Readings for 23 February 2028

Old Testament (Vespers): Joel 3:12-21

Translation: Brenton's English Septuagint

Old Testament (Vespers): Isaiah 40:1-3, 41:17-18, 45:8, 48:20-21, 54:1

Translation: Brenton's English Septuagint

¹Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith God. ²Speak, ye priests, to the heart of Jerusalem; comfort her, for her humiliation is accomplished, her sin is put away: for she has received of the Lord's hand double the amount of her sins. ³The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God. ^41:17And the poor and the needy shall exult; for when they shall seek water, and there shall be none, and their tongue is parched with thirst, I the Lord God, I the God of Israel will hear, and will not forsake them: ¹⁸but I will open rivers on the mountains, and fountains in the midst of plains: I will make the desert pools of water, and a thirsty land watercourses. ^45:8Let the heaven rejoice from above, and let the clouds rain righteousness: let the earth bring forth, and blossom with mercy, and bring forth righteousness likewise: I am the Lord that created thee. ^48:20Go forth of Babylon, thou that fleest from the Chaldeans: utter aloud a voice of joy, and let this be made known, proclaim it to the end of the earth; say ye, The Lord hath delivered his servant Jacob. ²¹And if they shall thirst, he shall lead them through the desert; he shall bring forth water to them out of the rock: the rock shall be cloven, and the water shall flow forth, and my people shall drink. ^54:1Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that dost not travail: for more are the children of the desolate than of her that has a husband: for the Lord has said,

Old Testament (Vespers): Malachi 3:1-3, 5-7, 12, 17-18, 4:4-6

Translation: Brenton's English Septuagint

¹Behold, I send forth my messenger, and he shall survey the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come into his temple, even the angel of the covenant, whom ye take pleasure in: behold, he is coming, saith the Lord Almighty. ²And who will abide the day of his coming? or who will withstand at his appearing? for he is coming in as the fire of a furnace and as the herb of fullers. ³He shall sit to melt and purify as it were silver, and as it were gold: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver, and they shall offer to the Lord an offering in righteousness. ⁵And I will draw near to you in judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the witches, and against the adulteresses, and against them that swear falsely by my name, and against them that keep back the hireling's wages, and them that oppress the widow, and afflict orphans, and that wrest the judgment of the stranger, and fear not me, saith the Lord Almighty. ⁶For I am the Lord your God, and I am not changed: ⁷but ye, the sons of Jacob, have not refrained from the iniquities of your fathers: ye have perverted my statutes, and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, saith the Lord Almighty. But ye said, Wherein shall we return? ¹²And all nations shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a desirable land, saith the Lord Almighty. ¹⁷And they shall be mine, saith the Lord Almighty, in the day which I appoint for a peculiar possession; and I will make choice of them, as a man makes choice of his son that serves him. ¹⁸Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, and between him that serves God, and him that serves him not.

Old Testament (Vespers): Wisdom 4:7, 16-17, 19-20, 5:1-7

Translation: Brenton's English Septuagint

⁷But though the righteous be prevented with death, yet shall he be in rest. ¹⁶Thus the righteous that is dead shall condemn the ungodly which are living; and youth that is soon perfected the many years and old age of the unrighteous. ¹⁷For they shall see the end of the wise, and shall not understand what God in his counsel hath decreed of him, and to what end the Lord hath set him in safety. ¹⁹For he shall rend them, and cast them down headlong, that they shall be speechless; and he shall shake them from the foundation; and they shall be utterly laid waste, and be in sorrow; and their memorial shall perish. ²⁰And when they cast up the account of their sins, they shall come with fear: and their own iniquities shall convince them to their face. ^5:1Then shall the righteous man stand in great boldness before the face of such as have afflicted him, and made no account of his labours. ²When they see it, they shall be troubled with terrible fear, and shall be amazed at the strangeness of his salvation, so far beyond all that they looked for. ³And they repenting and groaning for anguish of spirit shall say within themselves, This was he, whom we had sometimes in derision, and a proverb of reproach: ⁴we fools accounted his life madness, and his end to be without honour: ⁵how is he numbered among the children of God, and his lot is among the saints! ⁶Therefore have we erred from the way of truth, and the light of righteousness hath not shined unto us, and the sun of righteousness rose not upon us. ⁷We wearied ourselves in the way of wickedness and destruction: yea, we have gone through deserts, where there lay no way: but as for the way of the Lord, we have not known it.