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.

²⁴ O Lord, what a variety you have made! And in wisdom you have made them all! The earth is full of your riches.

³⁵ Let all sinners perish—all who refuse to praise him. But I will praise him. Hallelujah!

37 “My heart trembles at this. ² Listen, listen to the thunder of his voice. ³ It rolls across the heavens and his lightning flashes out in every direction. ⁴ Afterwards comes the roaring of the thunder—the tremendous voice of his majesty. ⁵ His voice is glorious in the thunder. We cannot comprehend the greatness of his power. ⁶ For he directs the snow, the showers, and storm to fall upon the earth. ⁷ Man’s work stops at such a time so that all men everywhere may recognize his power. ⁸ The wild animals hide in the rocks or in their dens.

⁹ “From the south comes the rain; from the north, the cold. ¹⁰ God blows upon the rivers, and even the widest torrents freeze. ¹¹ He loads the clouds with moisture, and they send forth his lightning. ¹² The lightning bolts are directed by his hand and do whatever he commands throughout the earth. ¹³ He sends the storms^[a] as punishment or, in his loving-kindness, to encourage.

¹⁴ “Listen, O Job, stop and consider the wonderful miracles of God. ¹⁵ Do you know how God controls all nature and causes the lightning to flash forth from the clouds? ^16-17 Do you understand the balancing of the clouds with wonderful perfection and skill? Do you know why you become warm when the south wind is blowing and everything is still? ¹⁸ Can you spread out the gigantic mirror of the skies as he does?

^19-20 “You who think you know so much,^[b] teach the rest of us how we should approach God. For we are too dull to know! With your wisdom, would we then dare to approach him? Well, does a man wish to be swallowed alive? ²¹ For as we cannot look at the sun for its brightness when the winds have cleared away the clouds, ²² neither can we gaze at the terrible majesty of God breaking forth upon us from heaven, clothed in dazzling splendor. ²³ We cannot imagine the power of the Almighty, and yet he is so just and merciful that he does not destroy us. ²⁴ No wonder men everywhere fear him! For he is not impressed by the world’s wisest men!”

17 One of the seven angels who had poured out the plagues came over and talked with me. “Come with me,” he said, “and I will show you what is going to happen to the Notorious Prostitute, who sits upon the many waters of the world. ² The kings of the world have had immoral relations with her, and the people of the earth have been made drunk by the wine of her immorality.”

³ So the angel took me in spirit into the wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet animal that had seven heads and ten horns,^[a] written all over with blasphemies against God. ⁴ The woman wore purple and scarlet clothing and beautiful jewelry made of gold and precious gems and pearls, and held in her hand a golden goblet full of obscenities:

⁵ A mysterious caption was written on her forehead: “Babylon the Great, Mother of Prostitutes and of Idol Worship Everywhere around the World.”

⁶ I could see that she was drunk—drunk with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus she had killed. I stared at her in horror.

⁷ “Why are you so surprised?” the angel asked. “I’ll tell you who she is and what the animal she is riding represents. ⁸ He was alive but isn’t now. And yet, soon he will come up out of the bottomless pit and go to eternal destruction;^[b] and the people of earth, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life before the world began, will be dumbfounded at his reappearance after being dead.

⁹ “And now think hard: his seven heads represent a certain city^[c] built on seven hills where this woman has her residence. ¹⁰ They also represent seven kings. Five have already fallen, the sixth now reigns, and the seventh is yet to come, but his reign will be brief. ¹¹ The scarlet animal that died is the eighth king, having reigned before as one of the seven; after his second reign, he too, will go to his doom. ¹² His ten horns are ten kings who have not yet risen to power; they will be appointed to their kingdoms for one brief moment, to reign with him. ¹³ They will all sign a treaty giving their power and strength to him. ¹⁴ Together they will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them; for he is Lord over all lords, and King of kings, and his people are the called and chosen and faithful ones.

¹⁵ “The oceans, lakes, and rivers that the woman is sitting on represent masses of people of every race and nation.

¹⁶ “The scarlet animal and his ten horns—which represent ten kings who will reign with him—all hate the woman, and will attack her and leave her naked and ravaged by fire. ¹⁷ For God will put a plan into their minds, a plan that will carry out his purposes: They will mutually agree to give their authority to the scarlet animal so that the words of God will be fulfilled. ¹⁸ And this woman you saw in your vision represents the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.”