Daily Readings - 09/12/2025

^40:1 ‘Console my people, console them’ says your God.

^40:2 ‘Speak to the heart of Jerusalem and call to her that her time of service is ended, that her sin is atoned for, that she has received from the hand of Yahweh double punishment for all her crimes.’

^40:3 A voice cries, ‘Prepare in the wilderness a way for Yahweh. Make a straight highway for our God across the desert.

^40:4 Let every valley be filled in, every mountain and hill be laid low, let every cliff become a plain, and the ridges a valley;

^40:5 then the glory of Yahweh shall be revealed and all mankind shall see it; for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.’

^40:6 A voice commands: ‘Cry!’ and I answered, ‘What shall I cry?’ – ‘All flesh is grass and its beauty like the wild flower’s.

^40:7 The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of Yahweh blows on them. (The grass is without doubt the people.)

^40:8 The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God remains for ever.’

^40:9 Go up on a high mountain, joyful messenger to Zion. Shout with a loud voice, joyful messenger to Jerusalem. Shout without fear, say to the towns of Judah, ‘Here is your God’.

^40:10 Here is the Lord Yahweh coming with power, his arm subduing all things to him. The prize of his victory is with him, his trophies all go before him.

^40:11 He is like a shepherd feeding his flock, gathering lambs in his arms, holding them against his breast and leading to their rest the mother ewe.

^96:1 Sing Yahweh a new song! Sing to Yahweh, all the earth!

^96:2 Sing to Yahweh, bless his name. Proclaim his salvation day after day,

^96:3 tell of his glory among the nations, tell his marvels to every people.

^96:4 Yahweh is great, loud must be his praise, he is to be feared beyond all gods.

^96:5 Nothingness, all the gods of the nations. Yahweh himself made the heavens,

^96:6 in his presence are splendour and majesty, in his sanctuary power and beauty.

^96:7 Pay tribute to Yahweh, families of the peoples, tribute to Yahweh of glory and power,

^96:8 tribute to Yahweh of his name’s due glory. Bring out the offering, bear it before him,

^96:9 worship Yahweh in his sacred court, tremble before him, all the earth!

^96:10 Say among the nations, ‘Yahweh is king!’ Firm has he made the world, and unshakeable; he will judge each nation with strict justice.

^96:11 Let the heavens be glad, let earth rejoice, let the sea thunder and all that it holds,

^96:12 let the fields exult and all that is in them, let all the woodland trees cry out for joy,

^96:13 at the presence of Yahweh, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth, to judge the world with justice and the nations with his truth.

^18:12 ‘Tell me. Suppose a man has a hundred sheep and one of them strays; will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hillside and go in search of the stray?

^18:13 I tell you solemnly, if he finds it, it gives him more joy than do the ninety-nine that did not stray at all.

^18:14 Similarly, it is never the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.