DAILY OFFICE

Daily scripture readings from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer

Friday, December 30

Today's readings include passages from Psalms, Isaiah, Revelation and John.

Psalm 20

May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble!     May the name of the God of Jacob protect you! May he send you help from the sanctuary     and give you support from Zion! May he remember all your offerings     and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices! Selah May he grant you your heart's desire     and fulfill all your plans! May we shout for joy over your salvation,     and in the name of our God set up our banners!     May the Lord fulfill all your petitions! Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed;     he will answer him from his holy heaven     with the saving might of his right hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses,     but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They collapse and fall,     but we rise and stand upright. O Lord, save the king!     May he answer us when we call.

 

Psalm 21

1 O Lord, in your strength the king rejoices,     and in your salvation how greatly he exults! You have given him his heart's desire     and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah For you meet him with rich blessings;     you set a crown of fine gold upon his head. He asked life of you; you gave it to him,     length of days forever and ever. His glory is great through your salvation;     splendor and majesty you bestow on him. For you make him most blessed forever;     you make him glad with the joy of your presence. For the king trusts in the Lord,     and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved. Your hand will find out all your enemies;     your right hand will find out those who hate you. You will make them as a blazing oven     when you appear.     The Lord will swallow them up in his wrath,     and fire will consume them. 10 You will destroy their descendants from the earth,     and their offspring from among the children of man. 11 Though they plan evil against you,     though they devise mischief, they will not succeed. 12 For you will put them to flight;     you will aim at their faces with your bows. 13 Be exalted, O Lord, in your strength!     We will sing and praise your power.

 

Psalm 23

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures.     He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul.     He leads me in paths of righteousness     for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,     I will fear no evil,     for you are with me;     your rod and your staff,     they comfort me. You prepare a table before me     in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil;     my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me     all the days of my life,     and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord     forever.

 

Psalm 27

The Lord is my light and my salvation;     whom shall I fear?     The Lord is the stronghold of my life;     of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me     to eat up my flesh,     my adversaries and foes,     it is they who stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me,     my heart shall not fear;     though war arise against me,     yet I will be confident. One thing have I asked of the Lord,     that will I seek after:     that I may dwell in the house of the Lord     all the days of my life,     to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord     and to inquire in his temple. For he will hide me in his shelter     in the day of trouble;     he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;     he will lift me high upon a rock. And now my head shall be lifted up     above my enemies all around me,     and I will offer in his tent     sacrifices with shouts of joy;     I will sing and make melody to the Lord. Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud;     be gracious to me and answer me! You have said, “Seek my face.”     My heart says to you,     “Your face, Lord, do I seek.” Hide not your face from me.     Turn not your servant away in anger,     O you who have been my help.     Cast me not off; forsake me not,     O God of my salvation! 10 For my father and my mother have forsaken me,     but the Lord will take me in. 11 Teach me your way, O Lord,     and lead me on a level path     because of my enemies. 12 Give me not up to the will of my adversaries;     for false witnesses have risen against me,     and they breathe out violence. 13 I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord     in the land of the living! 14 Wait for the Lord;     be strong, and let your heart take courage;     wait for the Lord!

 

Isaiah 25:1-9

O Lord, you are my God;     I will exalt you; I will praise your name,     for you have done wonderful things,     plans formed of old, faithful and sure. For you have made the city a heap,     the fortified city a ruin;     the foreigners' palace is a city no more;     it will never be rebuilt. Therefore strong peoples will glorify you;     cities of ruthless nations will fear you. For you have been a stronghold to the poor,     a stronghold to the needy in his distress,     a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat;     for the breath of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall, 5 like heat in a dry place.     You subdue the noise of the foreigners;     as heat by the shade of a cloud,     so the song of the ruthless is put down. On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples     a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,     of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain     the covering that is cast over all peoples,     the veil that is spread over all nations. 8 He will swallow up death forever;     and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,     and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,     for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day,     “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us.     This is the Lord; we have waited for him;     let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

 

Revelation 1:9-20

I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet 11 saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.” 12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands,13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters.16 In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. 17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. 19 Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. 20 As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

 

John 7:53-8:11

53 They went each to his own house, 8:but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”

  English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.