); Isaiah 49:13-23 (God comforts the suffering); Matthew 18:1-14 (Become like a child) (Orthodox Jewish Bible)
Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
148 Praise Hashem. Praise Hashem from HaShomayim: praise Him in the heights above.
2 Praise ye Him, all His malachim: praise ye Him, all Tzivos Hashem.
3 Praise ye Him, shemesh and yarei’ach: praise Him, all ye kokhavim of ohr.
4 Praise Him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that be above HaShomayim.
5 Let them praise the Shem of Hashem: for He commanded, and they were created.
6 He hath also established them forever and ever: He hath made a Chok (decree) which shall not pass away.
7 Hallelu Hashem from ha’aretz, ye sea creatures, and all tehomot:
8 Eish, and barad; snow, and cloud; stormy wind fulfilling His Devar:
9 Mountains, and all hills; etz pri (fruitful trees), and all cedars:
10 Beasts, and all cattle; remesh (creeping things), and flying fowl:
11 Malchei eretz, and all people; sarim (princes), and all shoftei aretz:
12 Both bochurim, and betulot; zekenim, and ne’arim:
13 Let them praise the Shem of Hashem: for Shmo alone is excellent; His hod is above Eretz and Shomayim.
14 He also exalteth the keren of His people, tehillah (the praise) of all His Chasidim; even of the Bnei Yisroel, an Am (people) close unto Him. Hallelu Hashem.
13 Sing joyfully, O Shomayim; and rejoice, O Eretz; and break forth into singing, O Harim; for Hashem hath comforted His people, and will have rachamim upon his afflicted ones.
14 But Tziyon said, Hashem hath forsaken me, and Adonoi hath forgotten me.
15 Can an isha forget her nursing baby, that she should not have rachamim on her ben beten? Indeed, they may forget, yet I will not forget thee.
16 Behold, I have engraved thee upon the palms of My hands; thy chomot are continually before Me.
17 Thy banim shall make haste [to return from the Golus]; thy destroyers and they that laid thee waste shall depart from thee.
18 Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold; all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith Hashem, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with jewelry and put them on like a kallah.
19 For thy ruins and thy desolate places, and the eretz of thy devastation, shall even now be too narrow for the inhabitants [of Tziyon returned from the Golus], and they that devoured thee shall be far away.
20 Furthermore, the Bnei Shikkulayich (the Children of thy Bereavement, i.e., the sons born while the Mother was bereaved of other children lost) shall say again in thine oznayim, The makom is too cramped for me; geshah (fall back, make room, give place) to me that I may dwell.
21 Then shalt thou say in thine lev, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I am shekhulah (bereaved) of my children, and am galmudah (barren, incapable of having children), a captive of the Golus, and thrust away as rejected? So who has reared these? Behold I was left a lone survivor; these, where were they? Where did they come from?
22 Thus saith Adonoi Hashem, Hinei, I will lift up Mine Yad to the Goyim, and set up My nes (banner, rallying flag, [i.e., Moshiach; see Isa 11:10]) to the Nations; and they shall bring thy banim in their arms, and thy banot shall be carried upon their shoulders.
23 And melachim shall be thy omenim (foster fathers, supporters, nurturers), and their sarot thy wet nurses; they shall bow down before thee with their face toward eretz, and lick the aphar of thy raglayim; and thou shalt know that I am Hashem; for they shall not be put to shame that wait for Me.
18 At that time, the talmidim approached Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach with this she’elah saying, Who then is greatest in the Malchut HaShomayim?
2 And having called a yeled to himself, he set him before them,
3 and said, Omein, I say to you, unless you change inwardly and have a complete turn around and become like yeladim, you shall never enter the Malchut HaShomayim.
4 Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this yeled, he is the greatest in the Malchut HaShomayim.
5 And whoever receives one such yeled in my Name receives me [Moshiach].
6 But whoever causes a michshol (stumbling block) for one of these little ones, who have emunah in me, it is better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck, and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea.
7 Oy lOlam (Woe to the World) because of its michsholim (stumbling blocks)! For it is inevitable that michsholim come; but oy to that man through whom the michshol comes.
8 And if your hand or your foot causes a michshol for you, cut it off, and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter Chayyim crippled or as one of the pisechim (lame), than, having two hands and two feet, to be cast into the Eish Olam (Eternal Fire).
9 And if your eye causes a michshol for you, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter Chayyim one-eyed than, having two eyes, to be cast into the Gehinnom HaEish.
10 See to it that you do not look down on one of these little ones, for I say to you that their malachim which are in Shomayim continually behold the face of Avi shbaShomayim (my Father who is in Heaven).
11 For the Ben HaAdam [Moshiach] came to save that which was lost.
12 What do you think? If any man owns a hundred kevesim (sheep) and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the hillsides and go and search for the one that is straying?
13 And if it turns out that he finds it, beemes I say to you, he has more simcha (joy) over it than over the ninetynine which have not gone astray.
14 Thus it is not the ratzon Hashem, the will of your Av shbaShomayim, that one of these little ones perish.
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