First Reading Jeremiah 31:7-14
7 For thus
says the LORD:
Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,
and raise shouts
for the chief of the nations;
proclaim, give praise, and say,
“Save, O LORD, your
people,
the remnant of
Israel.”
8 See, I am going to bring them from the land of
the north,
and gather them
from the farthest parts of the earth,
among them the blind and the lame,
those with child
and those in labor, together;
a great company,
they shall return here.
9 With weeping they shall come,
and with
consolations I will lead them back,
I will let them walk by brooks of water,
in a straight path
in which they shall not stumble;
for I have become a father to Israel,
and Ephraim is my
firstborn.
10 Hear the word of
the LORD, O nations,
and declare it in
the coastlands far away;
say, “He who scattered Israel will gather him,
and will keep him
as a shepherd a flock.”
11 For the LORD has ransomed Jacob,
and has redeemed
him from hands too strong for him.
12 They shall come and sing aloud on the height of
Zion,
and they shall be
radiant over the goodness of the LORD,
over the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and over the young
of the flock and the herd;
their life shall become like a watered garden,
and they shall
never languish again.
13 Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance,
and the young men
and the old shall be merry.
I will turn their mourning into joy,
I will comfort
them, and give them gladness for sorrow.
14 I will give the priests their fill of fatness,
and my people shall
be satisfied with my bounty,
says
the LORD.
12 Praise the Lord,
O Jerusalem!
Praise your God, O
Zion!
13 For he strengthens the bars of your gates;
he blesses your
children within you.
14 He grants peace within your borders;
he fills you with
the finest of wheat.
15 He sends out his command to the earth;
his word runs
swiftly.
16 He gives snow like wool;
he scatters frost
like ashes.
17 He hurls down hail like crumbs —
who can stand
before his cold?
18 He sends out his word, and melts them;
he makes his wind
blow, and the waters flow.
19 He declares his word to Jacob,
his statutes and
ordinances to Israel.
20 He has not dealt thus with any other nation;
they do not know
his ordinances.
Praise the Lord!
Second Reading Ephesians 1:3-14
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has
blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4just as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world
to be holy and blameless before him in love. 5He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus
Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on
us in the Beloved. 7In him we have redemption
through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches
of his grace 8that he lavished on us. With
all wisdom and insight 9he has made known to us the
mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in
Christ, 10as a plan for the fullness of
time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been
destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according
to his counsel and will, 12so that we, who were the
first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. 13In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the
gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of
the promised Holy Spirit; 14this is the pledge of our
inheritance toward redemption as God's own people, to the praise of his glory.
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with
God. 3All things came into being
through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into
being 4in him was life, and the life
was the light of all people. 5The light shines in the
darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
6There was a man sent from
God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness to
testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the
light. 9The true light, which
enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
10He was in the world, and the
world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept
him. 12But to all who received him,
who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of
the will of man, but of God.
14And the Word became flesh and
lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only
son, full of grace and truth. 15(John testified to him and
cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of
me because he was before me.’”) 16From his fullness we have all
received, grace upon grace. 17The law indeed was given
through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close
to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.