Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁵ O the happiness of him Who hath the God of Jacob for his help, His hope [is] on Jehovah his God,

⁶ Making the heavens and earth, The sea and all that [is] in them, Who is keeping truth to the age,

⁷ Doing judgment for the oppressed, Giving bread to the hungry.

⁸ Jehovah is loosing the prisoners, Jehovah is opening (the eyes of) the blind, Jehovah is raising the bowed down, Jehovah is loving the righteous,

⁹ Jehovah is preserving the strangers, The fatherless and widow He causeth to stand, And the way of the wicked He turneth upside down.

¹⁰ Jehovah doth reign to the age, Thy God, O Zion, to generation and generation, Praise ye Jah!

2 And Hannah prayeth, and saith: `My heart hath exulted in Jehovah, My horn hath been high in Jehovah, My mouth hath been large over mine enemies, For I have rejoiced in Thy salvation.

² There is none holy like Jehovah, For there is none save Thee, And there is no rock like our God.

³ Ye multiply not -- ye speak haughtily -- The old saying goeth out from your mouth, For a God of knowledge [is] Jehovah, And by Him actions are weighed.

⁴ Bows of the mighty are broken, And the stumbling have girded on strength.

⁵ The satiated for bread hired themselves, And the hungry have ceased. While the barren hath borne seven, And she abounding with sons hath languished.

⁶ Jehovah putteth to death, and keepeth alive, He bringeth down to Sheol, and bringeth up.

⁷ Jehovah dispossesseth, and He maketh rich, He maketh low, yea, He maketh high.

⁸ He raiseth from the dust the poor, From a dunghill He lifteth up the needy, To cause [them] to sit with nobles, Yea, a throne of honour He doth cause them to inherit, For to Jehovah [are] the fixtures of earth, And He setteth on them the habitable world.

3 And in the fifteenth year of the government of Tiberius Caesar -- Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod tetrarch of Galilee, and Philip his brother, tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene --

² Annas and Caiaphas being chief priests -- there came a word of God unto John the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness,

³ and he came to all the region round the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of reformation -- to remission of sins,

⁴ as it hath been written in the scroll of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying, `A voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, straight make ye His paths;

⁵ every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straightness, and the rough become smooth ways;

⁶ and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'

⁷ Then said he to the multitudes coming forth to be baptised by him, `Brood of vipers! who did prompt you to flee from the coming wrath?

⁸ make, therefore, fruits worthy of the reformation, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have a father -- Abraham; for I say to you, that God is able out of these stones to raise children to Abraham;

⁹ and already also the axe unto the root of the trees is laid, every tree, therefore, not making good fruit is cut down, and to fire it is cast.'

¹⁰ And the multitudes were questioning him, saying, `What, then, shall we do?'

¹¹ and he answering saith to them, `He having two coats -- let him impart to him having none, and he having victuals -- in like manner let him do.'

¹² And there came also tax-gatherers to be baptised, and they said unto him, `Teacher, what shall we do?'

¹³ and he said unto them, `Exact no more than that directed you.'

¹⁴ And questioning him also were those warring, saying, `And we, what shall we do?' and he said unto them, `Do violence to no one, nor accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.'

¹⁵ And the people are looking forward, and all are reasoning in their hearts concerning John, whether or not he may be the Christ;

¹⁶ John answered, saying to all, `I indeed with water do baptise you, but he cometh who is mightier than I, of whom I am not worthy to loose the latchet of his sandals -- he shall baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire;

¹⁷ whose winnowing shovel [is] in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his floor, and will gather the wheat to his storehouse, and the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.'

¹⁸ And, therefore, indeed with many other things, exhorting, he was proclaiming good news to the people,