Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

²³ Those who go down to the sea in ships,
    who work in the great waters,
²⁴ witnessed the works of the Lord—
    his awesome deeds in the ocean’s depth.
²⁵ He spoke and stirred up a windstorm
    that made its waves surge.
²⁶ The people^[a] ascended skyward and descended to the depths,
    their courage^[b] melting away in their peril.
²⁷ They reeled and staggered like a drunkard,
    as all their wisdom became useless.
²⁸ Yet when they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
    the Lord brought them out of their distress.
²⁹ He calmed the storm
    and its waves^[c] quieted down.
³⁰ So they rejoiced that the waves^[d] became quiet,
    and he led them to their desired haven.

³¹ Let them give thanks to the Lord for his gracious love
    and for his awesome deeds on behalf of mankind.
³² Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people
    and praise him in the counsel of the elders.

²¹ “They listened and waited for me,
    as they remained in silence for my counsel.
²² After I spoke, they had nothing to say,
    when what I said hit them.
²³ They waited for me as one waits for rain,
    as one opens his mouth to drink in a spring rain shower.
²⁴ I smiled at them when they had no confidence,
    and no one could discourage me.
²⁵ I set an example of the way to live,^[a] as a leader would;
    I lived like a king among his army;
        like one who comforts mourners.”

⁴ “They would pluck off herbs from salt marshes to eat;
    and roots of the broom shrub^[c] for food.
⁵ Driven away from human company,
    they were shouted at as though they were thieves.
⁶ They lived in the most dangerous of ravines,
    in holes in the ground, and among rocks.
⁷ They bray like donkeys^[d] among the bushes
    and huddle together under the desert weeds.
⁸ Sons of fools and of uncertain reputation,^[e]
    they have been driven from the land by scourging.”

¹² “A wretched crowd ambushes me to my right;
    they trip my feet;
        they build up their path of calamity for me.
¹³ They tear up my pathways;
    they profit from my destruction,
        and they need no help to do this!
¹⁴ They come like those who breach through a wall;
    as everything crashes around me they’ll roll on and on!
¹⁵ My greatest fears have overcome me;
    my honor is assaulted as though by a wind storm;
        my prosperity evaporates like a morning cloud.”