Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
The Righteous Branch of Jesse
11 And there shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,
and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.
2 The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
3 He shall delight in the fear of the Lord,
and he shall not judge by what his eyes see,
nor reprove by what his ears hear;
4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and reprove with fairness for the meek of the earth.
He shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his loins,
and faithfulness the belt about his waist.
6 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
and a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young ones shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play by the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den.
9 They shall not hurt or destroy
in all My holy mountain,
for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord,
as the waters cover the sea.
8 As for you, watchtower of the flock,
citadel of the daughter of Zion,
to you it will come, the former dominion will come,
kingship for the daughter of Jerusalem.
9 Now why do you cry loudly?
Have you no king?
Has your counselor perished,
that agony has seized you like the woman in labor?
10 Writhe and bring forth, daughter of Zion,
like the woman in labor,
because now you will go forth from the city
and reside in the field,
and you will come to Babylon.
There you will be rescued;
there the Lord will redeem you
from the hand of your enemies.
11 But now many nations
are gathered against you, saying,
“May she be defiled,
and may our eyes gaze upon Zion.”
12 But they do not know
the thoughts of the Lord,
and they do not understand His plan,
that He has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor.
13 Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion,
for I will make your horn iron;
your hoofs I will make bronze,
and you will shatter many peoples.
I will devote their pillage to the Lord,
their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.
31 Then the Lord said, “To what then shall I compare the men of this generation, and what are they like? 32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace, calling to each other, saying:
‘We played the flute for you,
and you did not dance;
we mourned to you,
and you did not weep.’
33 For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine. But you say, ‘He has a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking. But you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ 35 But wisdom is justified by all her children.”
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.