Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
8 I will hear what God, Yahweh, will speak,
because he will speak peace
to his people, even his faithful ones,[a]
but let them not return to folly.
9 Surely his salvation is near for those who fear him,
that glory may abide in our land.
10 Loyal love and faithfulness[b] will meet one another;
righteousness and peace will kiss.
11 Faithfulness[c] will sprout from the ground,
and righteousness will look down from heaven.
12 Yes, Yahweh will give what is good,
and our land will give its produce.
13 Righteousness will go before him,
and it will make his steps a pathway.
6 “And I[a] in turn gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities and lack of bread in all your places. Yet you did not return to me,” is the declaration of Yahweh. 7 “And I also withheld the rain from you when there were still three months to the harvest. And I would send rain on one city and send no rain on another city. One tract of land will be rained on, and the tract of land on which it does not rain[b] will dry up. 8 So two or three cities wandered to one city to drink water and they were not satisfied, yet you did not return to me,” is the declaration of Yahweh. 9 “I struck you with blight and with mildew. Frequently the cutting locust devoured your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees, yet you did not return to me,” is the declaration of Yahweh. 10 “I sent among you a plague in the manner of Egypt; I killed your young men with the sword, along with the captivity of your horses. And I made the stench of your camps go up into your nostrils, yet you did not return to me,” is the declaration of Yahweh. 11 “I overthrew some of you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a stick snatched from the fire, and yet you did not return to me,” is the declaration of Yahweh. 12 “Therefore, thus I will do to you, O Israel. Because I will do this to you, O Israel, prepare to meet your God! 13 Yes, here is the one who forms the mountains, and the one who creates the wind, and the one who reveals to humans what his thoughts are, and the one who treads on the heights of the earth; Yahweh, the God of hosts, is his name!”
The Birth of John the Baptist
57 Now the time came for Elizabeth that she should give birth, and she gave birth to a son. 58 And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her,[a] and they rejoiced with her. 59 And it happened that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were wanting to name him after[b] his father Zechariah. 60 And his mother answered and[c] said, “No, but he will be named John.” 61 And they said to her, “There is no one of your relatives who is called by this name.” 62 So they made signs to his father asking what he wanted him to be named, 63 and he asked for a writing tablet and[d] wrote, saying, “John is his name.” And they were all astonished. 64 And his mouth and his tongue were opened immediately, and he began to speak,[e] praising God. 65 And fear came on all those who lived near them, and in all the hill country of Judea all these events were discussed. 66 And all those who heard kept these things[f] in their hearts, saying, “What then will this child be? For indeed the hand of the Lord was with him!”
The Praise and Prophecy of Zechariah
67 And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying,
68 “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
because he has visited to help and has redeemed[g] his people,
69 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David,
70 just as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from earliest times—
71 salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all those who hate us,
72 to show mercy to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant,
73 the oath that he swore to Abraham our father,
to grant us 74 that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies,
could serve him without fear 75 in holiness and righteousness
before him all our days.
76 And so you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High,
for you will go on before the Lord to prepare his ways,
77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people
by the forgiveness of their sins,
78 because of the merciful compassion[h] of our God
by which the dawn will visit to help us from on high,
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to direct our feet into the way of peace.”
80 And the child kept growing and becoming strong in spirit, and was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.
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