Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Longing for God's House[a]
84 How I love your Temple, Lord Almighty!
2 How I want to be there!
I long to be in the Lord's Temple.
With my whole being I sing for joy
to the living God.
3 Even the sparrows have built a nest,
and the swallows have their own home;
they keep their young near your altars,
Lord Almighty, my king and my God.
4 How happy are those who live in your Temple,
always singing praise to you.
5 How happy are those whose strength comes from you,
who are eager to make the pilgrimage to Mount Zion.
6 As they pass through the dry valley of Baca,
it becomes a place of springs;
the autumn rain fills it with pools.
7 They grow stronger as they go;
they will see the God of gods on Zion.
The Terrible Drought
14 The Lord said to me concerning the drought,
2 “Judah is in mourning;
its cities are dying,
its people lie on the ground in sorrow,
and Jerusalem cries out for help.
3 The rich people send their servants for water;
they go to the cisterns,
but find no water;
they come back with their jars empty.
Discouraged and confused,
they hide their faces.
4 Because there is no rain
and the ground is dried up,
the farmers are sick at heart;
they hide their faces.
5 In the field the mother deer
abandons her newborn fawn
because there is no grass.
6 The wild donkeys stand on the hilltops
and pant for breath like jackals;
their eyesight fails them
because they have no food.
Mary's Song of Praise
46 Mary said,
“My heart praises the Lord;
47 my soul is glad because of God my Savior,
48 (A)for he has remembered me, his lowly servant!
From now on all people will call me happy,
49 because of the great things the Mighty God has done for me.
His name is holy;
50 from one generation to another
he shows mercy to those who honor him.
51 He has stretched out his mighty arm
and scattered the proud with all their plans.
52 (B)He has brought down mighty kings from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away with empty hands.
54 He has kept the promise he made to our ancestors,
and has come to the help of his servant Israel.
55 (C)He has remembered to show mercy to Abraham
and to all his descendants forever!”
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.