Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

104 Bless Jehovah, O my soul! Jehovah my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with majesty and splendour;

² Covering thyself with light as with a garment, stretching out the heavens like a tent-curtain;—

³ Who layeth the beams of his upper chambers in the waters, who maketh clouds his chariot, who walketh upon the wings of the wind;

⁴ Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flame of fire.

⁵ He laid the earth upon its foundations: it shall not be removed for ever.

⁶ Thou hadst covered it with the deep, as with a vesture; the waters stood above the mountains:

⁷ At thy rebuke they fled, at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away;—

⁸ The mountains rose, the valleys sank, unto the place which thou hadst founded for them;—

⁹ Thou hast set a bound which they may not pass over, that they turn not again to cover the earth.

²⁴ How manifold are thy works, O Jehovah! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.

³⁵ Sinners shall be consumed out of the earth, and the wicked shall be no more. Bless Jehovah, O my soul. Hallelujah!

37 Aye, my heart trembleth at this also, and leapeth up out of its place:

² Hear attentively the roar of his voice, and the murmur going forth from his mouth.

³ He sendeth it forth under the whole heaven, and his lightning unto the ends of the earth.

⁴ After it a voice roareth: he thundereth with the voice of his excellency, and holdeth not back the flashes when his voice is heard.

⁵ God thundereth marvellously with his voice, doing great things which we do not comprehend.

⁶ For he saith to the snow, Fall on the earth! and to the pouring rain, even the pouring rains of his might.

⁷ He sealeth up the hand of every man; that all men may know his work.

⁸ And the wild beast goeth into its lair, and they remain in their dens.

⁹ From the chamber [of the south] cometh the whirlwind; and cold from the winds of the north.

¹⁰ By the breath of God ice is given; and the breadth of the waters is straitened.

¹¹ Also with plentiful moisture he loadeth the thick clouds, his light dispels the cloud;

¹² And they are turned every way by his guidance, that they may do whatsoever he commandeth them upon the face of the circuit of the earth,

¹³ Whether he cause it to come as a rod, or for his land, or in mercy.

¹⁴ Hearken unto this, Job; stand still and discern the wondrous works of God.

¹⁵ Dost thou know how +God hath disposed them, and how he causeth the lightning of his cloud to flash?

¹⁶ Dost thou know about the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him that is perfect in knowledge?

¹⁷ How thy garments become warm when he quieteth the earth by the south wind?

¹⁸ Hast thou with him spread out the sky, firm, like a molten mirror?

¹⁹ Teach us what we shall say unto him! We cannot order [our words] by reason of darkness.

²⁰ Shall it be told him if I would speak? if a man [so] say, surely he shall be swallowed up.

²¹ And now [men] see not the light as it gleameth, it is [hidden] in the skies. But the wind passeth by and cleareth them.

²² From the north cometh gold; with +God is terrible majesty.

²³ The Almighty, we cannot find him out: excellent in power, and in judgment, and in abundance of justice, he doth not afflict.

²⁴ Men do therefore fear him: he respecteth not any that are wise of heart.

17 And one of the seven angels, which had the seven bowls, came and spoke with me, saying, Come here, I will shew thee the sentence of the great harlot who sits upon the many waters;

² with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication; and they that dwell on the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

³ And he carried me away in spirit to a desert; and I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

⁴ And the woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and had ornaments of gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and the unclean things of her fornication;

⁵ and upon her forehead a name written, Mystery, great Babylon, the mother of the harlots, and of the abominations of the earth.

⁶ And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. And I wondered, seeing her, with great wonder.

⁷ And the angel said to me, Why hast thou wondered? *I* will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast which carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns.

⁸ The beast which thou sawest was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go into destruction: and they who dwell on the earth, whose names are not written from the founding of the world in the book of life, shall wonder, seeing the beast, that it was, and is not, and shall be present.

⁹ Here is the mind that has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains, whereon the woman sits.

¹⁰ And there are seven kings: five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes he must remain [only] a little while.

¹¹ And the beast that was and is not, he also is an eighth, and is of the seven, and goes into destruction.

¹² And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have not yet received a kingdom, but receive authority as kings one hour with the beast.

¹³ These have one mind, and give their power and authority to the beast.

¹⁴ These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them; for he is Lord of lords and King of kings: and they [that are] with him called, and chosen, and faithful.

¹⁵ And he says to me, The waters which thou sawest, where the harlot sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues.

¹⁶ And the ten horns which thou sawest, and the beast, these shall hate the harlot, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and shall burn her with fire;

¹⁷ for God has given to their hearts to do his mind, and to act with one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast until the words of God shall be fulfilled.

¹⁸ And the woman which thou sawest is the great city, which has kingship over the kings of the earth.