Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
To the Director: On a stringed instrument.[a] A Davidic Psalm.
Divine Glory and Human Dignity
8 Lord, our Lord,
how excellent is your name in all the earth!
You set your glory above the heavens!
2 Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies
you have established strength[b]
on account of your adversaries,
in order to silence the enemy and vengeful foe.
3 When I look at the heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars that you established—
4 what is man that you take notice of him,
or the son of man[c] that you pay attention to him?
5 You made him a little less than divine,[d]
but you crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You gave him dominion over the work of your hands,
you put all things under his feet:
7 Sheep and cattle—all of them,
wild creatures of the field,
8 birds in the sky,
fish in the sea—
whatever moves through the currents of the oceans.
9 Lord, our Lord,
how excellent is your name in all the earth!
The Lord Speaks to Job
38 The Lord responded to Job from the whirlwind and said:
2 “Who is this who keeps darkening my counsel
without knowing what he’s talking about?
3 Stand up[a] like a man!
I’ll ask you some questions,
and you give me some answers!”
On the Natural World
4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of my earth?
Tell me,[b] since you’re so informed!
5 Who set its measurement? Am I to assume you know?
Who stretched a boundary line over it?
6 On what were its bases set?
Who laid its corner stone
7 while the morning stars sang together
and all the divine beings[c] shouted joyfully?
8 “Who[d] enclosed the sea with limits[e]
when it gushed out of the womb,
9 when I made clouds to be its clothes
and thick darkness its swaddling blanket,
10 when I proscribed a boundary for it,
set in place bars and doors for it;
11 and said, ‘You may come only this far and no more.
Your majestic waves will stop here.’?
8 Therefore, never be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me, his prisoner. Instead, by God’s power, join me in suffering for the sake of the gospel.
9 He saved us
and called us with a holy calling,
not according to our own accomplishments,
but according to his own purpose and the grace
that was given to us in the Messiah[a] Jesus
before time began.[b]
10 Now, however, that grace[c] has been revealed
through the coming of our Savior the Messiah[d] Jesus,
who has destroyed death
and through the gospel has brought life
and release from death into full view.
11 For the sake of this gospel[e] I was appointed to be a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the gentiles.[f] 12 That is why I suffer as I do. However, I am not ashamed, for I know the one in whom I have put my trust, and I’m convinced that he is able to protect what he has entrusted to me[g] until the day that he comes.[h]
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