Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
113 Praise the Lord.
Praise him, you who serve the Lord.
Praise the name of the Lord.
2 Let us praise the name of the Lord,
both now and forever.
3 From the sunrise in the east to the sunset in the west,
may the name of the Lord be praised.
4 The Lord is honored over all the nations.
His glory reaches to the highest heavens.
5 Who is like the Lord our God?
He sits on his throne in heaven.
6 He bends down to look
at the heavens and the earth.
7 He raises poor people up from the trash pile.
He lifts needy people out of the ashes.
8 He causes them to sit with princes.
He causes them to sit with the princes of his people.
9 He gives children to the woman who doesn’t have any children.
He makes her a happy mother in her own home.
Praise the Lord.
The Lord Judges His Vineyard
8 How terrible it will be for you who get too many houses!
How terrible for you who get too many fields!
Finally there won’t be any space left in the land.
Then you will live all alone.
9 I heard the Lord who rules over all announce a message. He said,
“You can be sure that the great houses will become empty.
The fine homes will be left with no one living in them.
10 A ten-acre vineyard will produce only six gallons of wine.
360 pounds of seeds will produce only 36 pounds of grain.”
11 How terrible it will be for those who get up early in the morning
to start drinking!
How terrible for those who stay up late at night
until they are drunk with wine!
12 They have harps and lyres at their banquets.
They have tambourines, flutes and wine.
But they don’t have any concern for the mighty acts of the Lord.
They don’t have any respect for what his power has done.
13 So my people will be taken away as prisoners.
That’s because they don’t understand what the Lord has done.
Their nobles will die of hunger.
The rest of the people won’t have any water to drink.
14 So Death opens its jaws to receive them.
Its mouth is open wide to swallow them up.
Their nobles and the rest of the people will go down into it.
They will go there together with all those who have wild parties.
15 So people will be brought low.
Everyone will be made humble.
Those who brag will be brought down.
16 But the Lord who rules over all will be honored
because he judges fairly.
The holy God will prove that he is holy
by doing what is right.
17 Then sheep will graze as if they were in their own grasslands.
Lambs will eat grass among the destroyed buildings
where rich people used to live.
18 How terrible it will be for those who continue to sin
and lie about it!
How terrible for those who keep on doing what is evil
as if they were tied to it!
19 How terrible for those who say,
“Let God hurry up and do what he says he will.
We want to see it happen.
Let us see the plan of the Holy One of Israel.
We want to know what it is.”
20 How terrible it will be for those who say
that what is evil is good!
How terrible for those who say
that what is good is evil!
How terrible for those who say
that darkness is light
and light is darkness!
How terrible for those who say
that what is bitter is sweet
and what is sweet is bitter!
21 How terrible it will be for those who think they are wise!
How terrible for those who think they are really clever!
22 How terrible it will be for those
who are heroes at drinking wine!
How terrible for those
who are heroes at mixing drinks!
23 How terrible for those
who take money to set guilty people free!
How terrible for those
who don’t treat good people fairly!
The Widow’s Offering
41 Jesus sat down across from the place where people put their temple offerings. He watched the crowd putting their money into the offering boxes. Many rich people threw large amounts into them. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins. They were worth only a few pennies.
43 Jesus asked his disciples to come to him. He said, “What I’m about to tell you is true. That poor widow has put more into the offering box than all the others. 44 They all gave a lot because they are rich. But she gave even though she is poor. She put in everything she had. That was all she had to live on.”
Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998, 2014 by Biblica, Inc.®. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.