Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
12 How blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people he has chosen as his own inheritance.
13 When the Lord looks down from heaven,
he observes every human being.
14 From his dwelling place,
he looks down on all the inhabitants of the earth.
15 He formed the hearts of them all;
he understands everything they do.
16 A king is not saved by a large army;
a mighty soldier is not delivered by his great strength.
17 It is vain to trust in a horse for deliverance,
even with its great strength, it cannot deliver.
18 Indeed, the Lord watches those who fear him;
those who trust in his gracious love
19 to deliver them from death;
to keep them alive in times of famine.
20 We wait on the Lord;
he is our help and our shield.
21 Indeed, our heart will rejoice in him,
because we have placed our trust in his holy name.
22 Lord, may your gracious love be upon us,
even as we hope in you.
Elihu Concludes His Argument
37 “Now I’ll conclude with this:
my heart is trembling violently;
it feels like it’s about to leap from my body!
2 Listen carefully to his thundering voice;
to the sound that rumbles from his mouth.
3 He releases his lightning throughout the sky,
to the ends[a] of the earth.
4 His thunder roars after it;
his majestic voice will thunder;
and no one can trace them[b]
once his voice has been heard.
5 “God thunders with his wondrous voice;
he does awesome works that we don’t comprehend.
6 For he says to the snow, ‘Fall to the earth.’
He tells the rain, ‘Pour down,’
then it rains profusely.
7 “He puts a limit to the skill[c] of every person;
to delineate all people from what they do.
8 “Then a beast enters its lair
and remains in its den.
9 “From the south,[d] a whirlwind proceeds,
out of the icy north winds.
10 From the breath of God ice is produced,
and a wide body of water is frozen.
11 He also loads the clouds with moisture,
scattering his lightning with the clouds.
12 It whirls about in circles at his direction
to accomplish all that he commands
throughout the surface of the entire world,
13 whether for discipline on his land
or to demonstrate his gracious love,
he causes it to be realized.”
50 Brothers, this is what I mean: Mortal bodies[a] cannot inherit the kingdom of God, and what decays cannot inherit what does not decay. 51 Let me tell you a secret. Not all of us will die,[b] but all of us will be changed— 52 in a moment, faster than an eye can blink, at the sound of the last trumpet. Indeed, that trumpet[c] will sound, and then the dead will be raised never to decay, and we will be changed. 53 For what is decaying must be clothed with what cannot decay, and what is dying must be clothed with what cannot die. 54 Now, when what is decaying is clothed with what cannot decay, and what is dying is clothed with what cannot die, then the written word will be fulfilled: “Death has been swallowed up by victory!”[d]
55 “Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”[e]
56 Now death’s stinger is sin, and sin’s power is the Law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus the Messiah![f]
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