Evening Prayer

Wednesday after the Baptism of Our Lord
Wednesday, January 14, 2026

The Invitatory and Psalter

O God, make speed to save us.

O Lord, make haste to help us.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:

as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

Alleluia.

O Gracious Light Phos hilaron

O gracious light,

pure brightness of the everliving Father in heaven,

O Jesus Christ, holy and blessed!

Now as we come to the setting of the sun,

and our eyes behold the vesper light,

we sing your praises, O God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

You are worthy at all times to be praised by happy voices,

O Son of God, O Giver of Life,

and to be glorified through all the worlds.

Psalm 89:5–37 Confitebuntur caeli

The heavens bear witness to your wonders, O Lord, *

and to your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones;

For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord? *

who is like the Lord among the gods?

God is much to be feared in the council of the holy ones, *

great and terrible to all those round about him.

Who is like you, Lord God of hosts? *

O mighty Lord, your faithfulness is all around you.

You rule the raging of the sea *

and still the surging of its waves.

You have crushed Rahab of the deep with a deadly wound; *

you have scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.

Yours are the heavens; the earth also is yours; *

you laid the foundations of the world and all that is in it.

You have made the north and the south; *

Tabor and Hermon rejoice in your Name.

You have a mighty arm; *

strong is your hand and high is your right hand.

Righteousness and justice are the foundations of your throne; *

love and truth go before your face.

Happy are the people who know the festal shout! *

they walk, O Lord, in the light of your presence.

They rejoice daily in your Name; *

they are jubilant in your righteousness.

For you are the glory of their strength, *

and by your favor our might is exalted.

Truly, the Lord is our ruler; *

The Holy One of Israel is our King.

You spoke once in vision and said to your faithful people: *

“I have set the crown upon a warrior

and have exalted one chosen out of the people.

I have found David my servant; *

with my holy oil have I anointed him.

My hand will hold him fast *

and my arm will make him strong.

No enemy shall deceive him, *

nor any wicked man bring him down.

I will crush his foes before him *

and strike down those who hate him.

My faithfulness and love shall be with him, *

and he shall be victorious through my Name.

I shall make his dominion extend *

from the Great Sea to the River.

He will say to me, ‘You are my Father, *

my God, and the rock of my salvation.’

I will make him my firstborn *

and higher than the kings of the earth.

I will keep my love for him for ever, *

and my covenant will stand firm for him.

I will establish his line for ever *

and his throne as the days of heaven.”

“If his children forsake my law *

and do not walk according to my judgments;

If they break my statutes *

and do not keep my commandments;

I will punish their transgressions with a rod *

and their iniquities with the lash;

But I will not take my love from him, *

nor let my faithfulness prove false.

I will not break my covenant, *

nor change what has gone out of my lips.

Once for all I have sworn by my holiness: *

‘I will not lie to David.

His line shall endure for ever *

and his throne as the sun before me;

It shall stand fast for evermore like the moon, *

the abiding witness in the sky.’”

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit:

as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen.

The Lessons

First Lesson Isaiah 51:1–16 (NRSV)

¹Listen to me, you that pursue righteousness,

you that seek the Lord.

Look to the rock from which you were hewn,

and to the quarry from which you were dug.

²Look to Abraham your father

and to Sarah who bore you;

for he was but one when I called him,

but I blessed him and made him many.

³For the Lord will comfort Zion;

he will comfort all her waste places,

and will make her wilderness like Eden,

her desert like the garden of the Lord;

joy and gladness will be found in her,

thanksgiving and the voice of song.

⁴Listen to me, my people,

and give heed to me, my nation;

for a teaching will go out from me,

and my justice for a light to the peoples.

⁵I will bring near my deliverance swiftly,

my salvation has gone out

and my arms will rule the peoples;

the coastlands wait for me,

and for my arm they hope.

⁶Lift up your eyes to the heavens,

and look at the earth beneath;

for the heavens will vanish like smoke,

the earth will wear out like a garment,

and those who live on it will die like gnats;

but my salvation will be forever,

and my deliverance will never be ended.

⁷Listen to me, you who know righteousness,

you people who have my teaching in your hearts;

do not fear the reproach of others,

and do not be dismayed when they revile you.

⁸For the moth will eat them up like a garment,

and the worm will eat them like wool;

but my deliverance will be forever,

and my salvation to all generations.

⁹Awake, awake, put on strength,

O arm of the Lord!

Awake, as in days of old,

the generations of long ago!

Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces,

who pierced the dragon?

¹⁰Was it not you who dried up the sea,

the waters of the great deep;

who made the depths of the sea a way

for the redeemed to cross over?

¹¹So the ransomed of the Lord shall return,

and come to Zion with singing;

everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;

they shall obtain joy and gladness,

and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

¹²I, I am he who comforts you;

why then are you afraid of a mere mortal who must die,

a human being who fades like grass?

¹³You have forgotten the Lord, your Maker,

who stretched out the heavens

and laid the foundations of the earth.

You fear continually all day long

because of the fury of the oppressor,

who is bent on destruction.

But where is the fury of the oppressor?

¹⁴The oppressed shall speedily be released;

they shall not die and go down to the Pit,

nor shall they lack bread.

¹⁵For I am the Lord your God,

who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—

the Lord of hosts is his name.

¹⁶I have put my words in your mouth,

and hidden you in the shadow of my hand,

stretching out the heavens

and laying the foundations of the earth,

and saying to Zion, “You are my people.”

The Word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.