Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
46 Mary said,
“My soul declares that the Lord is great,
47 my spirit exults in my savior, my God.
48 He saw his servant-girl in her humility;
from now, I’ll be blessed by all peoples to come.
49 The Powerful One, whose name is Holy,
has done great things for me, for me.
50 His mercy extends from father to son,
from mother to daughter for those who fear him.
51 Powerful things he has done with his arm:
he routed the arrogant through their own cunning.
52 Down from their thrones he hurled the rulers,
up from the earth he raised the humble.
53 The hungry he filled with the fat of the land,
but the rich he sent off with nothing to eat.
54 He has rescued his servant, Israel his child,
because he remembered his mercy of old,
55 just as he said to our long-ago ancestors—
Abraham and his descendants forever.”
16 Always celebrate,
17 never stop praying;
18 in everything be thankful
(this is God’s will for you in the Messiah Jesus);
19 don’t quench the spirit,
20 don’t look down on prophecies,
21 test everything,
if something is good, hold it fast;
22 if something looks evil, keep well away.
Final blessings and charge
23 Now may the God of peace himself make you completely holy. May your complete spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus the Messiah. 24 The one who calls you is faithful; he will do it.
6 There was a man called John, who was sent from God. 7 He came as evidence, to give evidence about the light, so that everyone might believe through him. 8 He was not himself the light, but he came to give evidence about the light.
The evidence of John
19 This is the evidence John gave, when the Judaeans sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”
20 He was quite open about it; he didn’t try to deny it. He said, quite openly, “I am not the Messiah.”
21 “What then?” they asked. “Are you Elijah?”
“No, I’m not,” he replied.
“Are you the Prophet?”
“No.”
22 “Well, then, who are you?” they said. “We’ve got to take some kind of answer back to the people who sent us. Who do you claim to be?”
23 “I’m a voice calling in the desert,” he said, “ ‘Straighten out the road for the master!’ ”—just as the prophet Isaiah said.
24 The people who had been sent were from the Pharisees. 25 They continued to question him.
“So why are you baptizing,” they asked, “if you aren’t the Messiah, or Elijah, or the Prophet?”
26 “I’m baptizing with water,” John replied. “But there is someone standing among you that you don’t know, 27 someone who is to come after me. I’m not good enough to undo his sandal-strap.”
28 This took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.