Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
24 Lord, you created so many things!
With your wisdom you made them all.
The earth is full of the living things you made.
25 Look at the ocean, so big and wide!
It is filled with all kinds of sea life.
There are creatures large and small—too many to count!
26 Ships sail over the ocean,
and playing there is Leviathan,[a]
the great sea creature you made.
27 Lord, all living things depend on you.
You give them food at the right time.
28 You give it, and they eat it.
They are filled with good food from your open hands.
29 When you turn away from them,
they become frightened.
When you take away their breath,[b]
they die, and their bodies return to the dust.
30 But when you send out your life-giving breath,[c]
things come alive, and the world is like new again!
31 May the Lord’s glory continue forever!
May the Lord enjoy what he made.
32 He just looks at the earth, and it trembles.
He just touches the mountains, and smoke rises from them.
33 I will sing to the Lord for the rest of my life.
I will sing praises to my God as long as I live.
34 May my words be pleasing to him.
The Lord is the one who makes me happy.
35 I wish sinners would disappear from the earth.
I wish the wicked would be gone forever.
My soul, praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord!
The Lord Will Restore the Land
18 Then the Lord cared very much about his land.
He felt sorry for his people.
19 The Lord spoke to his people.
He said, “I will send you grain, wine, and oil.
You will have plenty.
I will not shame you among the nations anymore.
20 No, I will force the people from the north[a] to leave your land
and make them go into a dry, empty land.
Some of them will go to the eastern sea
and some to the western sea.
They did such terrible things,
but they will be like a dead and rotting body.
There will be such a terrible smell!”
The Land Will Be Made New Again
21 Land, don’t be afraid.
Be happy and full of joy.
The Lord will do great things.
22 Animals of the field, don’t be afraid.
The desert pastures will grow grass.
The trees will grow fruit.
The fig trees and the vines will grow plenty of fruit.
23 So be happy, people of Zion.
Be joyful in the Lord your God.
He is good and will give you rain.
He will send the early rains and the late rains as before.
24 The threshing floors will be filled with wheat,
and the barrels will overflow with wine and olive oil.
25 “I, the Lord, sent my army against you.
The swarming locusts and the hopping locusts
and the destroying locusts and the cutting locusts[b] ate everything you had.
But I will pay you back
for those years of trouble.
26 Then you will have plenty to eat.
You will be full.
You will praise the name of the Lord your God.
He has done wonderful things for you.
My people will never again be ashamed.
27 You will know that I am with Israel.
You will know that I am the Lord your God.
There is no other God.
My people will never be ashamed again.”
God Will Give His Spirit to All People
28 “After this,
I will pour out my Spirit on all kinds of people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will have dreams,
and your young men will see visions.
29 In those days I will pour out my Spirit
even on servants, both men and women.
We Will Have Glory in the Future
18 We have sufferings now, but these are nothing compared to the great glory that will be given to us. 19 Everything that God made is waiting with excitement for the time when he will show the world who his children are. The whole world wants very much for that to happen. 20 Everything God made was allowed to become like something that cannot fulfill its purpose. That was not its choice, but God made it happen with this hope in view: 21 That the creation would be made free from ruin—that everything God made would have the same freedom and glory that belong to God’s children.
22 We know that everything God made has been waiting until now in pain like a woman ready to give birth to a child. 23 Not only the world, but we also have been waiting with pain inside us. We have the Spirit as the first part of God’s promise. So we are waiting for God to finish making us his own children. I mean we are waiting for our bodies to be made free. 24 We were saved to have this hope. If we can see what we are waiting for, that is not really hope. People don’t hope for something they already have.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International