Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God in the Thunderstorm
A psalm of David.
29 Praise the Lord, you angels;
praise the Lord’s glory and power.
2 Praise the Lord for the glory of his name;
worship the Lord because he is holy.
3 The Lord’s voice is heard over the sea.
The glorious God thunders;
the Lord thunders over the ocean.
4 The Lord’s voice is powerful;
the Lord’s voice is majestic.
5 The Lord’s voice breaks the trees;
the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes the land of Lebanon dance like a calf
and Mount Hermon jump like a baby bull.
7 The Lord’s voice makes the lightning flash.
8 The Lord’s voice shakes the desert;
the Lord shakes the Desert of Kadesh.
9 The Lord’s voice shakes the oaks
and strips the leaves off the trees.
In his Temple everyone says, “Glory to God!”
10 The Lord controls the flood.
The Lord will be King forever.
11 The Lord gives strength to his people;
the Lord blesses his people with peace.
13 “The wings of the ostrich flap happily,
but they are not like the feathers of the stork.
14 The ostrich lays its eggs on the ground
and lets them warm in the sand.
15 It does not stop to think that a foot might step on them and crush them;
it does not care that some animal might walk on them.
16 The ostrich is cruel to its young, as if they were not even its own.
It does not care that its work is for nothing,
17 because God did not give the ostrich wisdom;
God did not give it a share of good sense.
18 But when the ostrich gets up to run, it is so fast
that it laughs at the horse and its rider.
19 “Job, are you the one who gives the horse its strength
or puts a flowing mane on its neck?
20 Do you make the horse jump like a locust?
It scares people with its proud snorting.
21 It paws wildly, enjoying its strength,
and charges into battle.
22 It laughs at fear and is afraid of nothing;
it does not run away from the sword.
23 The bag of arrows rattles against the horse’s side,
along with the flashing spears and swords.
24 With great excitement, the horse races over the ground;
and it cannot stand still when it hears the trumpet.
25 When the trumpet blows, the horse snorts, ‘Aha!’
It smells the battle from far away;
it hears the shouts of commanders and the battle cry.
4 There are different kinds of gifts, but they are all from the same Spirit. 5 There are different ways to serve but the same Lord to serve. 6 And there are different ways that God works through people but the same God. God works in all of us in everything we do. 7 Something from the Spirit can be seen in each person, for the common good. 8 The Spirit gives one person the ability to speak with wisdom, and the same Spirit gives another the ability to speak with knowledge. 9 The same Spirit gives faith to one person. And, to another, that one Spirit gives gifts of healing. 10 The Spirit gives to another person the power to do miracles, to another the ability to prophesy. And he gives to another the ability to know the difference between good and evil spirits. The Spirit gives one person the ability to speak in different kinds of languages[a] and to another the ability to interpret those languages. 11 One Spirit, the same Spirit, does all these things, and the Spirit decides what to give each person.
The Body of Christ Works Together
12 A person’s body is one thing, but it has many parts. Though there are many parts to a body, all those parts make only one body. Christ is like that also. 13 Some of us are Jews, and some are Greeks. Some of us are slaves, and some are free. But we were all baptized into one body through one Spirit. And we were all made to share in the one Spirit.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.