Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
God is great![a]
104 I say to myself, ‘Praise the Lord!’
Lord, my God, you are very great!
You rule with authority as a great king.
2 Light is all round you,
like the clothes that you wear.
You have put the skies as a roof over the earth.
3 You have built the beams of your home
on the clouds of rain.
The clouds carry you as you travel,
and you ride on the wind.
4 You use the winds to carry your messages.
Flames of fire are your servants.
5 You, Lord, built the earth
on its strong foundations.
Nothing will ever shake it from its place.
6 You covered the earth with deep water,
like a coat.
The water covered the tops of the mountains.
7 But when you shouted,
the water went back.
It ran away,
when you shouted like thunder.
8 The water poured down from the mountains,
and it went down into the valleys.
It went to stay in the place that you had chosen for it.
9 You made a border for the water
so that it could not cross.
Never again will the water cover the earth.[b]
10 You cause springs of water
to pour along the valleys.
Streams of water run between the hills.
11 They give water to all the wild animals.
Wild donkeys drink from them.
12 The birds make their homes beside the streams.
They sing from the branches of the trees.
13 You pour down rain on the mountains
from your home above the sky.
You cause many fruits to grow on the earth.
14 You give grass for farm animals to eat.
You give crops for people to plant.
In that way, people get food from the ground.
15 They grow grapes for wine,
which makes them happy.
They grow olive trees for oil,
which makes their faces shine.
They grow grain for bread,
which makes them strong.
16 The Lord's own trees receive plenty of rain.
They are the cedar trees
that he planted in Lebanon.
17 The birds make their nests there.
Storks live there in the fir trees.
18 The wild goats live high up in the mountains.
Rock badgers hide among the rocks.
19 You made the moon
to tell us the months and seasons.
The sun also knows the right time for sunset.
20 At night you make it dark,
so that the forest animals come out.
21 The lions roar
while they look for animals to kill.
They look for the food that God gives to them.
22 At sunrise, they go back to their homes,
and they lie down to rest.
23 During the day, people go out to work.
They work at their jobs until it is evening.
24 Lord, you have made very many different things!
You were very wise in the way that you have made them all.
The earth is full of the living things
that you have made.[c]
25 Look at the sea, which is deep and wide!
It is full of living things,
that are both large and small.
They are more than anyone can count.
26 Ships travel on the sea.
You made the monster, Leviathan,
to swim and to play in the sea.
27 All these living things wait for you
to give them their food when they need it.
28 When you give it to them, they take it.
You open your hand to feed them,
and they have plenty of good things.
29 When you turn away from them,
they become very afraid.
When you take away their breath,
they die and they return to the dust.
30 But when you breathe into anything,
it receives life.
In that way, you bring new life to the earth.
31 I pray that the glory of the Lord
will continue for ever!
I pray that the Lord will be happy
with everything that he has made!
32 When he looks down at the earth,
it shakes!
When he touches the mountains,
they pour out smoke!
33 All my life, I will sing to praise the Lord.
I will always sing songs to praise my God,
for as long as I live.
34 I want my song to make him happy.
I will be happy,
because of what the Lord has done.
35 I pray that wicked people will disappear from the earth.
May they disappear for ever!
I say to myself, ‘Praise the Lord! Hallelujah!’
7 What is happening? Zion is giving birth to a son before she has her birth pains! 8 Nobody has ever heard of anything like that. Nobody has ever seen that happen before. Can a country be born in just one day? Can a nation be born in a moment? But as soon as Zion's birth pains begin, she has already given birth to her children!
9 The Lord your God says, ‘When I bring a baby to the moment of birth, the child is always born. I do not stop its birth.’
10 All you people who love Jerusalem, join together with its people and be happy. You have been sad to see what has happened to the city, but now you should shout with joy! 11 Jerusalem will take care of you like a mother. She will give you all that you need, like a mother that feeds her baby with milk. The great blessing that comes from her full breasts will make you very happy.
12 The Lord says,
‘Look! I will give peace to Jerusalem,
like a great river.
Riches from other nations will pour into the city,
like a stream that is full of water.
Jerusalem will take care of you like a mother that feeds her baby.
She will carry you in her arms,
and she will hold you on her knees.
13 I will comfort you,
as a mother comforts her child.
As you live in Jerusalem,
you will be happy again.’
Do not have troubles in your mind
22 Jesus said to his disciples, ‘I tell you this: You should not worry about how to stay alive. Do not worry about the food that you need to stay alive. Do not worry about the clothes that you need to wear. 23 Your life is more important than the food that you eat. Your body is more important than your clothes.
24 Think about the birds. They do not plant seeds in the ground. They do not cut down plants to eat. They have no buildings to store food. But God gives them food to eat. You are much more valuable than the birds. 25 Even if you always worry about your life, you cannot make it as much as one hour longer! 26 No, you cannot even do a small thing like that. So, if you are always worrying about the things that you need, will that really help you?
27 Think about how the wild flowers grow. They do not do work or make clothes for themselves. But I tell you this about them: Even one wild flower is more beautiful than King Solomon was. And King Solomon wore the most beautiful clothes. 28 It is God that gives beautiful clothes even to the grass. One day the grass is growing in the field, but the next day people will cut it and burn it.[a] God will certainly take care of you, much more than he takes care of the grass. You should trust him more than you do!
29 Do not always be thinking about the food and drink that you need. Do not worry about things like that. 30 People who do not know God are always trying to get these things. But as for you, your Father God knows that you need them. 31 Instead, always think about the things that are important in the kingdom of God. Then God will also give you the things that you need each day.
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