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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Daily Bible readings that follow the church liturgical year, with thematically matched Old and New Testament readings.
Duration: 1245 days
International Standard Version (ISV)
Version
1 Samuel 2:1-10

Hannah’s Thanksgiving Psalm

Then Hannah prayed:

“My heart exults in the Lord;
    my strength[a] is increased by the Lord.
I will open my mouth to speak[b] against my enemies,
    because I rejoice in your deliverance.

Indeed,[c] there is no one holy like the Lord,
    indeed, there is no one besides you,
there is no rock like our God.

Don’t continue to talk proudly,
    and don’t speak arrogantly,
for the Lord is a God of knowledge,
    and by him actions are weighed.

The bows of warriors are shattered,[d]
    but those who stumble are equipped with[e] strength.
Those who had an abundance of bread
    now hire themselves out,
and those who were hungry
    hunger no more.[f]
While the barren woman gives birth to seven children,[g]
    she who had many children languishes.

The Lord kills and gives life,
    he brings people down to where the dead are[h]
        and he raises them up.
The Lord makes people poor
    and he makes people rich,
he brings them low,
    and he also exalts them.
He raises the poor up from the dust,
    he lifts up the needy from the trash heap
to make them sit with princes
    and inherit a seat of honor.
Indeed the pillars of the earth belong to the Lord,
    and he has set the world on them.
He guards the steps[i] of his faithful ones,
    while the wicked are made silent[j] in darkness.
He grants the request of the one who prays.[k]
    He blesses the year of the righteous.[l]
Indeed it’s not by strength that a person prevails.

10 The Lord will shatter his enemies[m]
    —those who contend against him.
Who is holy?[n]
    The one who will thunder[o] against them in the heavens.
The Lord will judge the ends of the earth,
    he will give strength to his king,
        and he will increase the strength of His anointed one.”

Genesis 37:2-11

This is a record of Jacob’s descendants.

When Joseph was seventeen years old, he was helping his brothers tend their flocks. He was a young man at that time, as were the children of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. But Joseph would come back and tell his father that his brothers were doing bad things. Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his brothers, since he was born to him in his old age, so he had made a richly-embroidered[a] tunic for him. When Joseph’s[b] brothers realized that their father loved him more than all of his brothers, they hated him so much that they were unable to speak politely to him.

Joseph’s Dreams

Right about this time, Joseph had a dream and then told it to his brothers. As a result, his brothers hated him all the more! “Let me tell you about this dream that I had!” he said. “We were tying sheaves together out in the middle of the fields, when all of a sudden, my sheaf stood up erect! And then your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf!”

At this, his brothers replied, “Do you really think you’re going to rule us or lord it over us?” So they hated him even more because of his dreams and his interpretations of them.

But then he had another dream, and he proceeded to tell his brothers about that one, too. “I had another dream,” he said. “The sun, moon, and eleven of the stars were bowing down before me!”

10 When Joseph told his father about this, his father rebuked him and asked him, “What kind of dream is that? Will I, your mother, and your brothers really come to you and bow down to the ground in front of you?” 11 As a result, his brothers became more envious of him. But his father kept thinking about all of this.

Matthew 1:1-17

An Introduction to Jesus the Messiah

This is[a] a record of the life[b] of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

The Ancestry of Jesus(A)

Abraham fathered Isaac, Isaac fathered Jacob, and Jacob fathered Judah and his brothers. Judah fathered Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez fathered Hezron, Hezron fathered Aram, Aram fathered Amminadab, Amminadab fathered Nahshon, and Nahshon fathered Salmon. Salmon fathered Boaz by Rahab, Boaz fathered Obed by Ruth, Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered King David.

David fathered Solomon by the wife of Uriah, Solomon fathered Rehoboam, Rehoboam fathered Abijah, Abijah fathered Asaph,[c] Asaph[d] fathered Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat fathered Joram, Joram fathered Uzziah, Uzziah fathered Jotham, Jotham fathered Ahaz, Ahaz fathered Hezekiah, 10 Hezekiah fathered Manasseh, Manasseh fathered Amos,[e] and Amos[f] fathered Josiah. 11 Josiah fathered Jechoniah[g] and his brothers at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

12 After the deportation to Babylon, Jechoniah[h] fathered Salathiel,[i] Salathiel fathered Zerubbabel, 13 Zerubbabel fathered Abiud, Abiud fathered Eliakim, Eliakim fathered Azor, 14 Azor fathered Zadok, Zadok fathered Achim, Achim fathered Eliud, 15 Eliud fathered Eleazar, Eleazar fathered Matthan, and Matthan fathered Jacob. 16 Jacob fathered Joseph, the husband of Mary, who was the mother of Jesus,[j] who is called the Messiah.[k]

17 So all the generations from Abraham to David totaled fourteen[l] generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon totaled fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah[m] there were fourteen generations.

International Standard Version (ISV)

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