Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

The Lord Watches Over All His Works

104 Praise the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, You are very great. You are dressed with great honor and wonderful power. ² He covers Himself with light as with a coat. He spreads out the heavens like a tent. ³ He makes His home on the waters. He makes the clouds His wagon. He rides on the wings of the wind. ⁴ He makes the winds carry His news. He makes His helpers a burning fire.

⁵ He set the earth in its place so that it will stay that way forever. ⁶ You covered it with the sea as with a coat. The waters stood above the mountains. ⁷ The waters left at Your strong words. They went away in a hurry at the sound of Your thunder. ⁸ The mountains went up and the valleys went down to the place that You made for them. ⁹ You set a place that they may not pass over. The waters will never cover the earth again.

²⁴ O Lord, how many are Your works! You made them all in wisdom. The earth is full of what You have made.

³⁵ Let sinners be destroyed from the earth. And let the sinful be no more. Honor the Lord, O my soul! Praise the Lord!

Elihu Keeps On Talking

37 “At this my heart shakes with fear and jumps from its place. ² Listen to the thunder of His voice and the noise that comes from His mouth. ³ He lets it loose under the whole heaven. He lets His lightning go to the ends of the earth. ⁴ His voice sounds after it. He thunders with His great and powerful voice. And He does not hold back the lightning when His voice is heard. ⁵ God thunders with His great voice. He does great things which we cannot understand. ⁶ For He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’ and to the rain, ‘Be strong.’ ⁷ He stops the work of every man, that all men may know His work. ⁸ Then the wild animals go to their holes, and stay where they live. ⁹ The storm comes from the south, and the cold from the north. ¹⁰ Water becomes ice by the breath of God. The wide waters become ice. ¹¹ He loads the heavy clouds with water and they send out His lightning. ¹² It changes its path and turns around by His leading, doing whatever He tells it to do on the earth where people live. ¹³ He causes it to happen for punishment, or for His world, or because of His love.

¹⁴ “Hear this, O Job. Stop and think about the great works of God. ¹⁵ Do you know how God does them, and makes the lightning shine from His cloud? ¹⁶ Do you know how the clouds are set in heaven, the great works of Him Who is perfect in understanding? ¹⁷ Do you know why you are hot in your clothes when the land becomes quiet because of the south wind? ¹⁸ Can you help Him spread out the sky, making it as hard as a mirror made from heated brass? ¹⁹ Teach us what we should say to Him. We cannot put words together to help us because of darkness. ²⁰ Should He be told that I want to speak? Did a man ever wish to be swallowed up?

²¹ “Now men cannot look on the light when it is bright in the sky, when the wind has passed and made it clear. ²² A bright gold light is seen in the north. Around God is great power. ²³ We cannot come near the All-powerful. He is lifted high with power. And He is right and fair and good and will not make it hard for us. ²⁴ So men honor Him with fear. He has respect for any who are wise in heart.”

The Sinful Woman

17 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven jars came to me. He said, “Come! I will show you how the powerful woman who sells the use of her body will be punished. She sits on the many waters of the world. ² The kings of the earth have done sex sins with her. People of the world have been made drunk with the wine of her sex sins.”

³ I was carried away in the Spirit by the angel to a desert. I saw a woman sitting on a red wild animal. It had seven heads and ten horns. All over the red wild animal was written bad names which spoke against God. ⁴ The woman was wearing purple and red clothes. She was wearing gold and pearls and stones worth much money. She had in her hand a gold cup full of sinful things from her sex sins. ⁵ There was a name written on her forehead which had a secret meaning. It said, “The big and powerful Babylon, mother of all women who sell the use of their bodies and mother of everything sinful of the earth.” ⁶ I looked at the woman. She was drunk with the blood of God’s people and those who had been killed for telling about Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered very much.

⁷ The angel asked me, “Why do you wonder? I will tell you the secret about this woman and the red wild animal that carries her. It is the red wild animal with seven heads and ten horns. ⁸ The red wild animal you saw was alive but is now dead. He will come up from the hole without a bottom and be destroyed. The people of the earth, whose names have not been written in the book of life from the beginning of the world, will be surprised as they look at the red wild animal. He was alive, but not now, but will yet come.

⁹ “Here is where we need wisdom. The seven heads of the animal are mountains where the woman sits. ¹⁰ They are seven kings also. Five of them are no longer kings. The sixth one is now king. The seventh one will be king, but only for a little while. ¹¹ The red wild animal that died is the eighth king. He belongs to the first seven kings, but he will be destroyed also.

¹² “The ten horns of the red wild animal which you saw are ten kings. They have not become leaders yet. But they will be given the right and the power to lead their nations for one hour with the red wild animal. ¹³ They agree to give the right and the power to the red wild animal. ¹⁴ These kings will fight and make war with the Lamb. But the Lamb will win the war because He is Lord of lords and King of kings. His people are the called and chosen and faithful ones.”

¹⁵ Then the angel said to me, “You saw the waters where the woman who sold the use of her body is sitting. The waters are people and large groups of people and nations and languages. ¹⁶ The ten horns you saw and the red wild animal will hate the woman who sold the use of her body. They will take everything from her and even her clothes. They will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. ¹⁷ God put in their minds a plan that would carry out His desire. They will agree to give their nation to the red wild animal until the words of God have been completed. ¹⁸ The woman you saw is the big and powerful city that has power over the kings of the earth.”