Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God is great![a]
104 I say to myself, ‘Praise the Lord!’
Lord, my God, you are very great!
You rule with authority as a great king.
2 Light is all round you,
like the clothes that you wear.
You have put the skies as a roof over the earth.
3 You have built the beams of your home
on the clouds of rain.
The clouds carry you as you travel,
and you ride on the wind.
4 You use the winds to carry your messages.
Flames of fire are your servants.
5 You, Lord, built the earth
on its strong foundations.
Nothing will ever shake it from its place.
6 You covered the earth with deep water,
like a coat.
The water covered the tops of the mountains.
7 But when you shouted,
the water went back.
It ran away,
when you shouted like thunder.
8 The water poured down from the mountains,
and it went down into the valleys.
It went to stay in the place that you had chosen for it.
9 You made a border for the water
so that it could not cross.
Never again will the water cover the earth.[b]
24 Lord, you have made very many different things!
You were very wise in the way that you have made them all.
The earth is full of the living things
that you have made.[a]
35 I pray that wicked people will disappear from the earth.
May they disappear for ever!
I say to myself, ‘Praise the Lord! Hallelujah!’
Elihu continues to speak
37 ‘When I hear the noise of a storm like that,
I shake with fear.
2 Listen carefully to the sound of God's voice,
when he speaks like thunder.
3 He sends lightning across the whole sky.
Its light reaches everywhere on the earth.
4 After the lightning comes the sound of his voice.
He roars like the great sound of thunder.
When he speaks like that,
the storm never stops.
5 When God's voice speaks,
he causes wonderful things to happen.
He does great things that we cannot understand.
6 He tells the snow to fall to the earth.
He tells the rain to pour down
and make the ground wet.
7 He does that to show people what he can do.
He causes everyone to stop their own work.
8 The wild animals have to hide in a safe place.
They have to stay in their homes.
9 The strong wind of a storm comes from the place where it starts.
Cold winds blow strongly from the north.
10 The cold wind is like God's breath.
He causes ice to cover the rivers and the lakes.
11 He fills the clouds with lots of water.
He sends the lightning through the clouds.
12 The clouds move around across the whole earth.
They go wherever God sends them.
He tells them what they must do.
13 He may send a storm as punishment for his land.
Or he may send it to show his love for his people.
14 Listen carefully to what I am telling you, Job.
Stop and think about the wonderful things that God does.
15 Do you know how God commands the storms?
Do you know how he sends the bright lightning from the clouds?
16 Can you explain how the clouds hang in the sky?
God knows everything perfectly
and he does these wonderful things.
17 When the hot wind blows from the south,
nothing moves on the earth.
Your body is too hot in the clothes that you wear.
18 God puts the clouds across the whole sky,
like a metal mirror that shines brightly.
Can you also do that? No!
19 Tell us, Job, what things we should say to God.
We cannot argue with him,
because our minds are in a dark place.
20 Should I tell God that I want to speak to him?
That would be the end of me!
21 Now the wind has blown all the clouds away.
The sun shines brightly in the sky.
It is too bright for us to look at.
22 God comes with his bright glory from the north!
His glory is all around him.
It makes us afraid.
23 Almighty God is so great that we cannot come near to him.
He is very powerful.
But he always does what is right and fair.
He is not cruel to people.
24 So people respect God with fear.
He does not listen to those who think that they are wise.’
The great prostitute
17 One of the seven angels that had the seven bowls came to me. ‘Come with me,’ he said. ‘I will show you how God will punish the great prostitute.[a] She sits at a place where there are many rivers.[b] 2 It is like the kings who rule on the earth have had sex with that bad woman. She has led the people who live on the earth to do bad things. They have become drunk from the strong wine that she has given to them.’[c]
3 Again, God's Spirit caused me to see and to hear strange things. The angel carried me away to a wilderness. There I saw a woman who was sitting on a wild animal that was bright red. All over this wild animal, names were written that insulted God. The animal had seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was wearing clothes that were made from expensive cloth. She also wore bright things that made her look beautiful. She shone with gold, valuable stones and pearls. She held a gold cup in her hand. The cup was full of the bad and disgusting things that she had caused people to do. 5 A name was written on the front of her head. Only God knows what it means. It was:
Powerful Babylon.
Mother of all prostitutes.
Mother of all the disgusting things on the earth.
6 I saw that the woman was like a drunk. She was like someone who had drunk the blood of God's people. She had killed them because they had told other people about Jesus. When I saw her, I was very surprised. 7 Then the angel asked me, ‘Why are you surprised? I will explain the secret of the woman to you. I will tell you the secret of the wild animal that she rides. The wild animal that you saw has seven heads and ten horns. 8 This animal was once alive, but it is not alive now. Soon it will come up out of the deep hole again but then God will destroy it completely.[d] All these things will surprise many people who live on the earth. Those are the people whose names are not written in God's book of life from the beginning of the world. They will be surprised to see the animal that was alive at one time. It is not alive now, but it will soon appear again.
9 If you are wise, think carefully about this. The animal's seven heads are a picture of seven hills in the place where the woman sits.[e] 10 They are also a picture of seven kings. Five of these kings have already stopped ruling. Another king is ruling now. The last king has not yet come. When he does come, he must rule only for a short time. 11 The wild animal is a picture of an eighth king. He was alive once, but he is not alive now. He belongs to the group of seven kings, but God will destroy him completely.
12 The ten horns that you saw are a picture of ten more kings.[f] They have not yet begun to rule anywhere. But they will receive authority to rule as kings for one hour. They will rule people together with the wild animal. 13 They all have the same purpose. They will give their power to the wild animal. They will give him authority to rule people. 14 Together they will fight a war against the Lamb. But the Lamb will win against them. He is the Lord above all lords. He is the King who rules over all kings. And God's people will be with him. They are the people that the Lamb has chosen to belong to him. They are the people who have continued to trust him.’
15 Then the angel said to me, ‘You saw the many rivers where the prostitute sits. Those rivers are a picture of people from many nations. They are crowds of people from different countries who speak many different languages. 16 The wild animal and the ten horns that you saw will hate the prostitute. Those rulers will destroy her. They will remove all her clothes. They will eat the meat on her body. Then they will burn her with fire.[g] 17 They will decide to do that because God has given them those thoughts. So, they will do what he wants. They will give to the wild animal their authority to rule as king. The animal will continue to rule until everything happens that God has said will happen. 18 The bad woman that you saw is a picture of the great city. That city has power over all the kings who rule on the earth.’
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