Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
2 Look! God is my Savior.
I am confident and unafraid,
because the Lord is my strength and my song.
He is my Savior.”
3 With joy you will draw water from the springs of salvation.
4 At that time you will say,
“Praise the Lord.
Call on his name.
Make his deeds known among the nations.
Make them remember that his name is highly honored.
5 Make music to praise the Lord.
He has done wonderful things.
Let this be known throughout the earth.
6 Shout loudly, and sing with joy, people of Zion!
The Holy One of Israel is great. He is among you.”
8 I, the Almighty Lord, have my eyes on this sinful kingdom.
I will wipe it off the face of the earth.
But I won’t totally destroy the descendants of Jacob, declares the Lord.
9 I’m going to give the order.
I will sift the nation of Israel out of all the nations
as if I were using a sieve.
Not one pebble will fall to the ground.
10 All the sinners among my people are thinking,
“Destruction will not catch up to us or run into us.”
In spite of this, they will be killed with swords.
The Lord Will Restore His People
11 On that day I will set up David’s fallen tent.
I will repair the holes in it.
I will restore its ruined places.
I will rebuild them as they were a long time ago.
12 They will capture the few survivors of Edom
and all the other nations that were under my authority,
declares the Lord, who will do these things.
13 The days are going to come, declares the Lord,
when the one who plows will catch up to the one who harvests,
and the one who stomps on grapes will catch up to the one who plants.
New wine will drip from the mountains
and flow from all the hills.
14 I will restore my people Israel.
They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them.
They will plant vineyards and drink the wine from them.
They will plant gardens and eat their fruit.
15 I will plant the people of Israel in their land,
and they won’t be uprooted again from the land that I gave them,
says the Lord your God.
John Is Born
57 When the time came for Elizabeth to have her child, she gave birth to a son. 58 Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had been very kind to her, and they shared her joy.
59 When the child was eight days old, they went ⌞to the temple⌟ to circumcise him. They were going to name him Zechariah after his father. 60 But his mother spoke up, “Absolutely not! His name will be John.”
61 Their friends said to her, “But you don’t have any relatives with that name.”
62 So they motioned to the baby’s father to see what he wanted to name the child. 63 Zechariah asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” Everyone was amazed.
64 Suddenly, Zechariah was able to speak, and he began to praise God.
65 All their neighbors were filled with awe. Throughout the mountain region of Judea, people talked about everything that had happened. 66 Everyone who heard about it seriously thought it over and asked, “What does the future hold for this child?” It was clear that the Lord was with him.
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