); Isaiah 49:13-23 (God comforts the suffering); Matthew 18:1-14 (Become like a child) (21st Century King James Version)
Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
148 Praise ye the Lord! Praise ye the Lord from the heavens; praise Him in the heights!
2 Praise ye Him, all His angels; praise ye Him, all His hosts!
3 Praise ye Him, sun and moon; praise Him, all ye stars of light!
4 Praise Him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above the heavens!
5 Let them praise the name of the Lord, for He commanded and they were created.
6 He hath also established them for ever and ever; He hath made a decree which shall not pass.
7 Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons and all deeps,
8 fire and hail, snow and vapors, stormy wind fulfilling His word,
9 mountains and all hills, fruitful trees and all cedars,
10 beasts and all cattle, creeping things and flying fowl,
11 kings of the earth and all people, princes and all judges of the earth,
12 both young men and maidens, old men and children.
13 Let them praise the name of the Lord, for His name alone is excellent; His glory is above the earth and heaven.
14 He also exalteth the horn of His people, the praise of all His saints, even of the children of Israel, a people near unto Him. Praise ye the Lord!
13 Sing, O heavens, and be joyful, O earth! And break forth into singing, O mountains! For the Lord hath comforted His people, and will have mercy upon His afflicted.
14 But Zion said, “The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.”
15 “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.
16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of My hands; thy walls are continually before Me.
17 Thy children shall make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth from thee.
18 Lift up thine eyes round about and behold; all these gather themselves together and come to thee. As I live,” saith the Lord, “thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all as with an ornament, and bind them on thee as a bride doeth.
19 For thy waste and thy desolate places and the land of thy destruction shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away.
20 The children whom thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, ‘The place is too narrow for me; give place to me that I may dwell.’
21 Then shalt thou say in thine heart, ‘Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children and am desolate, a captive and removing to and fro? And who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been?’”
22 Thus saith the Lord God: “Behold, I will lift up Mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up My standard to the people; and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.
23 And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: They shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet. And thou shalt know that I am the Lord, for they shall not be ashamed that wait for Me.”
18 At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?”
2 And Jesus called a little child unto Him, and set him in the midst of them,
3 and said, “Verily I say unto you, unless ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.
5 And whoso shall receive one such little child in My name, receiveth Me.
6 But whoso shall cause one of these little ones who believe in Me to fall, it were better for him that a millstone were hung about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
7 “Woe unto the world because of offenses! For it must happen that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.
8 Therefore if thy hand or thy foot cause thee to fall, cut them off and cast them from thee; it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into everlasting fire.
9 And if thine eye cause thee to fall, pluck it out and cast it from thee; it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire.
10 “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you that in Heaven their angels do always behold the face of My Father who is in Heaven.
11 “For the Son of Man is come to save that which was lost.
12 How think ye? If a man have a hundred sheep and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains and seeketh that which is gone astray?
13 And if it so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more over that sheep than over the ninety and nine which went not astray.
14 Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in Heaven that one of these little ones should perish.
Copyright © 1994 by Deuel Enterprises, Inc.