Thursday in Epiphany

FIRST READING

Isaiah 22:15-25

Verse 15. This is what the Lord GOD of Hosts says: “Go, say to Shebna, the steward in charge of the palace: Verse 16. What are you doing here, and who authorized you to carve out a tomb for yourself here — to chisel your tomb in the height and cut your resting place in the rock? Verse 17. Look, O mighty man! The LORD is about to shake you violently. He will take hold of you, Verse 18. roll you into a ball, and sling you into a wide land. There you will die, and there your glorious chariots will remain— a disgrace to the house of your master. Verse 19. I will remove you from office, and you will be ousted from your position. Verse 20. On that day I will summon My servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah. Verse 21. I will clothe him with your robe and tie your sash around him. I will put your authority in his hand, and he will be a father to the dwellers of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Verse 22. I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. Verse 23. I will drive him like a peg into a firm place, and he will be a throne of glory for the house of his father. Verse 24. So they will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house: the descendants and the offshoots— all the lesser vessels, from bowls to every kind of jar. Verse 25. In that day, declares the LORD of Hosts, the peg driven into a firm place will give way; it will be sheared off and fall, and the load upon it will be cut down.” Indeed, the LORD has spoken.

PSALM

Psalm 40:1-11

For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. I waited patiently for the LORD; He inclined to me and heard my cry.

He lifted me up from the pit of despair, out of the miry clay; He set my feet upon a rock, and made my footsteps firm.

He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD.

Blessed is the man who has made the LORD his trust, who has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood.

Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders You have done, and the plans You have for us — none can compare to You — if I proclaim and declare them, they are more than I can count.

Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but my ears You have opened. Burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not require.

Then I said, “Here I am, I have come — it is written about me in the scroll:

I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your law is within my heart.”

I proclaim righteousness in the great assembly; behold, I do not seal my lips, as You, O LORD, do know.

I have not covered up Your righteousness in my heart; I have declared Your faithfulness and salvation; I have not concealed Your loving devotion and faithfulness from the great assembly.

O LORD, do not withhold Your mercy from me; Your loving devotion and faithfulness will always guard me.

SECOND READING

Galatians 1:6-12

Verse 6. I am amazed how quickly you are deserting the One who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel — Verse 7. which is not even a gospel. Evidently some people are troubling you and trying to distort the gospel of Christ. Verse 8. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be under a curse! Verse 9. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be under a curse! Verse 10. Am I now seeking the approval of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ. Verse 11. For I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached was not devised by man. Verse 12. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.