Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
7 Listen, Adonai, to my voice when I cry;
show favor to me; and answer me.
8 “My heart said of you, ‘Seek my face.’”
Your face, Adonai, I will seek.
9 Do not hide your face from me,
don’t turn your servant away in anger.
You are my help; don’t abandon me;
don’t leave me, God my savior.
10 Even though my father and mother have left me,
Adonai will care for me.
11 Teach me your way, Adonai;
lead me on a level path
because of my enemies —
12 don’t give me up to the whims of my foes;
for false witnesses have risen against me,
also those who are breathing violence.
13 If I hadn’t believed that I would see
Adonai’s goodness in the land of the living, . . .
14 Put your hope in Adonai, be strong,
and let your heart take courage!
Yes, put your hope in Adonai!
49 (iv) Then Ya‘akov called for his sons and said,
“Gather yourselves together, and I will tell you
what will happen to you in the acharit-hayamim.
2 Assemble yourselves and listen, sons of Ya‘akov;
pay attention to Isra’el your father.
8 “Y’hudah, your brothers will acknowledge you,
your hand will be on the neck of your enemies,
your father’s sons will bow down before you.
9 Y’hudah is a lion’s cub;
my son, you stand over the prey.
He crouches down and stretches like a lion;
like a lioness, who dares to provoke him?
10 The scepter will not pass from Y’hudah,
nor the ruler’s staff from between his legs,
until he comes to whom [obedience] belongs; [a]
and it is he whom the peoples will obey.
11 Tying his donkey to the vine,
his donkey’s colt to the choice grapevine,
he washes his clothes in wine,
his robes in the blood of grapes.
12 His eyes will be darker than wine,
his teeth whiter than milk.
13 “Z’vulun will live at the seashore,
with ships anchoring along his coast
and his border at Tzidon.
21 “Naftali is a doe set free
that bears beautiful fawns. [a]
22 “Yosef is a fruitful plant,
a fruitful plant by a spring,
with branches climbing over the wall.
23 The archers attacked him fiercely,
shooting at him and pressing him hard;
24 but his bow remained taut;
and his arms were made nimble
by the hands of the Mighty One of Ya‘akov,
from there, from the Shepherd, the Stone of Isra’el,
25 by the God of your father, who will help you,
by El Shaddai, who will bless you
with blessings from heaven above,
blessings from the deep, lying below,
blessings from the breasts and the womb.
26 The blessings of your father are more powerful
than the blessings of my parents,
extending to the farthest of the everlasting hills;
they will be on the head of Yosef,
on the brow of the prince among his brothers.
67 His father Z’kharyah was filled with the Ruach HaKodesh and spoke this prophecy:
68 “Praised be Adonai, the God of Isra’el,[a]
because he has visited and made a ransom to liberate his people
69 by raising up for us a mighty Deliverer
who is a descendant of his servant David.
70 It is just as he has spoken
through the mouth of the prophets from the very beginning —
71 that we should be delivered from our enemies
and from the power of all who hate us.
72 “This has happened so that he might show
the mercy promised to our fathers —
that he would remember his holy covenant,
73 the oath he swore before Avraham avinu
74 to grant us that we, freed from our enemies,
would serve him without fear,
75 in holiness and righteousness
before him all our days.
76 You, child, will be called a prophet of Ha‘Elyon;
you will go before the Lord to prepare his way[b]
77 by spreading the knowledge among his people
that deliverance comes by having sins forgiven
78 through our God’s most tender mercy,
which causes the Sunrise to visit us from Heaven,
79 to shine on those in darkness, living in the shadow of death,[c]
and to guide our feet into the paths of peace.”
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.