Daily Readings - 19/12/2026

^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!

^1:5 In the days of King Herod of Judaea there lived a priest called Zechariah who belonged to the Abijah section of the priesthood, and he had a wife, Elizabeth by name, who was a descendant of Aaron.

^1:6 Both were worthy in the sight of God, and scrupulously observed all the commandments and observances of the Lord.

^1:7 But they were childless: Elizabeth was barren and they were both getting on in years.

^1:8 Now it was the turn of Zechariah’s section[*a] to serve, and he was exercising his priestly office before God

^1:9 when it fell to him by lot, as the ritual custom was, to enter the Lord’s sanctuary and burn incense there.[*b]

^1:10 And at the hour of incense the whole congregation was outside, praying.

^1:11 Then there appeared to him the angel of the Lord, standing on the right of the altar of incense.

^1:12 The sight disturbed Zechariah and he was overcome with fear.

^1:13 But the angel said to him, ‘Zechariah, do not be afraid, your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth is to bear you a son and you must name him John.

^1:14 He will be your joy and delight and many will rejoice at his birth,

^1:15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord; he must drink no wine, no strong drink.[*d] Even from his mother’s womb he will be filled with the Holy Spirit,

^1:16 and he will bring back many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God.

^1:17 With the spirit and power of Elijah, he will go before him to turn the hearts of fathers towards their children[*e] and the disobedient back to the wisdom that the virtuous have, preparing for the Lord a people fit for him.

^1:18 Zechariah said to the angel, ‘How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is getting on in years.’

^1:19 The angel replied, ‘I am Gabriel who stand in God’s presence, and I have been sent to speak to you and bring you this good news.

^1:20 Listen! Since you have not believed my words, which will come true at their appointed time, you will be silenced and have no power of speech until this has happened.’

^1:21 Meanwhile the people were waiting for Zechariah and were surprised that he stayed in the sanctuary so long.

^1:22 When he came out he could not speak to them, and they realised that he had received a vision in the sanctuary. But he could only make signs to them, and remained dumb.

^1:23 When his time of service came to an end he returned home.

^1:24 Some time later his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept to herself.

^1:25 ‘The Lord has done this for me’ she said ‘now that it has pleased him to take away the humiliation I suffered among men.’ The annunciation

^89:1 I will celebrate your love for ever, Yahweh, age after age my words shall proclaim your faithfulness;

^89:2 for I claim that love is built to last for ever and your faithfulness founded firmly in the heavens.

^89:3 ‘I have made a covenant with my Chosen, I have given my servant David my sworn word:

^89:4 I have founded your dynasty to last for ever, I have built you a throne to outlast all time.’ (pause)

^89:5 Yahweh, the assembly of holy ones in heaven applaud the marvel of your faithfulness.

^89:6 Who in the skies can compare with Yahweh? Which of the heaven-born can rival him?

^89:7 God, dreaded in the assembly of holy ones, great and terrible to all around him,

^89:8 Yahweh, God of Sabaoth, who is like you?-mighty Yahweh, clothed in your faithfulness!

^89:9 You control the pride of the ocean, when its waves ride high, you calm them;

^89:10 you split Rahab[*a] in two like a carcase and scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.

^89:11 The heavens are yours and the earth is yours, you founded the world and all it holds,

^89:12 you created north and south; Tabor and Hermon hail your name with joy.

^89:13 Yours was the arm, and yours the prowess, mighty and exalted your right hand;

^89:14 Righteousness and Justice support your throne, Love and Faithfulness are your attendants.

^89:15 Happy the people who learn to acclaim you! Yahweh, they will live in the light of your favour;

^89:16 they will rejoice in your name all day and exult in your righteousness.

^89:17 You are their glory and their strength, you, by your kindness, raise our fortunes,

^89:18 since both our shield and our king belong to Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel.

^89:19 Once you spoke in vision and said to your friends,[*b] I have conferred the crown on a hero, and promoted one chosen from my people.

^89:20 I have selected my servant David and anointed him with my holy oil;

^89:21 my hand will be constantly with him, he will be able to rely on my arm.

^89:22 ‘No enemy will be able to outwit him, no wicked man to worst him,

^89:23 I myself will crush his opponents, I will strike dead all who hate him.

^89:24 ‘With my faithfulness and love, his fortunes shall rise in my name.

^89:25 I will give him control of the sea, complete control of the rivers.

^89:26 ‘He will invoke me, “My father, my God and rock of my safety”,

^89:27 and I shall make him my first-born, the Most High for kings on earth.

^89:28 ‘I will keep my love for him always, my covenant with him shall stand,

^89:29 I have founded his dynasty to last for ever, his throne to be as lasting as the heavens.

^89:30 ‘Should his descendants desert my Law and disregard my rulings,

^89:31 should they violate my statutes and not keep my commandments,

^89:32 ‘I will punish their sins with the rod and their crimes with the whip,

^89:33 but never withdraw my love from him or fail in my faithfulness.

^89:34 ‘I will not break my covenant, I will not revoke my given word;

^89:35 I have sworn on my holiness, once for all, and cannot turn liar to David.

^89:36 ‘His dynasty shall last for ever, I see his throne like the sun,

^89:37 enduring for ever like the moon, that faithful witness in the sky.’ (pause)

^89:38 And yet you have rejected, disowned and raged at your anointed;

^89:39 you have repudiated the covenant with your servant and flung his crown dishonoured to the ground.

^89:40 You have pierced all his defences, and laid his forts in ruins;

^89:41 anyone may go and loot him, his neighbours treat him with scorn.

^89:42 You have let his opponents get the upper hand, and made all his enemies happy,

^89:43 you have snapped his sword on a rock and failed to support him in battle.

^89:44 You have stripped him of his glorious sceptre, and toppled his throne to the ground,

^89:45 you have aged him before his time and covered him in shame. (pause)

^89:46 Yahweh, how much longer will you hide? For ever? How much longer must your anger smoulder like a fire?

^89:47 Remember me, the short time I have left and the void to which you destine mankind.

^89:48 What man can cling to life and not see death? Who can evade the clutches of Sheol?

^89:49 Lord, where are those earlier signs of your love? You swore your oath to David on your faithfulness!

^89:50 Lord, do not forget how your servant was insulted, (pause) how I take these pagans’ taunts to heart,

^89:51 insults, Yahweh, that your enemies have offered, insults to your anointed wherever he goes. Blessed be Yahweh for ever. Amen. Amen![*c]

^16:25 Glory to him who is able to give you the strength to live according to the Good News I preach, and in which I proclaim Jesus Christ, the revelation of a mystery kept secret for endless ages,

^16:26 but now so clear that it must be broadcast to pagans everywhere to bring them to the obedience of faith. This is only what scripture has predicted, and it is all part of the way the eternal God wants things to be.

^16:27 He alone is wisdom; give glory therefore to him through Jesus Christ for ever and ever. Amen.

^1:26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth,

^1:27 to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.

^1:28 He went in and said to her, ‘Rejoice, so highly favoured! The Lord is with you.’

^1:29 She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean,

^1:30 but the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour.

^1:31 Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus.

^1:32 He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David;

^1:33 he will rule over the House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.’

^1:34 Mary said to the angel, ‘But how can this come about, since I am a virgin?'[*g]

^1:35 ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you’ the angel answered ‘and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God.

^1:36 Know this too: your kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month,

^1:37 for nothing is impossible to God'[*h]

^1:38 ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord,’ said Mary ‘let what you have said be done to me.’ And the angel left her.