Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

²⁴ O Lord, how many and varied are Your works! In wisdom have You made them all; the earth is full of Your riches and Your creatures.

²⁵ Yonder is the sea, great and wide, in which are swarms of innumerable creeping things, creatures both small and great.

²⁶ There go the ships of the sea, and Leviathan (the sea monster), which You have formed to sport in it.

²⁷ These all wait and are dependent upon You, that You may give them their food in due season.

²⁸ When You give it to them, they gather it up; You open Your hand, and they are filled with good things.

²⁹ When You hide Your face, they are troubled and dismayed; when You take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.

³⁰ When You send forth Your Spirit and give them breath, they are created, and You replenish the face of the ground.

³¹ May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in His works—

³² Who looks on the earth, and it quakes and trembles, Who touches the mountains, and they smoke!

³³ I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have any being.

³⁴ May my meditation be sweet to Him; as for me, I will rejoice in the Lord.

³⁵ Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul! Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)

2 When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were going from Gilgal.

² And Elijah said to Elisha, Tarry here, I pray you, for the Lord has sent me to Bethel. But Elisha replied, As the Lord lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. So they went down to Bethel.

³ The prophets’ sons who were at Bethel came to Elisha and said, Do you know that the Lord will take your master away from you today? He said, Yes, I know it; hold your peace.

⁴ Elijah said to him, Elisha, tarry here, I pray you, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho. But he said, As the Lord lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. So they came to Jericho.

⁵ The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho came to Elisha and said, Do you know that the Lord will take your master away from you today? And he answered, Yes, I know it; hold your peace.

⁶ Elijah said to him, Tarry here, I pray you, for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan. But he said, As the Lord lives and as your soul lives, I will not leave you. And the two of them went on.

⁷ Fifty men of the sons of the prophets also went and stood [to watch] afar off; and the two of them stood by the Jordan.

⁸ And Elijah took his mantle and rolled it up and struck the waters, and they divided this way and that, so that the two of them went over on dry ground.

⁹ And when they had gone over, Elijah said to Elisha, Ask what I shall do for you before I am taken from you. And Elisha said, I pray you, let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.

¹⁰ He said, You have asked a hard thing. However, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you—but if not, it shall not be so.

¹¹ As they still went on and talked, behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire parted the two of them, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

¹² And Elisha saw it and he cried, My father, my father! The chariot of Israel and its horsemen! And he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.

¹³ He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan.

¹⁴ And he took the mantle that fell from Elijah and struck the waters and said, Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah? And when he had struck the waters, they parted this way and that, and Elisha went over.

¹⁵ When the sons of the prophets who were [watching] at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha. And they came to meet him and bowed themselves to the ground before him.

⁵ In the days when Herod was king of Judea there was a certain priest whose name was Zachariah, ^[a]of the daily service (the division) of Abia; and his wife was also a descendant of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

⁶ And they both were righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord.

⁷ But they had no child, for Elizabeth was barren; and both were ^[b]far advanced in years.

⁸ Now while on duty, serving as priest before God in the order of his division,

⁹ As was the custom of the priesthood, it fell to him by lot to enter [the ^[c]sanctuary of] the temple of the Lord and burn incense.^(A)

¹⁰ And all the throng of people were praying outside [in the court] at the hour of incense [burning].

¹¹ And there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing at the right side of the altar of incense.

¹² And when Zachariah saw him, he was troubled, and fear took possession of him.

¹³ But the angel said to him, Do not be afraid, Zachariah, because your petition ^[d]was heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you must call his name John [God is favorable].

¹⁴ And you shall have joy and exultant delight, and many will rejoice over his birth,

¹⁵ For he will be great and distinguished in the sight of the Lord. And he must drink no wine nor strong drink, and he will be filled with and controlled by the Holy Spirit even ^[e]in and from his mother’s womb.^(B)

¹⁶ And he will turn back and cause to return many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God,

¹⁷ And he will [himself] go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn back the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient and incredulous and unpersuadable to the wisdom of the upright [which is ^[f]the knowledge and holy love of the will of God]—in order to make ready for the Lord a people [perfectly] prepared [in spirit, ^[g]adjusted and disposed and placed in the right moral state].^(C)