Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The Reign of Jesse’s Offspring(A)
11 There (B)shall come forth a [a]Rod from the [b]stem of (C)Jesse,
And (D)a Branch shall [c]grow out of his roots.
2 (E)The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,
The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
The Spirit of counsel and might,
The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
3 His delight is in the fear of the Lord,
And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes,
Nor decide by the hearing of His ears;
4 But (F)with righteousness He shall judge the poor,
And decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
He shall (G)strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,
And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins,
And faithfulness the belt of His waist.
6 “The(H) wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,
The leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
The calf and the young lion and the fatling together;
And a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze;
Their young ones shall lie down together;
And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole,
And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den.
9 (I)They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,
For (J)the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
As the waters cover the sea.
Glory and Universality of the Messiah’s Reign
A Psalm (A)of Solomon.
72 Give the king Your judgments, O God,
And Your righteousness to the king’s Son.
2 (B)He will judge Your people with righteousness,
And Your poor with justice.
3 (C)The mountains will bring peace to the people,
And the little hills, by righteousness.
4 (D)He will bring justice to the poor of the people;
He will save the children of the needy,
And will [a]break in pieces the oppressor.
4 For (A)whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the [a]patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. 5 (B)Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, 6 that you may (C)with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Glorify God Together
7 Therefore (D)receive one another, just (E)as Christ also received [b]us, to the glory of God. 8 Now I say that (F)Jesus Christ has become a [c]servant to the circumcision for the truth of God, (G)to confirm the promises made to the fathers, 9 and (H)that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy, as it is written:
(I)“For this reason I will confess to You among the Gentiles,
And sing to Your name.”
10 And again he says:
(J)“Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people!”
11 And again:
(K)“Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles!
Laud Him, all you peoples!”
12 And again, Isaiah says:
(L)“There shall be a root of Jesse;
And He who shall rise to reign over the Gentiles,
In Him the Gentiles shall hope.”
13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all (M)joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
John the Baptist Prepares the Way(A)
3 In those days (B)John the Baptist came preaching (C)in the wilderness of Judea, 2 and saying, “Repent, for (D)the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” 3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying:
(E)“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
(F)‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
Make His paths straight.’ ”
4 Now (G)John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was (H)locusts and (I)wild honey. 5 (J)Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him 6 (K)and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, (L)“Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from (M)the wrath to come? 8 Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, 9 and do not think to say to yourselves, (N)‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. 10 And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. (O)Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 11 (P)I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. (Q)He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit [a]and fire. 12 (R)His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will (S)burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.