Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Israel’s Future Joys
14 “Sing aloud, daughter of Zion!
Shout out, Israel!
Rejoice with all of your heart, daughter of Jerusalem!
15 The Lord has acquitted you;[a]
turning back your adversaries.
Israel’s king, the Lord, is among you;
you will not fear disaster anymore.
16 “When all of this happens,[b] it will be told Jerusalem,
‘Don’t be afraid!”
and to Zion,
‘Don’t lose courage!”[c]
17 The Lord your God among you is powerful—
he will save
and he will take joyful delight in you.
In his love he will renew you[d] with his love;
he will celebrate with singing because of you.
18 I will gather the afflicted from the solemn assembly;
those who were with you,
who were bearing a burden of disgrace.
19 “Watch how I deal with everyone who oppresses you!
At that time I will rescue the one who is lame,
and I will draw to me[e] the one who has been driven away.
I will honor[f] them with praise
and with a good reputation in every land
where they have been put to shame.
20 At that time I will gather you;
at that time I will bring you home.[g]
Indeed, I will give you a good reputation,
making you praiseworthy among all of the people of the world,
when I restore your prosperity before your eyes,” says the Lord.
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.”
4 Keep on rejoicing in the Lord at all times. I will say it again: Keep on rejoicing! 5 Let your gracious attitude[a] be known to all people. The Lord is near: 6 Never worry about anything. Instead, in every situation let your petitions be made known to God through prayers and requests, with thanksgiving. 7 Then God’s peace, which goes far beyond anything we can imagine, will guard your hearts and minds in union with the Messiah[b] Jesus.
7 John would say to the crowds that were coming out to be baptized by him, “You children of serpents! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit that is consistent with repentance! Don’t begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have father Abraham!’ because I tell you that God can raise up descendants for Abraham from these stones! 9 The ax already lies against the roots of the trees. So every tree not producing good fruit will be cut down and thrown into a fire.”
10 The crowds kept asking him, “What, then, should we do?”
11 He answered them, “The person who has two coats must share with the one who doesn’t have any, and the person who has food must do the same.”
12 Even some tax collectors came to be baptized. They asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?”
13 He told them, “Stop collecting more money than the amount you are told to collect.”
14 Even some soldiers were asking him, “And what should we do?”
He told them, “Never extort money from anyone by threats or blackmail, and be satisfied with your pay.”
15 Now the people were filled with expectation, and all of them were wondering if John was perhaps the Messiah.[a] 16 John replied to all of them, “I’m baptizing you with[b] water, but one is coming who is more powerful than I, and I’m not worthy to untie his sandal straps. It is he who will baptize you with[c] the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand to clean up his threshing floor. He’ll gather the grain into his barn, but he’ll burn the chaff with inextinguishable fire.”
18 With many other exhortations John[d] continued to proclaim the good news to the people.
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