Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
2 1 (A) Hannah prayed:
You make me strong
and happy, Lord.
You rescued me.
Now I can be glad
and laugh at my enemies.
2 No other god[a] is like you.
And with you we are safer
than on a high mountain.[b]
3 I can tell those proud people,
“Stop your boasting!
Nothing is hidden from the Lord,
and he judges what we do.”
4 Our Lord, you break
the bows of warriors,
but you give strength
to everyone who stumbles.
5 People who once
had plenty to eat
must now hire themselves out
for only a piece of bread.
But you give the hungry more
than enough to eat.
A woman did not have a child,
and you gave her seven,
but a woman who had many
was left with none.
6 (B) You take away life,
and you give life.
You send people down
to the world of the dead
and bring them back again.
7 Our Lord, you are the one
who makes us rich or poor.
You put some in high positions
and bring disgrace on others.
8 You lift the poor and homeless
out of the garbage dump
and give them places of honor
in royal palaces.
You set the world on foundations,
and they belong to you.
9 You protect your loyal people,
but everyone who is evil
will die in darkness.
We cannot win a victory
by our own strength.
10 Our Lord, those who attack you
will be broken in pieces
when you fight back
with thunder from heaven.
You will judge the whole earth
and give power and strength
to your chosen king.
2 and this is the story of his family.
When Jacob's son Joseph was 17 years old, he took care of the sheep with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah.[a] But he was always telling his father all sorts of bad things about his brothers.
3 Jacob loved Joseph more than he did any of his other sons, because Joseph was born when Jacob was very old. Jacob had even given Joseph a fancy coat[b] 4 which showed that Joseph was his favorite son, and so Joseph's brothers hated him and would not be friendly to him.
5 One day, Joseph told his brothers what he had dreamed, and they hated him even more. 6 Joseph said, “Let me tell you about my dream. 7 We were out in the field, tying up bundles of wheat. Suddenly my bundle stood up, and your bundles gathered around and bowed down to it.”
8 His brothers asked, “Do you really think you are going to be king and rule over us?” Now they hated Joseph more than ever because of what he had said about his dream.
9 Joseph later had another dream, and he told his brothers, “Listen to what else I dreamed. The sun, the moon, and eleven stars bowed down to me.”
10 When he told his father about this dream, his father became angry and said, “What's that supposed to mean? Are your mother and I and your brothers all going to come and bow down to you?” 11 (A) Joseph's brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept wondering about the dream.
The Ancestors of Jesus
(Luke 3.23-38)
1 Jesus Christ came from the family of King David and also from the family of Abraham. And this is a list of his ancestors.
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah and his brothers (Judah's sons were Perez and Zerah, and their mother was Tamar), Hezron;
Ram, Amminadab, Nahshon, Salmon, Boaz (his mother was Rahab), Obed (his mother was Ruth), Jesse, and King David.
David, Solomon (his mother had been Uriah's wife), Rehoboam, Abijah, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jehoram;
Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, Josiah, and Jehoiachin and his brothers.
12-16 From the exile to the birth of Jesus, his ancestors were:
Jehoiachin, Shealtiel, Zerubbabel, Abiud, Eliakim, Azor, Zadok, Achim;
Eliud, Eleazar, Matthan, Jacob, and Joseph, the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus, who is called the Messiah.
17 There were 14 generations from Abraham to David. There were also 14 from David to the exile in Babylonia and 14 more to the birth of the Messiah.
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