4th Sunday of Advent

2AND THOU, BETHLEHEM Ephrata, art a little one among the thousands of Juda: out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be the ruler in Israel: and his going forth is from the beginning, from the days of eternity. 3Therefore will he give them up even till the time wherein she that travaileth shall bring forth: and the remnant of his brethren shall be converted to the children of Israel. 4And he shall stand, and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the height of the name of the Lord his God: and they shall be converted, for now shall he be magnified even to the ends of the earth. 5And this man shall be our peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land, and when he shall set his foot in our houses: and we shall raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.

2Give ear, O thou that rulest Israel: thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep. Thou that sittest upon the cherubims, shine forth

3Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasses. Stir up thy might, and come to save us.

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15Turn again, O God of hosts, look down from heaven, and see, and visit this vineyard:

16And perfect the same which thy right hand hath planted: and upon the son of man whom thou hast confirmed for thyself.

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18Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand: and upon the son of man whom thou hast confirmed for thyself.

19And we depart not from thee, thou shalt quicken us: and we will call upon thy name.

5Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith: Sacrifice and oblation thou wouldest not: but a body thou hast fitted to me: 6Holocausts for sin did not please thee. 7Then said I: Behold I come: in the head of the book it is written of me: that I should do thy will, O God. 8In saying before, Sacrifices, and oblations, and holocausts for sin thou wouldest not, neither are they pleasing to thee, which are offered according to the law. 9Then said I: Behold, I come to do thy will, O God: he taketh away the first, that he may establish that which followeth. 10In the which will, we are sanctified by the oblation of the body of Jesus Christ once.

39And Mary rising up in those days, went into the hill country with haste into a city of Juda. 40And she entered into the house of Zachary, and saluted Elizabeth. 41And it came to pass, that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: 42And she cried out with a loud voice, and said: Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. 43And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44For behold as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. 45And blessed art thou that hast believed, because those things shall be accomplished that were spoken to thee by the Lord.