Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Reign of the Davidic King
11 Then a shoot will grow from the stump of Jesse,(A)
and a branch(B) from his roots will bear fruit.
2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him(C)—
a Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
a Spirit of counsel and strength,
a Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
3 His delight will be in the fear of the Lord.
He will not judge
by what He sees with His eyes,(D)
He will not execute justice
by what He hears with His ears,
4 but He will judge the poor righteously(E)
and execute justice for the oppressed of the land.
He will strike the land
with discipline[a] from His mouth,(F)
and He will kill the wicked(G)
with a command[b] from His lips.(H)
5 Righteousness will be a belt around His loins;(I)
faithfulness will be a belt around His waist.(J)
6 The wolf will live with the lamb,(K)
and the leopard will lie down with the goat.
The calf, the young lion, and the fatling will be together,
and a child will lead them.
7 The cow and the bear will graze,
their young ones will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
8 An infant will play beside the cobra’s pit,
and a toddler will put his hand into a snake’s den.
9 None will harm or destroy another
on My entire holy mountain,
for the land will be as full
of the knowledge of the Lord
as the sea is filled with water.(L)
Israel Regathered
Psalm 72
A Prayer for the King
Solomonic.(A)
1 God, give Your justice to the king
and Your righteousness to the king’s son.(B)
2 He will judge Your people with righteousness
and Your afflicted ones with justice.(C)
3 May the mountains bring prosperity[a] to the people
and the hills, righteousness.(D)
4 May he vindicate the afflicted among the people,
help the poor,
and crush the oppressor.(E)
4 For whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction,(A) so that we may have hope through endurance and through the encouragement from the Scriptures. 5 Now may the God who gives[a] endurance and encouragement(B) allow you to live in harmony with one another,(C) according to the command of Christ Jesus, 6 so that you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ(D) with a united mind and voice.
Glorifying God Together
7 Therefore accept one another,(E) just as the Messiah also accepted you, to the glory of God. 8 For I say that the Messiah became a servant of the circumcised[b] on behalf of God’s truth,(F) to confirm the promises to the fathers,(G) 9 and so that Gentiles(H) may glorify God for His mercy.(I) As it is written:
10 Again it says: Rejoice, you Gentiles, with His people!(K)[d] 11 And again:
12 And again, Isaiah says:
The root of Jesse(M) will appear,
the One who rises to rule the Gentiles;
the Gentiles will hope in Him.(N)[f]
13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you believe in Him(O) so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.(P)
The Messiah’s Herald
3 In those days John the Baptist came,(A) preaching in the Wilderness of Judea(B) 2 and saying, “Repent, because the kingdom of heaven has come near!”(C) 3 For he is the one spoken of through the prophet Isaiah, who said:
A voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
Prepare the way for the Lord;
make His paths straight!(D)[a]
4 John himself had a camel-hair garment with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then people from Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the vicinity of the Jordan were flocking to him, 6 and they were baptized by him in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins.(E)
7 When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees(F) coming to the place of his baptism,[b] he said to them, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?(G) 8 Therefore produce fruit(H) consistent with[c] repentance. 9 And don’t presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’(I) For I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones! 10 Even now the ax is ready to strike the root of the trees! Therefore, every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.(J)
11 “I baptize you with[d] water for repentance,[e](K) but the One who is coming after me is more powerful than I. I am not worthy to remove[f] His sandals. He Himself will baptize you with[g] the Holy Spirit and fire.(L) 12 His winnowing shovel[h] is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor and gather His wheat into the barn. But the chaff He will burn up with fire that never goes out.”(M)
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