Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The Branch’s Righteous Reign
11 And a shoot will come out from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch from its roots will bear fruit.
2 And the spirit of Yahweh shall rest on him—
a spirit of wisdom and understanding,
a spirit of counsel and might,
a spirit of knowledge and the fear of Yahweh.
3 And his breath[a] is in the fear of Yahweh.
And he shall judge not by his eyesight,
and he shall rebuke not by what he hears with[b] his ears.
4 But he shall judge the poor with righteousness,
and he shall decide for the needy of the earth with rectitude.
And he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and he shall kill the wicked person with the breath of his lips.
5 And righteousness shall be the belt around his waist,
and faithfulness the belt around his loins.
6 And a wolf shall stay[c] with a lamb,
and a leopard shall lie down with a kid,
and a calf and a lion and a fatling together
as a small boy leads[d] them.
7 And a cow and a bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together.
And a lion shall eat straw like the cattle.
8 And an infant[e] shall play over a serpent’s hole,
and a toddler[f] shall put his hand on a viper’s hole.
9 They will not injure and they will not destroy on all of my holy mountain,[g]
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of Yahweh,
as the waters cover the sea.
10 And this shall happen on that day:
the nations shall inquire of the root of Jesse,
which shall be standing as a signal to the peoples,
and his resting place shall be glorious.
A Prayer for the Prosperity of God’s Anointed King
Of Solomon.[a]
72 O God, give your judgments to the king,
and your righteousness to the king’s son.
2 May he judge your people with righteousness,
and your poor with justice.
3 Let the mountains yield prosperity[b] for the people,
and the hills in righteousness.
4 May he provide justice for the poor of the people,
save the children of the needy,
and crush the oppressor.
5 May he live long[c] while the sun endures[d]
as long as the moon[e] for all generations.[f]
6 May he descend like rain on mown grass,
like showers watering the earth.
7 May what is right blossom in his days
and an abundance of peace, until the moon is no more.
18 Blessed be Yahweh God, the God of Israel,
who alone does wonderful things.
19 And blessed be his glorious name forever,
and may the whole earth be filled with his glory.
Amen and Amen.
4 For whatever was written beforehand was written for our instruction, in order that through patient endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures we may have hope. 5 Now may the God of patient endurance and of encouragement grant you to be in agreement[a] with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, 6 so that with one mind you may glorify with one mouth the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 Therefore accept one another, just as Christ also has accepted you, to the glory of God.
8 For I say, Christ has become a servant of the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God, in order to confirm the promises to the fathers, 9 and that the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy, just as it is written,
“Because of this, I will praise you among the Gentiles,
and I will sing praise to your name.”[b]
10 And again it says,
“Rejoice, Gentiles, with his people.”[c]
11 And again,
“Praise the Lord, all the Gentiles,
and let all the peoples praise him.”[d]
12 And again Isaiah says,
“The root of Jesse will come,
even the one who rises to rule over the Gentiles;
in him the Gentiles will put their hope.”[e]
13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
John the Baptist Begins His Ministry
3 Now in those days John the Baptist came preaching in the Judean wilderness 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near!” 3 For this is the one who was spoken about by the prophet Isaiah, saying,
“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.’”[a]
4 Now John himself had his clothing made from camel’s hair and a belt made of leather around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the district around the Jordan were going out to him, 6 and they were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they[b] confessed their sins.
7 But when he[c] saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “Offspring of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance! 9 And do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones! 10 Already now the ax is positioned at the root of the trees; therefore every tree not producing good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 I baptize you with water for repentance, but the one who comes after me is more powerful than I am, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing shovel is in his hand, and he will clean out his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the storehouse, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
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