Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

29 Praise the Lord, you angels of his; praise his glory and his strength. ² Praise him for his majestic glory, the glory of his name. Come before him clothed in sacred garments.

³ The voice of the Lord echoes from the clouds. The God of glory thunders through the skies. ⁴ So powerful is his voice; so full of majesty. ^5-6 It breaks down the cedars. It splits the giant trees of Lebanon. It shakes Mount Lebanon and Mount Sirion. They leap and skip before him like young calves! ⁷ The voice of the Lord thunders through the lightning. ⁸ It resounds through the deserts and shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. ⁹ The voice of the Lord spins and topples the mighty oaks.^[a] It strips the forests bare. They whirl and sway beneath the blast. But in his Temple all are praising, “Glory, glory to the Lord.”

¹⁰ At the Flood the Lord showed his control of all creation. Now he continues to unveil his power. ¹¹ He will give his people strength. He will bless them with peace.

^39-40 Can you stalk prey like a lioness, to satisfy the young lions’ appetites as they lie in their dens or lie in wait in the jungle? ⁴¹ Who provides for the ravens when their young cry out to God as they try to struggle up from their nest in hunger?

39 “Do you know how mountain goats give birth? Have you ever seen them giving birth to their young? ^2-3 Do you know how many months of pregnancy they have before they bow themselves to give birth to their young and carry their burden no longer? ⁴ Their young grow up in the open field, then leave their parents and return to them no more.

⁵ “Who makes the wild donkeys wild? ⁶ I have placed them in the wilderness and given them salt plains to live in. ⁷ For they hate the noise of the city and want no drivers shouting at them! ⁸ The mountain ranges are their pastureland; there they search for every blade of grass.

⁹ “Will the wild ox be your happy servant? Will he stay beside your feeding crib? ¹⁰ Can you use a wild ox to plow with? Will he pull the harrow for you? ¹¹ Because he is so strong, will you trust him? Will you let him decide where to work? ¹² Can you send him out to bring in the grain from the threshing floor?

12 And now, brothers, I want to write about the special abilities the Holy Spirit gives to each of you, for I don’t want any misunderstanding about them. ² You will remember that before you became Christians you went around from one idol to another, not one of which could speak a single word. ³ But now you are meeting people who claim to speak messages from the Spirit of God. How can you know whether they are really inspired by God or whether they are fakes? Here is the test: no one speaking by the power of the Spirit of God can curse Jesus, and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” and really mean it, unless the Holy Spirit is helping him.