Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
The World Should Praise the Lord
148 Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens.
Praise him high above the earth.
2 Praise him, all you angels.
Praise him, all you armies of heaven.
3 Praise him, sun and moon.
Praise him, all you shining stars.
4 Praise him, highest heavens
and you waters above the sky.
5 Let them praise the Lord
because they were created by his command.
6 He set them in place forever and ever.
He made a law that will never end.
7 Praise the Lord from the earth.
Praise him, you large sea animals and all the oceans.
8 Praise him, lightning and hail, snow and clouds,
and stormy winds that obey him.
9 Praise him, mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedar trees.
10 Praise him, you wild animals and all cattle,
small crawling animals and birds.
11 Praise him, you kings of the earth and all nations,
princes and all rulers of the earth.
12 Praise him, you young men and women,
old people and children.
13 Praise the Lord.
He alone is great.
He is greater than heaven and earth.
14 God has given his people a king.
He should be praised by all who belong to him.
He should be praised by the Israelites, the people closest to his heart.
Praise the Lord!
Moses and God’s Greatness
18 Then Moses said, “Now, please show me your greatness.”
19 The Lord answered, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you. I will announce my name, the Lord, so you can hear it. I will show kindness to anyone I want to show kindness. I will show mercy to anyone I want to show mercy. 20 But you cannot see my face. No one can see me and stay alive.
21 “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. 22 My greatness will pass that place. I will put you in a large crack in that rock. And I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will take away my hand, and you will see my back. But my face must not be seen.”
God Forgives Our Sins
1 We write you now about something that has always existed.
We have heard.
We have seen with our own eyes.
We have watched,
and we have touched with our hands.
We write to you about the Word[a] that gives life. 2 He who gives life was shown to us. We saw him, and we can give proof about it. And now we tell you that he has life that continues forever. The one who gives this life was with God the Father. God showed him to us. 3 Now we tell you what we have seen and heard because we want you to have fellowship with us. The fellowship we share together is with God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We write this to you so that we may be full of joy.[b]
5 Here is the message we have heard from God and now tell to you: God is light,[c] and in him there is no darkness at all. 6 So if we say that we have fellowship with God, but we continue living in darkness, then we are liars. We do not follow the truth. 7 God is in the light. We should live in the light, too. If we live in the light, we share fellowship with each other. And when we live in the light, the blood of the death of Jesus, God’s Son, is making us clean from every sin.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we are fooling ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 But if we confess our sins, he will forgive our sins. We can trust God. He does what is right. He will make us clean from all the wrongs we have done.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.