Daily Lectionary

December 5, 2023

December 4, 2023 December 6, 2023

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 11:1-12:6

The Third Description of Immanuel: The Branch From Jesse

11¹A shoot will spring up from the stump of Jesse,

and a Branch from his roots will bear fruit.

²The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him:

the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,

the Spirit of counsel and might,

the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

³He will be delighted with the fear of the Lord.

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,

nor will he render decisions based on what he hears with his ears,

⁴but with righteousness he will judge the poor,

and he will render fair decisions in favor of the oppressed on the earth.

He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,

and with the breath from his lips he will put the wicked to death.

⁵Righteousness will be the belt around his waist,

and faithfulness the belt around his hips.

⁶The wolf will dwell with the lamb,

and the leopard will lie down with the young goat,

the calf, the young lion, and the fattened calf together,

and a little child will lead them.

⁷The cow and the bear will graze together,

and their young ones will lie down together.

The lion will eat straw like the cattle.

⁸The nursing child will play near a cobra's hole,

and the weaned child will put his hand into a viper's den.

⁹They will not hurt or destroy anywhere on my holy mountain,

for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord,

as the waters cover the sea.

A Remnant of Israel Will Return

¹⁰This is what will take place on that day. The peoples will seek the Root of Jesse, who will be standing like a banner^[] for the peoples, and his resting place will be glorious.

¹¹On that day the Lord will reach out his hand for the second time to reclaim the remnant of his people who survive from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coasts of the sea.

¹²He will set up a banner for the nations,

and he will assemble the outcasts of Israel

and gather together the scattered people of Judah

from the four corners of the earth.

¹³Ephraim's envy will be turned aside,

and those who persecute Judah will be cut off.

Ephraim will not envy Judah,

and Judah will not persecute Ephraim.

¹⁴They will swoop down on the slopes of the Philistines in the west.

Together they will plunder the peoples in the east.

They will extend their power over Edom and Moab,

and the people of Ammon will obey them.

¹⁵The Lord will completely dry up the gulf of the Egyptian Sea.

With his scorching wind he will wave his hand over the River,^[]

and he will split it into seven streams,

so that people wearing sandals will be able to march through it.

¹⁶There will be a highway from Assyria for the remnant of his people that is left there,

as there was for Israel in the day when they came up out of the land of Egypt.

A Song of Salvation

12¹In that day you will say:

I will give thanks to you, Lord,

for though you were angry with me,

your anger has turned away,

and you comfort me.

²Surely God is my salvation.

I will trust him and will not be afraid,

because the Lord, yes the Lord,^[] is my strength and song,

and he has become my salvation.

³Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

⁴In that day you will say:

Give thanks to the Lord! Proclaim^[] his name.

Declare among the peoples what he has done.

Proclaim that his name is exalted!

⁵Sing to the Lord, for he has done amazing things!

Let this be known in all the earth!

⁶Shout aloud and sing for joy, daughter^[] of Zion,

for the Holy One of Israel is great among you!

2 Peter 2:1-22

A Warning About False Teachers

2¹There were false prophets also among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction on themselves. ²Many will follow their depraved ways, and because of them the way of the truth will be blasphemed. ³In their greed they will exploit you with fabricated messages. Their condemnation announced long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

God Will Punish These False Teachers

⁴For if God did not spare angels when they sinned but handed them over to chains^[] of darkness by casting them into hell, to be kept under guard for judgment; ⁵and if God did not spare the ancient world but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, along with seven others when he brought a flood on the world of ungodly people; ⁶and if God condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction,^[] by turning them into ashes when he made them an example of things to come for the ungodly;^[] ⁷and if he rescued righteous Lot, who was very distressed by the unrestrained immorality of the wicked people ⁸(while that righteous man was living among them, he was tormented in his righteous soul day after day by the lawless deeds he saw and heard); ⁹then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to keep the unrighteous under guard until the day of judgment, in order to punish them.

¹⁰This is especially true of those who follow the defiling lust of the flesh and who despise authority. Daring and arrogant, they do not tremble when they blaspheme glorious beings, ¹¹whereas angels, even though they are greater in strength and power, do not bring a slanderous judgment against them before the Lord. ¹²But these people blaspheme in matters about which they are ignorant, just like unreasoning creatures that live by instinct and are born to be captured and destroyed. So they too will be destroyed as a consequence of their destructive activity. ¹³They will be paid back^[] for the harm they cause.

They consider it a pleasure to carouse in the daytime. They are spots and blemishes, who take delight in their deceitful pleasures^[] while they feast with you. ¹⁴They have eyes full of longing for adulterous women and sins that never stop. They seduce unstable souls. They have trained their hearts for greed. They are children who are cursed.

¹⁵They left the right way and went astray, following the path of Balaam, son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness. ¹⁶(He was rebuked for his disobedience. A donkey, which does not talk, spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet's madness.) ¹⁷These men are wells without water, clouds driven away by a windstorm, for whom the gloom of darkness has been reserved.^[] ¹⁸For by uttering arrogant, empty words, they use the depraved lusts of the flesh to seduce those who are barely^[] escaping from those who live in error. ¹⁹While they promise these people freedom, they themselves are slaves to corruption, for a person is a slave to what has control of him.

The Tragedy of Being Led Back Into a Sinful Life

²⁰Indeed, if, after escaping the defiling things of the world through the knowledge of our^[] Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and controlled by them again, they are worse off than they were at first. ²¹In fact, it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy command passed on to them. ²²They demonstrate the truth of the proverb: “A dog returns to its own vomit,”^[] and a washed sow returns to wallowing in the mud.