Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

^8 (A)Let me hear what God the Lord will speak,
    for he will ^(B)speak peace to his people, to his ^(C)saints;
    but let them not ^(D)turn back to ^(E)folly.
⁹ Surely his ^(F)salvation is near to those who fear him,
    that ^(G)glory may dwell in our land.
^10 (H)Steadfast love and faithfulness meet;
    ^(I)righteousness and peace kiss each other.
¹¹ Faithfulness springs up from the ground,
    and righteousness looks down from the sky.
¹² Yes, ^(J)the Lord will give what is good,
    and our land ^(K)will yield its increase.
^13 (L)Righteousness will go before him
    and make his footsteps a way.

⁶ “I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities,
    and ^(A)lack of bread in all your places,
^(B)yet you did not return to me,”
declares the Lord.
⁷ “I also ^(C)withheld the rain from you
    when there were yet three months to the harvest;
^(D)I would send rain on one city,
    and send no rain on another city;
one field would have rain,
    and the field on which it did not rain would wither;
⁸ so two or three cities ^(E)would wander to another city
    to drink water, and would not be satisfied;
^(F)yet you did not return to me,”
declares the Lord.
^9 (G)“I struck you with blight and mildew;
    your many gardens and your vineyards,
    your fig trees and your olive trees ^(H)the locust devoured;
^(I)yet you did not return to me,”
declares the Lord.
¹⁰ “I sent among you a pestilence ^(J)after the manner of Egypt;
    I killed your young men with the sword,
and ^(K)carried away your horses,^[a]
    and ^(L)I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils;
^(M)yet you did not return to me,”
declares the Lord.
¹¹ “I overthrew some of you,
    ^(N)as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
    and you were ^(O)as a brand^[b] plucked out of the burning;
^(P)yet you did not return to me,”
declares the Lord.
¹² “Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel;
    because I will do this to you,
    prepare to meet your God, O Israel!”
¹³ For behold, ^(Q)he who forms the mountains and creates the wind,
    and ^(R)declares to man what is his thought,
^(S)who makes the morning darkness,
    and ^(T)treads on the heights of the earth—
    ^(U)the Lord, the God of hosts, is his name!

^68 (P)“Blessed be the Lord ^(Q)God of Israel,
    for he has ^(R)visited and ^(S)redeemed his people
⁶⁹ and ^(T)has raised up ^(U)a horn of salvation for us
    ^(V)in the house of his servant David,
^70 (W)as ^(X)he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
^71 (Y)that we should be saved from our enemies
    and from the hand of all who hate us;
^72 (Z)to show the mercy promised to our fathers
    and ^(AA)to remember his holy ^(AB)covenant,
^73 (AC)the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us
⁷⁴     that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
might serve him ^(AD)without fear,
^{75     (AE)}in holiness and righteousness before him ^(AF)all our days.
⁷⁶ And you, child, will be called ^(AG)the prophet of ^(AH)the Most High;
    for ^(AI)you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
⁷⁷ to give knowledge of salvation to his people
    ^(AJ)in the forgiveness of their sins,
⁷⁸ because of the ^(AK)tender mercy of our God,
    whereby ^(AL)the sunrise shall ^(AM)visit us^{[a] (AN)}from on high
⁷⁹ to ^(AO)give light to ^(AP)those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
    to guide our feet into ^(AQ)the way of ^(AR)peace.”