Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A Morning Prayer for Protection
For the director of music. For flutes. A song of David.
5 Lord, listen to my words.
Understand what I am thinking.
2 Listen to my cry for help.
My king and my God, I pray to you.
3 Lord, every morning you hear my voice.
Every morning, I tell you what I need.
And I wait for your answer.
4 You are not a God who is pleased with what is wicked.
You do not live with those who do evil.
5 Those people who make fun of you cannot stand before you.
You hate all those who do wrong.
6 You destroy liars.
The Lord hates those who kill and trick others.
7 Because of your great love,
I can come into your Temple.
Because I fear and respect you,
I can worship in your holy Temple.
8 Lord, since I have many enemies,
show me the right thing to do.
Show me clearly how you want me to live.
9 With their mouths my enemies do not tell the truth.
In their hearts they want to destroy people.
Their throats are like open graves.
They use their tongues for telling lies.
10 God, declare them guilty!
Let them fall into their own traps.
Send them away because their sins are many.
They have turned against you.
11 But let everyone who trusts you be happy.
Let them sing glad songs forever.
Protect those who love you.
They are happy because of you.
12 Lord, you bless those who do what is right.
You protect them like a soldier’s shield.
The Lord’s Promises
10 Ask the Lord for rain in the springtime.
The Lord makes the clouds.
He sends the showers.
And he gives everyone green fields.
2 Idols tell lies.
Fortune-tellers see false visions.
They tell about false dreams.
The comfort they give is worth nothing.
So the people are like lost sheep.
They are abused because there is no shepherd.
3 The Lord says, “I am angry at my shepherds.
I will punish the leaders.
I, the Lord of heaven’s armies, will care
for my flock, which is the people of Judah.
I will make them like my proud war horses.
4 From Judah will come the cornerstone
and the tent peg.
From him will come the battle bow.
From him will come every ruler.
5 They will be like soldiers
marching to battle through muddy streets.
The Lord is with them.
So they will fight and defeat the horsemen.
6 “I will strengthen the people of Judah.
And I will save the people of Joseph.
I will bring them back
because I care for them.
It will be as though
I had never left them.
I am the Lord their God,
and I will answer their calls for help.
7 The people of Ephraim will be strong like soldiers.
They will be glad as when they have drunk wine.
Their children will see it and rejoice.
They will be happy in the Lord.
8 I will call my people
and gather them together.
I will save them.
And there will be as many of them as there used to be.
9 I have scattered them among the nations.
But in those faraway places, they will remember me.
They and their children will live and return.
10 I will bring them back from Egypt.
I will gather them from Assyria.
I will bring them to Gilead and Lebanon.
There won’t be enough room in the land for them all.
11 They will come through their sea of trouble.
The waves of the sea will be calm.
And the Nile River will dry up.
I will defeat Assyria’s pride.
I will destroy Egypt’s power over other countries.
12 I will make my people strong.
And they will live as I say,” says the Lord.
6 If one of these little children believes in me, and someone causes that child to sin, then it will be very bad for that person. It would be better for him to have a large stone tied around his neck and be drowned in the sea. 7 How terrible for the people of the world because of the things that cause them to sin. Such things will happen. But how terrible for the one who causes them to happen. 8 If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to have only part of your body but have life forever. That is much better than to have two hands and two feet but be thrown into the fire that burns forever. 9 If your eye causes you to sin, take it out and throw it away. It is better for you to have only one eye but have life forever. That is much better than to have two eyes but be thrown into the fire of hell.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.