Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
7 Behold, I will bring them from the north country,
and I will gather them from the ends of the earth—
among them the blind and the lame,
the pregnant together with she who is in labor with child.
A great throng will return here.
8 With weeping and supplications they will come.
I will bring them,
leading them to walk by streams of water
on a straight path where they will not stumble.
For I am Israel’s father,
and Ephraim is My firstborn.”
9 Hear the word of Adonai, O nations,
and declare it in the distant islands,
and say: ‘He who scattered Israel will gather
and watch over him, as a shepherd does his flock.’
10 For Adonai has ransomed Jacob.
He redeemed him from the hand of one stronger than he.
11 They will come and sing on Zion’s height,
radiant over the bounty of Adonai—
over the grain, the wine, the oil,
and the young of the flock.
Their life will be like a watered garden,
and they will never languish again.
12 Then will the virgin rejoice in the dance,
both young men and old men together.
For I will turn their mourning into joy,
and I will comfort them, and make them rejoice out of their sorrow.
13 I will fill the soul of the kohanim with fatness
and My people will be satisfied with My goodness.”
It is a declaration of Adonai.
Grief Turned to Joy
14 Thus says Adonai:
“A voice is heard in Ramah
—lamentation and bitter weeping—
Rachel weeping for her children,
refusing to be comforted for her children,
because they are no more.”[a]
12 Exalt Adonai, O Jerusalem!
Praise your God, O Zion!
13 For He strengthens the bars of your gates.
He blesses your children within you.
14 He puts shalom within your borders.
He satisfies you with the finest wheat.
15 He sends earth His command—
His word runs swiftly.
16 He gives snow like wool.
He scatters frost like ashes.
17 He hurls down His hail like pebbles—
who can stand before His cold?
18 He sends forth His word and melts them.
He makes His wind blow and waters flow.
19 He declares His word to Jacob,
His decrees and His rulings to Israel.
20 He has not done so with any other nation.
They have not known His judgments.
Halleluyah!
God’s Glorious Grace
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Messiah. 4 He chose us in the Messiah before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless before Him in love. 5 He predestined us for adoption as sons through Messiah Yeshua, in keeping with the good pleasure of His will— 6 to the glorious praise of His grace, with which He favored us through the One He loves!
7 In Him we have redemption through His blood—the removal of trespasses—in keeping with the richness of His grace 8 that He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight, 9 He made known to us the mystery of His will, in keeping with His good pleasure that He planned in Messiah. 10 The plan of the fullness of times is to bring all things together in the Messiah—both things in heaven and things on earth, all in Him. 11 In Him we also were chosen,[a] predestined according to His plan. He keeps working out all things according to the purpose of His will— 12 so that we, who were first to put our hope in Messiah, might be for His glorious praise.
13 After you heard the message of truth—the Good News of your salvation—and when you put your trust in Him, you were sealed with the promised Ruach ha-Kodesh. 14 He is the guarantee of our inheritance, until the redemption of His possession—to His glorious praise!
The Word Becomes Flesh
1 In the beginning was the Word.[a] The Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were made through Him, and apart from Him nothing was made that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overpowered it.
6 There came a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that through him everyone might believe. 8 He was not the light, but he came to bear witness concerning the light. 9 The true light, coming into the world, gives light to every man.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him; but the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, but His own did not receive Him. 12 But whoever did receive Him, those trusting in His name, to these He gave the right to become children of God. 13 They were born not of a bloodline, nor of human desire, nor of man’s will, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. We looked upon His glory,[a] the glory of the one and only[b] from the Father, full of grace and truth.
15 John testifies about Him. He cried out, saying, “This is He of whom I said, ‘The One who comes after me is above me, because He existed before me.’” 16 Out of His fullness, we have all received grace on top of grace. 17 Torah was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Yeshua the Messiah. 18 No one has ever seen God; but the one and only God,[c] in the Father’s embrace, has made Him known.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.