Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Isaiah Becomes a Prophet
6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a very high throne. His long robe filled the Temple. 2 Burning heavenly creatures stood above him. Each creature had six wings. They used two wings to cover their faces. They used two wings to cover their feet. And they used two wings for flying. 3 Each creature was calling to the others:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of heaven’s armies.
His glory fills the whole earth.”
4 Their voices caused the frame around the door to shake. The Temple filled with smoke.
5 I said, “Oh, no! I will be destroyed. I am not pure. And I live among people who are not pure. But I have seen the King, the Lord of heaven’s armies.”
6 On the altar there was a fire. One of the burning heavenly creatures used a pair of tongs to take a hot coal from the fire. Then he flew to me with the hot coal in his hand. 7 The creature touched my mouth with the hot coal. Then he said, “Look. Your guilt is taken away because this hot coal has touched your lips. Your sin is taken away.”
8 Then I heard the Lord’s voice. He said, “Whom can I send? Who will go for us?”
So I said, “Here I am. Send me!”
9 Then the Lord said, “Go and tell this to the people:
‘You will listen and listen, but you will not understand.
You will look and look, but you will not learn.’
10 Make these people stubborn.
Make them not able to understand what they hear and see.
Otherwise, they might really understand
what they see with their eyes
and hear with their ears.
They might really understand in their minds.
If they did this, they would come back to me and be forgiven.”
11 Then I asked, “Lord, how long should I do this?”
He answered,
“Do this until the cities are destroyed
and the people are gone.
Do this until there are no people left living in the houses.
Do this until the land is destroyed and left empty.
12 I will send the people far away.
And the land will be left empty.
13 One-tenth of the people will be left in the land.
But the land will be destroyed again.
These people will be like an oak tree.
When the tree is chopped down, a stump is left.
The people who remain will be like a stump that will sprout again.”
A Hymn of Thanksgiving
A song of David.
138 Lord, I will thank you with all my heart.
I will sing to you before the false gods.
2 I will bow down facing your holy Temple.
And I will thank you for your love and loyalty.
You have made your name and your word
greater than anything.
3 On the day I called to you, you answered me.
You made me strong and brave.
4 Lord, let all the kings of the earth praise you.
They have heard the words you speak.
5 They will sing about what the Lord has done
because the Lord’s glory is great.
6 Though the Lord is supreme
he takes care of those who are not proud.
But he stays away from those who are proud.
7 Lord, even when I have trouble all around me,
you will keep me alive.
When my enemies are angry,
you will reach down and save me by your power.
8 Lord, you do everything for me.
Lord, your love continues forever.
You made us. Do not leave us.
The Good News About Christ
15 Now, brothers, I want you to remember the Good News I brought to you. You received this Good News, and you continue strong in it. 2 And you are saved by this Good News. But you must continue believing what I told you. If you do not, then you believed for nothing.
3 I passed on to you what I received. And this was the most important: that Christ died for our sins, as the Scriptures say; 4 that he was buried and was raised to life on the third day as the Scriptures say; 5 and that he showed himself to Peter and then to the twelve apostles. 6 After that, Jesus showed himself to more than 500 of the believers at the same time. Most of them are still living today. But some have died. 7 Then Jesus showed himself to James and later to all the apostles. 8 Last of all he showed himself to me—as to a person not born at the normal time. 9 All the other apostles are greater than I am. This is because I persecuted the church of God. And this is why I am not even good enough to be called an apostle. 10 But God’s grace has made me what I am. And his grace to me was not wasted. I worked harder than all the other apostles. (But I was not really the one working. It was God’s grace that was with me.) 11 So then it is not important if I preached to you or if the other apostles preached to you. We all preach the same thing, and this is what you believed.
Jesus’ First Followers
5 One day Jesus was standing beside Lake Galilee. Many people were pressing all around him. They wanted to hear the word of God. 2 Jesus saw two boats at the shore of the lake. The fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. 3 Jesus got into one of the boats, the one which belonged to Simon.[a] Jesus asked Simon to push off a little from the land. Then Jesus sat down in the boat and continued to teach the people on the shore.
4 When Jesus had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Take the boat into deep water. If you will put your nets in the water, you will catch some fish.”
5 Simon answered, “Master, we worked hard all night trying to catch fish, but we caught nothing. But you say to put the nets in the water; so I will.” 6 The fishermen did as Jesus told them. And they caught so many fish that the nets began to break. 7 They called to their friends in the other boat to come and help them. The friends came, and both boats were filled so full that they were almost sinking.
8-9 The fishermen were all amazed at the many fish they caught. When Simon Peter saw what had happened, he bowed down before Jesus and said, “Go away from me, Lord. I am a sinful man!” 10 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were amazed too. (James and John were Simon’s partners.)
Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid. From now on you will be fishermen for men.” 11 When the men brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed Jesus.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.