Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Isaiah's prayer

⁷ I will speak about all the good things that the Lord does because he loves his people. We should praise him for everything that he does for us. He has done many good things for us, Israel's family. He helps us because he loves us very much, and he is very kind.

⁸ The Lord said, ‘Surely, they are my own people. As my children, they will not turn against me.’ So he became their Saviour. ⁹ When his people suffered, he also had pain. He sent his own angel to go and save them. Because he loved them and he was kind to them, he redeemed them. He lifted them up and he carried them, through all the years long ago.

The 3rd Hallelujah Psalm^[a]

¹⁰ It was right that God should bring Jesus back to heaven as king. All things belong to God, and he causes all things to continue. God wanted many people to become his children. He wanted them to live with him in heaven. Jesus made this possible because he died with much pain as a sacrifice. ¹¹ Jesus is the one who makes people clean in front of God. Jesus himself and all the people that he makes clean have the same Father. So Jesus is not ashamed to call all those people his brothers and sisters. ¹² He says this to God:

¹³ He also says this:

¹⁴ So, those people who become God's children are human. They have human bodies. Because of that, Jesus himself became human like us. In that way, when he died he was able to destroy the Devil. It is the Devil who has power over death. ¹⁵ Before, we were like slaves all our lives because we were afraid of death. But now, Jesus' death makes us free. ¹⁶ It is clear that Jesus did not come to help the angels. He came to help people who are from Abraham's family.^[c]

¹⁷ Because of that, it was necessary for Jesus to become completely like us, his brothers and sisters. He had to become God's servant on our behalf, like God's most important priest. In that way, he could serve God well and be kind to us. He died as a sacrifice so that God could forgive us for our sins. ¹⁸ While Jesus lived on earth, the Devil tried to make him do wrong things. This caused Jesus to have much pain and trouble. But because of that, he can now help us not to do wrong things.

Mary, Joseph and Jesus go to Egypt

¹³ After the men had gone away, Joseph had a dream. In the dream, he saw one of the Lord God's angels. The angel said to him, ‘Herod will look for the child, so that his soldiers can kill him. You must get up and take the child and his mother with you. Go immediately to Egypt. I will tell you when you can return again. You must remain there until then.’

¹⁴ So Joseph got up and he took the child and his mother with him. They started on the journey to Egypt that night. ¹⁵ They all remained in Egypt until Herod died. This happened so that the words of the prophet would become true. The Lord God had said by his prophet, ‘I have called my son to come out of Egypt.’^[a]

Herod's soldiers kill the baby boys in Bethlehem

¹⁶ When the wise men did not return to Herod, he was very angry. He knew that they had deceived him. So he sent his men to Bethlehem. He said to them, ‘Kill all the baby boys in Bethlehem. Kill the boys who live near there too. Kill all the boys who are two years old or younger than that.’ The wise men had told Herod how long ago they had first seen the special star. So he decided to kill the baby boys of that age. ¹⁷ In this way, these words that God's prophet Jeremiah spoke long ago became true:^[b]

Joseph, Mary and Jesus return to Israel

¹⁹ After Herod died, Joseph had a dream in Egypt. In the dream he saw one of the Lord God's angels. ²⁰ The angel said to Joseph, ‘Get up. The people who wanted to kill the child are dead. Take the child and his mother. You can now return with them to Israel.’

²¹ So Joseph got up. He took the child and his mother and they travelled to Israel. ²² But then Joseph heard that Herod's son, Archelaus, was now king of Judea instead of his father. So Joseph was afraid to go to Judea. In another dream God showed Joseph that he should go to Galilee instead. ²³ So Joseph went there and he lived in a town called Nazareth. Long ago God's prophets had said about God's Messiah, ‘He will be called a person from Nazareth.’ Now this had become true.