Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁶⁸ Blessed be [the] Lord the God of Israel, because he has visited and wrought redemption for his people,

⁶⁹ and raised up a horn of deliverance for us in the house of David his servant;

⁷⁰ as he spoke by [the] mouth of his holy prophets, who have been since the world began;

⁷¹ deliverance from our enemies and out of the hand of all who hate us;

⁷² to fulfil mercy with our fathers and remember his holy covenant,

⁷³ [the] oath which he swore to Abraham our father,

⁷⁴ to give us, that, saved out of the hand of our enemies, we should serve him without fear

⁷⁵ in piety and righteousness before him all our days.

⁷⁶ And *thou*, child, shalt be called [the] prophet of [the] Highest; for thou shalt go before the face of [the] Lord to make ready his ways;

⁷⁷ to give knowledge of deliverance to his people by [the] remission of their sins

⁷⁸ on account of [the] bowels of mercy of our God; wherein [the] dayspring from on high has visited us,

⁷⁹ to shine upon them who were sitting in darkness and in [the] shadow of death, to guide our feet into [the] way of peace.

22 Thus saith Jehovah: Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,

² and say, Hear the word of Jehovah, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people who enter in through these gates.

³ Thus saith Jehovah: Execute judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor; and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, or the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place.

⁴ For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in through the gates of this house kings sitting in the place of David upon his throne, riding in chariots and on horses,—he, and his servants, and his people.

⁵ But if ye will not hear these words, I have sworn by myself, saith Jehovah, that this house shall become a waste.

⁶ For thus saith Jehovah concerning the house of the king of Judah: Thou art a Gilead unto me, the summit of Lebanon: verily I will make thee a wilderness, cities not inhabited.

⁷ And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons; and they shall cut down the choice of thy cedars, and cast [them] into the fire.

⁸ And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbour, Wherefore hath Jehovah done thus unto this great city?

⁹ And they shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of Jehovah their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.

¹⁰ Weep not for the dead, neither bemoan him; [but] weep sore for him that goeth away, for he shall return no more, nor see his native country.

¹¹ For thus saith Jehovah concerning Shallum the son of Josiah, the king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, who went forth out of this place: He shall not return thither any more;

¹² for he shall die in the place whither they have led him captive, and shall see this land no more.

¹³ Woe unto him that buildeth his house by unrighteousness, and his upper chambers by injustice; that taketh his neighbour's service without wages, and giveth him not his earning;

¹⁴ that saith, I will build me a wide house, and spacious upper chambers; and he cutteth out for himself windows; and it is wainscoted with cedar, and painted with vermilion.

¹⁵ Shalt thou reign, because thou viest with the cedar? Did not thy father eat and drink, and do judgment and justice? Then it was well with him.

¹⁶ He judged the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Was not this to know me? saith Jehovah.

¹⁷ But thine eyes and thy heart are only on thine extortion, and on the blood of the innocent, to shed it, and on oppression and on violence, to do it.

³ Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his great mercy, has begotten us again to a living hope through [the] resurrection of Jesus Christ from among [the] dead,

⁴ to an incorruptible and undefiled and unfading inheritance, reserved in [the] heavens for you,

⁵ who are kept guarded by [the] power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in [the] last time.

⁶ Wherein ye exult, for a little while at present, if needed, put to grief by various trials,

⁷ that the proving of your faith, much more precious than of gold which perishes, though it be proved by fire, be found to praise and glory and honour in [the] revelation of Jesus Christ:

⁸ whom, having not seen, ye love; on whom [though] not now looking, but believing, ye exult with joy unspeakable and filled with [the] glory,

⁹ receiving the end of your faith, [the] salvation of [your] souls.