Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

145 Always I will praise you, my God and my king,
    and I will say how great you are!
² Because you are good, I will praise you every day.
    Yes, I will always praise your name.
³ Clearly the Lord is great!
    He is so great that we cannot understand it.
⁴ Down from father to son, people will praise you.
    They will tell each other about the powerful things that you have done.
⁵ Everyone will speak about your glory and authority.
    I also will think carefully about your great miracles.
⁶ Famous are the powerful things that you have done.
    People will talk about them.
    I also will speak about the great things that you do.
⁷ Good things are what everybody will remember about you.
    They will sing about your justice.
⁸ How very kind the Lord is!
    He is very patient and his faithful love continues.
⁹ It is the Lord who takes care of everybody.
    He is kind to everything that he has made.
¹⁰ Join together to thank the Lord!
    Everything that he has made will praise him.
    Your own people will praise you, Lord!
¹¹ King is who you are and your kingdom is great!
    People will speak about your royal authority.
¹² Let everyone agree that you do great things!
    Let them say that you rule with great authority.
¹³ Many years your kingdom will remain, even for ever.
    You will always rule your people and their descendants.
Nothing that the Lord promises is false.
    He is kind in everything that he does.^[b]
14 Often people fall, but the Lord lifts them up.
    He helps everyone who has trouble.
¹⁵ People look to you for help.
    You give them food when they need it.
¹⁶ Ready to help, you open your hand.
    You give to every living thing the good things that they want.
¹⁷ So the Lord is fair in all that he does.
    He always shows how much he loves us.
¹⁸ The Lord is ready to help everyone who asks him.
    He is near to everyone who prays honestly.
¹⁹ Very kindly he gives his own people the things that they need.
    He saves them when they call to him for help.
²⁰ Whoever loves the Lord, he keeps safe.
    But he destroys wicked people.
²¹ Yes, I will praise the Lord!
Everyone who lives should praise his holy name for ever!

54 ‘Sing with joy,
    you woman who could not give birth to any children.
You have never known the pain of a child's birth,
    but now shout loudly with joy.
Be happy, because the woman who is alone
    will have many children.
She will have more children than the woman who has a husband.’^[a]
That is what the Lord says.
² Make your tent bigger!
    You need more room to live in.
Yes, do it!
    Make the tent's ropes longer!
    Make the pegs that hold it stronger!
³ The borders of your land will be wider in all directions.
Your descendants will take land from other nations.
    They will live in the cities that had become empty.
⁴ Do not be afraid.
    You will not be ashamed again.
Do not be frightened of shame.
    Nobody will make you ashamed.
You will forget the shame
    which you had when you were young.
You will forget that you were ashamed to be alone,
    like a widow.
⁵ Now your Maker is your husband.
    His name is the Lord Almighty.
Israel's Holy God is your Redeemer.
    He is called, ‘The God who rules the whole earth’.
⁶ ‘The Lord will now call you to come back to him.
You have been like a wife who was very upset,
    because her husband has left her.
You have been like a wife who married when she was young,
    and her husband sent her away.’
That is what your God says.
⁷ ‘For a short time I went away from you.
But now I will bring you back to myself,
    because I feel very sorry for you.
⁸ For a moment I became very angry with you,
    and I turned away from you.
But now I will be kind to you,
    because my love for you continues for ever.’
That is what the Lord, your Redeemer, says.