Isaiah 58–59:3; Isaiah 59:14–21; Luke 1:26–38

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Isaiah 58–59:3

True and False Fasting

1  “Cry aloud; do not hold back;

lift up your voice like a trumpet;

ldeclare to my people their transgression,

to the house of Jacob their sins.

2  mYet they seek me daily

and delight to know my ways,

as if they were a nation that did righteousness

and did not forsake the judgment of their God;

they ask of me righteous judgments;

they delight to draw near to God.

3  ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not?

Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’

Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure,1

and oppress all your workers.

4  Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight

and to hit with a wicked fist.

Fasting like yours this day

will not make your voice to be heard on high.

5  Is such the fast that I choose,

a day for a person to humble himself?

Is it to bow down his head like a reed,

and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?

Will you call this a fast,

and a day acceptable to the Lord?

6  “Is not this the fast that I choose:

to loose the bonds of wickedness,

to undo the straps of the yoke,

nto let the oppressed2 go free,

and to break every yoke?

7  Is it not to oshare your bread with the hungry

and pbring the homeless poor into your house;

qwhen you see the naked, to cover him,

and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

8  rThen shall your light break forth like the dawn,

and your healing shall spring up speedily;

your righteousness shall go before you;

sthe glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

9  Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;

you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’

If you take away the yoke from your midst,

the tpointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,

10  if you pour yourself out for the hungry

and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,

then shall your light rise in the darkness

and your gloom be as the noonday.

11  And the Lord will guide you continually

and satisfy your desire in scorched places

and make your bones strong;

and you shall be ulike a watered garden,

like a spring of water,

whose waters do not fail.

12  And your vancient ruins shall be rebuilt;

you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;

you shall be called the repairer of the breach,

the restorer of streets to dwell in.

13  “If you turn back your foot from the wSabbath,

from doing your pleasure3 on my holy day,

and call the Sabbath a delight

and the holy day of the Lord honorable;

if you honor it, not going your own ways,

or seeking your own pleasure,4 or talking idly;5

14  then you shall take delight in the Lord,

and I will xmake you ride on the heights of the earth;6

I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,

yfor the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Evil and Oppression

1  Behold, zthe Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,

or his ear dull, that it cannot hear;

2  but ayour iniquities have made a separation

between you and your God,

and your sins have bhidden his face from you

so that he does not hear.

3  For your chands are defiled with blood

and your fingers with iniquity;

your lips have spoken lies;

your tongue mutters wickedness.


Isaiah 59:14–21

Judgment and Redemption

14  Justice is turned back,

and righteousness stands far away;

for truth has stumbled in the public squares,

and uprightness cannot enter.

15  Truth is lacking,

and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.

The Lord saw it, and it displeased him1

that there was no justice.

16  He saw that kthere was no man,

and wondered that there was no one to intercede;

then lhis own arm brought him salvation,

and his righteousness upheld him.

17  He put on righteousness as a mbreastplate,

and a nhelmet of salvation on his head;

he put on garments of ovengeance for clothing,

and wrapped himself in pzeal as a cloak.

18  According to their deeds, so will he repay,

wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies;

to the coastlands he will render repayment.

19  So they shall qfear the name of the Lord rfrom the west,

and his glory from the rising of the sun;

for he will come like a rushing stream,2

which the wind of the Lord drives.

20  “And sa Redeemer will come to Zion,

to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the Lord.

21 “And as for me, this is my tcovenant with them,” says the Lord: u“My Spirit that is upon you, and vmy words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children’s offspring,” says the Lord, “from this time forth and forevermore.”


Luke 1:26–38

Birth of Jesus Foretold

26 zIn the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin abetrothed1 to a man whose name was Joseph, bof the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, cO favored one, dthe Lord is with you!”2 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, eyou will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 fHe will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the gthrone of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be hno end.”

34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”3

35 And the angel answered her, i“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born4 will be called holy—the jSon of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For knothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant5 of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.