Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹⁰ Not long after this, the Lord sent this further message to King Ahaz:

¹¹ “Ask me for a sign, Ahaz, to prove that I will indeed crush your enemies as I have said. Ask anything you like, in heaven or on earth.”^[a]

¹² But the king refused. “No,” he said, “I’ll not bother the Lord with anything like that.”

¹³ Then Isaiah said: O House of David, you aren’t satisfied to exhaust my patience; you exhaust the Lord’s as well! ¹⁴ All right then, the Lord himself will choose the sign—a child shall be born to a virgin!^[b] And she shall call him Immanuel (meaning, “God is with us”). ^15-16 By the time this child is weaned^[c] and knows right from wrong, the two kings you fear so much—the kings of Israel and Syria—will both be dead.

80 O Shepherd of Israel who leads Israel like a flock; O God enthroned above the Guardian Angels, bend down your ear and listen as I plead. Display your power and radiant glory. ² Let Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh see you rouse yourself and use your mighty power to rescue us.

³ Turn us again to yourself, O God. Look down on us in joy and love;^[a] only then shall we be saved.

⁴ O Jehovah, God of heaven’s armies, how long will you be angry and reject our prayers? ⁵ You have fed us with sorrow and tears ⁶ and have made us the scorn of the neighboring nations. They laugh among themselves.

⁷ Turn us again to yourself, O God of Hosts. Look down on us in joy and love;^[b] only then shall we be saved.

¹⁷ Strengthen the man you love,^[a] the son of your choice, ¹⁸ and we will never forsake you again. Revive us to trust in you.

¹⁹ Turn us again to yourself, O God of the armies of heaven. Look down on us, your face aglow with joy and love—only then shall we be saved.

1 Dear friends in Rome: This letter is from Paul, Jesus Christ’s slave, chosen to be a missionary, and sent out to preach God’s Good News. ² This Good News was promised long ago by God’s prophets in the Old Testament. ³ It is the Good News about his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who came as a human baby, born into King David’s royal family line; ⁴ and by being raised from the dead he was proved to be the mighty Son of God, with the holy nature of God himself.

⁵ And now, through Christ, all the kindness of God has been poured out upon us undeserving sinners; and now he is sending us out around the world to tell all people everywhere the great things God has done for them, so that they, too, will believe and obey him.

^6-7 And you, dear friends in Rome, are among those he dearly loves; you, too, are invited by Jesus Christ to be God’s very own—yes, his holy people. May all God’s mercies and peace be yours from God our Father and from Jesus Christ our Lord.

¹⁸ These are the facts concerning the birth of Jesus Christ: His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But while she was still a virgin she became pregnant by the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ Then Joseph, her fiancé,^[a] being a man of stern principle, decided to break the engagement but to do it quietly, as he didn’t want to publicly disgrace her.

²⁰ As he lay awake^[b] considering this, he fell into a dream, and saw an angel standing beside him. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “don’t hesitate to take Mary as your wife! For the child within her has been conceived by the Holy Spirit. ²¹ And she will have a Son, and you shall name him Jesus (meaning ‘Savior’), for he will save his people from their sins. ²² This will fulfill God’s message through his prophets—

²³ ‘Listen! The virgin shall conceive a child! She shall give birth to a Son, and he shall be called “Emmanuel” (meaning “God is with us”).’”

²⁴ When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel commanded and brought Mary home to be his wife, ²⁵ but she remained a virgin until her Son was born; and Joseph named him “Jesus.”