Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
25 My praise in the great congregation is because of you;
I will pay my vows before those who fear you.[a]
26 The afflicted will eat and be satisfied;
those who seek the Lord will praise him,
“May you[b] live forever!”
27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord;
all the families of the nations will bow in submission to the Lord.
28 Indeed, the kingdom belongs to the Lord;
he rules over the nations.
29 All the prosperous people will eat and bow down in submission.
All those who are about to go down to the grave[c]
will bow down in submission,
along with the one who can no longer keep himself alive.
30 Our[d] descendants will serve him,
and that generation will be told about the Lord.
31 They will come and declare his righteousness
to a people yet to be born;
indeed, he has accomplished it!
7 “Aren’t you people of Israel like the people of Cush to me?”
declares the Lord.
“I brought Israel up from the land of Egypt, did I not,
as well as the Philistines from Caphtor[a]
and the Arameans from Kir?
8 Look! The eyes of the Lord God are on the sinful kingdom.
I will destroy it from the face of the earth;
but I will not totally destroy the house of Jacob,”
declares the Lord.
9 “Look! I’m giving the order:
I will sift the house of Israel throughout all the nations,
as one sifts with a sieve,
yet not a single kernel will reach the ground!
10 All sinners among my people will die by the sword,
especially all who are saying,
‘Disaster will not come upon or conquer us!’”
Israel to be Restored
11 “At that time I will restore David’s fallen tent,
restoring its torn places.
I will restore its ruins,
rebuilding it as it was long ago,
12 so my people[b] may inherit the remnant of Edom
and all of the nations that bear my name,”
declares the Lord who is bringing this about.
13 “Look! The days are coming,”
declares the Lord,
“when the one who sows will overtake the harvester
and the treader of grapes will overtake[c] the planter.
Fresh wine will drip down from the mountains,
cascading down from the hills.
14 I will surely restore my people Israel;
they will rebuild the ruined cities
and inhabit them.[d]
They will plant vineyards
and drink the wine from them.
They will plant gardens
and eat the fruit from them.
15 I will plant the people of Israel[e] in their own land,
never again to be torn out of their land
that I gave them,”
says the Lord your God.
The Parable about a Mustard Seed(A)
30 He was also saying, “How can we show what the kingdom of God is like, or what parable can we use to describe it? 31 It’s like a mustard seed planted in the ground. Although it’s the smallest of[a] all the seeds on earth, 32 when it’s planted it comes up and becomes larger than all the garden plants. It grows such large branches that the birds in the sky can nest in its shade.”
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