Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 29
A song of David.
1 Give all credit to the Eternal, O heavenly creatures;
give praise to Him for His glory and power.
2 Give to the Eternal the glory due His name;
worship Him with lavish displays of sacred splendor.
3 The voice of the Eternal echoes over the great waters;
God’s magnificence roars like thunder.
The Eternal’s presence hovers over all the waters.
4 His voice explodes in great power over the earth.
His voice is both regal and grand.
5 The Eternal’s voice shatters the cedars;
His power splinters the great cedars of Lebanon.
6 He speaks, and Lebanon leaps like a young calf;
Sirion jumps like a wild, youthful ox.
7 The voice of the Eternal cuts through with flames of fire.
8 The voice of the Eternal rumbles through the wilderness
with great quakes;
He causes Kadesh to tremble.
9 The Eternal’s voice brings life from the doe’s womb;
His voice strips the forest bare,
and all the people in the temple declare, “Glory!”
10 The Eternal is enthroned over the great flood;
His reign is unending.
11 We ask You, Eternal One, to give strength to Your people;
Eternal One, bless them with the gift of peace.
39 Can you hunt prey for the lioness
or sate the appetites of her cubs
40 While they crouch in their dens
and wait in the brush?
41 Who nourishes the hungry raven
when its young chirp to God and wander for want of food?
39 Eternal One: Do you know the time when the mountain goats give birth?
Do you attend at the doe’s delivery?
2 Can you keep track of the months until each carries to term?
Do you even know their calving season?
3 They drop to their knees to birth their young,
and their labor pains cease to grip.
4 Their offspring grow to their full strength in the open field;
then they leave and do not return.
5 Who set the wild donkey free?
Who cut it loose from its bonds?
6 I gave it the wastelands for a home
and the salt flats for a dwelling.
7 It avoids the commotion of the city;
it is far from the shouts of the mule driver and never has to obey one.
8 Instead, it trundles through hills in search of pasture,
its eyes ever watchful for a patch of green.
9 Is the wild ox willing to serve you?
Will it be content to stay the night beside your feeding trough?
10 Can you confine the wild ox with a rope to plow a straight furrow?
Will it cultivate the valleys as you pull him along?
11 Can you trust it simply because of its enormous strength?
Can you really leave your work to it without guiding it?
12 Can you depend on it to return the remaining seed to you,
to carry the grain to your threshing floor?
12 Now let me turn to some issues about spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters. There’s much you need to learn.
2 Remember the way you used to live when you were pagans apart from God? You were engrossed—enchanted with voiceless idols, led astray by mere images carved by human hands. 3 With that in mind, I want you to understand that no one saying “Jesus is cursed” is operating under God’s Spirit, and no one confessing “Jesus is Lord” can do so without the Holy Spirit’s inspiration.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.