Wednesday, June 24, 2026

¹Listen, islands, to me. Listen, you peoples, from afar: the LORD has called me from the womb; from the inside of my mother, he has mentioned my name.

²He has made my mouth like a sharp sword. He has hidden me in the shadow of his hand. He has made me a polished shaft. He has kept me close in his quiver.

³He said to me, "You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified."

⁴But I said, "I have labored in vain. I have spent my strength in vain for nothing; yet surely the justice due to me is with the LORD, and my reward with my God."

⁵Now the LORD, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, says to bring Jacob again to him, and to gather Israel to him, for I am honorable in the LORD's eyes, and my God has become my strength.

⁶Indeed, he says, "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give you as a light to the nations, that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth."

¹LORD, you have searched me, and you know me.

²You know my sitting down and my rising up. You perceive my thoughts from afar.

³You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.

¹³For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother's womb.

¹⁴I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. My soul knows that very well.

¹⁴I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. My soul knows that very well.

¹⁵My frame wasn't hidden from you, when I was made in secret, woven together in the depths of the earth.

²²When he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, to whom he also testified, 'I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my heart, who will do all my will.'

²³From this man's offspring, God has brought salvation to Israel according to his promise,

²⁴before his coming, when John had first preached the baptism of repentance to Israel.

²⁵As John was fulfilling his course, he said, 'What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. But behold, one comes after me, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.'

²⁶"Brothers, children of the stock of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, the word of this salvation is sent out to you.

⁵⁷Now the time that Elizabeth should give birth was fulfilled, and she gave birth to a son.

⁵⁸Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had magnified his mercy toward her, and they rejoiced with her.

⁵⁹On the eighth day, they came to circumcise the child; and they would have called him Zacharias, after the name of his father.

⁶⁰His mother answered, "Not so; but he will be called John."

⁶¹They said to her, "There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name."

⁶²They made signs to his father, what he would have him called.

⁶³He asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, "His name is John." They all marveled.

⁶⁴His mouth was opened immediately and his tongue freed, and he spoke, blessing God.

⁶⁵Fear came on all who lived around them, and all these sayings were talked about throughout all the hill country of Judea.

⁶⁶All who heard them laid them up in their heart, saying, "What then will this child be?" The hand of the Lord was with him.

⁸⁰The child was growing and becoming strong in spirit, and was in the desert until the day of his public appearance to Israel.