); Isaiah 49:13-23 (God comforts the suffering); Matthew 18:1-14 (Become like a child) (Revised Geneva Translation)
Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
148 Praise the LORD from the heavens! Praise Him in the high places!
2 Praise Him, all His angels! Praise Him, all His army!
3 Praise Him, Sun and Moon! Praise Him, all bright stars!
4 Praise Him, you heavens of heavens, and waters above the heavens!
5 Let them praise the Name of the LORD; for He commanded, and they were created.
6 And He has established them forever and ever. He has made an ordinance which shall not pass.
7 Praise the LORD from the Earth, you dragons and all depths:
8 fire and hail, snow and vapors, stormy wind — which execute His Word —
9 mountains and all hills, fruitful trees, and all cedars,10 beasts and all cattle, creeping things and feathered birds,
11 kings of the Earth and all people, princes and all judges of the world,
12 young men and maidens, also old men and children.
13 Let them praise the Name of the LORD; for only His Name is to be exalted. His praise is above the Earth and the heavens.
14 For He has exalted the horn of His people — a praise for all His saints, for the children of Israel — a people that is near to Him. Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD.
13 Rejoice, O heavens! And be joyful, O Earth! Burst forth into praise, O mountains! For God has comforted His people and will have mercy upon His afflicted!
14 But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me. And my LORD has forgotten me.”
15 “Can a woman forget her child and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Even if they should forget, yet will I not forget you.
16 “Behold, I have carved you upon the palms of My Hands. Your walls are always in My sight.
17 “Your builders hurry. Your destroyers and those who made you a wasteland, have departed from you.
18 “Lift up your eyes all around and look. All these gather themselves together and come to you, as I live,’ says the LORD. “You shall surely put them all upon you as a garment and gird yourself with them like a bride.
19 “For your desolations and your wastelands, and your destroyed land, shall surely now be too cramped for those who shall dwell in it. And those who devour you shall be far away.
20 “The children of your barrenness shall say again in your ears, ‘The place is too cramped for me. Give me a place in which I may dwell.’
21 “Then shall you say in your heart, ‘Who has begotten me these, seeing I am barren and desolate, a captive and a wanderer to and fro? And who has nourished them? Behold, I was left alone. From where have these come?’”
22 Thus says the LORD God: “Behold, I will lift up My Hand to the Gentiles, and set up My standard to the people. And they shall bring your sons in their arms. And your daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.
23 “And kings shall be your nursing fathers. And queens shall be your nurses. They shall bow down to you with their faces toward the earth, and lick up the dust of your feet. And you shall know that I am the LORD. For those who wait for Me shall not be ashamed.
18 At the same time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?”
2 And Jesus called a little child to Him, and set him in the midst of them,
3 and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted, and become as little children, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
4 “Whoever, therefore, shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.
5 “And whoever shall receive one such little child in My Name, receives Me.
6 “But whoever shall cause one of these little ones who believes in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depths of the sea.
7 “Woe to the world because of offenses. For it must be that snares shall come. But woe be to the man by whom the stumbling block comes.
8 “Therefore, if your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut them off and cast them from you. It is better for you to enter into life lame, or maimed, than - having two hands or two feet - to be cast into everlasting fire.
9 “And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye, than (having two eyes) to be cast into Hell fire.
10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I say to you that, in Heaven, their angels always behold the face of My Father Who is in Heaven.
11 “For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.
12 “What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine, and go into the mountains, and seek those which have gone astray?
13 “And if he finds it? Truly I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine which did not go astray.
14 “Nor is it the will of your Father Who is in Heaven that one of these little ones should perish.
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