Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

¹⁰ Isaiah also gave this message from the Lord to Ahaz. ¹¹ He said, ‘Ask the Lord your God to do a miracle for you. That will show you that what he has said is true. Ask for anything, deep in the earth or high in the sky.’

¹² But Ahaz said, ‘I will never ask the Lord to do that. I do not want to test him.’

¹³ So Isaiah replied, ‘Now listen, you royal family of David! You cause trouble for people like me. That is bad enough. But now you are trying to cause trouble for God himself. ¹⁴ So the Lord God himself will show you that he speaks a true message. Look, the young woman who has never had sex will become pregnant. She will give birth to a son. She will call his name Immanuel. ¹⁵ One day he will know how to choose good things and refuse to do evil things. By that time there will be cream and honey for him to eat. ¹⁶ Even before that, the two kings that you are now afraid of will have no power. Their land will be empty.

Asaph wrote this psalm for the music leader. He should use special music.

God, help our nation^[a]

Paul says ‘Hello’

1 This letter is from me, Paul. I am a servant of Christ Jesus. God chose me to be his apostle. He sent me to tell his good news to people. ² God promised this good news long ago, before it became true. His prophets wrote about it in the Bible. ^3-4 This good news is about God's Son, who is Jesus Christ, our Lord. Jesus was born as a human baby from King David's family.^[a] But after Jesus died on the cross, God's Holy Spirit raised him to make him alive again. In that way God showed clearly that Jesus was his powerful Son. ⁵ Because of Jesus Christ, God has been very kind to us. He has chosen me to serve him as an apostle. He sent me to tell his message to people from all countries. As a result they would know that Jesus Christ is great. They would trust him and obey him. ⁶ You Christians in Rome are also among those people! God has chosen you to belong to Jesus Christ.

⁷ So I am writing to all you Christians who are in Rome. God loves you and he has chosen you to be his own people.

I pray that God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ will continue to help you. I pray that they will give you peace in your minds.

Jesus is born

¹⁸ This is how Jesus Christ was born. His mother's name was Mary. She had promised to marry a man called Joseph. Then she discovered that she was pregnant. This happened before they started to live together. It was the Holy Spirit that caused this to happen to her. ¹⁹ Joseph was a good man. He wanted to do what was right. He did not want her to become ashamed in front of people. So he decided to stop their marriage secretly.^{[a] 20} He thought about what he should do. Then an angel came from the Lord God to see him. The angel came to Joseph while he was dreaming. The angel said, ‘Joseph, you who are from the family of King David, take Mary home as your wife. Do not be afraid to do that. The baby that is growing inside her is from the Holy Spirit. ²¹ Mary's baby will be a boy. He will save his people from their sins.^[b] Because of that, you must give him the name “Jesus”.’

²² The Lord God had given a message about this to one of his prophets long ago. Now that message would become true. ²³ The prophet had said, ‘A young woman who has never had sex will have a baby boy. People will call her son Immanuel.’ This name means ‘God is with us’.

²⁴ Then Joseph woke up from his sleep. He did what God's angel had said to him. He married Mary and he took her to his home. ²⁵ Joseph did not have sex with Mary until after the baby boy was born. He said that the boy's name should be Jesus.