Daily Reading for Saturday, March 23rd, 2024

Reading 1, Ezekiel 37:21-28

²¹ say, "The Lord Yahweh says this: I shall take the Israelites from the nations where they have gone. I shall gather them to- gether from everywhere and bring them home to their own soil.

²² I shall make them into one nation in the country, on the mountains of Israel, and one king is to be king of them all; they will no longer form two nations, nor be two separate kingdoms.

²³ They will no longer defile themselves with their foul idols, their horrors and any of their crimes. I shall save them from the acts of infidelity which they have committed and shall cleanse them; they will be my people and I shall be their God.

²⁴ My servant David will reign over them, one shepherd for all; they will follow my judgements, respect my laws and practise them.

²⁵ They will live in the country which I gave to my servant Jacob, the country in which your ancestors lived. They will live in it, they, their children, their children's children, for ever. David my servant is to be their prince for ever.

²⁶ I shall make a covenant of peace with them, an eternal covenant with them. I shall resettle them and make them grow; I shall set my sanctuary among them for ever.

²⁷ I shall make my home above them; I shall be their God, and they will be my people.

²⁸ And the nations will know that I am Yahweh the sanctifier of Israel, when my sanctuary is with them for ever." '

Responsorial Psalm, Jeremiah 31:10, 11-12, 13

¹⁰ Listen, nations, to the word of Yahweh. On the farthest coasts and islands proclaim it, say, 'He who scattered Israel is gathering him, will guard him as a shepherd guarding his flock.'

¹¹ For Yahweh has ransomed Jacob, rescued him from a hand stronger than his own.

¹² They will come, shouting for joy on the heights of Zion, thronging towards Yahweh's lavish gifts, for wheat, new wine and oil, sheep and cattle; they will be like a well-watered garden, they will sorrow no more.

¹³ The young girl will then take pleasure in the dance, and young men and old alike; I shall change their mourning into gladness, comfort them, give them joy after their troubles;

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