Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
46 Mary responded, “Oh, how I praise the Lord. 47 How I rejoice in God my Savior! 48 For he took notice of his lowly servant girl, and now generation after generation forever shall call me blest of God. 49 For he, the mighty Holy One, has done great things to me. 50 His mercy goes on from generation to generation, to all who reverence him.
51 “How powerful is his mighty arm! How he scatters the proud and haughty ones! 52 He has torn princes from their thrones and exalted the lowly. 53 He has satisfied the hungry hearts and sent the rich away with empty hands. 54 And how he has helped his servant Israel! He has not forgotten his promise to be merciful. 55 For he promised our fathers—Abraham and his children—to be merciful to them forever.”
6 “How can we make up to you for what we’ve done?” you ask. “Shall we bow before the Lord with offerings of yearling calves?”
Oh no! 7 For if you offered him thousands of rams and ten thousands of rivers of olive oil—would that please him? Would he be satisfied? If you sacrificed your oldest child, would that make him glad? Then would he forgive your sins? Of course not!
8 No, he has told you what he wants, and this is all it is: to be fair, just, merciful, and to walk humbly with your God.
5 That is why Christ said as he came into the world, “O God, the blood of bulls and goats cannot satisfy you, so you have made ready this body of mine for me to lay as a sacrifice upon your altar. 6 You were not satisfied with the animal sacrifices, slain and burnt before you as offerings for sin. 7 Then I said, ‘See, I have come to do your will, to lay down my life, just as the Scriptures said that I would.’”
8 After Christ said this about not being satisfied with the various sacrifices and offerings required under the old system, 9 he then added, “Here I am. I have come to give my life.”
He cancels the first system in favor of a far better one. 10 Under this new plan we have been forgiven and made clean by Christ’s dying for us once and for all.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.