Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

69 ^1-2 Save me, O my God. The floods have risen. Deeper and deeper I sink in the mire; the waters rise around me. ³ I have wept until I am exhausted; my throat is dry and hoarse; my eyes are swollen with weeping, waiting for my God to act. ⁴ I cannot even count all those who hate me without cause. They are influential men, these who plot to kill me though I am innocent. They demand that I be punished for what I didn’t do.

⁵ O God, you know so well how stupid I am, and you know all my sins.

³⁰ Then I will praise God with my singing! My thanks will be his praise— ³¹ that will please him more than sacrificing a bullock or an ox. ³² The humble shall see their God at work for them. No wonder they will be so glad! All who seek for God shall live in joy. ³³ For Jehovah hears the cries of his needy ones and does not look the other way.

³⁴ Praise him, all heaven and earth! Praise him, all the seas and everything in them! ³⁵ For God will save Jerusalem;^[a] he rebuilds the cities of Judah. His people shall live in them and not be dispossessed. ³⁶ Their children shall inherit the land; all who love his name shall live there safely.

¹⁴ Despised though you are, fear not, O Israel; for I will help you. I am the Lord, your Redeemer; I am the Holy One of Israel. ¹⁵ You shall be a new and sharp-toothed threshing instrument to tear all enemies apart, making chaff of mountains. ¹⁶ You shall toss them in the air; the wind shall blow them all away; whirlwinds shall scatter them. And the joy of the Lord shall fill you full; you shall glory in the God of Israel.

¹⁷ When the poor and needy seek water and there is none, and their tongues are parched from thirst, then I will answer when they cry to me. I, Israel’s God, will never forsake them. ¹⁸ I will open up rivers for them on high plateaus! I will give them fountains of water in the valleys! In the deserts will be pools of water, and rivers fed by springs shall flow across the dry, parched ground. ¹⁹ I will plant trees—cedars, myrtle, olive trees, cypress, fir, and pine—on barren land. ²⁰ Everyone will see this miracle and understand that it is God who did it, Israel’s Holy One.

²⁹ The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! There is the Lamb of God who takes away the world’s sin! ³⁰ He is the one I was talking about when I said, ‘Soon a man far greater than I am is coming, who existed long before me!’ ³¹ I didn’t know he was the one, but I am here baptizing with water in order to point him out to the nation of Israel.”

³² Then John told about seeing the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove descending from heaven and resting upon Jesus.

³³ “I didn’t know he was the one,” John said again, “but at the time God sent me to baptize he told me, ‘When you see the Holy Spirit descending and resting upon someone—he is the one you are looking for. He is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴ I saw it happen to this man, and I therefore testify that he is the Son of God.”