Daily Readings for Saturday, 28 December 2013

Daily Readings for Saturday, 28 December 2013

1 John 1: God Is Light

5 This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness, we lie and do not do what is true; 7 but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Christ Our Advocate

2: My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; 2 and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

Psalm 124: Thanksgiving for Israel’s Deliverance

A Song of Ascents. Of David.

1 If it had not been the Lord who was on our side

    —let Israel now say—

2 if it had not been the Lord who was on our side,

    when our enemies attacked us,

3 then they would have swallowed us up alive,

    when their anger was kindled against us;

4 then the flood would have swept us away,

    the torrent would have gone over us;

5 then over us would have gone

    the raging waters.

6 Blessed be the Lord,

    who has not given us

    as prey to their teeth.

7 We have escaped like a bird

    from the snare of the fowlers;

the snare is broken,

    and we have escaped.

8 Our help is in the name of the Lord,

    who made heaven and earth

Matthew 2: The Escape to Egypt

13 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.” 14 Then Joseph[a] got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, 15 and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called my son.”

The Massacre of the Infants

16 When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men,[b] 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.[c] 17 Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:

18 “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.”

Footnotes:

a. Matthew 2:14 Gk he

b. Matthew 2:16 Or astrologers; Gk magi

c. Matthew 2:16 Or astrologers; Gk magi

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