Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
68 Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and made redemption for his people
69 And has raised up a horn of saving health for us in the house of his servant David,
70 as he spoke by the mouth of the saints who from the beginning were his prophets;
71 salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all that hate us;
72 to fulfill mercy unto our fathers and remembering his holy covenant
73 of the oath which he made to our father Abraham,
74 that he would grant unto us, that without fear delivered out of the hand of our enemies, we might serve him
75 in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life.
76 And thou, child, shalt be called prophet of the Most High, for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways,
77 giving knowledge of saving health unto his people for the remission of their sins
78 through the bowels of mercy of our God, whereby the dayspring from on high has visited us
79 to give light to those that dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death, to direct our feet into the way of peace.
5 And I will come near unto you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against false swearers and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and do not fear me, said the LORD of the hosts.
6 For I am the LORD, I have not changed; therefore, ye sons of Jacob have not been consumed.
7 ¶ Even from the days of your fathers, ye had departed from my ordinances and had never kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, said the LORD of the hosts. But ye said, In what shall we return?
8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, In what have we robbed thee? In the tithes and the offerings.
9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye, even this whole nation, have robbed me.
10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, and there shall be food in my house, and prove me now in this, said the LORD of the hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
11 And I will reprehend the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of the ground; neither shall the vine in the field abort, said the LORD of the hosts.
12 And all the Gentiles shall call you blessed: for ye shall be a delightsome land, said the LORD of the hosts.
12 ¶ But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel,
13 so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace and in all other places;
14 and many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
15 Some indeed preach the Christ even out of envy and strife, but others also out of good will.
16 Some preach the Christ out of contention, not sincerely, supposing to add tribulation to my bonds,
17 but the others out of charity, knowing that I am placed here for the defense of the gospel.
18 What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretense, or in truth, Christ is preached, and I therein do rejoice, and will even rejoice.
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