Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

60 “Rise up and shine, for your light has come. The shining-greatness of the Lord has risen upon you. ² For see, darkness will cover the earth. Much darkness will cover the people. But the Lord will rise upon you, and His shining-greatness will be seen upon you. ³ Nations will come to your light. And kings will see the shining-greatness of the Lord on you.

⁴ “Lift up your eyes and look around you, and see. They all gather together. They come to you. Your sons will come from far away, and your daughters will be carried in the arms. ⁵ Then you will see and shine with joy. Your heart will be glad and full of joy, because the riches of the sea will be turned to you. And the riches of the nations will come to you. ⁶ Many camels will cover your land, the young camels of Midian and Ephah. All those from Sheba will come. They will bring gold and special perfume, and will carry good news of the praises of the Lord.

A Prayer for the King

72 O God, make the king right in what he decides. Make the king’s son right with You. ² May he be right when he decides who is right and who is wrong and may he be fair to the poor. ³ Let mountains and hills bring peace to the people through what is right and good. ⁴ May he stand by those who are poor, save the children of those in need, and destroy the bad power over them.

⁵ May all the children-to-come fear You as long as the sun and the moon last. ⁶ May He come down like rain upon the cut grass, like rain that waters the earth. ⁷ In His days may all go well with those who are right and good. And may there be much peace until the moon is no more.

¹⁰ Let the kings of Tarshish and of the islands bring gifts. Let the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts. ¹¹ Yes, let all kings fall down at His feet, and all nations serve Him.

¹² For He will take out of trouble the one in need when he cries for help, and the poor man who has no one to help. ¹³ He will have loving-pity on the weak and those in need. He will save the lives of those in need. ¹⁴ He will take them from the bad power that is held over them and from being hurt. Their blood will be of much worth in His eyes.

3 I, Paul, am in prison because I am a missionary for Jesus Christ to you who are not Jews. ² I am sure you have heard that God trusted me with His loving-favor. ³ I wrote a little about this to you before. In a special way, God showed me His secret plan. ⁴ When you read this, you will understand how I know about the things that are not easy to understand about Christ. ⁵ Long ago men did not know these things. But now they have been shown to His missionaries and to the early preachers by the Holy Spirit. ⁶ Let me tell you that the Good News is for the people who are not Jews also. They are able to have life that lasts forever. They are to be a part of His church and family, together with the Jews. And together they are to receive all that God has promised through Christ.

⁷ God asked me to preach this Good News. He gave me the gift of His loving-favor. He gave me His power to preach it. ⁸ Of all those who belong to Christ, I am the least important. But this loving-favor was given to me to preach to the people who are not Jews. I was to tell them of the great riches in Christ which do not come to an end. ⁹ I was to make all men understand the meaning of this secret. God kept this secret to Himself from the beginning of the world. And He is the One Who made all things. ¹⁰ This was done so the great wisdom of God might be shown now to the leaders and powers in the heavenly places. It is being done through the church. ¹¹ This was the plan God had for all time. He did this through Christ Jesus our Lord. ¹² We can come to God without fear because we have put our trust in Christ.

Wise Men Visit the Young Child Jesus

2 Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem in the country of Judea. It was the time when Herod was king of that part of the country. Soon after Jesus was born, some wise men who learned things from stars came to Jerusalem from the East. ² They asked, “Where is the King of the Jews Who has been born? We have seen His star in the East. We have come to worship Him.”

³ King Herod heard this. He and all the people of Jerusalem were worried. ⁴ He called together all the religious leaders of the Jews and the teachers of the Law. Herod asked them where Christ was to be born. ⁵ They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea. The early preacher wrote, ⁶ ‘You, Bethlehem of Judah, are not the least of the leaders of Judah. Out of you will come a King Who will lead My people the Jews.’” ^(A)

⁷ Then Herod had a secret meeting with the men who learned things from stars. He asked them about what time the star had been seen. ⁸ He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and find the young Child. When you find Him, let me know. Then I can go and worship Him also.”

⁹ After the king had spoken, they went on their way. The star they had seen in the East went before them. It came and stopped over the place where the young Child was. ¹⁰ When they saw the star, they were filled with much joy.

¹¹ They went into the house and found the young Child with Mary, His mother. Then they got down before Him and worshiped Him. They opened their bags of riches and gave Him gifts of gold and perfume and spices. ¹² Then God spoke to them in a dream. He told them not to go back to Herod. So they went to their own country by another road.