Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

3 ¶ Behold, I send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, and the angel of the covenant, whom ye desire: behold, he comes, said the LORD of the hosts.

² But who may abide the time of his coming? and who shall stand when he appears? for he shall be like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap:

³ And he shall sit to refine and to purify the silver: for he shall purify the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.

⁴ Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem shall be pleasant unto the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years.

⁶⁸ Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and made redemption for his people

⁶⁹ And has raised up a horn of saving health for us in the house of his servant David,

⁷⁰ as he spoke by the mouth of the saints who from the beginning were his prophets;

⁷¹ salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all that hate us;

⁷² to fulfill mercy unto our fathers and remembering his holy covenant

⁷³ of the oath which he made to our father Abraham,

⁷⁴ that he would grant unto us, that without fear delivered out of the hand of our enemies, we might serve him

⁷⁵ in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life.

⁷⁶ And thou, child, shalt be called prophet of the Most High, for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways,

⁷⁷ giving knowledge of saving health unto his people for the remission of their sins

⁷⁸ through the bowels of mercy of our God, whereby the dayspring from on high has visited us

⁷⁹ to give light to those that dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death, to direct our feet into the way of peace.

³ ¶ I thank my God upon every remembrance of you

⁴ always in every prayer of mine for you all, making request with joy,

⁵ for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now,

⁶ being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ.

⁷ ¶ Even as it is right for me to think this of you all because I have you in my heart; inasmuch as both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are joint partakers of my grace.

⁸ For God is my record, how greatly I long after you all in the bowels of Jesus Christ.

⁹ ¶ And this I pray that your charity may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all perception,

¹⁰ that ye may approve the best, that ye may be sincere and without offense until the day of Christ,

¹¹ being filled with fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.

3 ¶ Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the tetrarch of Abilene,

² Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of God came upon John the son of Zachariah in the wilderness.

³ And he came into all the country about Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins;

⁴ as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.

⁵ Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low, and the crooked ways shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth;

⁶ and all flesh shall see the saving health of God.