Thursday 28 December 2023 (Holy Innocents) DAILY LECTIONARY

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Thursday 28 December 2023 (Holy Innocents)
DAILY LECTIONARY

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Morning Psalms: Psalm 124

Psalm 124

If it had not been the Lord who was on our side
   —let Israel now say— 
if it had not been the Lord who was on our side,
   when our enemies attacked us, 
then they would have swallowed us up alive,
   when their anger was kindled against us; 
then the flood would have swept us away,
   the torrent would have gone over us; 
then over us would have gone
   the raging waters. 

Blessed be the Lord,
   who has not given us
   as prey to their teeth. 
We have escaped like a bird
   from the snare of the fowlers;
the snare is broken,
   and we have escaped. 

Our help is in the name of the Lord,
   who made heaven and earth.
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Jeremiah 31:15-17

Thus says the Lord:
A voice is heard in Ramah,
   lamentation and bitter weeping.
Rachel is weeping for her children;
   she refuses to be comforted for her children,
   because they are no more. 
Thus says the Lord:
Keep your voice from weeping,
   and your eyes from tears;
for there is a reward for your work,

says the Lord:
   they shall come back from the land of the enemy; 
there is hope for your future,

says the Lord:
   your children shall come back to their own country.
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Revelation 21:1-7

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the
first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the
holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice
from the throne saying,
‘See, the home* of God is among mortals.
He will dwell* with them;
they will be his peoples,*
and God himself will be with them;* 
he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.’

 And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making
all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this, for these words are
trustworthy and true.’ Then he said to me, ‘It is done! I am the
Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will
give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. Those who
conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they
will be my children.
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Matthew 2:13-18

Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a
dream and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to
Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search
for the child, to destroy him.’ Then Joseph* got up, took the child
and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until
the death of Herod. This was to fulfil what had been spoken by the
Lord through the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I have called my son.’
 When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men,* he was
infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around
Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that
he had learned from the wise men.* Then was fulfilled what had been
spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: 
‘A voice was heard in Ramah,
   wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
   she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.’
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