Prophesies for the Nativity of the Christ of God
The Reading is from the Book of Numbers(24:2-3, 5-9, 17-18)
And the Spirit of God came upon Balaam. And he took up his parable and said: How goodly are thy habitations, Jacob, and thy tents, Israel! as shady groves, and as gardens by a river, and as tents which God pitched, and as cedars by the waters. Therefore shall come a man out of his seed, and he shall rule over many nations; and the kingdom of Gog shall be exalted, and his kingdom shall be increased. God led him out of Egypt; he has as it were the glory of a unicorn; he shall consume the nations of his enemies, and he shall drain their marrow, and with his darts he shall shoot through the enemy. He lay down, he rested as a lion, and as a young lion; who shall stir him up? they that bless thee are blessed, and they that curse thee are cursed. A star shall rise out of Jacob, a man shall spring out of Israel; and shall crush the princes of Moab, and shall spoil all the sons of Seth. And Edom shall be an inheritance, and Esau his enemy shall be an inheritance of Israel, and Israel wrought valiantly.
The Reading is from the Prophet Michaias (5:2-4)
And thou, Bethlehem, house of Ephratha, art not few in number among the thousands of Judah; for out of thee shall one come forth to me, to be a ruler of Israel; and his goings forth were from the beginning, even from the days of eternity. Therefore shall he appoint them to wait till the time of her that travaileth; she shall bring forth, and then the remnant of his brethren shall return to the sons of Israel. And the Lord shall stand, and see, and shepherd his flock in might, and they shall dwell in the glory of the name of the Lord their God: for now shall they be magnified even to the ends of the earth.
The Reading is from the Prophet Esaias (9:6-7)
Unto us a Child is born, and unto us a Son is given, Whose government is come upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called: The Angel of great counsel, wonderful Counsellor, the mighty God, He that hath authority, the Prince of peace, the Father of the age to come, for I will bring peace upon the princes, and health to him. His government shall be great, and of His peace there is no end. It shall be upon the throne of David, and upon His Kingdom, to establish it, and to support it in judgment and righteousness, from henceforth and forever. The zeal of the Lord of Sabaoth shall perform this.
The Reading is from the Prophet Esaias (7:10-16; 8:1-4, 9-10)
And the Lord again spake to Achaz, saying: Ask for thyself a sign of the Lord thy God in the depth or in the height. And Achaz said: I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord. And Esaias said: Hear ye now, O house of David; is it a little thing for you to contend with men? and how do ye contend against the Lord? Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign; behold, a virgin shall conceive in the womb, and shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name Emmanuel. Butter and honey shall He eat, before He knoweth either to prefer evil, or choose the good. For before the Child shall know good or evil, He refuseth evil, to choose the good. And the Lord said to me: Take to thyself a volume of a great new book, and write in it with a man's pen concerning the making a rapid plunder of spoils; for it is near at hand. And make Me witnesses of faithful men, Urias the priest, and Zacharias the son of Barachias. And I went into the prophetess; and she conceived, and bare a son. And the Lord said to me: Call his name, Spoil quickly, plunder speedily. For before the child shall know how to call his father or his mother, He shall take the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria before the king of the Assyrians. God is with us. Know, ye nations, and be vanquished; give ear, even unto the utmost part of the earth: Ye that have prevailed, even ye be vanquished. For though ye should prevail again, yet again shall ye be vanquished. And whatsoever counsel ye shall take, the Lord shall bring it to nought. And whatsoever word ye speak, it shall not abide in you. For God is with us.
The Reading is from the Prophet Esaias (11:1-10)
Thus saith the Lord: There shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a blossom shall come up from his root; and the Spirit of God shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge, and godliness shall fill him; the spirit of the fear of God. He shall not judge according to appearance, nor reprove according to report; but he shall judge the cause of the lowly, and shall reprove the lowly of the earth; and he shall smite the earth with the word of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he destroy the ungodly one. And he shall have his loins girt with righteousness, and his sides clothed with truth. And the wolf shall feed with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the young calf and bull and lion shall feed together; and a little child shall lead them. And the ox and bear shall feed together; and their young shall be together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And an infant shall put his hand on the holes of asps, and on the nest of young asps. And they shall not hurt, nor shall they at all be able to destroy any one on My holy mountain; for the whole world is filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as much water covereth the seas. And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall arise to rule over the nations; in him shall the nations trust, and his rest shall be glorious.
The Reading is from the Prophet Jeremias (13:35-4:4)
This is our God, and there shall none other be accounted in compare to Him. He hath found out all the way of knowledge, and hath given it unto Jacob His child, and to Israel His beloved. Afterward, He was seen upon earth, and conversed with men. This is the book of the commandments of God, and the law that endureth for ever; all they that keep it shall come to life, but such as leave it shall die. Turn thee, O Jacob, and take hold of it; walk in the presence of the light thereof, that thou mayest be illumined. Give not thine honour to another, nor the things that are profitable unto thee to a strange nation. O Israel, blessed are we: for things that are pleasing to God are made known to us.
The Reading is from the Prophet Daniel (2:31-36, 44-45)
Daniel said unto Nabuchodonosor: Thou, O king, sawest, and behold, an image; that image was great, and the appearance of it excellent, standing before thy face; and the form of it was terrible. It was an image, the head of which was of fine gold, its hands and breast and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of brass, its legs of iron, its feet, part of iron and part of earthenware. Thou sawest until a stone was cut out of a mountain without hands, and it smote the image upon its feet of iron and earthenware, and utterly reduced them to powder. Then once for all the earthenware, the iron, the brass, the silver, the gold, were ground to powder, and became as chaff from the summer threshing-floor; and the violence of the wind carried them away, and no place was found for them; and the stone which had smitten the image became a great mountain, and filled all the earth. This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. The God of heaven shall set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and His kingdom shall not be left to another people, but it shall beat to pieces and grind to powder all other kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever. Whereas thou sawest that a stone was cut out of a mountain without hands, and it beat to pieces the earthenware, the iron, the brass, the silver, the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what must happen hereafter; and the dream it true, and the interpretation thereof sure.
PSALM LXXI (71)
For the End: A Psalm of David, for Solomon
O God, give Thy judgement to the king, and Thy righteousness to the son of the king.
That he may judge Thy people with righteousness, and Thy poor with judgement.
Let the mountains receive peace for the people, and let the hills receive righteousness.
He shall judge the beggars among the people, and shall save the sons of the poor, and shall humble the false accuser.
And He shall continue as long as the sun, and before the moon from generation to generation.
He shall come down like rain upon a fleece, and like rain-drops that fall upon the earth)
In His days shall righteousness dawn forth an abundance of peace, until the moon be taken away)
And He shall have dominion from sea to sea, and from the rivers even unto the ends of the inhabited earth.
Before Him shall the Ethiopians fall down, and His enemies shall lick the dust)
The kings of Tharsis and the islands shall bring gifts, kings of the Arabians and of Saba shall bring presents.
And all the kings of the earth shall worship Him, all the nations shall serve Him.
For He hath delivered the beggar from the oppressor, and the poor man for whom there was no helper.
He shall spare the poor man and the pauper, and the souls of the poor shall He save.
From usury and from injustices shall He redeem their souls, and precious shall be His name before them.
And He shall live, and there shall be given unto Him of the gold of Arabia, and they shall make prayer concerning Him always; all the day long shall they bless Him)
He shall be a support in the earth on the summits of the mountains; exalted more than Lebanon shall be His fruit, and they of the city shall flourish like the grass of the earth.
His name shall be blessed unto the ages, before the sun doth His name continue.
And in Him shall be blessed all the tribes of the earth, all the nations shall call Him blessed)
Blessed is the Lord, the God of Israel, Who alone doeth wonders)
And blessed is the name of His glory for ever, and unto the ages of ages.
And all the earth shall be filled with His glory. So be it. So be it.
The Reading is from the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Hebrews (1:1-12)
God, Who at sundry times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son, Whom He hath appointed heir of all things, by Whom also He made the ages; Who being the effulgence of His glory, and the express image of His hypostasis, upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high; being made so much better than the angels, as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which of the angels did He say at any time: Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten Thee? And again: I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son? And again, when He bringeth in the firstborn into the world, He saith: And let all the angels of God worship Him. And of the angels He saith: Who maketh His angels spirits, and His ministers a flame of fire. But unto the Son He saith: Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of uprightness is the sceptre of Thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity; therefore God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. And: Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of Thy hands. They shall perish, but Thou remainest; and they all shall grow old as doth a garment, and as a vesture shalt Thou fold them up, and they shall be changed; but Thou art the same, and Thy years shall not fail.
The Reading from the Gospel of Matthew (1: 18-25)
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as His mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child by the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make an example of her, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought on these things, behold, an Angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins. (Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the Prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us). Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the Angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called His name JESUS.