Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The Third Description of Immanuel: The Branch From Jesse
11
A shoot will spring up from the stump of Jesse,
and a Branch from his roots will bear fruit.
2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him:
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3 He will be delighted with the fear of the Lord.
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
nor will he render decisions based on what he hears with his ears,
4 but with righteousness he will judge the poor,
and he will render fair decisions in favor of the oppressed on the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath from his lips he will put the wicked to death.
5 Righteousness will be the belt around his waist,
and faithfulness the belt around his hips.
6 The wolf will dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard will lie down with the young goat,
the calf, the young lion, and the fattened calf together,
and a little child will lead them.
7 The cow and the bear will graze together,
and their young ones will lie down together.
The lion will eat straw like the cattle.
8 The nursing child will play near a cobra’s hole,
and the weaned child will put his hand into a viper’s den.
9 They will not hurt or destroy anywhere on my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord,
as the waters cover the sea.
8 But for you, watchtower of the flock,
for you, stronghold of the Daughter of Zion,
for you, the power to rule, which you had before, will come again.
The kingship will return to the Daughter of Jerusalem.
9 But now, why are you shouting so loudly?
Is it because you have no king among you?
Has the one who guided you perished,
so that pain now has gripped you like a woman giving birth?
10 Writhe and scream, Daughter of Zion,
like a woman giving birth, since now you must leave the city,
and you will seek shelter in the fields.
You will go to Babylon.
There you will be rescued.
There the Lord will redeem you from the hand of your enemies.
11 But now many nations have banded together against you.
They say, “Let her be degraded! Let our eyes gloat over Zion!”
12 But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord,
and they do not understand his plans,
namely, that he will gather them together like bundles of grain on the threshing floor.
13 Rise up and thresh, Daughter of Zion,
for I will turn your horns into iron,
and I will make your hoofs bronze,
and you will crush many peoples.
You will dedicate what they have gained to the Lord,
and their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.
31 “To what then will I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? 32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance. We sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’ 33 For John the Baptist has come without eating bread or drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a man who is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ 35 Yet wisdom is declared right by all her children.”
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.