Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
The Lord’s Care over All His Works.
104 Bless and affectionately praise the Lord, O my soul!
O Lord my God, You are very great;
You are clothed with splendor and majesty,
2
[You are the One] who covers Yourself with light as with a garment,
Who stretches out the heavens like a tent curtain,
3
Who lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters [above the firmament],
Who makes the clouds His chariot,
Who walks on the wings of the wind,
4
Who makes winds His messengers,
Flames of fire His ministers.(A)
5
He established the earth on its foundations,
So that it will not be moved forever and ever.(B)
6
You covered it with the deep as with a garment;
The waters were standing above the mountains.(C)
7
At Your rebuke they fled;
At the sound of Your thunder they hurried away.
8
The mountains rose, the valleys sank down
To the place which You established for them.
9
You set a boundary [for the waters] that they may not cross over,
So that they will not return to cover the earth.
10
You send springs into the valleys;
Their waters flow among the mountains.
11
They give drink to every beast of the field;
The wild donkeys quench their thirst there.
12
Beside them the birds of the heavens have their nests;
They lift up their voices and sing among the branches.(D)
13
He waters the mountains from His upper chambers;
The earth is satisfied with the fruit of His works.
14
He causes grass to grow for the cattle,
And all that the earth produces for cultivation by man,
So that he may bring food from the earth—
15
And wine which makes the heart of man glad,
So that he may make his face glisten with oil,
And bread to sustain and strengthen man’s heart.
16
The trees of the Lord drink their fill,
The cedars of Lebanon which He has planted,
17
Where the birds make their nests;
As for the stork, the fir trees are her house.
18
The high mountains are for the wild goats;
The rocks are a refuge for the [a]shephanim.
19
He made the moon for the seasons;
The sun knows the [exact] place of its setting.
20
You [O Lord] make darkness and it becomes night,
In which prowls about every wild beast of the forest.
21
The young lions roar after their prey
And seek their food from God.
22
When the sun arises, they withdraw
And lie down in their dens.
23
Man goes out to his work
And remains at his labor until evening.
24
O Lord, how many and varied are Your works!
In wisdom You have made them all;
The earth is full of Your riches and Your creatures.
25
There is the sea, great and broad,
In which are swarms without number,
Creatures both small and great.
26
There the ships [of the sea] sail,
And Leviathan [the sea monster], which You have formed to play there.
27
They all wait for You
To give them their food in its appointed season.
28
You give it to them, they gather it up;
You open Your hand, they are filled and satisfied with good [things].
29
You hide Your face, they are dismayed;
You take away their breath, they die
And return to their dust.
30
You send out Your Spirit, they are created;
You renew the face of the ground.
31
May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
May the Lord rejoice and be glad in His works—
32
He looks at the earth, and it trembles;
He touches the mountains, and they smoke.
33
I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
34
May my meditation be sweet and pleasing to Him;
As for me, I will rejoice and be glad in the Lord.
35
Let sinners be consumed from the earth,
And let the wicked be no more.
Bless and affectionately praise the Lord, O my soul.
Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)
Elijah Predicts Drought
17 Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.”(A) 2 And the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 3 “Go from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan [River]. 4 You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to sustain you there [with food].” 5 So he went and did in accordance with the word of the Lord; he went and lived by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. 6 And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he would drink from the brook. 7 It happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 9 “Arise, go to [a]Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” 10 So he set out and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks [for firewood]. He called out to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a jar, so that I may drink.” 11 As she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand.” 12 But she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have no bread, only a handful of flour in the bowl and a little oil in the jar. See, I am gathering a few sticks so that I may go in and bake it for me and my son, that we may eat it [as our last meal] and die.” 13 Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said. Just make me a little bread from it first and bring it out to me, and afterward you may make one for yourself and for your son. 14 For this is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘The bowl of flour shall not be exhausted nor shall the jar of oil be empty until the day that the Lord sends rain [again] on the face of the earth.’” 15 She went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days. 16 The bowl of flour was not exhausted nor did the jar of oil become empty, in accordance with the word of the Lord which He spoke through Elijah.
6 Now I have applied these things [that is, the analogies about factions] to myself and Apollos for your benefit, believers, so that you may learn from us not to go beyond what is written [in Scripture], so that none of you will become arrogant and boast in favor of one [minister or teacher] against the other. 7 For who regards you as superior or what sets you apart as special? What do you have that you did not receive [from another]? And if in fact you received it [from God or someone else], why do you boast as if you had not received it [but had gained it by yourself]?
8 [You behave as if] you are already filled [with spiritual wisdom and in need of nothing more]. Already you have become rich [in spiritual gifts]! You [in your conceit] have ascended your thrones and become kings without us; and how I wish [that it were true and] that you did reign as kings, so that we might reign with you. 9 For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles at the end of the line, like men sentenced to death [and paraded as prisoners in a procession], because we have become a spectacle to the world [a show in the world’s amphitheater], both to angels and to men. 10 We are [regarded as] fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are highly esteemed, but we are dishonored. 11 To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty; we are continually poorly dressed, and we are roughly treated, and wander homeless. 12 We work [for our living], working hard with our own hands. When we are reviled and verbally abused, we bless. When we are persecuted, we take it patiently and endure. 13 When we are slandered, we try to be conciliatory and answer softly. We have become like the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, even until now.
14 I do not write these things to shame you, but to warn and advise you as my beloved children. 15 For even if you were to have ten thousand teachers [to guide you] in Christ, yet you would not have many fathers [who led you to Christ and assumed responsibility for you], for I became your father in Christ Jesus through the good news [of salvation]. 16 So I urge you, be imitators of me [just as a child imitates his father]. 17 For this reason I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my way of life in Christ [my conduct and my precepts for godly living], just as I teach everywhere in every church. 18 Now some of you have become arrogant and pretentious, as though I were not coming to see you. 19 But I will come to you soon, if the Lord is willing, and I will find out not just the talk of these arrogant people, but [evaluate] their [spiritual] power [whether they live up to their own claims]. 20 For the kingdom of God is not based on talk but on power. 21 Which do you prefer? Shall I come to you with a rod [of discipline and correction], or with love and a gentle spirit?
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