Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
113 Praise Yah!
Praise, you servants of Yahweh,
praise Yahweh’s name.
2 Blessed be Yahweh’s name,
from this time forward and forever more.
3 From the rising of the sun to its going down,
Yahweh’s name is to be praised.
4 Yahweh is high above all nations,
his glory above the heavens.
5 Who is like Yahweh, our God,
who has his seat on high,
6 who stoops down to see in heaven and in the earth?
7 He raises up the poor out of the dust,
and lifts up the needy from the ash heap,
8 that he may set him with princes,
even with the princes of his people.
9 He settles the barren woman in her home
as a joyful mother of children.
Praise Yah!
14 “I have been silent a long time.
I have been quiet and restrained myself.
Now I will cry out like a travailing woman. I will both gasp and pant.
15 I will destroy mountains and hills,
and dry up all their herbs.
I will make the rivers islands,
and will dry up the pools.
16 I will bring the blind by a way that they don’t know.
I will lead them in paths that they don’t know.
I will make darkness light before them,
and crooked places straight.
I will do these things,
and I will not forsake them.
17 “Those who trust in engraved images,
who tell molten images,
‘You are our gods,’
will be turned back.
They will be utterly disappointed.
18 “Hear, you deaf,
and look, you blind,
that you may see.
19 Who is blind, but my servant?
Or who is as deaf as my messenger whom I send?
Who is as blind as he who is at peace,
and as blind as Yahweh’s servant?
20 You see many things, but don’t observe.
His ears are open, but he doesn’t listen.
21 It pleased Yahweh, for his righteousness’ sake, to magnify the law
and make it honorable.
5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the priestly division of Abijah. He had a wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6 They were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord. 7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they both were well advanced in years.
8 Now while he executed the priest’s office before God in the order of his division 9 according to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to enter into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 The whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense.
11 An angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing on the right side of the altar of incense. 12 Zacharias was troubled when he saw him, and fear fell upon him. 13 But the angel said to him, “Don’t be afraid, Zacharias, because your request has been heard. Your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. 14 You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. 15 For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he will drink no wine nor strong drink. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. 16 He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’(A) and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to prepare a people prepared for the Lord.”
18 Zacharias said to the angel, “How can I be sure of this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.”
19 The angel answered him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God. I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. 20 Behold,[a] you will be silent and not able to speak until the day that these things will happen, because you didn’t believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time.”
21 The people were waiting for Zacharias, and they marveled that he delayed in the temple. 22 When he came out, he could not speak to them. They perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple. He continued making signs to them, and remained mute. 23 When the days of his service were fulfilled, he departed to his house. 24 After these days Elizabeth his wife conceived, and she hid herself five months, saying, 25 “Thus has the Lord done to me in the days in which he looked at me, to take away my reproach among men.”
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