Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁶⁸ Blessed (praised and extolled and thanked) be the Lord, the God of Israel, because He has come and brought deliverance and redemption to His people!

⁶⁹ And He has raised up a Horn of salvation [a mighty and valiant Helper, the Author of salvation] for us in the house of David His servant—

⁷⁰ This is as He promised by the mouth of His holy prophets from the most ancient times [in the memory of man]—

⁷¹ That we should have deliverance and be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who detest and pursue us with hatred;

⁷² To make true and show the mercy and compassion and kindness [promised] to our forefathers and to remember and carry out His holy covenant [to bless, which is ^[a]all the more sacred because it is made by God Himself],

⁷³ That covenant He sealed by oath to our forefather Abraham:

⁷⁴ To grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our foes, might serve Him fearlessly

⁷⁵ In holiness (divine consecration) and righteousness [in accordance with the everlasting principles of right] within His presence all the days of our lives.

⁷⁶ And you, little one, shall be called a prophet of the Most High; for you shall go on before the face of the Lord to make ready His ways,^(A)

⁷⁷ To bring and give the knowledge of salvation to His people in the forgiveness and remission of their sins.

⁷⁸ Because of and through the heart of tender mercy and loving-kindness of our God, a Light from on high will dawn upon us and visit [us]^(B)

⁷⁹ To shine upon and give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to direct and guide our feet in a straight line into the way of peace.^(C)

22 Thus says the Lord: Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak there this word:

² Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, you who sit upon the throne of David—you and your servants and your people who enter by these gates.

³ Thus says the Lord: Execute justice and righteousness, and deliver out of the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong; do no violence to the stranger or temporary resident, the fatherless, or the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.

⁴ For if you will indeed obey this word, then will there enter in through the gates of this [the king’s] house kings sitting [for David] upon David’s throne, riding in chariots and on horses—they and their servants and their people.

⁵ But if you will not hear these words, I swear by Myself, says the Lord, that this house will become a desolation.

⁶ For thus says the Lord concerning the house of the king of Judah: [If you will not listen to Me, though] you are [as valuable] to Me as [the fat pastures of] Gilead [east of the Jordan] or as the [plentiful] summit of Lebanon [west of the Jordan], yet surely I will make you a wilderness and uninhabited cities.

⁷ And I will prepare, solemnly set apart, and appoint [to execute My judgments against you] destroyers, each with his weapons, and they will cut down your [palaces built of] choicest cedars and cast them into the fire.

⁸ And many nations will pass by this city, and every man will say to his neighbor, Why has the Lord done this to this great city?

⁹ Then they will answer, Because [the people] forsook the covenant or solemn pledge with the Lord their God and worshiped other gods and served them.

¹⁰ Weep not for him who is dead nor bemoan him; but weep bitterly for him who goes away [into captivity], for he shall return no more nor see his native country [again].

¹¹ For thus says the Lord concerning Shallum son of Josiah king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father and who went forth out of this place: [Shallum] shall not return here any more;

¹² But he shall die in the place where they have led him captive, and he shall see this land no more.

¹³ Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness and his [upper] chambers by injustice, who uses his neighbor’s service without wages and does not give him his pay [for his work],

¹⁴ Who says, I will build myself a wide house with large rooms, and he cuts himself out windows, and it is ceiled or paneled with cedar and painted with vermilion.

¹⁵ Do you think that being a king [merely] means [self-indulgent] vying [with Solomon] and striving to excel in cedar [palaces]? Did not your father [Josiah], as he ate and drank, do justice and righteousness [being upright and in right standing with God]? Then it was well with him.

¹⁶ He judged and defended the cause of the poor and needy; then it was well. Was not [all] this [what it means] to know and recognize Me? says the Lord.

¹⁷ But your eyes and your heart are only for your covetousness and dishonest gain, for shedding innocent blood, for oppression and doing violence.

³ Praised (honored, blessed) be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah)! By His boundless mercy we have been born again to an ever-living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

⁴ [Born anew] into an inheritance which is beyond the reach of change and decay [imperishable], unsullied and unfading, reserved in heaven for you,

⁵ Who are being guarded (garrisoned) by God’s power through [your] faith [till you fully inherit that ^[a]final] salvation that is ready to be revealed [for you] in the last time.

⁶ [You should] be exceedingly glad on this account, though now for a little while you may be distressed by trials and suffer temptations,

⁷ So that [the genuineness] of your faith may be tested, [your faith] which is infinitely more precious than the perishable gold which is tested and purified by fire. [This proving of your faith is intended] to redound to [your] praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) is revealed.

⁸ Without having seen Him, you love Him; though you do not [even] now see Him, you believe in Him and exult and thrill with inexpressible and glorious (triumphant, heavenly) joy.

⁹ [At the same time] you receive the result (outcome, consummation) of your faith, the salvation of your souls.