Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Don’t give up on me in anger at Your servant.
    You have always been there for me.
Don’t throw me to the side and forget me,
    my God and only salvation.
¹⁰ My father and mother have deserted me,
    yet the Eternal will take me in.

¹¹ O Eternal, show me Your way,
    shine Your light brightly on this path, and make it level for me,
    for my enemies are lurking in the recesses and ravines along the way.
¹² They are watching—hoping to seize me.
    Do not release me to their desires or surrender me to their will!
Liars are standing against me,
    breathing out cruel lies hoping that I will die.

¹³ I will move past my enemies with this one, sure hope:
    that with my own eyes, I will see the goodness of the Eternal
    in the land of the living.

¹⁴ Please answer me: Don’t give up.
    Wait for the Eternal in expectation, and be strong.
    Again, wait for the Eternal.

    Gather around and pay attention, you sons of Jacob.
        Listen carefully, my sons, to Israel, your father.

⁸     But Judah, your brothers will praise you.
        Your hand will firmly grasp the neck of your enemy,
        and your brothers will bow down before you in respect.
⁹     Judah is a lion cub;
        my son, who rises from the prey,
    Who crouches down and stretches out like a lion,
        and like a lioness—who dares to rouse him?
¹⁰     The scepter will not depart from Judah;
        the ruler’s staff will rest securely between his feet.
    Until the One comes to whom true royalty belongs,
        all people will honor and obey him.
¹¹     He ties his foal to the vine
        and his donkey’s colt to the choicest vine.
    He washes his clothing in wine
        and dips his robe in the blood of grapes.
¹²     His eyes are darker than wine,
        and his teeth are whiter than milk.

¹³ Jacob: Zebulun will settle near the shores of the sea,
        and he will be a safe harbor for ships.
        His border will extend to Sidon.

²¹     Naphtali is a beautiful doe, wild and free,
        that bears lovely fawns.^[a]

²²     Joseph is a fruitful plant^[b] that grows beside a spring,
        its fruitful branches reaching over the wall.
²³     The archers fiercely attacked him,
        shot at him, and pressed hard against him.
²⁴     But his bow remained taut and strong,
        his arms firm and agile.
    They were made so by the strong hands of God—
        by the Mighty One of Jacob, by the Shepherd of the Rock of Israel,
²⁵     By the God of your father, who will come to your aid,
        by the All-Powerful One^[c] who will bless you
    With the blessings from heaven above,
        blessings of the deep that lie beneath,
        and blessings of the breasts and womb.
²⁶     May the blessings of your father be more potent
        than the blessings of the ancient mountains.
    May they extend to the heights of the everlasting hills,
        and may these blessings now rest on the head of Joseph,
        on the brow of him who was set apart from his brothers.

⁶⁸ Zacharias: May the Lord God of Israel be blessed indeed!
        For God’s intervention has begun,
        and He has moved to rescue us, the people of God.
⁶⁹     And the Lord has raised up a powerful sign of liberation for us
        from among the descendants of God’s servant, King David.
⁷⁰     As was prophesied through the mouths of His holy prophets in ancient times:
⁷¹     God will liberate us from our enemies
        and from the hand of our oppressors!^[a]

^72-74     God will show mercy promised to our ancestors,
        upholding the abiding covenant He made with them,
    Remembering the original vow He swore to Abraham,
        from whom we are all descended.
    God will rescue us from the grasp of our enemies
        so that we may serve Him without fear all our days
⁷⁵     In holiness and justice, in the presence of the Lord.

⁷⁶     And you, my son, will be called the prophet of the Most High.
        For you will be the one to prepare the way for the Lord^[b]
77     So that the Lord’s people will receive knowledge of their freedom
        through the forgiveness of their sins.

⁷⁸     All this will flow from the kind and compassionate mercy of our God.
        A new day is dawning:
        the Sunrise from the heavens will break through in our darkness,
⁷⁹     And those who huddle in night,
        those who sit in the shadow of death,
    Will be able to rise and walk in the light,^[c]
        guided in the pathway of peace.