
3Yes, this is what the Lord says.
You were sold for nothing,
and you will be redeemed without money.
4Yes, this is what the Lord God says.
In the beginning, my people went down to Egypt to stay there for a while.
Later Assyria oppressed them without cause.
5Now what do I have here? declares the Lord.
Indeed, my people have been taken away for nothing.
Their rulers howl with mockery, declares the Lord.
My name is continually despised all day.
6Therefore my people will know my name.
So on that day they will know that I am the one—
the one who is saying, “Here I am!”
The Herald of the Gospel
7How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of a herald,
who proclaims peace and preaches good news,
who proclaims salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God is king!”
8The voice of your watchmen—they lift up their voices.
Together they shout for joy,
because with both eyes they will see it when the Lord returns to Zion.
9Break out, shout for joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem,
because the Lord is comforting his people.
He is redeeming Jerusalem.
10The Lord lays bare[] his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations,
and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation from our God.
Get Away From Babylon
11Get away! Get away! Get out of there!
Do not touch any unclean thing!
Go out from her midst.
Purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the Lord!
12You will not be in a hurry when you go out.
You will not be fleeing when you walk out,
because the one who walks in front of you is the Lord,
and your rearguard is the God of Israel.
The Fourth Servant Song
Lord

Matthew 2:1-12

The Visit of the Wise Men
21After Jesus was born in Bethlehem[] of Judea, when Herod was king, Wise Men from the east came to Jerusalem. 2They asked, “Where is he who has been born King of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose[] and have come to worship him.” 3When King Herod heard this, he was alarmed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4He gathered together all the people's chief priests and experts in the law. He asked them where the Christ was to be born. 5They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, because this was written through the prophet:
6You, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are certainly not least among the rulers of Judah: because out of you will come a ruler, who will shepherd my people, Israel.”[]
7Then Herod secretly summoned the Wise Men and found out from them exactly when the star had appeared. 8He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. When you find him, report to me, so that I may also go and worship him.”
9After listening to the king, they went on their way. Then the star they had seen when it rose[] went ahead of them, until it stood still over the place where the child was. 10When they saw the star, they rejoiced with overwhelming joy. 11After they went into the house and saw the child with Mary, his mother, they bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12Since they had been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back to their own country by another route.