Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 104

¹ Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, You are very great! You are clothed with honor and majesty—

² [You are the One] Who covers Yourself with light as with a garment, Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain or a tent,

³ Who lays the beams of the upper room of His abode in the waters [above the firmament], Who makes the clouds His chariot, Who walks on the wings of the wind,

⁴ Who makes winds His messengers, flames of fire His ministers.^(A)

⁵ You laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be moved forever.^(B)

⁶ You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.^(C)

⁷ At Your rebuke they fled; at the voice of Your thunder they hastened away.

⁸ The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place which You appointed for them.

⁹ You have set a boundary [for the waters] which they may not pass over, that they turn not again to deluge the earth.

²⁴ O Lord, how many and varied are Your works! In wisdom have You made them all; the earth is full of Your riches and Your creatures.

³⁵ Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and let the wicked be no more. Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul! Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)

39 Do you know the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth [their young]? [Or] do you observe when the hinds are giving birth? [Do you attend to all this, Job?]

² Can you number the months that they carry their offspring? Or do you know the time when they are delivered,

³ When they bow themselves, bring forth their young ones, [and] cast out their pains?

⁴ Their young ones become strong, they grow up in the open field; they go forth and return not to them.

⁵ Who has sent out the wild donkey, giving him his freedom? Or who has loosed the bands of the swift donkey [by which his tame brother is bound—he, the shy, the swift-footed, and the untamable],

⁶ Whose home I have made the wilderness, and the salt land his dwelling place?

⁷ He scorns the tumult of the city and hears not the shoutings of the taskmaster.

⁸ The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searches after every green thing.

⁹ Will the wild ox be willing to serve you, or remain beside your manger?

¹⁰ Can you bind the wild ox with a harness to the plow in the furrow? Or will he harrow the furrows for you?

¹¹ Will you trust him because his strength is great, or to him will you leave your labor?

¹² Will you depend upon him to bring home your seed and gather the grain of your threshing floor? [Who, Job, was the author of this strange variance in the disposition of animals so alike in appearance? Was it you?]

¹³ The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, [but] are they the pinions and plumage of love?

¹⁴ The ostrich leaves her eggs on the ground and warms them in the dust,

¹⁵ Forgetting that a foot may crush them or that the wild beast may trample them.

¹⁶ She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers; her labor is in vain because she has no sense of danger [for her unborn brood],

¹⁷ For God has deprived her of wisdom, neither has He imparted to her understanding.

¹⁸ Yet when she lifts herself up in flight, [so swift is she that] she can laugh to scorn the horse and his rider.

¹⁹ Have you given the horse his might? Have you clothed his neck with quivering and a shaking mane?

²⁰ Was it you [Job] who made him to leap like a locust? The majesty of his [snorting] nostrils is terrible.

²¹ He paws in the valley and exults in his strength; he goes out to meet the weapons [of armed men].

²² He mocks at fear and is not dismayed or terrified; neither does he turn back [in battle] from the sword.

²³ The quiver rattles upon him, as do the glittering spear and the lance [of his rider].

²⁴ [He seems in running to] devour the ground with fierceness and rage; neither can he stand still at the sound of the [war] trumpet.

²⁵ As often as the trumpet sounds he says, Ha, ha! And he smells the battle from afar, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

²⁶ Is it by your wisdom [Job] that the hawk soars and stretches her wings toward the south [as winter approaches]?

²⁷ Does the eagle mount up at your command and make his nest on [a] high [inaccessible place]?

²⁸ On the cliff he dwells and remains securely, upon the point of the rock and the stronghold.

²⁹ From there he spies out the prey; and his eyes see it afar off.

³⁰ His young ones suck up blood, and where the slain are, there is he.

²⁴ Now ^[a]an eager contention arose among them [as to] which of them was considered and reputed to be the greatest.

²⁵ But Jesus said to them, The kings of the Gentiles ^[b]are deified by them and exercise lordship [^[c]ruling as emperor-gods] over them; and those in authority over them are called benefactors and well-doers.

²⁶ But this is not to be so with you; on the contrary, let him who is the greatest among you become like the youngest, and him who is the chief and leader like one who serves.

²⁷ For who is the greater, the one who reclines at table (the master), or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am in your midst as One Who serves.

²⁸ And you are those who have remained [throughout] and persevered with Me in My trials;

²⁹ And as My Father has appointed a kingdom and conferred it on Me, so do I confer on you [the privilege and decree],

³⁰ That you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.