Scripture Readings
The Second Sunday After Christmas Day
In Year A
Scripture readings are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION® NIV® ©1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society, used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers. All rights reserved.
The Scripture quotations labeled NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright ©1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America, and are used by permission. All rights reserved.
Old Testament
Psalm
Epistle Reading
Gospel Reading
Old Testament
This is what the LORD says:
“Sing with joy for Jacob;
shout for the foremost of the nations.
Make your praises heard, and say,
‘O LORD, save your people,
the remnant of Israel.’
See, I will bring them from the land of the north
and gather them from the ends of
the earth.
Among them will be the blind and the lame,
expectant mothers and women in
labor;
a great throng will return.
They will come with weeping;
they will pray as I bring them
back.
I will lead them beside streams of water
on a level path where they will
not stumble,
because I am Israel’s father,
and Ephraim is my firstborn son.
Hear the word of the LORD, O nations;
proclaim it in distant coastlands:
‘He who scattered Israel will gather them
and will watch over his flock like
a shepherd.’
For the LORD will ransom Jacob
and redeem them from the hand of
those stronger than they.
They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion;
they will rejoice in the bounty
of the LORD—
the grain, the new wine and the oil,
the young of the flocks and herds.
They will be like a well-watered garden,
and they will sorrow no more.
Then maidens will dance and be glad,
young men and old as well.
I will turn their mourning into gladness;
I will give them comfort and joy
instead of sorrow.
I will satisfy the priests with abundance,
and my people will be filled with
my bounty,”
declares the LORD.
—Jeremiah 31:7-14, NIV
—OR—
Wisdom praises herself,
and tells of her glory in the midst
of her people.
In the assembly of the Most High she opens her mouth,
and in the presence of his hosts
she tells of her glory:
“I came forth from the mouth of the Most High,
and covered the earth like a mist.
I dwelt in the highest heavens,
and my throne was in a pillar of
cloud.
Alone I compassed the vault of heaven
and traversed the depths of the
abyss.
Over waves of the sea, over all the earth,
and over every people and nation
I have held sway.
Among all these I sought a resting place;
in whose territory should I abide?
“Then the Creator of all things gave me a command,
and my Creator chose the place
for my tent.
He said, ‘Make your dwelling in Jacob,
and in Israel receive your inheritance.’
Before the ages, in the beginning, he created me,
and for all the ages I shall not
cease to be.
In the holy tent I ministered before him,
and so I was established in Zion.
Thus in the beloved city he gave me a resting place,
and in Jerusalem was my domain.
I took root in an honored people,
in the portion of the Lord, his
heritage.
—Sirach 24:1-12, NRSV
Go
to the top of this pagePsalm
Extol the LORD, O Jerusalem;
praise your God, O Zion,
for he strengthens the bars of your gates
and blesses your people within
you.
He grants peace to your borders
and satisfies you with the finest
of wheat.
He sends his command to the earth;
his word runs swiftly.
He spreads the snow like wool
and scatters the frost like ashes.
He hurls down his hail like pebbles.
Who can withstand his icy blast?
He sends his word and melts them;
he stirs up his breezes, and the
waters flow.
He has revealed his word to Jacob,
his laws and decrees to Israel.
He has done this for no other nation;
they do not know his laws.
Praise the LORD.
—Psalm 147:12-20, NIV
—OR—
A holy people and blameless race
wisdom delivered from a nation of oppressors.
She entered the soul of a servant of the Lord,
and withstood dread kings with wonders and signs.
She gave to holy people the reward of their labors;
she guided them along a marvelous way,
and became a shelter to them by day,
and a starry flame through the night.
She brought them over the Red Sea,
and led them through deep waters;
but she drowned their enemies,
and cast them up from the depth of the sea.
Therefore the righteous plundered the ungodly;
they sang hymns, O Lord, to your holy name,
and praised with one accord your defending hand;
for wisdom opened the mouths of those who were mute,
and made the tongues of infants speak clearly.
—Wisdom 10:15-21, NRSV
Epistle
Praise be to the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly
realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose
us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless
in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his
sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and
will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely
given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches
of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.
And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to
his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into
effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to
bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head,
even Christ.
In him we were also chosen, having
been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything
in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we,
who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise
of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard
the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed,
you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,
who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption
of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
—Ephesians 1:3-14, NIV
Gospel
In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with
God in the beginning.
Through him all things were made;
without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life,
and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness,
but the darkness has not understood it.
There came a man who was sent from
God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning
that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself
was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The
true light that gives light to every man was coming into the
world.
He was in the world, and though
the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.
He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive
him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his
name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born
not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s
will, but born of God.
The Word became flesh and made
his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the
One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John testifies concerning him.
He cries out, saying, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes
after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’” From the
fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after
another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth
came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, but God
the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.
—John 1:1-18, NIV
