Bible Society of South Africa

Season after Pentecost: Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

Alternate first reading and Psalm

18Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to live alone. I will make a suitable companion to help him.” 19So he took some soil from the ground and formed all the animals and all the birds. Then he brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and that is how they all got their names. 20So the man named all the birds and all the animals; but not one of them was a suitable companion to help him.

21Then the LORD God made the man fall into a deep sleep, and while he was sleeping, he took out one of the man's ribs and closed up the flesh. 22He formed a woman out of the rib and brought her to him. 23Then the man said,

“At last, here is one of my own kind —

Bone taken from my bone, and flesh from my flesh.

‘Woman’ is her name because she was taken out of man.”

24That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united with his wife, and they become one.

Genesis 2:18-24GNBOpen in Bible reader

God's Glory and Human Dignity

1O LORD, our Lord,

your greatness is seen in all the world!

Your praise reaches up to the heavens;

2it is sung by children and babies.

You are safe and secure from all your enemies;

you stop anyone who opposes you.

3When I look at the sky, which you have made,

at the moon and the stars, which you set in their places —

4what are human beings, that you think of them;

mere mortals, that you care for them?

5Yet you made them inferior only to yourself;

you crowned them with glory and honour.

6You appointed them rulers over everything you made;

you placed them over all creation:

7sheep and cattle, and the wild animals too;

8the birds and the fish

and the creatures in the seas.

9O LORD, our Lord,

your greatness is seen in all the world!

Psalms 8:1-9GNBOpen in Bible reader
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