Daily Readings - 12/12/2026

^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.

^80:1 Shepherd of Israel, listen, you who lead Joseph like a flock; enthroned on the cherubs, shine

^80:2 on Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh;[*a] rouse your strength, come to us and save us!

^80:3 Yahweh Sabaoth, bring us back, let your face smile on us and we shall be safe.

^80:4 Yahweh Sabaoth, how much longer will you smoulder at your people’s prayer?

^80:5 Having fed us on the bread of tears, having made us drink them in such measure,

^80:6 you now let our neighbours quarrel over us and our enemies deride us.

^80:7 Yahweh Sabaoth, bring us back, let your face smile on us and we shall be safe.

^80:8 There was a vine: you uprooted it from Egypt; to plant it, you drove out other nations,

^80:9 you cleared a space where it could grow, it took root and filled the whole country.

^80:10 It covered the mountains with its shade, the cedars of God with its branches,

^80:11 its tendrils extended to the sea, its offshoots all the way to the river.[*b]

^80:12 Why have you destroyed its fences? Now anyone can go and steal its grapes,

^80:13 the forest boar can ravage it and wild animals eat it.

^80:14 Please, Yahweh Sabaoth, relent! Look down from heaven, look at this vine, visit it,

^80:15 protect what your own right hand has planted.

^80:16 They threw it on the fire like dung, but one look of reproof from you and they will be doomed.

^80:17 May your hand protect the man at your right, the son of man who has been authorised by you.

^80:18 We shall never turn from you again; our life renewed, we shall invoke your name.

^80:19 Yahweh Sabaoth, bring us back, let your face smile on us and we shall be safe.

^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.

^61:1 The spirit of the Lord Yahweh has been given to me, for Yahweh has anointed me. He has sent me to bring good news to the poor, to bind up hearts that are broken; to proclaim liberty to captives, freedom to those in prison;

^61:2 to proclaim a year of favour from Yahweh, a day of vengeance for our God, to comfort all those who mourn

^61:10 ‘I exult for joy in Yahweh, my soul rejoices in my God, for he has clothed me in the garments of salvation, he has wrapped me in the cloak of integrity, like a bridegroom wearing his wreath, like a bride adorned in her jewels.

^61:11 ‘For as the earth makes fresh things grow, as a garden makes seeds spring up, so will the Lord Yahweh make both integrity and praise spring up in the sight of the nations.’

^1:46 And Mary[*i] said: ‘My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord

^1:47 and my spirit exults in God my saviour;

^1:48 because he has looked upon his lowly handmaid. Yes, from this day forward all generations will call me blessed,

^1:49 for the Almighty has done great things for me. Holy is his name,

^1:50 and his mercy reaches from age to age for those who fear him.

^1:53 The hungry he has filled with good things, the rich sent empty away.

^1:54 He has come to the help of Israel his servant, mindful of his mercy

^1:6 A man came, sent by God. His name was John.

^1:7 He came as a witness, as a witness to speak for the light, so that everyone might believe through him.

^1:8 He was not the light, only a witness to speak for the light.

^1:19 This is how John appeared as a witness. When the Jews[*c] sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’

^1:20 he not only declared, but he declared quite openly, ‘I am not the Christ’.

^1:21 ‘Well then,’ they asked ‘are you Elijah?'[*d] ‘I am not’ he said. ‘Are you the Prophet?'[*e] He answered, ‘No’.

^1:22 So they said to him, ‘Who are you? We must take back an answer to those who sent us. What have you to say about yourself?’

^1:23 So John said, ‘I am, as Isaiah prophesied: a voice that cries in the wilderness: Make a straight way for the Lord’.[*f]

^1:24 Now these men had been sent by the Pharisees,

^1:25 and they put this further question to him, ‘Why are you baptising if you are not the Christ, and not Elijah, and not the prophet?’

^1:26 John replied, ‘I baptise with water; but there stands among you – unknown to you –

^1:27 the one who is coming after me; and I am not fit to undo his sandal-strap’.

^1:28 This happened at Bethany, on the far side of the Jordan, where John was baptising.