Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

²⁵ My praise will be from You in the big meeting of worship. I will keep my promises to Him in front of those who fear Him. ²⁶ Those who suffer will eat and have enough. Those who look for the Lord will praise Him. May your heart live forever! ²⁷ All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord. All the families of the nations will worship before Him. ²⁸ For the holy nation is the Lord’s, and He rules over the nations. ²⁹ All the proud ones of the earth will eat and worship. All who go down to the dust will fall to their knees before Him, even he who cannot keep his soul alive. ³⁰ Future children will serve Him. They will tell of the Lord to their children. ³¹ They will come and tell about His saving power to a people yet to be born. For He has done it.

⁷ “Are you not like the Ethiopians to Me, you people of Israel?” says the Lord. “Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir? ⁸ See, the eyes of the Lord God are on the sinful nation, and I will destroy it from the earth. But I will not destroy all the people of Jacob,” says the Lord.

⁹ “I will say what must be done. I will shake the people of Jacob among all the nations, as grain is shaken on a fine net. But not the smallest seed will fall to the ground. ¹⁰ All the sinners among My people who say, ‘The trouble will not catch up to us or come to us,’ will die by the sword.

Israel to Have New Life

¹¹ “In that day I will build again the tent of David that fell down. Yes, I will build it again from the stones that fell down. I will set it up again as it used to be. ¹² And so the people of Israel will own what is left of the land of Edom and all the nations that are called by My name,” says the Lord who does this.

¹³ “The days are coming,” says the Lord, “when the man who plows will catch up with the man who gathers. The man who crushes the grapes will catch up with the man who plants the seed. The mountains will drip sweet wine, and all the hills will flow with it. ¹⁴ And I will return My people Israel to their riches. They will build again the cities that have been destroyed, and live in them. They will plant grape-fields and drink their wine. And they will make gardens and eat their fruit. ¹⁵ I will plant My people on their land. And they will never again be pulled up from the land I gave them,” says the Lord your God.

The Picture-Story of the Mustard Seed

³⁰ Jesus said, “In what way can we show what the holy nation of God is like? Or what picture-story can we use to help you understand? ³¹ It is like a grain of mustard seed that is planted in the ground. It is the smallest of all seeds. ³² After it is put in the ground, it grows and becomes the largest of the spices. It puts out long branches so birds of the sky can live in it.”