Daily Readings - 13/12/2025

^48:1 Then the prophet Elijah arose like a fire, his word flaring like a torch.

^48:2 It was he who brought famine on them, and who decimated them in his zeal.

^48:3 By the word of the Lord, he shut up the heavens, he also, three times, brought down fire.

^48:4 How glorious you were in your miracles, Elijah! Has anyone reason to boast as you have?-

^48:9 taken up in the whirlwind of fire, in a chariot with fiery horses;

^48:10 designated in the prophecies of doom to allay God’s wrath before the fury breaks, to turn the hearts of fathers towards their children,[*a] and to restore the tribes of Jacob,

^48:11 Happy shall they be who see you, and those who have fallen asleep in love; for we too will have life.

^79:1 God, the pagans have invaded your heritage, they have desecrated your holy Temple; they have reduced Jerusalem to a pile of ruins,

^79:2 they have left the corpses of your servants to the birds of the air for food, and the flesh of your devout to the beasts of the earth.

^79:3 They have shed blood like water throughout Jerusalem, not a gravedigger left!

^79:4 we are now insulted by our neighbours, butt and laughing-stock of all those around us.

^79:5 How much longer will you be angry, Yahweh? For ever? Is your jealousy to go on smouldering like a fire?

^79:6 Pour out your anger on the pagans, who do not acknowledge you, and on those kingdoms that do not call on your name,

^79:7 for they have devoured Jacob and reduced his home to desolation.

^79:8 Do not hold our ancestors’ crimes against us, in tenderness quickly intervene, we can hardly be crushed lower;

^79:9 help us, God our saviour, for the honour of your name; Yahweh, blot out our sins, rescue us for the sake of your name.

^79:10 Why should the pagans ask, ‘Where is their God?’ May we soon see the pagans learning what vengeance you exact for your servants’ blood shed here!

^79:11 May the groans of the captive reach you; by your mighty arm rescue those doomed to die!

^79:12 Pay our neighbours sevenfold, strike to the heart for the monstrous insult proffered to you, Lord!

^79:13 And we your people, the flock that you pasture, giving you everlasting thanks, will recite your praises for ever and ever.

^17:10 And the disciples put this question to him, ‘Why do the scribes say then that Elijah has to come first?’

^17:11 ‘True;’ he replied ‘Elijah is to come to see that everything is once more as it should be;

^17:12 however, I tell you that Elijah has come already and they did not recognise him but treated him as they pleased; and the Son of Man will suffer similarly at their hands.’

^17:13 The disciples understood then that he had been speaking of John the Baptist.