The Season of Advent

¹⁵When the dawn came, the angels urged Lot, “Get going! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, so that you will not be swept away by the guilt of the city.” ¹⁶But Lot was taking too much time, so the men grabbed his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, because of the Lord’s compassion for him. They led him out and placed him outside of the city. ¹⁷Then when they had taken them out, one of them said, “Run for your life! Don’t look behind you, and don’t stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, so that you are not swept away!”

²³The sun had risen over the land when Lot came to Zoar. ²⁴Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire out of the sky from the Lord. ²⁵He overthrew those cities, as well as all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and whatever grew in the soil.

²⁶But Lot’s wife, who was behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

²⁷Abraham got up early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the Lord. ²⁸He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain. As he looked, he saw that the smoke from the land was going up like the smoke from a kiln.

²⁹And so when God destroyed the cities of the plain, God remembered Abraham and brought Lot out through the middle of the devastation, when he overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.

⁹Indeed, how can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have before God on account of you? ¹⁰Night and day we are praying earnestly to see you in person and to supply what is lacking in your faith.

¹¹May God our Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you. ¹²And may the Lord increase your love and make it overflow for each other and for all people, just as ours does for you, ¹³so that he may establish your hearts as blameless in holiness before our God and Father, when our Lord Jesus comes with all his saints.

²⁵“There will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars. And on the earth nations will be in anguish, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the surging waves, ²⁶people fainting from fear and expectation of the things coming on the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. ²⁷And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. ²⁸But when these things begin to happen, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is near.”

²⁹He told them a parable. “Look at the fig tree and all the trees. ³⁰As soon as they are sprouting leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is actually near. ³¹So also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near. ³²Amen I tell you: This generation will not pass away until all these things happen. ³³Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

³⁴“Watch yourselves or else your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and the worries of this life, and that day may come on you suddenly. ³⁵For it will come like a trap on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. ³⁶Stay alert all the time, praying that you may be able to escape all these things that are going to happen and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”

Look! I am sending my messenger! He will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord, whom you are seeking, will come to his temple! The Messenger of the Covenant, in whom you delight, will surely come, says the Lord of Armies.

²But who can endure the day when he comes? Who will remain standing when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire, like launderers’ bleach! ³He will be seated like a refiner and a purifier of silver. He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and like silver. They will belong to the Lord and bring him an offering in righteousness.

⁴Judah and Jerusalem’s offerings will be pleasing to the Lord as they were in the days of old, in years long ago.

This is the way a person should think of us: as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries. ²In this connection, moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. ³But it is a trivial matter to me if I am evaluated by you or by a day in a human court. Why, I do not even evaluate myself. ⁴I do not in fact know of anything against myself, but I am not justified by this; rather, the one who evaluates me is the Lord. ⁵Therefore judge nothing ahead of time, until the Lord comes. He will bring to light whatever is hidden in darkness and also reveal the intentions of hearts. Then there will be praise for each person from God.

In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—while Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene— ²during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah, in the wilderness. ³He went into the whole region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁴Just as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:

A voice of one calling in the wilderness,

“Prepare the way of the Lord! Make his paths straight.

⁵Every valley will be filled, and every mountain and hill will be made low.

The crooked will become straight, and the rough ways smooth.

⁶And everyone will see the salvation of God.”

⁹Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites, who helped the people understand, said to all the people, “Today is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or cry!” because all the people were crying as they heard the words of the Law. ¹⁰Nehemiah said to them, “Go, eat rich food and drink sweet drinks and send portions to those who have nothing prepared, because today is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, because the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

¹¹Then the Levites silenced all the people, saying, “Hush! Today is holy. Do not grieve.”

¹²All the people went to eat and drink and to send portions to others and to celebrate with great joy, because they understood the words that had been made known to them.

¹³Now on the second day, the heads of the families of all the people, the priests, and the Levites were gathered around Ezra the scribe to study the words of the Law. ¹⁴They found written in the Law, which the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moses, that the Israelites should dwell in temporary shelters during the festival of the seventh month, ¹⁵and that they should proclaim this and make this announcement in all their cities and in Jerusalem: “Go out to the mountains and bring branches from olive trees, wild olive trees, myrtle bushes, date palms, and leafy trees to make shelters, as it is written.”

¹⁶So the people went out and brought branches and made shelters for themselves. Each man made a shelter on his roof. They also made shelters in their courtyards, in the courtyards of the house of God, in the square by the Water Gate, and in the square by the Ephraim Gate. ¹⁷The entire congregation that had returned from the captivity made shelters and stayed in the shelters. From the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day, the Israelites had not celebrated in this way, because there was very great joy. ¹⁸Ezra also read from the Book of the Law of God every day, from the first day to the last day of the festival. They celebrated a festival for seven days, and on the eighth day they held an assembly according to the ordinance.

⁴Rejoice in the Lord always! I will say it again: Rejoice! ⁵Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. ⁶Do not worry about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. ⁷And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

⁷So John kept saying to the crowds who came out to be baptized by him, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? ⁸Therefore produce fruits in keeping with repentance! Do not even think of saying to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ because I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones. ⁹Even now the ax is ready to strike the root of the trees. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is going to be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

¹⁰The crowds began to ask him, “What should we do then?”

¹¹He answered them, “Whoever has two shirts should share with the person who has none, and whoever has food should do the same.”

¹²Tax collectors also came to be baptized. They said, “Teacher, what should we do?”

¹³To them he said, “Collect no more than what you were authorized to.”

¹⁴Soldiers were also asking him, “And what should we do?”

He told them, “Do not extort money from anyone by force or false accusation. Be satisfied with your wages.”

¹⁵The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John could be the Christ. ¹⁶John answered them all, “I baptize you with water. But someone mightier than I is coming. I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷His winnowing shovel is in his hand, and he will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor. He will gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

¹⁸Then with many other words, he appealed to them and was preaching good news to the people.

The man was intimate with Eve, his wife. She conceived and gave birth to Cain. She said, “I have gotten a man with the Lord.” ²She also gave birth to Cain’s brother Abel.

Abel tended sheep, but Cain worked the ground.

⁶The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why do you have that angry look on your face? ⁷If you do good, will you not be lifted up? If you do not do good, sin is crouching at the door. It has a strong desire for you, but you must rule over it.”

⁸Cain said to Abel, his brother, “Let’s go into the field.” When they were in the field, Cain attacked Abel, his brother, and killed him.

²⁵Adam was intimate with his wife again. She gave birth to a son and named him Seth, because she said, “God has set another child in place of Abel for me, since Cain killed him.” ²⁶Later a son was born to Seth, and he named him Enosh. This is when people began to proclaim the name of the Lord.

^5:1This is the account about the development of Adam’s family:

In the day that God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. ²He created them male and female and blessed them, and on the day they were created, he named them “mankind.”

³Adam lived 130 years, and he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his own image, and he named him Seth. ⁴The days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were 800 years, and he became the father of sons and daughters. ⁵All the days that Adam lived were 930 years. Then he died.

A great sign appeared in the sky: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. ²She was pregnant, and she cried out in pain and agony as she gave birth.

³Another sign also appeared in the sky: There was a huge red dragon that had seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. ⁴His tail swept away a third of the stars in the sky and threw them to the earth. The dragon stood before the woman, who was about to give birth, so that he could devour the child as soon as it was born.

⁵She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will shepherd all the nations with an iron rod. Her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. ⁶Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God in order that she might be fed there for 1,260 days.

³⁹In those days Mary got up and hurried to the hill country, to a town of Judah. ⁴⁰She entered the home of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹Just as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. ⁴²She called out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! ⁴³But why am I so favored that the mother of my Lord should come to me? ⁴⁴In fact, just now, as soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy! ⁴⁵Blessed is she who believed, because the promises spoken to her from the Lord will be fulfilled!”

⁴⁶Then Mary said,

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,

⁴⁷and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior,

⁴⁸because he has looked with favor on the humble state of his servant.

Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed,

⁴⁹because the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.

⁵⁰His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.

⁵¹He has shown strength with his arm.

He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their hearts.

⁵²He has brought down rulers from their thrones.

He has lifted up the lowly.

⁵³He has filled the hungry with good things, but the rich he has sent away empty.

⁵⁴He has come to the aid of his servant Israel, remembering his mercy,

⁵⁵as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his offspring forever.