Scripture Readings for the Second Week of Advent

Advent wreath with 2 burning candles
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If the First Week of Advent serves as a call to repentance, to "cease doing evil, and to learn to do good," then the Second Week of Advent reminds us that living an upright life alone is not enough. We must submit ourselves in humility to the will of God.

In the Scripture Reading for the Second Sunday in Advent, the Lord calls His children -- the inhabitants of Jerusalem -- to return to him. Freed from sin, they must nevertheless mourn their past sins, but because of their spiritual pride (one of the seven deadly sins), they refuse. Instead, while they should be preparing their souls for the coming of their Savior, they celebrate, and God vows to humble them.

Prepare for the Coming of Christ

It is a sobering message during this "holiday season" that we know as Advent. The world around us, even though it has long ago abandoned belief in Christ, still makes merry every December, and we are not only tempted but often compelled to join in. It would be rude to refuse the invitations of friends and coworkers to Christmas parties held during Advent, but in joining in the festivities, we need to remember always the reason for this season -- Advent -- which is to prepare ourselves not only for the coming of Christ at Christmas but for His Second Coming at the end of time.

From the First Coming to the Second

As the Scripture Readings for the Second Week of Advent continue, Isaiah's prophecies move from Christ's first coming to His second. In the same way, as we draw nearer to Christmas, our thoughts should rise from the manger in Bethlehem to the Son of Man descending in glory. There is no better cure for spiritual pride than the remembrance that, one day when we least expect it, Christ will return, to judge the living and the dead.

These readings for each day of the Second Week of Advent come from the Office of the Readings, part of the Liturgy of the Hours, the official prayer of the Church.

01
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Scripture Reading for the Second Sunday of Advent

The Proud Shall Be Humbled

As we enter the second week of Advent, we continue reading from the book of the Prophet Isaiah. In today's selection, the Lord calls on the inhabitants of Jerusalem -- those who have been saved -- to mourn for their past sins, yet they continue to celebrate. They aren't thankful to God for saving them, and thus the Lord vows to humble them.

Their situation is what we find ourselves in today. Advent is a penitential season -- a season of prayer and fasting -- yet we tend to begin our Christmas celebration early, instead of using the season to take stock of our past failings and to resolve to do better in the future.


Isaiah 22:8b-23
And the covering of Juda shall be discovered, and thou shalt see in that day the armoury of the house of the forest. And you shall see the breaches of the city of David, that they are many: and you have gathered together the waters of the lower pool, and have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and broken down houses to fortify the wall. And you made a ditch between the two walls for the water of the old pool: and you have not looked up to the maker thereof, nor regarded him even at a distance, that wrought it long ago.
And the Lord, the God of hosts, in that day shall call to weeping, and to mourning, to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth: And behold joy and gladness, killing calves, and slaying rams, eating flesh, and drinking wine: Let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die. And the voice of the Lord of hosts was revealed in my ears: Surely this iniquity shall not be forgiven you till you die, saith the Lord God of hosts.
Thus saith the Lord God of hosts: Go, get thee in to him that dwelleth in the tabernacle, to Sobna who is over the temple: and thou shalt say to him: What dost thou here, or as if thou wert somebody here? for thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here, thou hast hewed out a monument carefully in a high place, a dwelling for thyself in a rock.
Behold the Lord will cause thee to be carried away, as a cock is carried away, and he will lift thee up as a garment. He will crown thee with a crown of tribulation, he will toss thee like a ball into a large and spacious country: there shalt thou die, and there shall the chariot of thy glory be, the shame of the house of thy Lord.
And I will drive thee out From thy station, and depose thee from thy ministry. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliacim the son of Helcias, and I will clothe him with thy robe, and will strengthen him with thy girdle, and will give thy power into his hand: and he shall be as a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Juda.
And I will lay the key of the house of David upon his shoulder: and he shall open, and none shall shut: and he shall shut, and none shall open. And I will fasten him as a peg in a sure place, and he shall be for a throne of glory to the house of his father.
02
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Scripture Reading for Monday of the Second Week of Advent

The Lord's Ways Are Not Our Own

True repentance means conforming ourselves to the way of the Lord. In this reading for the second Monday of Advent from the Prophet Isaiah, we see the Lord overturning all of human society, because of the sins and transgressions of the people. To be pleasing in the eyes of the Lord, we must humble ourselves.

Isaiah 24:1-18 


Behold the Lord shall lay waste the earth, and shall strip it, and shall afflict the face thereof, and scatter abroad the inhabitants thereof. And it shall be as with the people, so with the priest: and as with the servant, so with his master: as with the handmaid, so with her mistress: as with the buyer, so with the seller: as with the lender, so with the borrower: as with him that calleth for his money, so with him that oweth. With desolation shall the earth be laid waste, and it shall be utterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this word.
The earth mourned, and faded away, and is weakened: the world faded away, the height of the people of the earth is weakened. And the earth is infected by the inhabitants thereof: because they have transgressed the laws, they have changed the ordinance, they have broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore shall a curse devour the earth, and the inhabitants thereof shall sin: and therefore they that dwell therein shall be mad, and few men shall be left.
The vintage hath mourned, the vine hath languished away, all the merryhearted have sighed. The mirth of timbrels hath ceased, the noise of them that rejoice is ended, the melody of the harp is silent. They shall not drink wine with a song: the drink shall be bitter to them that drink it.
The city of vanity is broken down, every house is shut up, no man cometh in. There shall be a crying for wine in the streets: all mirth is forsaken: the joy of the earth is gone away. Desolation is left in the city, and calamity shall oppress the gates. For it shall be thus in the midst of the earth, in the midst of the people, as if a few olives, that remain, should be shaken out of the olive tree: or grapes, when the vintage is ended.
These shall lift up their voice, and shall give praise: when the Lord shall be glorified, they shall make a joyful noise from the sea. Therefore glorify ye the Lord in instruction: the name of the Lord God of Israel in the islands of the sea. From the ends of the earth we have heard praises, the glory of the just one.
And I said: My secret to myself, my secret to myself, woe is me: the prevaricators have prevaricated, and with the prevarication of transgressors they have prevaricated. Fear, and the pit, and the snare are upon thee, O thou inhabitant of the earth. And it shall come to pass, that he that shall flee from the noise of the fear, shall fall into the pit: and he that shall rid himself out of the pit, shall be taken in the snare: for the flood-gates from on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth shall be shaken.
03
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Scripture Reading for Tuesday of the Second Week of Advent

The Final Judgment and the Coming of the Kingdom

Isaiah prophesied not only about the coming of Christ as a child in Bethlehem, but about the final reign of Christ as King over all the earth. In this selection for the second Tuesday of Advent, Isaiah tells us of the final judgment.

Isaiah 24:19-25:5 


With breaking shall the earth be broken, with crushing shall the earth be crushed, with trembling shall the earth be moved. With shaking shall the earth be shaken as a drunken man, and shall be removed as the tent of one night: and the iniquity thereof shall be heavy upon it, and it shall fell, and not rise again.
And it shall come to pass, that in that day the Lord shall visit upon the host of heaven on high, and upon the kings of the earth, on the earth. And they shall be gathered together as in the gathering of one bundle into the pit, and they shall be shut up there in prison: and after many days they shall be visited. Then the moon shall blush, and the sun shall be ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Sion, and in Jerusalem, and shall be glorified in the sight of his ancients.
O LORD, thou art my God, I will exalt thee, and give glory to thy name: for thou hast done wonderful things, thy designs of old faithful, amen. For thou hast reduced the city to a heap, the strong city to ruin, the house of strangers, to be no city, and to be no more built up for ever.
Therefore shall a strong people praise thee, the city of mighty nations shall fear thee. Because thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress: a refuge from the whirlwind, a shadow from the heat. For the blast of the mighty is like a whirlwind beating against a wall. Thou shalt bring down the tumult of strangers, as heat in thirst: and as with heat under a burning cloud, thou shalt make the branch of the mighty to wither away.
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Scripture Reading for Wednesday of the Second Week of Advent

Prest With Lectionary
A priest with a lectionary. undefined

The Lord Reigns Over All the Earth

Yesterday, we read of the final judgment of God on the actions of men; today, in the reading for the second Wednesday of Advent, we hear the promise of Christ's reign over all the nations. The earth will be remade; death shall be destroyed; and men shall live in peace. The humble and the poor will be exalted, but the haughty will be humbled.

Isaiah 25:6-26:6 


And the Lord of hosts shall make unto all people in this mountain, a feast of fat things, a feast of wine, of fat things full of marrow, of wine purified from the lees. And he shall destroy in this mountain the face of the bond with which all pie were tied, and the web that he over all nations. He shall cast death down headlong forever: and the Lord God shall wipe away tears from every face, and the reproach of his people he shall take away from off the whole earth: for the Lord hath spoken it.
And they shall say in that day: Lo, this is our God, we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord, we have patiently waited for him, we shall rejoice and be joyful in his salvation. For the hand of the Lord shall rest in this mountain: and Moab shall be trodden down under him, as straw is broken in pieces with the wain. And he shall stretch forth his hands under him, as he that swimmeth stretcheth forth his hands to swim: and he shall bring down his glory with the dashing of his hands. And the bulwarks of thy high walls shall fall, and be brought low, and shall be pulled down to the ground, even to the dust.
In that day shall this canticle be sung the land of Juda. Sion the city of our strength a saviour, a wall and a bulwark shall be set therein. Open ye the gates, and let the just nation, that keepeth the truth, enter in. The old error is passed away: thou wilt keep peace: peace, because we have hoped in thee.
You have hoped in the Lord for evermore, in the Lord God mighty for ever. For he shall bring down them that dwell on high, the high city he shall lay low. He shall bring it down even to the ground, he shall pull it down even to the dust. The foot shall tread it down, the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy.
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Scripture Reading for Thursday of the Second Week of Advent

Old Bible in Latin
Old Bible in Latin. Myron/Getty Images

The Just Await the Judgment of the Lord

Earlier in the second week of Advent, Isaiah has shown us the judgment of the Lord, and the establishment of His reign on earth. On the second Thursday of Advent, we hear from the just man, who does not fear the justice of the Lord or complain about his own punishment, but looks forward, as we say in the Apostles' Creed, to the resurrection from the dead.


Isaiah 26:7-21
The way of the just is right, the path of the just is right to walk in. And in the way of thy judgments, O Lord, we have patiently waited for thee: thy name, and thy remembrance are the desire of the soul.
My soul hath desired thee in the night: yea, and with my spirit within me in the morning early I will watch to thee. When thou shalt do thy judgments on the earth, the inhabitants of the world shall learn justice.
Let us have pity on the wicked, but he will not learn justice: in the land of the saints he hath done wicked things, and he shall not see the glory of the Lord.
Lord, let thy hand be exalted, and let them not see: let the envious people see, and be confounded: and let fire devour thy enemies.
Lord, thou wilt give us peace: for thou hast wrought all our works for us. O Lord our God, other lords besides thee have had dominion over us, only in thee let us remember thy name.
Let not the dead live, let not the giants rise again: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and best destroyed all their memory.
Thou hast been favourable to the nation, O Lord, thou hast been favourable to the nation: art thou glorified? thou hast removed all the ends of the earth far off.
Lord, they have sought after thee in distress, in the tribulation of murmuring thy instruction was with them. As a woman with child, when she draweth near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and crieth out in her pangs: so are we become in thy presence, O Lord.
We have conceived, and been as it were in labour, and have brought forth wind: we have not wrought salvation on the earth, therefore the inhabitants of the earth have not fallen.
Thy dead men shall live, my slain shall rise again: awake, and give praise, ye that dwell in the dust: for thy dew is the dew of the light: and the land of the giants thou shalt pull down into ruin.
Go, my people, enter into thy chambers, shut thy doors upon thee, hide thyself a little for a moment, until the indignation pass away.
For behold the Lord will come out of his place, to visit the iniquity of the inhabitant of the earth against him: and the earth shall disclose her blood, and shall cover her slain no more.
06
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Scripture Reading for Friday of the Second Week of Advent

Old Bible in English
Old Bible in English. Godong/Getty Images

Restoring the Vineyard

The Lord, Isaiah prophesied, would destroy the vineyard -- the house of Israel -- because His Chosen People had abandoned Him. In this reading for the second Friday of Advent, however, the Lord restores the vineyard and gathers the just to worship Him in Jerusalem, the symbol of Heaven. The "children of Israel" are now all the faithful.

Isaiah 27:1-13 


In that day the Lord with his hard, and great, and strong sword shall visit leviathan the bar serpent, and leviathan the crooked serpent, and shall slay the whale that is in the sea.
In that day there shall be singing to the vineyard of pure wine. I am the Lord that keep it, I will suddenly give it drink: lest any hurt come to it, I keep it night and day.
There is no indignation in me: who shall make me a thorn and a brier in battle: shall march against it, shall I set it on fire together? Or rather shall it take hold of my strength, shall it make peace with me, shall it make peace with me?
When they shall rush in unto Jacob, Israel shall blossom and bud, and they shall fill the face of the world with seed. Hath he struck him according to the stroke of him that struck him? or is he slain, as he killed them that were slain by him? In measure against measure, when it shall be cast off, thou shalt judge it. He hath meditated with his severe spirit in the day of heat.
Therefore upon this shall the iniquity of the house of Jacob be forgiven: and this is all the fruit, that the sin thereof should be taken away, when he shall have made all the stones of the altar, as burnt stones broken in pieces, the groves and temples shall not stand. For the strong city shall be desolate, the beautiful city shall be forsaken, and shall be left as a wilderness : there the calf shall feed, and there shall he lie down, and shall consume its branches. Its harvest shall be destroyed with drought, women shall come and teach it: for it is not a wise people, therefore he that made it, shall not have mercy on it: and he that formed it, shall not spare it.
And it shall come to pass, that in that day the Lord will strike from the channel of the river even to the torrent of Egypt, and you shall be gathered together one by one, O ye children of Israel.
And it shall come to pass, that in that day a noise shall be made with a great trumpet, and they that were lost, shall come from the land of the Assyrians, and they that were outcasts in the land of Egypt, and they shall adore the Lord in the holy mount in Jerusalem.
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Scripture Reading for Saturday of the Second Week of Advent

St. Chad Gospels at Lichfield Cathedral
St. Chad Gospels at Lichfield Cathedral. Philip Game/Getty Images

The Judgment of Jerusalem

As the second week of Advent draws to a close, Isaiah once again prophesies the Lord's judgment upon Jerusalem. In this reading for the second Saturday of Advent, we see that His judgment will be swift and overwhelming, like a horde of nations descending in war.

If we have prepared ourselves properly, however, we do not have to fear, because the Lord will deal justly with the just.

Isaiah 29:1-8


Woe to Ariel, to Ariel the city which David took: year is added to year: the solemnities are at an end. And I will make a trench about Ariel, and it shall be in sorrow and mourning, and it shall be to me as Ariel. And I will make a circle round about thee, and will cast up a rampart against thee, and raise up bulwarks to besiege thee.
Thou shalt be brought down, thou shalt speak out of the earth, and thy speech shall be heard out of the ground: and thy voice shall be from the earth like that of the python, and out of the ground thy speech shall mutter. And the multitude of them that fan thee, shall be like small dust: and as ashes passing away, the multitude of them that have prevailed against thee.
And it shall be at an instant suddenly. A visitation shall come from the Lord of hosts in thunder, and with earthquake, and with a great noise of whirlwind and tempest, and with the flame of devouring fire. And the multitude of all nations that have fought against Ariel, shall be as the dream of a vision by night, and all that have fought, and besieged and prevailed against it. And as he that is hungry dreameth, and eateth, but when he is awake, his soul is empty: and as he that is thirsty dreameth, and drinketh, and after he is awake, is yet faint with thirst, and his soul is empty: so shall be the multitude of all the Gentiles, that have fought against mount Sion.

Source

Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition of the Bible (in the public domain)

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Richert, Scott P. "Scripture Readings for the Second Week of Advent." Learn Religions, Feb. 8, 2021, learnreligions.com/scripture-readings-second-week-advent-4117450. Richert, Scott P. (2021, February 8). Scripture Readings for the Second Week of Advent. Retrieved from https://www.learnreligions.com/scripture-readings-second-week-advent-4117450 Richert, Scott P. "Scripture Readings for the Second Week of Advent." Learn Religions. https://www.learnreligions.com/scripture-readings-second-week-advent-4117450 (accessed March 19, 2024).