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Daily Readings For December 23

Please note that two distinct lectionaries are provided on this page: the two-year Daily Lectionary from the Book of Common Worship and the three-year Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) for Sundays and festivals; be sure you select the appropriate one.

Daily Readings Sunday/Festival Readings

Daily Readings for Saturday, December 23, 2023


Morning Psalm 90

1   Lord, you have been our dwelling place
          in all generations.
2   Before the mountains were brought forth,
          or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
          from everlasting to everlasting you are God.


3   You turn us back to dust,
          and say, “Turn back, you mortals.”
4   For a thousand years in your sight
          are like yesterday when it is past,
          or like a watch in the night.


5   You sweep them away; they are like a dream,
          like grass that is renewed in the morning;
6   in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
          in the evening it fades and withers.


7   For we are consumed by your anger;
          by your wrath we are overwhelmed.
8   You have set our iniquities before you,
          our secret sins in the light of your countenance.


9   For all our days pass away under your wrath;
          our years come to an end like a sigh.
10  The days of our life are seventy years,
          or perhaps eighty, if we are strong;
     even then their span is only toil and trouble;
          they are soon gone, and we fly away.


11  Who considers the power of your anger?
          Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you.
12  So teach us to count our days
          that we may gain a wise heart.


13  Turn, O LORD! How long?
          Have compassion on your servants!
14  Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
          so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
15  Make us glad as many days as you have afflicted us,
          and as many years as we have seen evil.
16  Let your work be manifest to your servants,
          and your glorious power to their children.
17  Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
          and prosper for us the work of our hands —
          O prosper the work of our hands!

Morning Psalm 149

1   Praise the Lord!
     Sing to the Lord a new song,
          his praise in the assembly of the faithful.
2   Let Israel be glad in its Maker;
          let the children of Zion rejoice in their King.
3   Let them praise his name with dancing,
          making melody to him with tambourine and lyre.
4   For the Lord takes pleasure in his people;
          he adorns the humble with victory.
5   Let the faithful exult in glory;
          let them sing for joy on their couches.
6   Let the high praises of God be in their throats
          and two-edged swords in their hands,
7   to execute vengeance on the nations
          and punishment on the peoples,
8   to bind their kings with fetters
          and their nobles with chains of iron,
9   to execute on them the judgment decreed.
          This is glory for all his faithful ones.
     Praise the Lord!

First Reading Jeremiah 31:10-14

10Hear the word of the LORD, O nations,

and declare it in the coastlands far away;

say, "He who scattered Israel will gather him,

and will keep him as a shepherd a flock."

11For the LORD has ransomed Jacob,

and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him.

12They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion,

and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the LORD,

over the grain, the wine, and the oil,

and over the young of the flock and the herd;

their life shall become like a watered garden,

and they shall never languish again.

13Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance,

and the young men and the old shall be merry.

I will turn their mourning into joy,

I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.

14I will give the priests their fill of fatness,

and my people shall be satisfied with my bounty, says the LORD.

Second Reading Galatians 3:15-22

15Brothers and sisters, I give an example from daily life: once a person's will has been ratified, no one adds to it or annuls it. 16Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring; it does not say, "And to offsprings," as of many; but it says, "And to your offspring," that is, to one person, who is Christ. 17My point is this: the law, which came four hundred thirty years later, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. 18For if the inheritance comes from the law, it no longer comes from the promise; but God granted it to Abraham through the promise.

19Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring would come to whom the promise had been made; and it was ordained through angels by a mediator. 20Now a mediator involves more than one party; but God is one.

21Is the law then opposed to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could make alive, then righteousness would indeed come through the law. 22But the scripture has imprisoned all things under the power of sin, so that what was promised through faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

Gospel Reading Matthew 1:1-17

1An account of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

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

And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, 7and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph, 8and Asaph the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, 9and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, 10and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah, 11and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

12And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel, and Salathiel the father of Zerubbabel, 13and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, 14and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, 15and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob,16and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.

17So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen generations.

Evening Psalm 80

1   Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
          you who lead Joseph like a flock!
     You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth
2        before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh.
     Stir up your might,
          and come to save us!


3   Restore us, O God;
     let your face shine, that we may be saved.


4   O LORD God of hosts,
          how long will you be angry with your people's prayers?
5   You have fed them with the bread of tears,
          and given them tears to drink in full measure.
6   You make us the scorn of our neighbors;
          our enemies laugh among themselves.


7   Restore us, O God of hosts;
          let your face shine, that we may be saved.


8   You brought a vine out of Egypt;
     you drove out the nations and planted it.
9   You cleared the ground for it;
          it took deep root and filled the land.
10  The mountains were covered with its shade,
          the mighty cedars with its branches;
11  it sent out its branches to the sea,
          and its shoots to the River.
12  Why then have you broken down its walls,
          so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
13  The boar from the forest ravages it,
          and all that move in the field feed on it.


14  Turn again, O God of hosts;
          look down from heaven, and see;
     have regard for this vine,
15       the stock that your right hand planted.
16  They have burned it with fire, they have cut it down;
          may they perish at the rebuke of your countenance.
17  But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand,
          the one whom you made strong for yourself.
18  Then we will never turn back from you;
          give us life, and we will call on your name.


19  Restore us, O LORD God of hosts;
          let your face shine, that we may be saved.

Evening Psalm 72

1   Give the king your justice, O God,
          and your righteousness to a king’s son.
2   May he judge your people with righteousness,
          and your poor with justice.
3   May the mountains yield prosperity for the people,
          and the hills, in righteousness.
4   May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,
          give deliverance to the needy,
          and crush the oppressor.
5   May he live while the sun endures,
          and as long as the moon, throughout all generations.
6   May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass,
          like showers that water the earth.
7   In his days may righteousness flourish
          and peace abound, until the moon is no more.


8   May he have dominion from sea to sea,
          and from the River to the ends of the earth.
9   May his foes bow down before him,
          and his enemies lick the dust.
10  May the kings of Tarshish and of the isles
          render him tribute,
     may the kings of Sheba and Seba
          bring gifts.
11  May all kings fall down before him,
          all nations give him service.


12  For he delivers the needy when they call,
          the poor and those who have no helper.
13  He has pity on the weak and the needy,
          and saves the lives of the needy.
14  From oppression and violence he redeems their life;
          and precious is their blood in his sight.


15  Long may he live!
          May gold of Sheba be given to him.
     May prayer be made for him continually,
          and blessings invoked for him all day long.
16  May there be abundance of grain in the land;
          may it wave on the tops of the mountains;
          may its fruit be like Lebanon;
     and may people blossom in the cities
          like the grass of the field.
17  May his name endure forever,
          his fame continue as long as the sun.
     May all nations be blessed in him;
          may they pronounce him happy.


18  Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,
          who alone does wondrous things.
19  Blessed be his glorious name forever;
          may his glory fill the whole earth. Amen and Amen.


20The prayers of David son of Jesse are ended.