Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
104 1-2 I bless the Lord: O Lord my God, how great you are! You are robed with honor and with majesty and light! You stretched out the starry curtain of the heavens, 3 and hollowed out the surface of the earth to form the seas. The clouds are his chariots. He rides upon the wings of the wind. 4 The angels[a] are his messengers—his servants of fire!
5 You bound the world together so that it would never fall apart. 6 You clothed the earth with floods of waters covering up the mountains. 7-8 You spoke, and at the sound of your shout the water collected into its vast ocean beds, and mountains rose and valleys sank to the levels you decreed. 9 And then you set a boundary for the seas so that they would never again cover the earth.
10 He placed springs in the valleys and streams that gush from the mountains. 11 They give water for all the animals to drink. There the wild donkeys quench their thirst, 12 and the birds nest beside the streams and sing among the branches of the trees. 13 He sends rain upon the mountains and fills the earth with fruit. 14 The tender grass grows up at his command to feed the cattle, and there are fruit trees, vegetables, and grain for man to cultivate, 15 and wine to make him glad, and olive oil as lotion for his skin, and bread to give him strength. 16 The Lord planted the cedars of Lebanon. They are tall and flourishing. 17 There the birds make their nests, the storks in the firs. 18 High in the mountains are pastures for the wild goats, and rock badgers burrow in among the rocks and find protection there.
19 He assigned the moon to mark the months and the sun to mark the days. 20 He sends the night and darkness, when all the forest folk come out. 21 Then the young lions roar for their food, but they are dependent on the Lord. 22 At dawn they slink back into their dens to rest, 23 and men go off to work until the evening shadows fall again. 24 O Lord, what a variety you have made! And in wisdom you have made them all! The earth is full of your riches.
25 There before me lies the mighty ocean, teeming with life of every kind, both great and small. 26 And look! See the ships! And over there, the whale you made to play in the sea. 27 Every one of these depends on you to give them daily food. 28 You supply it, and they gather it. You open wide your hand to feed them, and they are satisfied with all your bountiful provision.
29 But if you turn away from them, then all is lost. And when you gather up their breath, they die and turn again to dust.
30 Then you send your Spirit, and new life is born[b] to replenish all the living of the earth. 31 Praise God forever! How he must rejoice in all his work! 32 The earth trembles at his glance; the mountains burst into flame at his touch.
33 I will sing to the Lord as long as I live. I will praise God to my last breath! 34 May he be pleased by all these thoughts about him, for he is the source of all my joy. 35 Let all sinners perish—all who refuse to praise him. But I will praise him. Hallelujah!
17 Then Elijah, the prophet[a] from Tishbe in Gilead, told King Ahab, “As surely as the Lord God of Israel lives—the God whom I worship and serve—there won’t be any dew or rain for several years until I say the word!”
2 Then the Lord said to Elijah, 3 “Go to the east and hide by Cherith Brook at a place east of where it enters the Jordan River. 4 Drink from the brook and eat what the ravens bring you, for I have commanded them to feed you.”
5 So he did as the Lord had told him to and camped beside the brook. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat each morning and evening, and he drank from the brook. 7 But after a while the brook dried up, for there was no rainfall anywhere in the land.
8-9 Then the Lord said to him, “Go and live in the village of Zarephath, near the city of Sidon. There is a widow there who will feed you. I have given her my instructions.”
10 So he went to Zarephath. As he arrived at the gates of the city he saw a widow gathering sticks; and he asked her for a cup of water.
11 As she was going to get it, he called to her, “Bring me a bite of bread too.”
12 But she said, “I swear by the Lord your God that I haven’t a single piece of bread in the house. And I have only a handful of flour left and a little cooking oil in the bottom of the jar. I was just gathering a few sticks to cook this last meal, and then my son and I must die of starvation.”
13 But Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid! Go ahead and cook that ‘last meal,’ but bake me a little loaf of bread first; and afterwards there will still be enough food for you and your son. 14 For the Lord God of Israel says that there will always be plenty of flour and oil left in your containers until the time when the Lord sends rain and the crops grow again!”
15 So she did as Elijah said, and she and Elijah and her son continued to eat from her supply of flour and oil as long as it was needed. 16 For no matter how much they used, there was always plenty left in the containers, just as the Lord had promised through Elijah!
6 I have used Apollos and myself as examples to illustrate what I have been saying: that you must not have favorites. You must not be proud of one of God’s teachers more than another. 7 What are you so puffed up about? What do you have that God hasn’t given you? And if all you have is from God, why act as though you are so great, and as though you have accomplished something on your own?
8 You seem to think you already have all the spiritual food you need. You are full and spiritually contented, rich kings on your thrones, leaving us far behind! I wish you really were already on your thrones, for when that time comes you can be sure that we will be there, too, reigning with you. 9 Sometimes I think God has put us apostles at the very end of the line, like prisoners soon to be killed, put on display at the end of a victor’s parade, to be stared at by men and angels alike.
10 Religion has made us foolish, you say, but of course you are all such wise and sensible Christians! We are weak, but not you! You are well thought of, while we are laughed at. 11 To this very hour we have gone hungry and thirsty, without even enough clothes to keep us warm. We have been kicked around without homes of our own. 12 We have worked wearily with our hands to earn our living. We have blessed those who cursed us. We have been patient with those who injured us. 13 We have replied quietly when evil things have been said about us. Yet right up to the present moment we are like dirt underfoot, like garbage.
14 I am not writing about these things to make you ashamed, but to warn and counsel you as beloved children. 15 For although you may have ten thousand others to teach you about Christ, remember that you have only me as your father. For I was the one who brought you to Christ when I preached the Gospel to you. 16 So I beg you to follow my example and do as I do.
17 That is the very reason why I am sending Timothy—to help you do this. For he is one of those I won to Christ, a beloved and trustworthy child in the Lord. He will remind you of what I teach in all the churches wherever I go.
18 I know that some of you will have become proud, thinking that I am afraid to come to deal with you. 19 But I will come, and soon, if the Lord will let me, and then I’ll find out whether these proud men are just big talkers or whether they really have God’s power. 20 The Kingdom of God is not just talking; it is living by God’s power. 21 Which do you choose? Shall I come with punishment and scolding, or shall I come with quiet love and gentleness?
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.