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8The word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying: ²Thus says the Lord of hosts: I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I am jealous for her with great wrath. ³Thus says the Lord: I will return to Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts shall be called the holy mountain. ⁴Thus says the Lord of hosts: Old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand because of their great age. ⁵And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets. ⁶Thus says the Lord of hosts: Even though it seems impossible to the remnant of this people in these days, should it also seem impossible to me, says the Lord of hosts? ⁷Thus says the Lord of hosts: I will save my people from the east country and from the west country; ⁸and I will bring them to live in Jerusalem. They shall be my people and I will be their God, in faithfulness and in righteousness.

Psalm 95

¹O come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!

²Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!

³For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.

⁴In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also.

⁵The sea is his, for he made it, and the dry land, which his hands have formed.

⁶O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!

⁷For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. O that today you would listen to his voice!

²⁴When John’s messengers had gone, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? ²⁵What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who put on fine clothing and live in luxury are in royal palaces. ²⁶What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. ²⁷This is the one about whom it is written, ‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’ ²⁸I tell you, among those born of women no one is greater than John; yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” ²⁹(And all the people who heard this, including the tax collectors, acknowledged the justice of God, because they had been baptized with John’s baptism. ³⁰But by refusing to be baptized by him, the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected God’s purpose for themselves.) ³¹“To what then will I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? ³²They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not weep.’ ³³For John the Baptist has come eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon’; ³⁴the Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ ³⁵Nevertheless, wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”