Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
68 ‘The Lord God of Israel is a great God.
He has come to save his people. He has come to make them free.
69 He has sent a very strong person who will save us.[a]
This person comes from the family of his servant, King David.
70 Long ago, God promised that he would do this.
He gave his own prophets this message to speak.
71 God will save us from our enemies.
He will save us from everyone that hates us.
72 He has promised to be kind to our ancestors.
He will do the things that he promised in his holy covenant.
73 Yes, he will remember the strong promises that he spoke to Abraham.[b]
74 God said, “I will keep you safe from your enemies.
Then you can serve me and not be afraid.
75 You can live in a way that is good and right.
You can do this all your lives.” ’[c]
76 Zechariah then spoke to John:
‘You, my child, will be called a prophet of the powerful God who is over all.
You will go in front of the Lord to prepare a way for him.
77 You will tell God's people how God can save them.
They have done wrong things but God will forgive them.
78 Our God will forgive us because he is very kind.
He will send someone from the highest place.
When this person comes, it will be like the sunrise for us.[d]
79 He will bring light to people who are living without God.
It is like those people are living in the dark. They are afraid to die.
But he will shine on them.
He will show us how to live so that we will not be afraid.’[e]
13 The Lord says, ‘You have spoken bad words against me.
But you ask, “What have we said against you?”
14 You have said, “We serve God, but that has not helped us at all. We are careful to do what he tells us to do. When we do wrong things, we have sad faces to show the Lord Almighty that we are sorry. 15 But it is proud people that God blesses! Yes, it is the people who do evil things who become rich! God does not even punish people who like to test him. That is what we think.” ’
The great day of the Lord
16 Then the people who respected the Lord talked to each other. The Lord listened to what they said. While the Lord watched, someone wrote names on a scroll. Those were the names of the people who worshipped the Lord and respected the Lord's name. They wrote down their names so that people would remember them.
17 The Lord Almighty says, ‘These people will belong to me. One day I will come to judge everyone. At that time I will bring together all my own special people. I will not punish them. I will take care of them, like a father takes care of his son who serves him. 18 Because of that, you will see again that I am kind to good people, but I punish wicked people. I show the difference between people who serve me well and those who do not.’
18 But it does not matter to me! All of them are telling people about Christ. That is the most important thing. Whether they speak because of wrong reasons or because of right reasons, they are speaking the message about Christ! Because of that, I am happy.
Yes, I will continue to be happy. 19 You are praying for me and Jesus Christ's Spirit is helping me. So I know that what has happened to me will have a good result. Yes, God will rescue me. 20 I never want to do anything that will cause me to be ashamed. I hope very much that I will never do that. I want to be brave now, as I always have been. In the way that I live, I want to show that Christ is very great. I want to do that if I continue to live. And I want to do that if I die.
21 Christ is everything that I live for. If I die, that will be even better for me. 22 But if I continue to live, I will be able to do more good things to help people. I do not know whether it would be better to live or to die. I do not know which to choose. 23 Both of them seem very good to me. I want to leave this world so that I can be with Christ. That is a much better thing. 24 But you people need me to continue to live here in this world. 25 Yes, I am sure that you need me. For that reason, I know that I will continue to live among you. Then I will be able to help you to trust Christ even more. And that will make you even happier. 26 Then, when I am there with you again, you will have an even better reason to thank Christ Jesus.
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