Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.
Blessed are the people he has chosen as his own.
13 The Lord looks down from heaven.
He sees all of Adam’s descendants.
14 From the place where he sits enthroned,
he looks down upon all who live on earth.
15 The one who formed their hearts
understands everything they do.
16 No king achieves a victory with a large army.
No warrior rescues himself by his own great strength.
17 Horses are not a guarantee for victory.
Their great strength cannot help someone escape.
18 The Lord’s eyes are on those who fear him,
on those who wait with hope for his mercy
19 to rescue their souls from death
and keep them alive during a famine.
20 We wait for the Lord.
He is our help and our shield.
21 In him our hearts find joy.
In his holy name we trust.
22 Let your mercy rest on us, O Lord,
since we wait with hope for you.
Elihu Continues: God’s Ways Are Beyond Human Understanding
37 “My heart pounds because of this
and jumps out of its place.
2 Listen! Listen to the roar of God’s voice,
to the rumbling that comes from his mouth.
3 He flashes his lightning everywhere under heaven.
His light flashes to the ends of the earth.
4 It is followed by the roar of his voice.
He thunders with his majestic voice.
He doesn’t hold the lightning back when his thunder is heard.
5 God’s voice thunders in miraculous ways.
It does great things that we cannot understand.
6 “He says to the snow, ‘Fall to the ground,’
and to the pouring rain, ‘Rain harder!’
7 He makes it impossible to do anything [a]
so that people will recognize his work.
8 Animals go into their dens
and stay in their lairs.
9 A storm comes out of its chamber.
It is cold because of the strong winds.
10 God’s breath produces ice,
and the seas freeze over.
11 Yes, he loads the thick clouds with moisture
and scatters his lightning from the clouds.
12 He guides the clouds as they churn round and round
over the face of the inhabited earth
to do everything he orders them.
13 Whether for discipline,
or for ⌞the good of⌟ his earth,
or out of mercy,
he makes the storm appear.
50 Brothers and sisters, this is what I mean: Flesh and blood cannot inherit God’s kingdom. What decays cannot inherit what doesn’t decay.
51 I’m telling you a mystery. Not all of us will die, but we will all be changed. 52 It will happen in an instant, in a split second at the sound of the last trumpet. Indeed, that trumpet will sound, and then the dead will come back to life. They will be changed so that they can live forever. 53 This body that decays must be changed into a body that cannot decay. This mortal body must be changed into a body that will live forever. 54 When this body that decays is changed into a body that cannot decay, and this mortal body is changed into a body that will live forever, then the teaching of Scripture will come true:
“Death is turned into victory!
55 Death, where is your victory?
Death, where is your sting?”
56 Sin gives death its sting, and God’s standards give sin its power. 57 Thank God that he gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
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