Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
106 Hallelujah! Thank you, Lord! How good you are! Your love for us continues on forever. 2 Who can ever list the glorious miracles of God? Who can ever praise him half enough?
3 Happiness comes to those who are fair to others and are always just and good.
4 Remember me too, O Lord, while you are blessing and saving your people. 5 Let me share in your chosen ones’ prosperity and rejoice in all their joys, and receive the glory you give to them.
6 Both we and our fathers have sinned so much. 7 They weren’t impressed by the wonder of your miracles in Egypt and soon forgot your many acts of kindness to them. Instead they rebelled against you at the Red Sea. 8 Even so you saved them—to defend the honor of your name and demonstrate your power to all the world. 9 You commanded the Red Sea to divide, forming a dry road across its bottom. Yes, as dry as any desert! 10 Thus you rescued them from their enemies. 11 Then the water returned and covered the road and drowned their foes; not one survived.
12 Then at last his people believed him. Then they finally sang his praise.
41 Listen in silence before me, O lands beyond the sea. Bring your strongest arguments. Come now and speak. The court is ready for your case.
2 Who has stirred up this one from the east,[a] whom victory meets at every step? Who, indeed, but the Lord? God has given him victory over many nations and permitted him to trample kings underfoot and to put entire armies to the sword. 3 He chases them away and goes on safely, though the paths he treads are new. 4 Who has done such mighty deeds, directing the affairs of generations of mankind as they march by? It is I, the Lord, the First and Last; I alone am he.
5 The lands beyond the sea watch in fear and wait for word of Cyrus’s[b] new campaigns. Remote lands tremble and mobilize for war. 6-7 The craftsmen encourage each other as they rush to make new idols to protect them. The carver hurries the goldsmith, and the molder helps at the anvil. “Good,” they say. “It’s coming along fine. Now we can solder on the arms.” Carefully they join the parts together and then fasten the thing in place so it won’t fall over!
8 But as for you, O Israel, you are mine, my chosen ones; for you are Abraham’s family, and he was my friend. 9 I have called you back from the ends of the earth and said that you must serve but me alone, for I have chosen you and will not throw you away. 10 Fear not, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed. I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will help you; I will uphold you with my victorious right hand.[c]
11 See, all your angry enemies lie confused and shattered. Anyone opposing you will die. 12 You will look for them in vain—they will all be gone. 13 I am holding you by your right hand—I, the Lord your God—and I say to you, Don’t be afraid; I am here to help you.
18 About that time the disciples came to Jesus to ask which of them would be greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven!
2 Jesus called a small child over to him and set the little fellow down among them, 3 and said, “Unless you turn to God from your sins and become as little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven. 4 Therefore anyone who humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. 5 And any of you who welcomes a little child like this because you are mine is welcoming me and caring for me.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.