Zephaniah 3:14-20

English Standard Version

Israel's Joy and Restoration

¹⁴^(A)Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion;
    shout, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart,
    O daughter of Jerusalem!
¹⁵The Lord has taken away the judgments against you;
    he has cleared away your enemies.
^(B)The King of Israel, ^(C)the Lord, is in your midst;
    you shall never again fear evil.
¹⁶^(D)On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:
“Fear not, O Zion;
    ^(E)let not your hands grow weak.
¹⁷^(F)The Lord your God is in your midst,
    ^(G)a mighty one who will save;
^(H)he will rejoice over you with gladness;
    he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.
¹⁸I will gather those of you who mourn ^(I)for the festival,
    so that you will no longer suffer reproach.^[a]
¹⁹Behold, at that time ^(J)I will deal
    with all your oppressors.
And ^(K)I will save the lame
    and gather the outcast,
and I will change ^(L)their shame into ^(M)praise
    and renown in all the earth.
²⁰^(N)At that time I will bring you in,
    at the time when I gather you together;
for I will make you renowned and praised
    among all the peoples of the earth,
^(O)when I restore your fortunes
    before your eyes,” says the Lord.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

Zephaniah 3:18 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain

Psalm 85

English Standard Version

Revive Us Again

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of ^(A)the Sons of Korah.

85 Lord, you were ^(B)favorable to your land;
    you ^(C)restored the fortunes of Jacob.
²You ^(D)forgave the iniquity of your people;
    you ^(E)covered all their sin. Selah
³You withdrew all your wrath;
    you ^(F)turned from your hot anger.

⁴^(G)Restore us again, O God of our salvation,
    and put away your indignation toward us!
⁵^(H)Will you be angry with us forever?
    Will you prolong your anger to all generations?
⁶Will you not ^(I)revive us again,
    that your people may ^(J)rejoice in you?
⁷Show us your steadfast love, O Lord,
    and grant us your salvation.

⁸^(K)Let me hear what God the Lord will speak,
    for he will ^(L)speak peace to his people, to his ^(M)saints;
    but let them not ^(N)turn back to ^(O)folly.
⁹Surely his ^(P)salvation is near to those who fear him,
    that ^(Q)glory may dwell in our land.

¹⁰^(R)Steadfast love and faithfulness meet;
    ^(S)righteousness and peace kiss each other.
¹¹Faithfulness springs up from the ground,
    and righteousness looks down from the sky.
¹²Yes, ^(T)the Lord will give what is good,
    and our land ^(U)will yield its increase.
¹³^(V)Righteousness will go before him
    and make his footsteps a way.

Philippians 4:4-9

English Standard Version

⁴^(A)Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. ⁵Let your reasonableness^[a] be known to everyone. ^(B)The Lord is at hand; ⁶^(C)do not be anxious about anything, ^(D)but in everything by prayer and supplication ^(E)with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷And ^(F)the peace of God, ^(G)which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

⁸Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. ⁹What you have learned^[b] and ^(H)received and heard and seen ^(I)in me—practice these things, and ^(J)the God of peace will be with you.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

Philippians 4:5 Or gentleness
Philippians 4:9 Or these things—⁹which things you have also learned

Luke 3:7-20

English Standard Version

⁷He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, ^(A)“You brood of ^(B)vipers! Who warned you to flee from ^(C)the wrath to come? ⁸Bear fruits ^(D)in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ^(E)‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from ^(F)these stones to raise up children for Abraham. ⁹Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. ^(G)Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

¹⁰And the crowds asked him, ^(H)“What then shall we do?” ¹¹And he answered them, ^(I)“Whoever has two tunics^[a] is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” ¹²^(J)Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, ^(K)what shall we do?” ¹³And he said to them, ^(L)“Collect no more than you are authorized to do.” ¹⁴Soldiers also asked him, “And we, ^(M)what shall we do?” And he said to them, ^(N)“Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your ^(O)wages.”

¹⁵As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, ^(P)whether he might be ^(Q)the Christ, ¹⁶^(R)John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but ^(S)he who is mightier than I is coming, ^(T)the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you ^(U)with the Holy Spirit and ^(V)fire. ¹⁷His ^(W)winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to ^(X)gather the wheat into his barn, ^(Y)but the chaff he will burn with ^(Z)unquenchable fire.”

¹⁸So ^(AA)with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people. ¹⁹But ^(AB)Herod the tetrarch, who had been reproved by him for Herodias, his brother's wife, and for all the evil things that Herod had done, ²⁰added this to them all, that ^(AC)he locked up John in prison.