Daily Readings - 26/12/2026

^6:8 Stephen was filled with grace and power and began to work miracles and great signs among the people.

^6:9 But then certain people came forward to debate with Stephen, some from Cyrene and Alexandria who were members of the synagogue called the Synagogue of Freedmen,[*c] and others from Cilicia and Asia.

^6:10 They found they could not get the better of him because of his wisdom, and because it was the Spirit that prompted what he said.

^7:54 They were infuriated when they heard this, and ground their teeth at him.

^7:55 But Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at God’s right hand.

^7:56 ‘I can see heaven thrown open’ he said ‘and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.’

^7:57 At this all the members of the council shouted out and stopped their ears with their hands; then they all rushed at him,

^7:58 sent him out of the city and stoned him. The witnesses[*q] put down their clothes at the feet of a young man called Saul.

^7:59 As they were stoning him, Stephen said in invocation, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit’.

^31:1 In you, Yahweh, I take shelter; never let me be disgraced. In your righteousness deliver me, rescue me,

^31:2 turn your ear to me, make haste! Be a sheltering rock for me, a walled fortress to save me!

^31:3 For you are my rock, my fortress; for the sake of your name, guide me, lead me!

^31:4 Pull me out of the net they have spread for me, for you are my refuge;

^31:5 into your hands I commit my spirit, you have redeemed me, Yahweh. God of truth,

^31:6 you hate those who serve worthless idols; but I put my trust in Yahweh:

^31:7 I will exult, and rejoice in your love! You, who have seen my wretchedness, and known the miseries of my soul,

^31:8 have not handed me over to the enemy, you have given my feet space and to spare.

^31:9 Take pity on me, Yahweh, I am in trouble now. Grief wastes away my eye, my throat, my inmost parts.

^31:10 For my life is worn out with sorrow, my years with sighs; my strength yields under misery, my bones are wasting away.

^31:11 To every one of my oppressors I am contemptible, loathsome to my neighbours, to my friends a thing of fear. Those who see me in the street hurry past me;

^31:12 I am forgotten, as good as dead in their hearts, something discarded.

^31:13 I hear their endless slanders, threats from every quarter, as they combine against me, plotting to take my life.

^31:14 But I put my trust in you, Yahweh, I say, ‘You are my God’.

^31:15 My days are in your hand, rescue me from the hands of my enemies and persecutors;

^31:16 let your face smile on your servant, save me in your love.

^31:17 I invoke you; Yahweh; do not let me be disgraced, let the disgrace fall on the wicked! May they go speechless to Sheol,

^31:18 their lying lips struck dumb for those insolent slurs on the virtuous, for that arrogance and contempt.

^31:19 Yahweh, how great your goodness, reserved for those who fear you, bestowed on those who take shelter in you, for all mankind to see!

^31:20 Safe in your presence you hide them far from the wiles of men; inside your tent you shelter them far from the war of tongues.

^31:21 Blessed be Yahweh, who performs marvels of love for me (in a fortress-city)!

^31:22 In my alarm I exclaimed, ‘I have been snatched out of your sight!’ Yet you heard my petition when I called to you for help.

^31:23 Love Yahweh, all you devout: Yahweh, protector of the faithful, will repay the arrogant with interest.

^31:24 Be strong, let your heart be bold, all you who hope in Yahweh!

^10:17 ‘Beware of men: they will hand you over to sanhedrins and scourge you in their synagogues.

^10:18 You will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the pagans.

^10:19 But when they hand you over, do not worry about how to speak or what to say; what you are to say will be given to you when the time comes;

^10:20 because it is not you who will be speaking; the Spirit of your Father will be speaking in you.

^10:21 ‘Brother will betray brother to death, and the father his child; children will rise against their parents and have them put to death.

^10:22 You will be hated by all men on account of my name; but the man who stands firm to the end will be saved.

^3:2 for the Lord honours the father in his children, and upholds the rights of a mother over her sons.

^3:3 Whoever respects his father is atoning for his sins,

^3:4 he who honours his mother is like someone amassing a fortune.

^3:5 Whoever respects his father will be happy with children of his own, he shall be heard on the day when he prays.

^3:6 Long life comes to him who honours his father, he who sets his mother at ease is showing obedience to the Lord.

^3:12 My son, support your father in his old age, do not grieve him during his life.

^3:13 Even if his mind should fail, show him sympathy, do not despise him in your health and strength;

^3:14 for kindness to a father shall not be forgotten but will serve as reparation for your sins.

^128:1 Happy, all those who fear Yahweh and follow in his paths.

^128:2 You will eat what your hands have worked for, happiness and prosperity will be yours.

^128:3 Your wife: a fruitful vine on the inner walls of your house. Your sons: round your table like shoots round an olive tree.

^128:4 Such are the blessings that fall on the man who fears Yahweh.

^128:6 and live to see your children’s children! Peace to Israel!

^3:12 You are God’s chosen race, his saints; he loves you, and you should be clothed in sincere compassion, in kindness and humility, gentleness and patience.

^3:13 Bear with one another; forgive each other as soon as a quarrel begins. The Lord has forgiven you; now you must do the same.

^3:14 Over all these clothes, to keep them together and complete them, put on love.

^3:15 And may the peace of Christ reign in your hearts, because it is for this that you were called together as parts of one body. Always be thankful.

^3:16 Let the message of Christ, in all its richness, find a home with you. Teach each other, and advise each other, in all wisdom. With gratitude in your hearts sing psalms and hymns and inspired songs to God;

^3:17 and never say or do anything except in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

^3:18 Wives, give way to your husbands, as you should in the Lord.

^3:19 Husbands, love your wives and treat them with gentleness.

^3:20 Children, be obedient to your parents always, because that is what will please the Lord.

^3:21 Parents, never drive your children to resentment or you will make them feel frustrated.

^2:22 And when the day came for them to be purified[*d] as laid down by the Law of Moses, they took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord-

^2:23 observing what stands written in the Law of the Lord: Every first-born male must be consecrated to the Lord[*e]-

^2:24 and also to offer in sacrifice, in accordance with what is said in the Law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons[*f]

^2:25 Now in Jerusalem there was a man named Simeon. He was an upright and devout man; he looked forward to Israel’s comforting and the Holy Spirit rested on him.

^2:26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he had set eyes on the Christ of the Lord[*g]

^2:27 Prompted by the Spirit he came to the Temple and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the Law required,

^2:28 he took him into his arms and blessed God; and he said:

^2:29 ‘Now, Master, you can let your servant go in peace, just as you promised;

^2:30 because my eyes have seen the salvation

^2:31 which you have prepared for all the nations to see,

^2:32 a light to enlighten the pagans and the glory of your people Israel’.

^2:33 As the child’s father and mother stood there wondering at the things that were being said about him,

^2:34 Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, ‘You see this child: he is destined for the fall and for the rising of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is rejected-

^2:35 and a sword will pierce your own soul too-so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare’.

^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.