Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

The Voice of the Lord in the Storm

29 Give to the Lord, O sons of the powerful. Give to the Lord shining-greatness and strength. ² Give to the Lord the honor that belongs to Him. Worship the Lord in the beauty of holy living.

³ The voice of the Lord is upon the waters. The God of shining-greatness thunders. The Lord is over many waters. ⁴ The voice of the Lord is powerful. The voice of the Lord is great. ⁵ The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars. Yes, the Lord breaks in pieces the tall cedars of Lebanon. ⁶ He makes Lebanon jump like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild bull. ⁷ The voice of the Lord sends out lightning. ⁸ The voice of the Lord shakes the desert. The Lord shakes the desert of Kadesh. ⁹ The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth, and tears away the leaves of the trees. And in His holy house everything says, “Honor to God!”

¹⁰ The Lord sat as King over the flood. The Lord sits as King forever. ¹¹ The Lord will give strength to His people. The Lord will give His people peace.

¹² Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard a loud sounding voice behind me say, “Great is the shining-greatness of the Lord from His place.” ¹³ I heard the sound of the wings of the living beings touching one another, and the sound of the wheels beside them. It was a loud rushing sound. ¹⁴ The Spirit lifted me up and took me away. And I went with a bitter and angry spirit. The hand of the Lord was strong upon me. ¹⁵ Then I came to the Jews who had been taken from their land and who lived by the Chebar River at Tel-abib. I sat among them seven days where they were living, and I was filled with fear.

Ezekiel to Watch Over Israel

¹⁶ At the end of seven days the Word of the Lord came to me, saying, ¹⁷ “Son of man, I have chosen you to be a watchman over the people of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from My mouth, tell them of the danger. ¹⁸ If I say to the sinful man, ‘You will die for sure,’ and you do not tell him of the danger, and try to turn him from his sinful way so that he may live, that sinful man will die in his sin. But you will be guilty for his blood. ¹⁹ But if you tell a sinful man of the danger he is in, and he does not turn from his sins or from his sinful way, then he will die in his sin. But you will have saved yourself. ²⁰ Again, if a right and good man turns away from his right and good way and sins, and I put a cause of falling in his way, he will die. Because you have not told him of the danger, he will die in his sin, and the right and good things he has done will not be remembered. But you will be guilty for his blood. ²¹ Yet if you have told the right and good man of the danger of his sinning, and he does not sin, he will live for sure because he listened to you. And you will have saved yourself.”

Peter Says Jesus Is the Christ ^(A)

¹⁸ While Jesus was praying alone, His followers were with Him. Jesus asked them, “Who do people say that I am?” ¹⁹ They said, “John the Baptist, but some say Elijah. Others say that one of the early preachers has been raised from the dead.” ²⁰ Jesus said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter said, “You are the Christ of God.”

Jesus Tells of His Death for the First Time ^(B)

²¹ Then Jesus spoke to them and told them to tell no one. ²² He said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things. The leaders and the religious leaders and the teachers of the Law will have nothing to do with Him. He must be killed and be raised from the dead three days later.”

Giving Up Self and One’s Own Desires

²³ Then Jesus said to them all, “If anyone wants to follow Me, he must give up himself and his own desires. He must take up his cross everyday and follow Me. ²⁴ If anyone wants to keep his own life safe, he must lose it. If anyone gives up his life because of Me, he will save it. ²⁵ For what does a man have if he gets all the world and loses or gives up his life? ²⁶ Whoever is ashamed of Me and My Words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His own shining-greatness and of the Father’s and of the holy angels. ²⁷ I tell you the truth, some standing here will not die until they see the holy nation of God.”