Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The King of Peace Is Coming
11 A new branch will grow
from a stump of a tree;
so a new king will come
from the family of Jesse.[a]
2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon that king.
The Spirit will give him wisdom and understanding, guidance and power.
The Spirit will teach him to know and respect the Lord.
3 This king will be glad to obey the Lord.
He will not judge by the way things look
or decide by what he hears.
4 But he will judge the poor honestly;
he will be fair in his decisions for the poor people of the land.
At his command evil people will be punished,
and by his words the wicked will be put to death.
5 Goodness and fairness will give him strength,
like a belt around his waist.
6 Then wolves will live in peace with lambs,
and leopards will lie down to rest with goats.
Calves, lions, and young bulls will eat together,
and a little child will lead them.
7 Cows and bears will eat together in peace.
Their young will lie down to rest together.
Lions will eat hay as oxen do.
8 A baby will be able to play near a cobra’s hole,
and a child will be able to put his hand into the nest of a poisonous snake.
9 They will not hurt or destroy each other
on all my holy mountain,
because the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord,
as the sea is full of water.
8 And you, watchtower of the flocks,[a] hill of Jerusalem,
to you will come the kingdom as in the past.
Jerusalem, the right to rule will come again to you.”
Why the Israelites Must Go to Babylon
9 Now, why do you cry so loudly?
Is your king gone?
Have you lost your helper,
so that you are in pain, like a woman trying to give birth?
10 People of Jerusalem, strain and be in pain.
Be like a woman trying to give birth,
because now you must leave the city
and live in the field.
You will go to Babylon,
but you will be saved from that place.
The Lord will go there
and buy you back from your enemies.
11 But now many nations
have come to fight against you,
saying, “Let’s destroy Jerusalem.
We will look at her and be glad we have defeated her.”
12 But they don’t know
what the Lord is thinking;
they don’t understand his plan.
He has gathered them like bundles of grain to the threshing floor.
13 “Get up and beat them, people of Jerusalem.
I will make you strong as if you had horns of iron
and hoofs of bronze.
You will beat many nations into small pieces
and give their wealth to the Lord,
their treasure to the Lord of all the earth.”
31 Then Jesus said, “What shall I say about the people of this time? What are they like? 32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace, calling to one another and saying,
‘We played music for you, but you did not dance;
we sang a sad song, but you did not cry.’
33 John the Baptist came and did not eat bread or drink wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon in him.’ 34 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! He eats too much and drinks too much wine, and he is a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ 35 But wisdom is proved to be right by what it does.”
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.