); Isaiah 49:13-23 (God comforts the suffering); Matthew 18:1-14 (Become like a child) (Tree of Life Version)
Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Praise Him, All Creation!
Psalm 148
1 Halleluyah!
Praise Adonai from the heavens!
Praise Him in the highest!
2 Praise Him all His angels!
Praise Him all His armies.
3 Praise Him, sun and moon!
Praise Him, all stars of light.
4 Praise Him, highest heavens,
and waters above the heavens.
5 Let them praise the Name of Adonai,
for He commanded and they were created.
6 He set them in place forever and ever.
He made a decree that will never pass away.
7 Praise Adonai from the earth,
sea monsters and all depths,
8 fire and hail, snow and vapor,
storm wind doing His bidding,
9 mountains and all hills,
fruit trees and all cedars,
10 beasts and all cattle,
crawling things and winged birds,
11 kings of the earth and all peoples,
princes and all rulers of earth,
12 both young men and maidens,
old men and children.
13 Let them praise the Name of Adonai,
for His Name alone is exalted.
His glory is above earth and heaven.
14 He has raised up a horn for His people,
a praise for all His kedoshim,[a]
for the children of Israel—
a people near to Him.
Halleluyah!
13 Shout for joy, heavens!
Rejoice, earth!
Break forth into ringing shouts, O mountains!
For Adonai has comforted His people
and has compassion on His afflicted.”
14 But Zion said: “Adonai has forsaken me,
Adonai has forgotten me.”
15 “Can a woman forget her nursing baby
or lack compassion for a child of her womb?
Even if these forget,
I will not forget you.
16 Behold, I have engraved you
on the palms of My hands.
Your walls are continually before Me.
17 Your children will come quickly.
Your destroyers and devastators will go away from you.
18 Lift up your eyes around and see:
all of them will gather and come to you.”
“As I live”
—it is Adonai’s declaration—
“you will wear them all as jewelry
and bind them on like a bride.”
19 For your waste and desolate places
and your destroyed land
will now be surely too small for the inhabitants,
and those who swallowed you up will be far away.
20 The children of your bereavement
will yet say in your ears,
“The place is too cramped for me!
Make room for me to settle in.”
21 Then you will say in your heart,
“Who has borne these for me?
Wasn’t I bereaved of my children—
barren, an exile and wandering?
So who has raised these?
Behold, I was left alone—
these, where were they?”
22 Thus says Adonai Elohim:
“Look, I will lift My hand to the nations,
and raise My banner to the peoples!
They will bring your sons on their chest,
and carry your daughters on their shoulders.
23 Kings will be your guardians,
their princesses your nurses.
They will bow down to you with their face to the ground,
and lick the dust of your feet.
Then you will know that I am Adonai—
those hoping in Me will not be ashamed.”
Childlike Humility
18 At that hour the disciples came to Yeshua, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
2 And He called a child to Himself, set him in the midst of them, 3 and said, “Amen, I tell you, unless you turn and become like children, you shall never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever then shall humble himself like this child, this one is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever welcomes one such child in My name, welcomes Me.
6 “But whoever causes one of these little ones who trust in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck and to be sunk in the depth of the sea! 7 Woe to the world because of snares! For snares must come, but woe to that man through whom the snare comes!
8 “And if your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away from you. It’s better for you to enter into life crippled or lame than, having two hands or two feet, to be thrown into fiery Gehenna. 9 If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away from you. It’s better for you to enter into life with one eye than, having two eyes, to be thrown into fiery Gehenna.
Parable of the Lost Sheep
10 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I tell you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father in heaven. (11 )[a]
12 “What do you think? If a certain man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, won’t he leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go looking for the one that is straying? 13 And if he finds it, amen I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that didn’t stray. 14 Even so, it’s not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.