Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

¹ O Eternal, our Lord,
    Your majestic name is heard throughout the earth;
Your magnificent glory shines far above the skies.
² From the mouths and souls of infants and toddlers, the most innocent,
    You have decreed power to stop Your adversaries
    and quash those who seek revenge.

³ When I gaze to the skies and meditate on Your creation—
    on the moon, stars, and all You have made,
⁴ I can’t help but wonder why You care about mortals—
    sons and daughters of men—
    specks of dust floating about the cosmos.

⁵ But You placed the son of man just beneath God
    and honored him like royalty, crowning him with glory and honor.
⁶ You ordained him to govern the works of Your hands,
    to nurture the offspring of Your divine imagination;
    You placed everything on earth beneath his feet:
⁷ All kinds of domesticated animals,
    even the wild animals in the fields and forests,
⁸ The birds of the sky and the fish of the sea,
    all the multitudes of living things that travel the currents of the oceans.

⁹ O Eternal, our Lord,
    Your majestic name is heard throughout the earth.

²²     Have you visited the vast, cold treasury where the snow is stored,
        or have you gazed on the shimmering, frozen armories where the hail is held,
²³     The hail which I keep on reserve for the time of great trouble,
        for the day of battle, the day of war?
²⁴     Where is the way to the realm where light is scattered across creation,
        and where is the field where the east wind is divided up
        and sent across the face of the earth?

²⁵     Who cut the channel for the flooding rivers
        or paved a path for the thunderbolt
²⁶     So that rain might fall on an uninhabited land,
        even on a wilderness where no human sets foot
²⁷     So that the desolate desert and the withering wasteland are satisfied,
        so that the grass is made to sprout in that seemingly forsaken place?
²⁸     And does the rain have a father?
        Who sires the drops of dew?
²⁹     From whose womb comes the ice?
        And who gives birth to the sky’s pale, thick frost?
³⁰     When water seems to turn to stone,
        the face of the deep freezes to imprison its inhabitants.

³¹     Can you bind together a cluster of twinkling stars—
        the seven sisters of Pleiades who keep company in the night sky?
        Can you loosen the cords of Orion’s bow?
³²     Can you lead the stars^[a] of the Zodiac out in their proper seasons
        and guide the Bear with her cubs?
³³     Do you know the rules of the heavens,
        or apportion their influence on the seasons of the earth?

³⁴     Can you bellow out orders at the clouds
        and pull down a flood of rain around you?
³⁵     Can you dispatch bolts of lightning on their way,
        who instantly obey and say to you, “Here we are”?
³⁶     Who put wisdom within the center of the created
        or granted understanding to the mind?^[b]
37     Who has the wisdom to count the clouds and send them on their way
        or tip over the water skins of heaven to refresh the ground below
³⁸     When the dry dust is as hard as metal
        and clods of clay clump together?