Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

The Lord Answers Job

38 Then the Lord answered Job out of the strong wind and said, ² “Who is this that makes words of wisdom dark by speaking without much learning? ³ Now get ready like a man, and I will ask you some questions and you answer Me. ⁴ Where were you when I began building the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. ⁵ Who decided how big it was to be, since you know? Who looked to see if it was as big as it should be? ⁶ What was it built upon? Who laid its first stone, ⁷ when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God called out for joy?

⁸ “Who shut up the sea with doors, when it rushed out from its secret place? ⁹ I made clouds its clothing, and put much darkness around it. ¹⁰ I marked the places where it could not pass, and set locks and doors. ¹¹ And I said, ‘You will come this far, and no farther. Here will your proud waves stop.’

God Helps Men in Trouble

107 Give thanks to the Lord for He is good! His loving-kindness lasts forever! ² Let the people who have been saved say so. He has bought them and set them free from the hand of those who hated them. ³ He gathered them from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.

²³ Some went out to sea in ships to buy and sell on the great waters. ²⁴ They have seen what the Lord can do and His great works on the sea. ²⁵ For He spoke and raised up a storm that lifted up the waves of the sea. ²⁶ They went up to the heavens and down to the deep. Their strength of heart left them in their danger. ²⁷ They could not walk straight but went from side to side like a drunk man. They did not know what to do. ²⁸ Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble. And He took them out of all their problems. ²⁹ He stopped the storm, and the waves of the sea became quiet. ³⁰ Then they were glad because the sea became quiet. And He led them to the safe place they wanted. ³¹ Let them give thanks to the Lord for His loving-kindness and His great works to the children of men! ³² Let them honor Him in the meeting of the people and praise Him in the meeting of the leaders.

Our Job to Do

6 We are working together with God. We ask you from our hearts not to receive God’s loving-favor and then waste it. ² The Holy Writings say, “I heard you at the right time. I helped you on that day to be saved from the punishment of sin. Now is the right time! See! Now is the day to be saved.” ^{(A) 3} We do not want to put anything in the way that would keep people from God. We do not want to be blamed. ⁴ Everything we do shows we are God’s servants. We have had to wait and suffer. We have needed things. We have been in many hard places and have had many troubles. ⁵ We have been beaten. We have been put in prison. We have been in fights. We have worked hard. We have stayed awake watching. We have gone without food. ⁶ We have been pure. We have known what to do. We have suffered long. We have been kind. The Holy Spirit has worked in us. We have had true love. ⁷ We have spoken the truth. We have God’s power. We have the sword of being right with God in the right hand and in the left hand. ⁸ Some men respect us and some do not. Some men speak bad against us and some thank us. They say we lie, but we speak the truth. ⁹ Some men act as if they do not know us. And yet we are known by everyone. They act as if we were dead, but we are alive. They try to hurt and destroy us, but they are not able to kill us. ¹⁰ We are full of sorrow and yet we are always happy. We are poor and yet we make many people rich. We have nothing and yet we have everything.

¹¹ We have spoken to you who are in the city of Corinth with plain words. Our hearts are wide open. ¹² Our hearts are not closed to you. But you have closed your hearts to us. ¹³ I am speaking to you now as if you were my own children. Open your hearts wide to us! That will pay us back for what we have done for you.

The Wind and Waves Obey Jesus ^(A)

³⁵ It was evening of that same day. Jesus said to them, “Let us go over to the other side.” ³⁶ After sending the people away, they took Jesus with them in a boat. It was the same boat He used when He taught them. Other little boats went along with them. ³⁷ A bad wind storm came up. The waves were coming over the side of the boat. It was filling up with water. ³⁸ Jesus was in the back part of the boat sleeping on a pillow. They woke Him up, crying out, “Teacher, do You not care that we are about to die?” ³⁹ He got up and spoke sharp words to the wind. He said to the sea, “Be quiet! Be still.” At once the wind stopped blowing. There were no more waves. ⁴⁰ He said to His followers, “Why are you so full of fear? Do you not have faith?” ⁴¹ They were very much afraid and said to each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and waves obey Him!”