Daily Readings - 30/12/2025

^2:12 I am writing to you, my own children, whose sins have already been forgiven through his name;

^2:13 I am writing to you, fathers, who have come to know the one who has existed since the beginning; I am writing to you, young men, who have already overcome the Evil One;

^2:14 I have written to you, children, because you already know the Father; I have written to you, fathers, because you have come to know the one who has existed since the beginning; I have written to you, young men, because you are strong and God’s word has made its home in you, and you have overcome the Evil One.

^2:15 You must not love this passing world or anything that is in the world. The love of the Father cannot be in any man who loves the world,

^2:16 because nothing the world has to offer-the sensual body, the lustful eye, pride in possessions-could ever come from the Father but only from the world;

^2:17 and the world, with all it craves for, is coming to an end; but anyone who does the will of God remains for ever.

^95:1 Come, let us praise Yahweh joyfully, acclaiming the Rock of our safety;

^95:2 let us come into his presence with thanksgiving, acclaiming him with music.

^95:3 For Yahweh is a great God, a greater King than all other gods;

^95:4 from depths of earth to mountain top everything comes under his rule;

^95:5 the sea belongs to him, he made it, so does the land, he shaped this too.

^95:6 Come in, let us bow, prostrate ourselves, and kneel in front of Yahweh our maker,

^95:7 for this is our God, and we are the people he pastures, the flock that he guides. If only you would listen to him today,

^95:8 ‘Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness,[*a]

^95:9 when your ancestors challenged me, tested me, although they had seen what I could do.

^95:10 ‘For forty years that generation repelled me, until I said: How unreliable these people who refuse to grasp my ways!

^95:11 And so, in anger, I swore that not one would reach the place of rest I had for them.’

^2:36 There was a prophetess also, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was well on in years. Her days of girlhood over, she had been married for seven years

^2:37 before becoming a widow. She was now eighty-four years old and never left the Temple, serving God night and day with fasting and prayer.

^2:38 She came by just at that moment and began to praise God; and she spoke of the child to all who looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem[*h].

^2:39 When they had done everything the Law of the Lord required, they went back to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.

^2:40 Meanwhile the child grew to maturity, and he was filled with wisdom; and God’s favour was with him.