Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God in the Thunderstorm
A song 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 great 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.
He makes 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.
The leaves fall 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.
There Is a Time for Everything
3 There is a right time for everything.
Everything on earth has its special season.
2 There is a time to be born
and a time to die.
There is a time to plant
and a time to pull up plants.
3 There is a time to kill
and a time to heal.
There is a time to destroy
and a time to build.
4 There is a time to cry
and a time to laugh.
There is a time to be sad
and a time to dance.
5 There is a time to throw away stones
and a time to gather them.
There is a time to hug
and a time not to hug.
6 There is a time to look for something
and a time to stop looking for it.
There is a time to keep things
and a time to throw things away.
7 There is a time to tear apart
and a time to sew together.
There is a time to be silent
and a time to speak.
8 There is a time to love
and a time to hate.
There is a time for war
and a time for peace.
God Controls His World
9 Does a person really gain anything from his work? 10 I saw the hard work God has given us to do. 11 God has also given us a desire to know the future. God certainly does everything at just the right time. But we can never completely understand what he is doing. 12 So I realize that the best thing for people is to be happy. They should enjoy themselves as long as they live. 13 God wants everyone to eat and drink and be happy in his work. These are gifts from God. 14 I know anything God does will continue forever. People cannot add anything to what God has done. And they cannot take anything away from it. God does it this way to cause people to honor him.
15 What happens now has also happened in the past.
Things that will happen in the future have also happened before.
God makes the same things happen again and again.
11 It is like this: No one knows the thoughts that another person has. Only a person’s spirit that lives in him knows his thoughts. It is the same with God. No one knows the thoughts of God. Only the Spirit of God knows God’s thoughts. 12 We did not receive the spirit of the world, but we received the Spirit that is from God. We received this Spirit so that we can know all that God has given us. 13 When we speak, we do not use words taught to us by the wisdom that men have. We use words taught to us by the Spirit. We use spiritual words to explain spiritual things. 14 A person who is not spiritual does not accept the gifts that come from the Spirit of God. That person thinks they are foolish. He cannot understand the Spirit’s gifts, because they can only be judged spiritually. 15 But the spiritual person is able to judge all things. Yet no one can judge him. The Scripture says:
16 “Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Who has been able to teach him?” Isaiah 40:13
But we have the mind of Christ.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.