Isaiah 64:1-9
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
64 O that you would tear open the heavens and come down,
so that the mountains would quake at your presence—(A)
2 [a]as when fire kindles brushwood
and the fire causes water to boil—
to make your name known to your adversaries,
so that the nations might tremble at your presence!(B)
3 When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect,
you came down; the mountains quaked at your presence.(C)
4 From ages past no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who works for those who wait for him.(D)
5 You meet those who gladly do right,
those who remember you in your ways.
But you were angry, and we sinned;
because you hid yourself we transgressed.[b](E)
6 We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth.
We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.(F)
7 There is no one who calls on your name
or attempts to take hold of you,
for you have hidden your face from us
and have delivered[c] us into the hand of our iniquity.(G)
8 Yet, O Lord, you are our Father;
we are the clay, and you are our potter;
we are all the work of your hand.(H)
9 Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord,
and do not remember iniquity forever.
Now consider, we are all your people.(I)
Luke 1:25-46
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
25 “This is what the Lord has done for me in this time, when he looked favorably on me and took away the disgrace I have endured among my people.”(A)
The Birth of Jesus Foretold
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth,(B) 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.(C) 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”[a](D) 29 But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30 The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus.(E) 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David.(F) 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”(G) 34 Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”[b] 35 The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born[c] will be holy; he will be called Son of God.(H) 36 And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.”(I) 38 Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
Mary Visits Elizabeth
39 In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, 40 where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42 and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.(J) 43 And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me?(K) 44 For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be[d] a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”
Mary’s Song of Praise
46 And Mary[e] said,
“My soul magnifies the Lord,(L)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.