Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany, Year B

²¹ Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? Haven’t you been told from the beginning? Haven’t you understood from the foundations of the earth? ²² It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in, ²³ who brings princes to nothing, who makes the judges of the earth meaningless. ²⁴ They are planted scarcely. They are sown scarcely. Their stock has scarcely taken root in the ground. He merely blows on them, and they wither, and the whirlwind takes them away as stubble. ²⁵ “To whom then will you liken me? Who is my equal?” says the Holy One. ²⁶ Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these, who brings out their army by number. He calls them all by name. by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power, not one is lacking. ²⁷ Why do you say, Jacob, and speak, Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and the justice due me is disregarded by my God?” ²⁸ Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, doesn’t faint. He isn’t weary. His understanding is unsearchable. ²⁹ He gives power to the weak. He increases the strength of him who has no might. ³⁰ Even the youths faint and get weary, and the young men utterly fall; ³¹ but those who wait for the LORD will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run, and not be weary. They will walk, and not faint.

¹ Praise the LORD, for it is good to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant and fitting to praise him. ² The LORD builds up Jerusalem. He gathers together the outcasts of Israel. ³ He heals the broken in heart, and binds up their wounds. ⁴ He counts the number of the stars. He calls them all by their names. ⁵ Great is our Lord, and mighty in power. His understanding is infinite. ⁶ The LORD upholds the humble. He brings the wicked down to the ground. ⁷ Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving. Sing praises on the harp to our God, ⁸ who covers the sky with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass grow on the mountains. ⁹ He provides food for the livestock, and for the young ravens when they call. ¹⁰ He doesn’t delight in the strength of the horse. He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man. ¹¹ The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his loving kindness.

²⁰ He has not done this for just any nation. They don’t know his ordinances. Praise the LORD!

¹⁶ For if I preach the Good News, I have nothing to boast about; for necessity is laid on me; but woe is to me if I don’t preach the Good News. ¹⁷ For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward. But if not of my own will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me. ¹⁸ What then is my reward? That when I preach the Good News, I may present the Good News of Christ without charge, so as not to abuse my authority in the Good News. ¹⁹ For though I was free from all, I brought myself under bondage to all, that I might gain the more. ²⁰ To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain those who are under the law; ²¹ to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law. ²² To the weak I became as weak, that I might gain the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some. ²³ Now I do this for the sake of the Good News, that I may be a joint partaker of it.