Daily Readings - 06/01/2026

^60:1 Arise, shine out, for your light has come, the glory of Yahweh is rising on you,

^60:2 though night still covers the earth and darkness the peoples.

^60:3 Above you Yahweh now rises and above you his glory appears. The nations come to your light and kings to your dawning brightness.

^60:4 Lift up your eyes and look round: all are assembling and coming towards you, your sons from far away and your daughters being tenderly carried.

^60:5 At this sight you will grow radiant, your heart throbbing and full; since the riches of the sea will flow to you, the wealth of the nations come to you;

^60:6 camels in throngs will cover you, and dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; everyone in Sheba will come, bringing gold and incense and singing the praise of Yahweh.

^71:1 In you, Yahweh, I take shelter; never let me be disgraced.

^71:2 In your righteousness rescue me, deliver me, turn your ear to me and save me!

^71:3 Be a sheltering rock for me, a walled fortress to save me! For you are my rock, my fortress.

^71:4 My God, rescue me from the hands of the wicked, from the clutches of rogue and tyrant!

^71:5 For you alone are my hope, Lord, Yahweh, I have trusted you since my youth,

^71:6 I have relied on you since I was born, you have been my portion from my mother’s womb, and the constant theme of my praise.

^71:7 To many I have seemed an enigma, but you are my firm refuge.

^71:8 My mouth is full of your praises, filled with your splendour all day long.

^71:9 Do not reject me now I am old, nor desert me now my strength is failing,

^71:10 for my enemies are uttering threats, spies hatching their conspiracy:

^71:11 ‘Hound him down now that God has deserted him, seize him, there is no one to rescue him!’

^71:12 God, do not stand aside, my God, come quickly and help me!

^71:13 Shame and ruin on those who attack me; may insult and disgrace cover those whose aim is to hurt me!

^71:14 I promise that, ever hopeful, I will praise you more and more,

^71:15 my lips shall proclaim your righteousness and power to save, all day long.

^71:16 I will come in the power of Yahweh to commemorate your righteousness, yours alone.

^71:17 God, you taught me when I was young, and I am still proclaiming your marvels.

^71:18 Now that I am old and grey, God, do not desert me; let me live to tell the rising generation about your strength and power,

^71:19 about your heavenly righteousness, God. You have done great things; who, God, is comparable to you?

^71:20 You have sent me misery and hardship, but you will give me life again, you will pull me up again from the depths of the earth,

^71:21 prolong my old age, and once more comfort me.

^71:22 I promise I will thank you on the lyre, my ever-faithful God, I will play the harp in your honour, Holy One of Israel.

^71:23 My lips shall sing for joy as I play to you, and this soul of mine which you have redeemed.

^71:24 And all day long, my tongue shall be talking of your righteousness. Shame and disgrace on those whose aim is to hurt me!

^3:2 You have probably heard how I have been entrusted by God with the grace he meant for you,

^3:3 and that it was by a revelation that I was given the knowledge of the mystery, as I have just described it very shortly.

^3:5 This that has now been revealed through the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets was unknown to any men in past generations;

^3:6 it means that pagans now share the same inheritance, that they are parts of the same body, and that the same promise has been made to them, in Jesus Christ, through the gospel.

^2:1 After Jesus had been born at Bethlehem in Judaea during the reign of King Herod,[*a] some wise men came to Jerusalem from the east.

^2:2 ‘Where is the infant king of the Jews?’ they asked. ‘We saw his star as it rose[*b] and have come to do him homage.’

^2:3 When King Herod heard this he was perturbed, and so was the whole of Jerusalem.

^2:4 He called together all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, and enquired of them where the Christ was to be born.

^2:5 ‘At Bethlehem in Judaea,’ they told him ‘for this is what the prophet wrote:

^2:6 And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, you are by no means least among the leaders of Judah, for out of you will come a leader who will shepherd my people Israel’.[*c]

^2:7 Then Herod summoned the wise men to see him privately. He asked them the exact date on which the star had appeared,

^2:8 and sent them on to Bethlehem. ‘Go and find out all about the child,’ he said ‘and when you have found him, let me know, so that I too may go and do him homage.’

^2:9 Having listened to what the king had to say, they set out. And there in front of them was the star they had seen rising; it went forward, and halted over the place where the child was.

^2:10 The sight of the star filled them with delight,

^2:11 and going into the house they saw the child with his mother Mary, and falling to their knees they did him homage. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh.[*d]

^2:12 But they were warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, and returned to their own country by a different way.