Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
2 “Look! God—yes God—is[a] my salvation;
I will trust, and not be afraid.
For the Lord[b] is my strength and my song,[c]
and he has become my salvation.”
3 You will draw water joyfully from the wells of salvation. And you will say at that time:[d]
4 “Give thanks to the Lord;
call on his name.
Make known his actions
among the nations.
Proclaim that his name is exalted.
5 “Sing praises to the Lord,[e]
because he has acted gloriously,
being made[f] known in all the world.
6 Shout aloud, and sing for joy,
you who live in Zion,
because great in your midst
is the Holy One of Israel.”
8 Look! The eyes of the Lord God are on the sinful kingdom.
I will destroy it from the face of the earth;
but I will not totally destroy the house of Jacob,”
declares the Lord.
9 “Look! I’m giving the order:
I will sift the house of Israel throughout all the nations,
as one sifts with a sieve,
yet not a single kernel will reach the ground!
10 All sinners among my people will die by the sword,
especially all who are saying,
‘Disaster will not come upon or conquer us!’”
Israel to be Restored
11 “At that time I will restore David’s fallen tent,
restoring its torn places.
I will restore its ruins,
rebuilding it as it was long ago,
12 so my people[a] may inherit the remnant of Edom
and all of the nations that bear my name,”
declares the Lord who is bringing this about.
13 “Look! The days are coming,”
declares the Lord,
“when the one who sows will overtake the harvester
and the treader of grapes will overtake[b] the planter.
Fresh wine will drip down from the mountains,
cascading down from the hills.
14 I will surely restore my people Israel;
they will rebuild the ruined cities
and inhabit them.[c]
They will plant vineyards
and drink the wine from them.
They will plant gardens
and eat the fruit from them.
15 I will plant the people of Israel[d] in their own land,
never again to be torn out of their land
that I gave them,”
says the Lord your God.
The Birth of John the Baptist
57 When the time came for Elizabeth to have her child, she gave birth to a son. 58 Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.
59 On the eighth day they went to circumcise the child. They were going to name him Zechariah after his father, 60 but his mother said, “Absolutely not! He must be named John.”
61 Their friends[a] told her, “None of your relatives has that name.”
62 So they motioned to the baby’s[b] father to see what he wanted to name him. 63 He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And everyone was amazed.
64 Suddenly, Zechariah could open his mouth,[c] his tongue was set free, and he began to speak and to praise God. 65 Fear came over all their neighbors, and throughout the hill country of Judea all these things were being discussed. 66 Everyone who heard about it kept thinking what had happened and asked, “What will this child become?” because it was obvious that the hand of the Lord was with him.
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