response reading 113. Natural environment
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
God saw all that he had made, and it was very good.
The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;
The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.
that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay
and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.