Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
24 Lord, you have made many things;
with your wisdom you made them all.
The earth is full of your riches.
25 Look at the sea, so big and wide,
with creatures large and small that cannot be counted.
26 Ships travel over the ocean,
and there is the sea monster Leviathan,
which you made to play there.
27 All these things depend on you
to give them their food at the right time.
28 When you give it to them,
they gather it up.
When you open your hand,
they are filled with good food.
29 When you turn away from them,
they become frightened.
When you take away their breath,
they die and turn to dust.
30 When you breathe on them,
they are created,
and you make the land new again.
31 May the glory of the Lord be forever.
May the Lord enjoy what he has made.
32 He just looks at the earth, and it shakes.
He touches the mountains, and they smoke.
33 I will sing to the Lord all my life;
I will sing praises to my God as long as I live.
34 May my thoughts please him;
I am happy in the Lord.
35 Let sinners be destroyed from the earth,
and let the wicked live no longer.
My whole being, praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord.
The Languages Confused
11 At this time the whole world spoke one language, and everyone used the same words. 2 As people moved from the east, they found a plain in the land of Babylonia and settled there.
3 They said to each other, “Let’s make bricks and bake them to make them hard.” So they used bricks instead of stones, and tar instead of mortar. 4 Then they said to each other, “Let’s build a city and a tower for ourselves, whose top will reach high into the sky. We will become famous. Then we will not be scattered over all the earth.”
5 The Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the people had built. 6 The Lord said, “Now, these people are united, all speaking the same language. This is only the beginning of what they will do. They will be able to do anything they want. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not be able to understand each other.”
8 So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 The place is called Babel[a] since that is where the Lord confused the language of the whole world. So the Lord caused them to spread out from there over the whole world.
The Body of Christ Works Together
12 A person’s body is one thing, but it has many parts. Though there are many parts to a body, all those parts make only one body. Christ is like that also. 13 Some of us are Jews, and some are Greeks. Some of us are slaves, and some are free. But we were all baptized into one body through one Spirit. And we were all made to share in the one Spirit.
14 The human body has many parts. 15 The foot might say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not part of the body.” But saying this would not stop the foot from being a part of the body. 16 The ear might say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not part of the body.” But saying this would not stop the ear from being a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, it would not be able to hear. If the whole body were an ear, it would not be able to smell. 18-19 If each part of the body were the same part, there would be no body. But truly God put all the parts, each one of them, in the body as he wanted them. 20 So then there are many parts, but only one body.
21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the foot, “I don’t need you!” 22 No! Those parts of the body that seem to be the weaker are really necessary. 23 And the parts of the body we think are less deserving are the parts to which we give the most honor. We give special respect to the parts we want to hide. 24 The more respectable parts of our body need no special care. But God put the body together and gave more honor to the parts that need it 25 so our body would not be divided. God wanted the different parts to care the same for each other. 26 If one part of the body suffers, all the other parts suffer with it. Or if one part of our body is honored, all the other parts share its honor.
27 Together you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of that body.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.