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.”
22 Thus says the LORD: “Go down to the House of the king of Judah, and speak this thing there,
2 “and say, ‘Hear the Word of the LORD, O king of Judah, who sits upon the throne of David, you and your servants and your people who enter in by these gates!
3 ‘Thus says the LORD: “Execute judgment and righteousness, and deliver the oppressed from the hand of the oppressor, and do not trouble the stranger, the fatherless, or the widow. Do no violence or shed innocent blood in this place.
4 “For if you do this thing, then the kings sitting upon the throne of David shall enter in by the gates of this House and ride upon chariots and upon horses, he and his servants and his people.
5 “But if you will not hear these words, I swear by Myself,” says the LORD, “that this House shall be waste.”
6 ‘For thus has the LORD, spoken upon the king’s House of Judah: “You are Gilead to Me, the head of Lebanon. Surely I will make you as a wilderness, as uninhabited cities.
7 “And I will prepare destroyers against you, everyone with his weapons. And they shall cut down your chief cedar trees and cast them in the fire.
8 “And many nations shall pass by this city. And every man shall say to his neighbor, ‘Why has the LORD done this to this great city?’
9 “Then they shall answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the Covenant of the LORD their God, and worshipped other gods and served them.’”’”
10 Do not weep for the dead, and do not be moved for them. Weep for him who goes out. For he shall return no more, nor see his native country.
11 For thus says the LORD concerning Shallum, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned for Josiah, his father, who went out of this place: “He shall not return there.
12 “But he shall die in the place where they have led him captive and shall see this land no more.”
13 “Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his chambers without justice. He uses his neighbor without wages and gives him nothing for his work.
14 “He says, ‘I will build myself a wide house and large chambers.’ So he will make himself large windows and a ceiling with cedar and paint them with vermilion.
15 “Shall you reign because you close yourself in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink and prosper when he executed judgment and justice?
16 “When he judged the cause of the afflicted and the poor he prospered. Was not this because he knew Me,” says the LORD?
17 “But your eyes and your heart are only for your covetousness, and for shedding innocent blood, and for oppression, and for destruction.”
3 Blessed be God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who, according to His abundant mercy, has begotten us again to a living hope by the resurrection from the dead of Jesus Christ,
4 to an immortal and undefiled inheritance which does not wither, reserved in Heaven for us
5 who are kept for salvation through faith by the power of God (which is prepared to be revealed in the last time
6 and in which you rejoice. Though now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness through various trials
7 so that the trial of your faith—being much more precious than gold, which perishes even though it is tried with fire—might be found to your praise, honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ,
8 Whom you have not seen and yet love; in Whom now, though you do not see Him, you still believe and rejoice with unspeakable and glorious joy,
9 receiving the purpose of your faith: the salvation of your souls).
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