Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A Hymn of Thanksgiving
For the director of music. A song of David.
65 God, you will be praised in Jerusalem.
We will keep our promises to you.
2 You hear our prayers.
All people will come to you.
3 Our guilt overwhelms us.
But you forgive our sins.
4 Happy are the people you choose.
You have them stay in your courtyards.
We are filled with good things in your house,
your holy Temple.
5 You answer us in amazing ways,
God our Savior.
People everywhere on the earth
and beyond the sea trust you.
6 You made the mountains by your strength.
You have great power.
7 You stopped the roaring seas,
the roaring waves and the uproar of the nations.
8 Even those people at the ends of the earth fear your miracles.
You are praised from where the sun rises to where it sets.
9 You take care of the land and water it.
You make it very fertile.
The rivers of God are full of water.
Grain grows because you make it grow.
10 You cause rain to fall on the plowed fields.
You soak them with water.
You soften the ground with rain.
And then you bless it.
11 You give the year a good harvest.
You load the wagons with many crops.
12 The desert is covered with grass.
The hills are covered with happiness.
13 The pastures are full of sheep.
The valleys are covered with grain.
Everything shouts and sings for joy.
6 “You heard and saw all the things that happened.
So you should tell this news to others.
Now I will tell you about new things.
These are hidden things that you don’t know yet.
7 These things are happening now, not long ago.
You have not heard about them before today.
So you cannot say, ‘We already knew about that.’
8 But you have not heard me. You have not understood.
Even long ago you did not listen to me.
I knew you would surely turn against me.
You have fought against me since you were born.
9 But for my own sake I will be patient.
People will praise me for not becoming angry
and destroying you.
10 I have made you pure, but not by fire, as silver is made pure.
I have purified you by giving you troubles.
11 I do this for myself, for my own sake.
I will not let people speak evil against me.
I will not let some false god take my glory.
Paul Talks About His Work
14 My brothers, I am sure that you are full of goodness. I know that you have all the knowledge you need and that you are able to teach each other. 15 But I have written to you very openly about some things that I wanted you to remember. I did this because God gave me this special gift: 16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the non-Jewish people. I served God by teaching his Good News, so that the non-Jewish people could be an offering that God would accept—an offering made holy by the Holy Spirit.
17 So I am proud of what I have done for God in Christ Jesus. 18 I will not talk about anything I did myself. I will talk only about what Christ has done through me in leading the non-Jewish people to obey God. They have obeyed God because of what I have said and done. 19 And they have obeyed God because of the power of miracles and the great things they saw, and the power of the Holy Spirit. I preached the Good News from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum. And so I have finished that part of my work. 20 I always want to preach the Good News in places where people have never heard of Christ. I do this because I do not want to build on the work that someone else has already started. 21 But it is written in the Scriptures:
“Those who were not told about him will see,
and those who have not heard about him will understand.” Isaiah 52:15
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.