Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Happy Song
14 Jerusalem, sing and be happy!
Israel, shout for joy!
Jerusalem, be happy and have fun!
15 The Lord stopped your punishment.
He destroyed your enemies’ strong towers.
King of Israel, the Lord is with you.
You don’t need to worry about anything bad happening.
16 At that time Jerusalem will be told,
“Be strong, don’t be afraid!
17 The Lord your God is with you.
He is like a powerful soldier.
He will save you.
He will show how much he loves you
and how happy he is with you.
He will laugh and be happy about you,
18 like people at a party.
I will take away your shame.
I will make them stop hurting you.[a]
19 At that time I will punish those who hurt you.
I will save my hurt people
and bring back those who were forced to leave.
I will give them praise and honor everywhere,
even in places where they suffered shame.
20 At that time I will lead you back home.
I will bring your people back together.
I will cause people everywhere to honor and praise you.
You will see me bring back all the blessings you once had.”
This is what the Lord said.
2 God is the one who saves me.
I trust him, and I am not afraid.
The Lord Yah is my strength.
He saves me, and I sing songs of praise about him.[a]”
3 You people will get your water from the spring of salvation.
Then you will be happy.
4 At that time you will say,
“Praise the Lord and call out his name!
Tell everyone what he has done
and how wonderful he is.”
5 Sing songs of praise about the Lord,
because he has done great things.
Spread this news about God throughout the whole world.
Let all people know these things.
6 People of Zion, shout about these things!
The Holy One of Israel is with you in a powerful way.
So sing and be happy!
4 Always be filled with joy in the Lord. I will say it again. Be filled with joy.
5 Let everyone see that you are gentle and kind. The Lord is coming soon. 6 Don’t worry about anything, but pray and ask God for everything you need, always giving thanks for what you have. 7 And because you belong to Christ Jesus, God’s peace will stand guard over all your thoughts and feelings. His peace can do this far better than our human minds.[a]
7 Crowds of people came to be baptized by John. But he said to them, “You are all snakes! Who warned you to run from God’s judgment that is coming? 8 Change your hearts! And show by your lives that you have changed. I know what you are about to say—‘but Abraham is our father!’ That means nothing. I tell you that God can make children for Abraham from these rocks! 9 The ax is now ready to cut down the trees.[a] Every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”
10 The people asked John, “What should we do?”
11 He answered, “If you have two shirts, share with someone who does not have one. If you have food, share that too.”
12 Even the tax collectors came to John. They wanted to be baptized. They said to him, “Teacher, what should we do?”
13 He told them, “Don’t take more taxes from people than you have been ordered to collect.”
14 The soldiers asked him, “What about us? What should we do?”
He said to them, “Don’t use force or lies to make people give you money. Be happy with the pay you get.”
15 Everyone was hoping for the Messiah to come, and they wondered about John. They thought, “Maybe he is the Messiah.”
16 John’s answer to this was, “I baptize you in water, but there is someone coming later who is able to do more than I can. I am not good enough to be the slave who unties his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 17 He will come ready to clean the grain.[b] He will separate the good grain from the straw, and he will put the good part into his barn. Then he will burn the useless part with a fire that cannot be stopped.” 18 John said many other things like this to encourage the people to change, and he told them the Good News.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International