Psalm 66:16–19

¹⁶Come and hear, all you who fear God,
and I will tell what he has done for my soul.
¹⁷I cried to him with my mouth,
and high praise was on my tongue.
¹⁸If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
the Lord would not have listened.
¹⁹But truly God has listened;
he has attended to the voice of my prayer.

Old Testament Reading Isaiah 1:1–28

¹The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

²Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth;
for the Lord has spoken:
“Children have I reared and brought up,
but they have rebelled against me.
³The ox knows its owner,
and the donkey its master’s crib,
but Israel does not know,
my people do not understand.”
⁴Ah, sinful nation,
a people laden with iniquity,
offspring of evildoers,
children who deal corruptly!
They have forsaken the Lord,
they have despised the Holy One of Israel,
they are utterly estranged.
⁵Why will you still be struck down?
Why will you continue to rebel?
The whole head is sick,
and the whole heart faint.
⁶From the sole of the foot even to the head,
there is no soundness in it,
but bruises and sores
and raw wounds;
they are not pressed out or bound up
or softened with oil.
⁷Your country lies desolate;
your cities are burned with fire;
in your very presence
foreigners devour your land;
it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners.
⁸And the daughter of Zion is left
like a booth in a vineyard,
like a lodge in a cucumber field,
like a besieged city.
⁹If the Lord of hosts
had not left us a few survivors,
we should have been like Sodom,
and become like Gomorrah.
¹⁰Hear the word of the Lord,
you rulers of Sodom!
Give ear to the teaching of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!
¹¹“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the Lord;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of well-fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
or of lambs, or of goats.

¹²“When you come to appear before me,
who has required of you
this trampling of my courts?
¹³Bring no more vain offerings;
incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—
I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.
¹⁴Your new moons and your appointed feasts
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
¹⁵When you spread out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.
¹⁶Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
¹⁷learn to do good;
seek justice,
correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless,
plead the widow’s cause.

¹⁸“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.
¹⁹If you are willing and obedient,
you shall eat the good of the land;
²⁰but if you refuse and rebel,
you shall be eaten by the sword;
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

²¹How the faithful city
has become a whore,
she who was full of justice!
Righteousness lodged in her,
but now murderers.
²²Your silver has become dross,
your best wine mixed with water.
²³Your princes are rebels
and companions of thieves.
Everyone loves a bribe
and runs after gifts.
They do not bring justice to the fatherless,
and the widow’s cause does not come to them.
²⁴Therefore the Lord declares,
the Lord of hosts,
the Mighty One of Israel:
“Ah, I will get relief from my enemies
and avenge myself on my foes.
²⁵I will turn my hand against you
and will smelt away your dross as with lye
and remove all your alloy.
²⁶And I will restore your judges as at the first,
and your counselors as at the beginning.
Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness,
the faithful city.”
²⁷Zion shall be redeemed by justice,
and those in her who repent, by righteousness.
²⁸But rebels and sinners shall be broken together,
and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed.

New Testament Reading 1 Peter 1:1–12

¹Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, ²according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:

May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, ⁵who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, ⁷so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. ⁸Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, ⁹obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

¹⁰Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, ¹¹inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. ¹²It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.