Psalm 96^(A)

⁷ Dear friends,^(A) I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning.^(B) This old command is the message you have heard. ⁸ Yet I am writing you a new command;^(C) its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing^(D) and the true light^(E) is already shining.^(F)

⁹ Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister^[a](G) is still in the darkness.^{(H) 10} Anyone who loves their brother and sister^[b] lives in the light,^(I) and there is nothing in them to make them stumble.^{(J) 11} But anyone who hates a brother or sister^(K) is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness.^(L) They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.^(M)

Jesus Presented in the Temple

²² When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses,^(A) Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord ²³ (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”^[a]),^{(B) 24} and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”^[b](C)

²⁵ Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout.^(D) He was waiting for the consolation of Israel,^(E) and the Holy Spirit was on him. ²⁶ It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. ²⁷ Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required,^{(F) 28} Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:

³³ The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. ³⁴ Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother:^(K) “This child is destined to cause the falling^(L) and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, ³⁵ so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”