Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He hath visited and redeemed His people,
69 and hath raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David.
70 As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, who have been since the world began,
71 that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all that hate us,
72 to perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant,
73 the oath which He swore to our father Abraham:
74 that He would grant unto us that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear,
75 in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life.
76 And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest; for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways,
77 to give knowledge of salvation unto His people by the remission of their sins,
78 through the tender mercy of our God, whereby the Dayspring from on high hath visited us,
79 to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
5 “And I will come near to you in judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers, and against those who swear falsely, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, and those who turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not Me,” saith the Lord of hosts.
6 “For I am the Lord, I change not. Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.
7 “Even from the days of your fathers, ye have gone away from Mine ordinances and have not kept them. Return unto Me, and I will return unto you,” saith the Lord of hosts. “But ye said, ‘In what manner shall we return?’
8 Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me! But ye say, ‘Wherein have we robbed Thee?’ In tithes and offerings.
9 Ye are cursed with a curse; for ye have robbed Me, even this whole nation.
10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, and put Me to the proof now herewith,” saith the Lord of hosts, “if I will not open to you the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground, neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field,” saith the Lord of hosts.
12 “And all nations shall call you blessed, for ye shall be a delightsome land,” saith the Lord of hosts.
12 But I would ye should understand, brethren, that the things which have happened unto me have turned out unto the furtherance of the Gospel,
13 so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace and in all other places;
14 and many of the brethren in the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much bolder to speak the Word without fear.
15 Some indeed preach Christ even out of envy and strife, and some also out of good will.
16 The one preaches Christ out of contention and not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my bonds;
17 but the other out of love, knowing that I am set for the defense of the Gospel.
18 What then? Notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.
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