Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
104 Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, Thou art very great; Thou art clothed with honor and majesty—
2 who coverest Thyself with light as with a garment, who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain;
3 who layeth the beams of His chambers in the waters, who maketh the clouds His chariot, who walketh upon the wings of the wind;
4 who maketh His angels spirits, His ministers a flaming fire;
5 who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should never be removed.
6 Thou covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.
7 At Thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of Thy thunder they hastened away.
8 They go up by the mountains; they go down by the valleys unto the place which Thou hast founded for them.
9 Thou hast set a boundary that they may not pass over, that they turn not again to cover the earth.
10 He sendeth the springs into the valleys, which run among the hills.
11 They give drink to every beast of the field; the wild asses quench their thirst.
12 By them shall the fowls of the heavens have their habitation, which sing among the branches.
13 He watereth the hills from His chambers; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of Thy works.
14 He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle and herbs for the service of man, that he may bring forth food out of the earth,
15 and wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man’s heart.
16 The trees of the Lord are full of sap, the cedars of Lebanon which He hath planted,
17 where the birds make their nests; as for the stork, the fir trees are her house.
18 The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats, and the rocks for the conies.
19 He appointed the moon for seasons; the sun knoweth his time to go down.
20 Thou makest darkness, and it is night, wherein all the beasts of the forest creep forth.
21 The young lions roar after their prey and seek their meat from God.
22 When the sun ariseth, they gather themselves together and lay them down in their dens.
23 Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labor until the evening.
24 O Lord, how manifold are Thy works! In wisdom hast Thou made them all; the earth is full of Thy riches.
25 So also is this great and wide sea, wherein are innumerable creeping things, both small and great beasts.
26 There go the ships; there also is that leviathan, whom Thou hast made to play therein.
27 These all wait upon Thee, that Thou mayest give them their meat in due season.
28 What Thou givest them, they gather: Thou openest Thine hand, they are filled with good.
29 Thou hidest Thy face, they are troubled; Thou takest away their breath, they die and return to their dust.
30 Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit, they are created; and Thou renewest the face of the earth.
31 The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever; the Lord shall rejoice in His works.
32 He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth; He toucheth the hills, and they smoke.
33 I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being.
34 My meditation of Him shall be sweet; I will be glad in the Lord.
35 Let the sinners be consumed out of the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless thou the Lord, O my soul! Praise ye the Lord!
32 “Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
2 My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distill as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass.
3 Because I will proclaim the name of the Lord, ascribe ye greatness unto our God.
4 “He is the Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are judgment, a God of truth and without iniquity; just and right is He.
5 They have corrupted themselves; their spot is not the spot of His children; they are a perverse and crooked generation.
6 “Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise? Is not He thy father that hath bought thee? Hath He not made thee and established thee?
7 Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations. Ask thy father, and he will show thee, thy elders, and they will tell thee.
8 When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.
9 For the Lord’S portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His inheritance.
10 “He found him in a desert land and in the waste howling wilderness; He led him about, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye.
11 As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings,
12 so the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.
13 He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and He made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;
14 butter of cows and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape.
32 But call to remembrance the former days in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions,
33 partly while ye were being made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly while ye became companions of those who were so used.
34 For ye had compassion on me in my bonds and took joyfully the despoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in Heaven a better and an enduring substance.
35 Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward.
36 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.
37 “For yet a little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry.
38 Now the just shall live by faith; but if any man draw back, My soul shall have no pleasure in him.”
39 But we are not of those who draw back unto perdition, but of those who believe, to the saving of the soul.
Copyright © 1994 by Deuel Enterprises, Inc.