Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

²⁴ O Lord, how many are Your works! You made them all in wisdom. The earth is full of what You have made. ²⁵ There is the wide sea full of both large and small animals. There are too many for us to number. ²⁶ The ships sail there. And the very large sea animal You have made plays in it.

²⁷ They all wait for You to give them their food at the right time. ²⁸ You give it to them and they gather it up. You open Your hand and they are filled with good things. ²⁹ They are troubled and afraid when You hide Your face. And when You take away their breath, they die and return to the dust. ³⁰ They are made when You send Your Spirit. And You make the land of the earth new again.

³¹ May the shining-greatness of the Lord last forever. May the Lord be glad in His works. ³² He looks at the earth and it shakes with fear. He touches the mountains and they smoke. ³³ I will sing to the Lord all my life. I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. ³⁴ May the words of my heart be pleasing to Him. As for me, I will be glad in the Lord.

³⁵ Let sinners be destroyed from the earth. And let the sinful be no more. Honor the Lord, O my soul! Praise the Lord!

⁷ “I will make My holy name known among My people Israel. I will not let My holy name be made unclean any more. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. ⁸ It is coming, and it will be done,” says the Lord God. “This is the day I have spoken of.

The Land Is Given Back to Israel

²¹ “I will show My greatness among the nations. All the nations will see how I have punished Israel and My hand which I have laid on them. ²² Then the people of Israel will know that I am the Lord their God from that day on. ²³ The nations will know that the people of Israel were taken from their land because of their sin, because they were not faithful to Me. So I hid My face from them and gave them over to those who hated them, and they died in battle. ²⁴ I punished them because they were unclean and sinful, and I hid My face from them.”’”

²⁵ So the Lord God says, “Now I will return the people of Jacob to their land and show loving-kindness to all the people of Israel. And I will be jealous for My holy name. ²⁶ They will forget their shame and how unfaithful they were to Me, when they live in peace on their own land with no one to make them afraid. ²⁷ I will bring them back from the nations and gather them from the lands of those who hate them. In this way I will show the many nations that I am holy. ²⁸ Then they will know that I am the Lord their God, because I sent them away into the other nations and then gathered them again to their own land. And I will not leave any of them there any longer. ²⁹ I will not hide My face from them again, for I will pour out My Spirit on the people of Israel,” says the Lord God.

²⁶ In the same way, the Holy Spirit helps us where we are weak. We do not know how to pray or what we should pray for, but the Holy Spirit prays to God for us with sounds that cannot be put into words. ²⁷ God knows the hearts of men. He knows what the Holy Spirit is thinking. The Holy Spirit prays for those who belong to Christ the way God wants Him to pray.