Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 113
113 Praise the Lord!
You who serve the Lord—praise!
Praise the Lord’s name!
2 Let the Lord’s name be blessed
from now until forever from now!
3 From sunrise to sunset,
let the Lord’s name be praised!
4 The Lord is high over all the nations;
God’s glory is higher than the skies!
5 Who could possibly compare to the Lord our God?
God rules from on high;
6 he has to come down to even see heaven and earth!
7 God lifts up the poor from the dirt
and raises up the needy from the garbage pile
8 to seat them with leaders—
with the leaders of his own people!
9 God nests the once barren woman at home—
now a joyful mother with children!
Praise the Lord!
30 When Rachel realized that she could bear Jacob no children, Rachel became jealous of her sister and said to Jacob, “Give me children! If you don’t, I may as well be dead.”
2 Jacob was angry at Rachel and said, “Do you think I’m God? God alone has kept you from giving birth!”
3 She said, “Here’s my servant Bilhah. Sleep with her, and she will give birth for me. Because of her, I will also have children.” 4 So Rachel gave her servant Bilhah to Jacob as his wife, and he slept with her. 5 Bilhah became pregnant and gave birth to a son for Jacob. 6 Rachel said, “God has judged in my favor, heard my voice, and given me a son.” So she named him Dan.[a] 7 Rachel’s servant Bilhah became pregnant again and gave birth to a second son for Jacob. 8 Rachel said, “I’ve competed fiercely with my sister, and now I’ve won.” So she named him Naphtali.[b]
9 When Leah realized that she had stopped bearing children, she took her servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as his wife. 10 Leah’s servant Zilpah gave birth to a son for Jacob, 11 and Leah said, “What good luck!” So she named him Gad.[c] 12 Leah’s servant Zilpah gave birth to a second son for Jacob, 13 and Leah said, “I’m happy now because women call me happy.” So she named him Asher.[d]
14 During the wheat harvest, Reuben found some erotic herbs[e] in the field and brought them to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Give me your son’s erotic herbs.”
15 Leah replied, “Isn’t it enough that you’ve taken my husband? Now you want to take my son’s erotic herbs too?”
Rachel said, “For your son’s erotic herbs, Jacob[f] may sleep with you tonight.”
16 When Jacob came back from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must sleep with me because I’ve paid for you with my son’s erotic herbs.” So he slept with her that night.
17 God responded to Leah. She became pregnant and gave birth to a fifth son for Jacob. 18 Leah said, “God gave me what I paid for, what I deserved for giving my servant to my husband.” So she named him Issachar.[g] 19 Leah became pregnant again and gave birth to a sixth son for Jacob, 20 and she said, “God has given me a wonderful gift. Now my husband will honor me since I’ve borne him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun.[h] 21 After this, she gave birth to a daughter and named her Dinah.
22 Then God remembered Rachel, responded to her, and let her conceive. 23 She became pregnant and gave birth to a son and said, “God has taken away my shame.” 24 She named him Joseph,[i] saying to herself, May the Lord give me another son.
Our suffering and our hope
18 I believe that the present suffering is nothing compared to the coming glory that is going to be revealed to us. 19 The whole creation waits breathless with anticipation for the revelation of God’s sons and daughters. 20 Creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice—it was the choice of the one who subjected it—but in the hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from slavery to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of God’s children. 22 We know that the whole creation is groaning together and suffering labor pains up until now. 23 And it’s not only the creation. We ourselves who have the Spirit as the first crop of the harvest also groan inside as we wait to be adopted and for our bodies to be set free. 24 We were saved in hope. If we see what we hope for, that isn’t hope. Who hopes for what they already see? 25 But if we hope for what we don’t see, we wait for it with patience.
26 In the same way, the Spirit comes to help our weakness. We don’t know what we should pray, but the Spirit himself pleads our case with unexpressed groans. 27 The one who searches hearts knows how the Spirit thinks, because he pleads for the saints, consistent with God’s will. 28 We know that God works all things together for good for the ones who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 We know this because God knew them in advance, and he decided in advance that they would be conformed to the image of his Son. That way his Son would be the first of many brothers and sisters. 30 Those who God decided in advance would be conformed to his Son, he also called. Those whom he called, he also made righteous. Those whom he made righteous, he also glorified.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible