Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
8 I will listen to what the LORD God will say. For He will speak peace to His people, and to His saints, so that they do not turn again to folly.
9 Surely, His salvation is near to those who fear Him, so that glory may dwell in our land.
10 Mercy and truth shall meet, righteousness and peace shall kiss.
11 Truth shall bud out of the Earth and righteousness shall look down from Heaven.
12 Indeed, the LORD shall give good things and our land shall give her increase.
13 Righteousness shall go before Him and shall set her steps in the way. A prayer of David
6 “Also, I have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and scarceness of bread in all your places. Yet, you have not returned to Me,” says the LORD.
7 “And also, I have withheld the rain from you, when there were still three months to the harvest. And I caused it to rain upon one city and have not caused it to rain upon another city. One piece was rained upon. And the piece whereupon it did not rain, withered.
8 “So, two or three cities wandered to one city to drink water. But they were not satisfied. Still, you have not returned to Me,” says the LORD.
9 “I have struck you with blight and mildew. Your great gardens and your vineyards, and your fig trees, and your olive trees, the locust devoured. Still, you have not returned to Me,” says the LORD.
10 “I have sent pestilence among you after the manner of Egypt. Your young men I have killed with the sword; and have taken away your horses. And I have made the stink of your tents to come up into your nostrils. Still, you have not returned to Me,” says the LORD.
11 “I have overthrown you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. And you were as a firebrand, plucked out of the burning. Still, you have not returned to Me,” says the LORD.
12 “Therefore, I will do this to you, O Israel. And because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel.”
13 For lo, He Who forms the mountains, and creates the wind, and declares to man what is His thought; Who makes the morning darkness, and walks upon the high places of the Earth. The LORD God of Hosts is His Name. A lamentation for the captivity of Israel.
57 Now, Elizabeth’s time came for her to be delivered. And she brought forth a Son.
58 And her neighbors and cousins heard tell how the Lord had showed His great mercy upon her. And they rejoiced with her.
59 And it was so that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the baby. And they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father.
60 But his mother answered, and said, “Not so. But he shall be called John.”
61 And they said to her, “There is no one in your family that is named with this name.”
62 Then they made signs to his father, asking how he would like him called.
63 So he asked for writing tablets, and wrote, saying, “His name is John.” And they all marveled.
64 And his mouth was opened immediately, and his tongue. And he spoke and praised God.
65 Then fear came on all those who lived near them. And all these words were spread throughout all the hill country of Judea.
66 And all those who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, “What kind of child shall this be?” And the hand of the Lord was with him.
67 Then his father, Zacharias, was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying,
68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, because He has visited and redeemed His people!
69 “And He has raised up the Horn of Salvation unto us, in the House of His servant David,
70 “as He spoke by the mouth of His Holy Prophets. Who were, since the world began, saying,
71 ‘deliverance from our enemies, and from the hands of all that hate us.’
72 “So that He might show mercy towards our fathers, and remember His Holy Covenant -
73 “the oath, which He swore to our father, Abraham -
74 “that he would grant to us. So that we, being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, should serve him without fear
75 “all the days of our life, in holiness and righteousness before him.
76 “And you, child, shall be called the Prophet of the Most High. For you shall go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways,
77 “to give knowledge of salvation to His people, by the remission of their sins
78 “through the tender mercy of our God (whereby the Dayspring from on high has visited us),
79 “to give light to those who sit in darkness (and in the shadow of death), and to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
80 And the child grew and became strong in spirit. And he was in the wilderness until the day came that he should show himself to Israel.
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