Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 8

To the Chief Musician; set to a Philistine lute, or [possibly] to a particular Hittite tune. A Psalm of David.

¹ O Lord, our Lord, how excellent (majestic and glorious) is Your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory on [or above] the heavens.

² Out of the mouths of babes and unweaned infants You have established strength because of Your foes, that You might silence the enemy and the avenger.^(A)

³ When I view and consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained and established,

⁴ What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of [earthborn] man that You care for him?

⁵ Yet You have made him but a little lower than God [or heavenly beings], and You have crowned him with glory and honor.

⁶ You made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet:^(B)

⁷ All sheep and oxen, yes, and the beasts of the field,

⁸ The birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

⁹ O Lord, our Lord, how excellent (majestic and glorious) is Your name in all the earth!

38 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said,

² Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?^(A)

³ Gird up now your loins like a man, and I will demand of you, and you declare to Me.

⁴ Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Declare to Me, if you have and know understanding.

⁵ Who determined the measures of the earth, if you know? Or who stretched the measuring line upon it?

⁶ Upon what were the foundations of it fastened, or who laid its cornerstone,

⁷ When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

⁸ Or who shut up the sea with doors when it broke forth and issued out of the womb?—

⁹ When I made the clouds the garment of it, and thick darkness a swaddling band for it,

¹⁰ And marked for it My appointed boundary and set bars and doors,^(B)

¹¹ And said, Thus far shall you come and no farther; and here shall your proud waves be stayed?^(C)

⁸ Do not blush or be ashamed then, to testify to and for our Lord, nor of me, a prisoner for His sake, but [^[a]with me] take your share of the suffering [to which the preaching] of the Gospel [may expose you, and do it] in the power of God.

⁹ [For it is He] Who delivered and saved us and called us with a calling in itself holy and leading to holiness [to a life of consecration, a vocation of holiness]; [He did it] not because of anything of merit that we have done, but because of and to further His own purpose and grace (unmerited favor) which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began [eternal ages ago].

¹⁰ [It is that purpose and grace] which He now has made known and has fully disclosed and made real [to us] through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, Who annulled death and made it of no effect and brought life and immortality (immunity from eternal death) to light through the Gospel.

¹¹ For [the proclaiming of] this [Gospel] I was appointed a herald (preacher) and an apostle (special messenger) and a teacher of the Gentiles.

¹² And this is why I am suffering as I do. Still I am not ashamed, for I know (perceive, have knowledge of, and am acquainted with) Him Whom I have believed (adhered to and trusted in and relied on), and I am [positively] persuaded that He is able to guard and keep that which has been entrusted to me and which ^[b]I have committed [to Him] until that day.