Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
8 I will listen to what God the Lord says.[a]
For he will make[b] peace with his people, his faithful followers.[c]
Yet they must not[d] return to their foolish ways.
9 Certainly his loyal followers will soon experience his deliverance;[e]
then his splendor will again appear in our land.[f]
10 Loyal love and faithfulness meet;[g]
deliverance and peace greet each other with a kiss.[h]
11 Faithfulness grows from the ground,
and deliverance looks down from the sky.[i]
12 Yes, the Lord will bestow his good blessings,[j]
and our land will yield[k] its crops.
13 Deliverance goes[l] before him,
and prepares[m] a pathway for him.[n]
6 “But surely I gave[a] you no food to eat in all your cities;
you lacked food everywhere you lived.[b]
Still you did not come back to me.”
The Lord is speaking
7 “I withheld rain from you three months before the harvest.[c]
I gave rain to one city, but not to another.
One field[d] would get rain, but the field that received no rain dried up.
8 People from[e] two or three cities staggered into one city to get[f] water,
but remained thirsty.[g]
Still you did not come back to me.”
The Lord is speaking
9 “I destroyed your crops[h] with blight and disease.
Locusts kept[i] devouring your orchards,[j] vineyards, fig trees, and olive trees.
Still you did not come back to me.”
The Lord is speaking
10 “I sent against you a plague like one of the Egyptian plagues.[k]
I killed your young men with the sword,
along with the horses you had captured.
I made the stench from the corpses[l] rise up into your nostrils.
Still you did not come back to me.”
The Lord is speaking
11 “I overthrew some of you the way God[m] overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.[n]
You were like a burning stick[o] snatched from the flames.
Still you did not come back to me.”
The Lord is speaking
12 “Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel.
Because I will do this to you,
prepare to meet your God, Israel!”[p]
13 For here he is!
The Birth of John
57 Now the time came[a] for Elizabeth to have her baby,[b] and she gave birth to a son. 58 Her[c] neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown[d] great mercy to her, and they rejoiced[e] with her.
59 On[f] the eighth day[g] they came to circumcise the child, and they wanted to name[h] him Zechariah after his father. 60 But[i] his mother replied,[j] “No! He must be named[k] John.”[l] 61 They[m] said to her, “But[n] none of your relatives bears this name.”[o] 62 So[p] they made signs to the baby’s[q] father,[r] inquiring what he wanted to name his son.[s] 63 He[t] asked for a writing tablet[u] and wrote,[v] “His name is John.” And they were all amazed.[w] 64 Immediately[x] Zechariah’s[y] mouth was opened and his tongue[z] released,[aa] and he spoke, blessing God. 65 All[ab] their neighbors were filled with fear, and throughout the entire hill country of Judea all these things were talked about. 66 All[ac] who heard these things[ad] kept them in their hearts,[ae] saying, “What then will this child be?”[af] For the Lord’s hand[ag] was indeed with him.
Zechariah’s Praise and Prediction
67 Then[ah] his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied,[ai]
68 “Blessed[aj] be the Lord God of Israel,
because he has come to help[ak] and has redeemed[al] his people.
69 For[am] he has raised up[an] a horn of salvation[ao] for us in the house of his servant David,[ap]
70 as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from long ago,[aq]
71 that we should be saved[ar] from our enemies,[as]
and from the hand of all who hate us.
72 He has done this[at] to show mercy[au] to our ancestors,[av]
and to remember his holy covenant[aw]—
73 the oath[ax] that he swore to our ancestor[ay] Abraham.
This oath grants[az]
74 that we, being rescued from the hand of our[ba] enemies,
may serve him without fear,[bb]
75 in holiness and righteousness[bc] before him for as long as we live.[bd]
76 And you, child,[be] will be called the prophet[bf] of the Most High.[bg]
For you will go before[bh] the Lord to prepare his ways,[bi]
77 to give his people knowledge of salvation[bj] through the forgiveness[bk] of their sins.
78 Because of[bl] our God’s tender mercy[bm]
the dawn[bn] will break[bo] upon us from on high
79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,[bp]
to guide our feet into the way[bq] of peace.”
80 And the child kept growing[br] and becoming strong[bs] in spirit, and he was in the wilderness[bt] until the day he was revealed[bu] to Israel.
NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.