2 “Behold, God is my salvation;
I will trust, and will not be afraid;
for wthe Lord God1 is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation.”
3 xWith joy you2 will draw water from the wells of salvation. 4 yAnd you will say in that day:
z“Give thanks to the Lord,
call upon his name,
amake known his deeds among the peoples,
proclaim bthat his name is exalted.
5 c“Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously;
let this be made known3 in all the earth.
6 Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,
Israel’s Joy and Restoration
14 jSing aloud, O daughter of Zion;
shout, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart,
O daughter of Jerusalem!
15 The Lord has taken away the judgments against you;
he has cleared away your enemies.
kThe King of Israel, lthe Lord, is in your midst;
you shall never again fear evil.
16 zOn that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:
“Fear not, O Zion;
mlet not your hands grow weak.
17 lThe Lord your God is in your midst,
na mighty one who will save;
ohe will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.
18 I will gather those of you who mourn pfor the festival,
so that you will no longer suffer reproach.1
19 Behold, at that time qI will deal
with all your oppressors.
And rI will save the lame
and gather the outcast,
and I will change stheir shame into tpraise
and renown in all the earth.
20 uAt that time I will bring you in,
at the time when I gather you together;
for I will make you renowned and praised
among all the peoples of the earth,
vwhen I restore your fortunes
before your eyes,” says the Lord.
7 He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, c“You brood of dvipers! Who warned you to flee from ethe wrath to come? 8 Bear fruits fin keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, g‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from hthese stones to raise up children for Abraham. 9 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. iEvery tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
10 And the crowds asked him, j“What then shall we do?” 11 And he answered them, k“Whoever has two tunics1 is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” 12 lTax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, jwhat shall we do?” 13 And he said to them, m“Collect no more than you are authorized to do.” 14 Soldiers also asked him, “And we, jwhat shall we do?” And he said to them, m“Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your nwages.”
15 As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, owhether he might be pthe Christ, 16 qJohn answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but rhe who is mightier than I is coming, sthe strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you twith the Holy Spirit and ufire. 17 His vwinnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to wgather the wheat into his barn, xbut the chaff he will burn with yunquenchable fire.”
18 So zwith many other exhortations he preached good news to the people.
4 pRejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. 5 Let your reasonableness1 be known to everyone. qThe Lord is at hand; 6 rdo not be anxious about anything, sbut in everything by prayer and supplication twith thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And uthe peace of God, vwhich surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
