); Isaiah 49:13-23 (God comforts the suffering); Matthew 18:1-14 (Become like a child) (Wycliffe Bible)
Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
148 Alleluia. Ye of heavens, praise the Lord; praise ye him in high things. (Alleluia. Ye in heaven/Ye in the heavens, praise the Lord; praise ye him in high places.)
2 All his angels, praise ye him; all his virtues, praise ye him (all his hosts, praise ye him).
3 Sun and moon, praise ye him; all stars and light, praise ye him (all the stars of light/all the shining stars, praise ye him.).
4 Heavens of heavens, praise ye him (Heaven of heavens/The highest heaven, praise ye him); and the waters that be above (the) heavens,
5 praise they the name of the Lord. For he said, and things were made; he commanded, and things were made of nought (he commanded, and everything was made out of nothing).
6 He ordained those things into the world, and into the world of world; he setted a commandment, and it shall not pass. (He ordained those things forever and ever; he gave a command, and it shall not pass away.)
7 Ye of the earth, praise the Lord; dragons, and all depths of waters. (Praise the Lord, from the earth; ye dragons, and all the depths of the waters.)
8 Fire, hail, snow, ice, spirits of tempests; that do his word. (Fire, hail, snow, ice, and the winds of the tempests; that all follow his command.)
9 Mountains, and all little hills; trees bearing fruit, and all cedars.
10 Wild beasts, and all tame beasts; serpents, and feathered birds.
11 The kings of earth, and all peoples; the princes, and all judges of earth. (The kings of the earth, and all the peoples; the princes, and the judges, that is, the leaders, over all the earth.)
12 Young men, and virgins, eld men with [the] younger, (Young men, and virgins, old men, and the young,)
13 praise the name of the Lord; for the name of him alone is enhanced. His acknowledging be on heaven and earth; (praise the name of the Lord; for only his name should be exalted. For his glory is above the earth, and above heaven;)
14 and he hath enhanced the horn of his people. An hymn be to all his saints; to the children of Israel, to a people nighing to him. (and he hath exalted the horn of his people. So let there be a hymn to all his saints; to the children of Israel, to the people who be the closest to him/So let there be praises from all his saints; from the children of Israel, from the people who be the closest to him.)
13 Heavens, praise ye, and thou earth, make full out joy; hills, sing ye heartily praising (hills, heartily sing ye praises); for the Lord [hath] comforted his people, and shall have mercy on his poor men.
14 And Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and the Lord hath forgotten me.
15 Whether a woman may forget her young child, that she have not mercy on the son of her womb? (yea,) though she (may) forget, nevertheless I shall not forget thee.
16 Lo! I have written thee in mine hands; thy walls, be ever before mine eyes. (Lo! I have written thee upon my hands; thy walls, Jerusalem, be ever before my eyes.)
17 The builders be come; (and) they that destroy thee, and scatter (thee), shall (now) go (far) away from thee.
18 Raise [up] thine eyes in compass, and see (Raise up thine eyes, and look all around); all these men be gathered together, they be come to thee. (As) I live, saith the Lord, for thou shalt be clothed with all these as with an ornament, and thou as a spousess shalt bind them to thee.
19 For why thy deserts, and thy wildernesses, and the land of thy falling, now shall be strait for [the] inhabiters; and they shall be driven away far, that swallowed thee. (For thy deserts, and thy wildernesses, and the land of thy falling, shall now be too narrow for your inhabitants; and they who swallowed thee up shall be driven far away.)
20 Yet the sons of thy barrenness shall say in thine ears, The place is (too) strait to me, make thou a space to me for to dwell. (Yet the children born in thy barrenness shall say in thy ears, This place is too narrow for us, make thou a space for us to live in.)
21 And thou shalt say in thine heart, Who engendered these sons to me? I am barren, not bearing child; I am led over, and (a) prisoner; and who nourished these sons? I am destitute, and alone; and where were these? (And thou shalt say in thy heart, Who begat these children for me? for I am barren, and have not given birth to any children; yea, I am led over, and a prisoner; and who nourished these children? for I am destitute, and alone; where did they all come from?)
22 The Lord God saith these things, Lo! I raise mine hand to heathen men, and I shall enhance my sign to peoples (The Lord God saith these things, Lo! I shall raise up my hand to the heathen, and I shall exalt my sign to the peoples); and they shall bring thy sons in (their) arms, and they shall bear thy daughters on (their) shoulders.
23 And kings shall be thy nursers, and queens shall be thy nurses; with cheer cast down into [the] earth they shall worship thee, and they shall lick the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know, that I am the Lord, on whom they shall not be shamed, that abide him. (And kings and queens shall be thy nurses; they shall worship thee with faces cast down to the ground, and they shall lick the dust off thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord, and that none who wait for me, shall be ashamed.)
18 In that hour the disciples came to Jesus, and said [saying], Who, guessest thou, is [the] greater in the kingdom of heavens?
2 And Jesus called a little child, and put him in the middle of them; [And Jesus, calling a little child, set him in the midst of them;]
3 and said, I say truth to you [and said, Truly I say to you], but ye be turned, and [be] made as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heavens.
4 Therefore whoever meeketh him[self] as this little child, he is [the] greater in the kingdom of heavens.[a]
5 And he that receiveth one such little child in my name, receiveth me.
6 But whoso causeth to stumble one of these small[b], that believe in me, it speedeth to him that a millstone of asses be hanged in his neck, and [that] he be drowned in the deepness of the sea.
7 Woe to the world, for causes of stumbling; for it is need that causes of stumbling come; nevertheless woe to that man by whom a cause of stumbling cometh. [Woe to the world, for offences; truly it is need, that offences come; nevertheless, woe to that man by whom an offence cometh.]
8 And if thine hand or thy foot cause thee to stumble, cut it off, and cast it away from thee. It is better to thee to enter to life feeble, either crooked, than having twain hands or two feet to be sent into everlasting fire.[c]
9 And if thine eye cause thee to stumble [And if thine eye offend thee], pull it out, and cast it away from thee. It is better to thee with one eye to enter into life, than having twain eyes to be sent into the fire of hell [than having two eyes to be sent into hell fire].
10 See ye, that ye despise not one of these little. For I say to you, that the angels of them in heavens see evermore the face of my Father that is in heavens [Truly I say to you, for the angels of them in heavens see ever the face of my Father which is in heavens].
11 For man's Son came to save that thing that perished.
12 What seemeth to you? If there were to a man an hundred sheep, and one of them hath erred, whether he shall not leave ninety and nine in desert [whether he shall not leave ninety and nine in the hills], and shall go to seek that that erred?
13 And if it fall that he find it, truly I say to you, that he shall have joy thereof more than on ninety and nine that erred not. [And if it befall that he find it, truly I say to you, for he shall joy thereon more than of ninety and nine that erred not.]
14 So it is not the will of your Father that is in heavens[d], that one of these little perish.
2001 by Terence P. Noble