First Sunday of Advent

For thou art our father, and Abraham hath not known us, and Israel hath been ignorant of us: thou, O Lord, art our father, our redeemer, from everlasting is thy name. ¹⁷Why hast thou made us to err, O Lord, from thy ways: why hast thou hardened our heart, that we should not fear thee? return for the sake of thy servants, the tribes of thy inheritance. ¹They would melt as at the burning of fire, the waters would burn with fire, that thy name might be made known to thy enemies: that the nations might tremble at thy presence. ²When thou shalt do wonderful things, we shall not bear them: thou didst come down, and at thy presence the mountains melted away. ³From the beginning of the world they have not heard, nor perceived with the ears: the eye hath not seen, O God, besides thee, what things thou hast prepared for them that wait for thee. ⁴Thou hast met him that rejoiceth, and doth justice: in thy ways they shall remember thee: behold thou art angry, and we have sinned: in them we have been always, and we shall be saved. ⁵And we are all become as one unclean, and all our justices as the rag of a menstruous woman: and we have all fallen as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. ⁶There is none that calleth upon thy name: that riseth up, and taketh hold of thee: thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast crushed us in the hand of our iniquity. ⁷And now, O Lord, thou art our father, and we are clay: and thou art our maker, and we all are the works of thy hands.

²Give ear, O thou that rulest Israel: thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep. Thou that sittest upon the cherubims, shine forth ³Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasses. Stir up thy might, and come to save us. ¹⁵Turn again, O God of hosts, look down from heaven, and see, and visit this vineyard: ¹⁶And perfect the same which thy right hand hath planted: and upon the son of man whom thou hast confirmed for thyself. ¹⁸Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand: and upon the son of man whom thou hast confirmed for thyself. ¹⁹And we depart not from thee, thou shalt quicken us: and we will call upon thy name.

℟ Convert us, O God: and shew us thy face, and we shall be saved.

Grace to you, and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. ⁴I give thanks to my God always for you, for the grace of God that is given you in Christ Jesus, ⁵That in all things you are made rich in him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge; ⁶As the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, ⁷So that nothing is wanting to you in any grace, waiting for the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁸Who also will confirm you unto the end without crime, in the day of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹God is faithful: by whom you are called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

Take ye heed, watch and pray. For ye know not when the time is. ³⁴Even as a man who going into a far country, left his house; and gave authority to his servants over every work, and commanded the porter to watch. ³⁵Watch ye therefore, (for you know not when the lord of the house cometh: at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning,) ³⁶Lest coming on a sudden, he find you sleeping. ³⁷And what I say to you, I say to all: Watch.