Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The Lord asks Job some questions[a]
38 The Lord spoke to Job from the middle of the storm. This is what he said:
2 ‘Who do you think you are?
Why do you ask questions about my wisdom?
You speak many words,
but you do not understand anything.
3 Prepare yourself for a difficult job!
I will ask you some questions and you must answer them.
4 Were you with me when I made the world?
If you think you are so clever,
tell me all about it!
5 It was me who decided the size of the world.
You surely must know that!
I measured it as I made it.
6 Tell me how I fixed the foundations of the earth.
Who made it stay in its right place? I did!
7 At the dawn of that day, the stars sang together.
They sang for joy with all the angels.
34 You cannot shout commands to the clouds.
You cannot tell them to pour down their rain,
so that a flood of water covers you.
35 You cannot send the lightning
to hit the place that you want it to go.
The lightning does not say to you,
“We are ready to go wherever you want.”
36 Who has given people wisdom,
so that they understand things with their minds?
37 Is anyone wise enough to count the clouds?
Can anyone cause the clouds to pour down rain from above?
38 The rain causes the dust of the dry ground to become hard.
The dry soil becomes pieces of mud.
39 When the lions become hungry,
can you find food for the young lions to eat?
40 You cannot do that for them
when they sit in their caves.
You cannot help them as they hide in the bushes,
ready to attack other animals.
41 You cannot find food for the ravens to eat.
You cannot help them when their babies cry to me
because they are weak and hungry.’
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!’
5 Every leader of God's priests comes from among the people. That special priest's work is to serve God on behalf of God's people. He offers gifts and sacrifices to God, so that God will forgive the people's sins. 2 That priest himself may often do wrong things, because he is weak and human. As a result, he understands other people who make mistakes. He can be kind to people who do wrong things. 3 But, because he himself does wrong things, he must offer sacrifices to God on behalf of himself, as well as on behalf of the people.
4 Nobody decides for himself to become a leader of the priests. God himself must choose him. That is how Aaron became a priest.[a]
5 It is the same with Christ. He did not choose himself to be God's special priest. He did not choose to make himself important like that. God chose him. God showed that Christ was very important. God said to him:
‘You are my Son.
Today I have become your Father.’[b]
6 And in another place in the Bible God says this:
‘You will be a priest for ever,
in the same way that Melchizedek was a priest long ago.’[c]
7 When Jesus Christ lived on earth as a man, he often prayed to God. He asked God to help him. He prayed strongly and he cried loudly with many tears. He knew that God could save him from death. And God listened to Jesus when he prayed, because Jesus served God.[d]
8 Jesus is God's Son. But he still had trouble and pain. In that way, he learned to obey God completely. 9 As a result, Jesus became the person who can save everyone who obeys him. Because of Jesus, God forgives their sins for ever. 10 God has chosen Jesus to be his special priest in the same way that Melchizedek was.
James and John ask Jesus to do something for them
35 James and John, who were Zebedee's sons, came to Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ they said, ‘we want to ask you for something. Please do it for us.’
36 ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ Jesus asked them.
37 They said to him, ‘When you are king, we want to rule with you. One of us will sit at your right side and the other one at your left side.’
38 Jesus said to them, ‘You do not understand what you are asking for. I will have much pain and trouble. Are you ready to have the same pain? Are you ready to die in the way that I will die?’
39 James and John replied, ‘Yes, we can do all that.’
Jesus said to them, ‘Yes, that is true. You will have pain like mine. And people will want to kill you like me. 40 But I cannot promise that you will sit at my right side or at my left side. God has chosen the people who will sit there. He has prepared the places for those people.’
41 When the other ten disciples heard about this, they were angry with James and John. 42 But Jesus told the disciples to come to him. He said to them, ‘You know the things that rulers of other countries do. They show that they have much power over their people. The leaders of those countries use great authority over their people. 43 But you should not be like that. Instead, the person who wants to be great among you must become like your servant. 44 Anyone who wants to be the most important person among you must work hard for you all. 45 Even the Son of Man came to earth to be a servant to other people. He did not come here to have servants who must work for him. No, he came to die so that many people can be free.’
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