Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

The Voice of the Lord in the Storm

29 Give to the Lord, O sons of the powerful. Give to the Lord shining-greatness and strength. ² Give to the Lord the honor that belongs to Him. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holy living.

³ The voice of the Lord is upon the waters. The God of shining-greatness thunders. The Lord is over many waters. ⁴ The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is great. ⁵ The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars. Yes, the Lord breaks in pieces the tall cedars of Lebanon. ⁶ He makes Lebanon jump like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild bull. ⁷ The voice of the Lord sends out lightning. ⁸ The voice of the Lord shakes the desert. The Lord shakes the desert of Kadesh. ⁹ The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth, and tears away the leaves of the trees. And in His holy house everything says, “Honor to God!”

¹⁰ The Lord sat as King over the flood. The Lord sits as King forever. ¹¹ The Lord will give strength to His people. The Lord will give His people peace.

¹⁵ Man’s pride will be taken away. Important men will be put to shame. The eyes of the proud also will be put to shame. ¹⁶ But the Lord of All will be honored in what is right and fair. The holy God will show Himself holy in what is right and good. ¹⁷ Then the lambs will eat as in their field. And strangers will eat in the waste places of the rich.

¹⁸ It is bad for those who pull sin along with ropes of lies, who pull wrong-doing as with a wagon rope, ¹⁹ who say, “Let Him hurry. Let Him be quick to do His work, that we may see it. Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel be done, that we may know it!” ²⁰ It is bad for those who call what is sinful good, and good sinful, who say dark is light and light is dark, who make bitter sweet, and sweet bitter! ²¹ It is bad for those who are wise in their own eyes, and who think they know a lot! ²² It is bad for those who are good at drinking wine, and are proud as they mix strong drink! ²³ They take money in secret for saying that bad people are good. And they take away the rights of those who are not guilty.

²⁴ So, as fire destroys what is left of the cut grain and dry grass falls into the fire, so their root will waste away and their flower blow away like dust. For they have turned away from the Law of the Lord of All. They have hated the Word of the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁸ If the world hates you, you know it hated Me before it hated you. ¹⁹ If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. You do not belong to the world. I have chosen you out of the world and the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his owner.’ If they made it very hard for Me, they will make it very hard for you also. If they obeyed My teachings, they will obey your teachings also.

²⁶ “The Helper (Holy Spirit) will tell about Me when He comes. I will send Him to you from the Father. He is the Spirit of Truth and comes from the Father. ²⁷ You will also tell of Me because you have been with Me from the beginning.