Woe to Those at Ease in Zion
1 w“Woe to those who are at ease in Zion,
and to those who feel secure on xthe mountain of Samaria,
ythe notable men of zthe first of the nations,
to whom the house of Israel comes!
2 Pass over to aCalneh, and see,
and from there go to bHamath the great;
then go down to cGath of the Philistines.
dAre you better than these kingdoms?
Or is their territory greater than your territory,
3 eO you who put far away the day of disaster
fand bring near the seat of violence?
4 “Woe to those gwho lie on hbeds of ivory
gand stretch themselves out on their couches,
and eat lambs from the flock
iand calves from the midst of the stall,
5 jwho sing idle songs to the sound of the harp
and like David jinvent for themselves instruments of music,
6 kwho drink wine in bowls
and lanoint themselves with the finest oils,
but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!
7 mTherefore they shall now be the first of those who go into exile,
and the revelry of those who stretch themselves out shall pass away.”
8 nThe Lord God has sworn by himself, declares the Lord, the God of hosts:
“I abhor othe pride of Jacob
and hate his strongholds,
pand I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.”
9 And qif ten men remain in one house, they shall die. 10 And when one’s relative, rthe one who anoints him for burial, shall take him up to bring the bones out of the house, and shall say to him who is in the innermost parts of the house, “Is there still anyone with you?” he shall say, “No”; and he shall say, s“Silence! We must not mention the name of the Lord.”
11 For behold, the Lord commands,
and tthe great house shall be struck down into fragments,
and the little house into bits.
12 Do horses run on rocks?
Does one plow there1 with oxen?
uBut you have turned justice into vpoison
uand the fruit of righteousness into wormwood2—
13 you who rejoice in Lo-debar,3
who say, w“Have we not by our own strength
captured Karnaim4 for ourselves?”
14 “For behold, xI will raise up against you a nation,
O house of Israel,” declares the Lord, the God of hosts;
“and they shall oppress you from yLebo-hamath
to the Brook of zthe Arabah.”
Mary Visits Elizabeth
39 In those days Mary arose and went with haste into rthe hill country, to a town in Judah, 40 and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth swas filled with the Holy Spirit, 42 and she exclaimed with a loud cry, t“Blessed are you among women, and ublessed is vthe fruit of your womb! 43 And why is this granted to me that the mother of wmy Lord should come to me? 44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And xblessed is she who believed that there would be1 a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”
Mary’s Song of Praise: The Magnificat
46 And Mary said,
y“My zsoul amagnifies the Lord,
47 band my zspirit rejoices in cGod my Savior,
48 for dhe has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on all generations ewill call me blessed;
49 for fhe who is mighty ghas done great things for me,
and hholy is his name.
50 And ihis mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
51 jHe has shown strength with his arm;
khe has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
52 jhe has brought down the mighty from their thrones
land exalted those of humble estate;
53 he has filled mthe hungry with good things,
and the rich nhe has sent away empty.
54 He has ohelped phis servant Israel,
qin remembrance of his mercy,
55 ras he spoke to our fathers,
qto Abraham and to his offspring forever.”
56 And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home.
The Birth of John the Baptist
57 Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. 58 And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord shad shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. 59 And ton the eighth day they came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father, 60 but his mother answered, “No; uhe shall be called John.” 61 And they said to her, “None of your relatives is called by this name.” 62 And vthey made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called. 63 And he asked for wa writing tablet and wrote, u“His name is John.” And they all wondered. 64 xAnd immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue yloosed, and he spoke, zblessing God. 65 And afear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all bthe hill country of Judea, 66 and all who heard them claid them up in their hearts, saying, “What then will this child be?” For dthe hand of the Lord was with him.
Zechariah’s Prophecy
67 And his father Zechariah ewas filled with the Holy Spirit and fprophesied, saying,
68 g“Blessed be the Lord hGod of Israel,
for he has ivisited and jredeemed his people
69 and khas raised up la horn of salvation for us
min the house of his servant David,
70 nas ohe spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
71 pthat we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all who hate us;
72 qto show the mercy promised to our fathers
and rto remember his holy scovenant,
73 tthe oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us
74 that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
might serve him uwithout fear,
75 vin holiness and righteousness before him wall our days.
76 And you, child, will be called xthe prophet of ythe Most High;
for zyou will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people
ain the forgiveness of their sins,
78 because of the btender mercy of our God,
whereby cthe sunrise shall dvisit us2 efrom on high
79 to fgive light to gthose who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
80 jAnd the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was kin the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.
