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Daily Readings For January 2

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 Tuesday, January 2, 2024


Morning Psalm 48

1   Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised
          in the city of our God.
     His holy mountain, 2beautiful in elevation,
          is the joy of all the earth,
     Mount Zion, in the far north,
          the city of the great King.
3   Within its citadels God
          has shown himself a sure defense.


4   Then the kings assembled,
          they came on together.
5   As soon as they saw it, they were astounded;
          they were in panic, they took to flight;
6   trembling took hold of them there,
          pains as of a woman in labor,
7   as when an east wind shatters
          the ships of Tarshish.
8   As we have heard, so have we seen
          in the city of the LORD of hosts,
     in the city of our God,
          which God establishes forever. Selah


9   We ponder your steadfast love, O God,
          in the midst of your temple.
10  Your name, O God, like your praise,
          reaches to the ends of the earth.
     Your right hand is filled with victory.
11       Let Mount Zion be glad,
     let the towns of Judah rejoice
          because of your judgments.


12  Walk about Zion, go all around it,
          count its towers,
13  consider well its ramparts;
          go through its citadels,
     that you may tell the next generation
14       that this is God,
     our God forever and ever.
          He will be our guide forever.

Morning Psalm 146

1   Praise the LORD!
     Praise the LORD, O my soul!
2   I will praise the LORD as long as I live;
          I will sing praises to my God all my life long.


3   Do not put your trust in princes,
          in mortals, in whom there is no help.
4   When their breath departs, they return to the earth;
          on that very day their plans perish.


5   Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
          whose hope is in the LORD their God,
6   who made heaven and earth,
          the sea, and all that is in them;
     who keeps faith forever;
7        who executes justice for the oppressed;
          who gives food to the hungry.


     The LORD sets the prisoners free;
8        the LORD opens the eyes of the blind.
     The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down;
          the LORD loves the righteous.
9   The LORD watches over the strangers;
          he upholds the orphan and the widow,
          but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.


10  The LORD will reign forever,
          your God, O Zion, for all generations.
     Praise the LORD!

First Reading 1 Kings 19:1-8

1Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, "So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow." 3Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there.

4But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: "It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors." 5Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, "Get up and eat." 6He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. 7The angel of the LORD came a second time, touched him, and said, "Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you." 8He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God.

Second Reading Ephesians 4:1-16

1I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

7But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ's gift. 8Therefore it is said,

"When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive;

he gave gifts to his people."

9(When it says, "He ascended," what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.) 11The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. 14We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. 15But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body's growth in building itself up in love.

Gospel Reading John 6:1-14

1After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. 2A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. 3Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. 4Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. 5When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?" 6He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. 7Philip answered him, "Six months' wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little." 8One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, 9"There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?" 10Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. 11Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. 12When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, "Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost." 13So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. 14When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, "This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world."

Evening Psalm 9

1   I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart;
          I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
2   I will be glad and exult in you;
          I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.


3   When my enemies turned back,
          they stumbled and perished before you.
4   For you have maintained my just cause;
          you have sat on the throne giving righteous judgment.


5   You have rebuked the nations, you have destroyed the wicked;
          you have blotted out their name forever and ever.
6   The enemies have vanished in everlasting ruins;
          their cities you have rooted out;
          the very memory of them has perished.


7   But the LORD sits enthroned forever,
          he has established his throne for judgment.
8   He judges the world with righteousness;
          he judges the peoples with equity.


9   The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed,
          a stronghold in times of trouble.
10  And those who know your name put their trust in you,
          for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.


11  Sing praises to the LORD, who dwells in Zion.
          Declare his deeds among the peoples.
12  For he who avenges blood is mindful of them;
          he does not forget the cry of the afflicted.


13  Be gracious to me, O LORD.
          See what I suffer from those who hate me;
          you are the one who lifts me up from the gates of death,
14  so that I may recount all your praises,
          and, in the gates of daughter Zion,
          rejoice in your deliverance.


15  The nations have sunk in the pit that they made;
          in the net that they hid has their own foot been caught.
16  The LORD has made himself known, he has executed judgment;
          the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands. Higgaion. Selah


17  The wicked shall depart to Sheol,
          all the nations that forget God.


18  For the needy shall not always be forgotten,
          nor the hope of the poor perish forever.


19  Rise up, O LORD! Do not let mortals prevail;
          let the nations be judged before you.
20  Put them in fear, O LORD;
          let the nations know that they are only human. Selah

Evening Psalm 29

1   Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings,
          ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
2   Ascribe to the LORD the glory of his name;
          worship the LORD in holy splendor.


3   The voice of the LORD is over the waters;
          the God of glory thunders,
          the LORD, over mighty waters.
4   The voice of the LORD is powerful;
          the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.


5   The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars;
          the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
6   He makes Lebanon skip like a calf,
          and Sirion like a young wild ox.


7   The voice of the LORD flashes forth flames of fire.
8   The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness;
          the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.


9   The voice of the LORD causes the oaks to whirl,
          and strips the forest bare;
          and in his temple all say, “Glory!”


10  The LORD sits enthroned over the flood;
          the LORD sits enthroned as king forever.
11  May the LORD give strength to his people!
          May the LORD bless his people with peace!