Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Mary’s Song
46 Then Mary said,
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
47 and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior,
48 because he has looked with favor on the humble state of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed,
49 because the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is
his name.
50 His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with his arm.
He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones.
He has lifted up the lowly.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things, but the rich he has sent
away empty.
54 He has come to the aid of his servant Israel, remembering his mercy,
55 as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his offspring[a] forever.
19 They got up early in the morning and worshipped the Lord. They then returned to their home at Ramah.
Elkanah was intimate with Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. 20 So Hannah conceived and gave birth to a son. She named him Samuel[a] because she said, “I asked for him from the Lord.”
21 When this man Elkanah and his entire household went up to offer the annual sacrifice to the Lord and to fulfill his vow, 22 Hannah did not go up with them, because she said to her husband, “Not until the child is weaned. Then I will bring him, so that he can appear before the Lord and remain there permanently.”
23 Her husband Elkanah said to her, “Do whatever you think is best. Wait until you have weaned him. Yes, then the Lord will establish his word.”
So the woman stayed at home, and she nursed her son until she was ready to wean him. 24 When she had weaned him, she took him up with her. She also took a three-year-old bull,[b] twenty-five pounds[c] of flour, and a container of wine, and she brought him to the House of the Lord in Shiloh. The boy was ⎣with them. And they brought him before the Lord, and his father killed the sacrifice as he regularly did before the Lord, and he brought⎦ the boy.[d] 25 When they had killed the bull, they presented the child to Eli. 26 She said, “Excuse me, my lord. As your soul lives,[e] my lord, I am the woman who stood here next to you, praying to the Lord. 27 I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked for. 28 So now I have also dedicated him to the Lord. As long as he lives, he is dedicated to the Lord.” So he worshipped the Lord there.
A Better Promise
8 The main point of what we are saying is this: We have the kind of high priest who has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven. 2 He is the minister in the Holy Place, which is the true sanctuary, which the Lord set up, not man. 3 For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices, and for that reason this priest also needed to have something that he offered.
4 If this priest were on earth, he would not even be a priest, because there are priests[a] who are designated by the law to offer gifts. 5 They serve at a place that is a copy and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary, a place exactly like that about which Moses was told when he was about to complete the tent.[b] For God said, “See to it that you make everything according to the pattern shown to you on the mountain.”[c]
6 But now, Jesus has obtained a ministry that is as much superior as the covenant that he mediates is better, because it has been established on the basis of better promises. 7 Indeed, if that first covenant were without fault, there would have been no reason to look for a second. 8 But because God found fault with the people, he said:[d]
Look, the days are coming, says the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah.
9 It will not be like the covenant
that I made with their forefathers
at the time when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt.
Because they did not remember my covenant,
I ignored them, says the Lord.
10 This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord.
I will put my laws into their mind,
and I will write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
11 Never again will a man teach his fellow citizen[e]
or his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,”
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
12 For I will be merciful in regard to their unrighteousness,
and I will not remember their sins any longer.[f]
13 When God said “new,” he made the first covenant obsolete, and something that is obsolete and growing old is going to disappear.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.