Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
113 Praise the Lord!
Servants of the Lord, praise him!
Praise the Lord’s name.
2 May the Lord’s name be praised
now and forever.
3 May the Lord’s name be praised
from where the sun rises to where it goes down.
4 The Lord is higher than all nations.
His glory rises to the skies.
5 There is no one like the Lord our God.
He sits on his throne high in heaven.
6 He is so high above us that he must look down
to see the sky and the earth.
7 He lifts the poor out of the dirt
and rescues beggars from the garbage dump.
8 He puts them in important positions,
giving them a place among the leaders of his people.
9 He gives children to the woman whose home is empty.
He makes her a happy mother.
Praise the Lord!
8 Look at you people! You join houses to houses and fields to fields until there is no room for anyone else. But when the punishment comes, you will be forced to live alone. You will be the only people in the whole land. 9 I heard the Lord All-Powerful make this oath: “I swear, all these houses will be destroyed. These big, fancy houses will be empty. 10 A ten-acre vineyard will make only a little wine,[a] and many sacks of seed will grow only a little grain.[b]”
11 How terrible it will be for you people who rise early in the morning and go looking for beer to drink. You stay awake late at night, getting drunk on wine. 12 At your parties with your wine, harps, drums, flutes, and other musical instruments, you don’t see what the Lord has done. You don’t notice what his hands have made.
13 My people don’t really know God. So they will be captured and taken away. Everyone, the respected leaders and the common people as well, will be hungry and thirsty. 14 They will die, and the place of death will open its mouth wide and swallow many of them. Then the noisy crowds and all the beautiful, happy people who are now so comfortable will go down into the grave.
15 Everyone, common people and leaders alike, will be humbled. Those who are now so proud will bow their heads in shame. 16 The Lord All-Powerful will judge fairly, and people will honor him. They will respect the Holy God when he brings justice. 17 Then sheep will be able to go wherever they want and graze on the land that rich people once owned.
18 Look at those people! They pull their guilt and sins behind them like people pulling wagons with ropes.[c] 19 They say, “We wish God would hurry and do what he plans to do so that we can see it. Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel happen soon so that we can know what it is.”
20 Look at those people! They say good is bad and bad is good. They think light is dark and dark is light. They think sour is sweet and sweet is sour. 21 They think they are so smart. They think they are very intelligent. 22 They are famous for drinking wine and are heroes known for mixing drinks. 23 And if you pay them enough money, they will forgive a criminal. But they will not let good people be judged fairly.
True Giving(A)
41 Jesus sat near the Temple collection box[a] and watched as people put money into it. Many rich people put in a lot of money. 42 Then a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth less than a penny.
43 Jesus called his followers to him and said, “This poor widow put in only two small coins. But the truth is, she gave more than all those rich people. 44 They have plenty, and they gave only what they did not need. This woman is very poor, but she gave all she had. It was money she needed to live on.”
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International