Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁶⁸ “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, because He has visited and redeemed His people!

⁶⁹ “And He has raised up the Horn of Salvation unto us, in the House of His servant David,

⁷⁰ “as He spoke by the mouth of His Holy Prophets. Who were, since the world began, saying,

⁷¹ ‘deliverance from our enemies, and from the hands of all that hate us.’

⁷² “So that He might show mercy towards our fathers, and remember His Holy Covenant -

⁷³ “the oath, which He swore to our father, Abraham -

⁷⁴ “that he would grant to us. So that we, being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, should serve him without fear

⁷⁵ “all the days of our life, in holiness and righteousness before him.

⁷⁶ “And you, child, shall be called the Prophet of the Most High. For you shall go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways,

⁷⁷ “to give knowledge of salvation to His people, by the remission of their sins

⁷⁸ “through the tender mercy of our God (whereby the Dayspring from on high has visited us),

⁷⁹ “to give light to those who sit in darkness (and in the shadow of death), and to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

⁵ “And I will come near to you, to judgment. And I will be a swift Witness against the soothsayers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those who wrongfully keep back the hireling’s wages, and trouble the widow, and the fatherless, and oppress the stranger, and do not fear Me,” says the LORD of Hosts.

⁶ “For I am the LORD. I do not change. And you sons of Jacob are not at an end.

⁷ “From the days of your fathers, you have gone away from My Ordinances, and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD of Hosts. “But you said, ‘How shall we return?’

⁸ “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’—in tithes and offerings.

⁹ “You are cursed with a curse. For this whole nation has robbed Me.

¹⁰ “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My House. And test Me now with this,” says the LORD of Hosts, “if I will not open the windows of Heaven for you and pour you out a blessing without measure.

¹¹ “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes. And he shall not destroy the fruit of your ground. Nor shall your vine be barren in the field,” says the LORD of Hosts.

¹² “And all nations shall call you blessed. For you shall be a pleasant land,” says the LORD of Hosts.

¹² Brothers, I desire that you understand that the things which are against me have really caused a furthering of the Gospel.

¹³ So, as for my bonds in Christ, they are famous throughout all the Praetorium and in all other places;

¹⁴ so much so that many of the brothers in the Lord are emboldened by my bonds and dare speak the Word of God more frankly.

¹⁵ Indeed, some preach Christ out of envy and strife, but some also out of goodwill.

¹⁶ Indeed, the former preaches Christ out of rivalry (and not purely, supposing to add more affliction to my bonds),

¹⁷ but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the Gospel.

¹⁸ What then? Christ is still preached in all manner of ways, whether under a pretense or sincerely. And I rejoice in that! Indeed, and I will rejoice!