Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
(A psalm by David.)
The Voice of the Lord in a Storm
1 (A) All you angels[a] in heaven,
honor the glory and power
of the Lord!
2 Honor the wonderful name
of the Lord,
and worship the Lord
most holy and glorious.[b]
3 The voice of the Lord
echoes over the oceans.
The glorious Lord God
thunders above the roar
of the raging sea,
4 and his voice is mighty
and marvelous.
5 The voice of the Lord
destroys the cedar trees;
the Lord shatters cedars
on Mount Lebanon.
6 God makes Mount Lebanon
skip like a calf
and Mount Hermon
jump like a wild ox.
7 The voice of the Lord
makes lightning flash
8 and the desert tremble.
And because of the Lord,
the desert near Kadesh
shivers and shakes.
9 The voice of the Lord
makes deer give birth
before their time.[c]
Forests are stripped of leaves,
and the temple is filled
with shouts of praise.
10 The Lord rules on his throne,
king of the flood[d] forever.
11 Pray that our Lord
will make us strong
and give us peace.
Everything Has Its Time
3 Everything on earth
has its own time
and its own season.
2 There is a time
for birth and death,
planting and reaping,
3 for killing and healing,
destroying and building,
4 for crying and laughing,
weeping and dancing,
5 for throwing stones
and gathering stones,
embracing and parting.
6 There is a time
for finding and losing,
keeping and giving,
7 for tearing and sewing,
listening and speaking.
8 There is also a time
for love and hate,
for war and peace.
What God Has Given Us To Do
9 What do we gain by all our hard work? 10 I have seen what difficult things God demands of us. 11 God makes everything happen at the right time. Yet none of us can ever fully understand all he has done, and he puts questions in our minds about the past and the future. 12 I know the best thing we can do is to always enjoy life, 13 because God's gift to us is the happiness we get from our food and drink and from the work we do. 14 Everything God has done will last forever; nothing he does can ever be changed. God has done all this, so that we will worship him.
15 Everything that happens
has happened before,
and all that will be
has already been—
God does everything
over and over again.[a]
11 You are the only one who knows what is in your own mind, and God's Spirit is the only one who knows what is in God's mind. 12 But God has given us his Spirit. This is why we don't think the same way that the people of this world think. This is also why we can recognize the blessings God has given us.
13 Every word we speak was taught to us by God's Spirit, not by human wisdom. And this same Spirit helps us teach spiritual things to spiritual people.[a] 14 This is why only someone who has God's Spirit can understand spiritual blessings. Anyone who doesn't have God's Spirit thinks these blessings are foolish. 15 People who are guided by the Spirit can make all kinds of judgments, but they cannot be judged by others. 16 (A) The Scriptures ask,
“Has anyone ever known
the thoughts of the Lord
or given him advice?”
But we understand what Christ is thinking.[b]
Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society For more information about CEV, visit www.bibles.com and www.cev.bible.