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Psalm 104

1  Bless the Lord, O my soul. ♦︎
   O Lord my God, how excellent is your greatness!
2  You are clothed with majesty and honour, ♦︎
   wrapped in light as in a garment.
3  You spread out the heavens like a curtain ♦︎
   and lay the beams of your dwelling place in the waters above.
4  You make the clouds your chariot ♦︎
   and ride on the wings of the wind.
5  You make the winds your messengers ♦︎
   and flames of fire your servants.
6  You laid the foundations of the earth, ♦︎
   that it never should move at any time.
7  You covered it with the deep like a garment; ♦︎
   the waters stood high above the hills.
8  At your rebuke they fled; ♦︎
   at the voice of your thunder they hastened away.
9  They rose up to the hills and flowed down to the valleys beneath, ♦︎
   to the place which you had appointed for them.
10  You have set them their bounds that they should not pass, ♦︎
   nor turn again to cover the earth.
26  O Lord, how manifold are your works! ♦︎
   In wisdom you have made them all;
      the earth is full of your creatures.
37  Let sinners be consumed out of the earth
      and the wicked be no more. ♦︎
   Bless the Lord, O my soul.
      Alleluia.

39‘Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?
   Do you observe the calving of the deer?
² Can you number the months that they fulfil,
   and do you know the time when they give birth,
³ when they crouch to give birth to their offspring,
   and are delivered of their young?
⁴ Their young ones become strong, they grow up in the open;
   they go forth, and do not return to them.

⁵ ‘Who has let the wild ass go free?
   Who has loosed the bonds of the swift ass,
⁶ to which I have given the steppe for its home,
   the salt land for its dwelling-place?
⁷ It scorns the tumult of the city;
   it does not hear the shouts of the driver.
⁸ It ranges the mountains as its pasture,
   and it searches after every green thing.

⁹ ‘Is the wild ox willing to serve you?
   Will it spend the night at your crib?
¹⁰ Can you tie it in the furrow with ropes,
   or will it harrow the valleys after you?
¹¹ Will you depend on it because its strength is great,
   and will you hand over your labour to it?
¹² Do you have faith in it that it will return,
   and bring your grain to your threshing-floor?^*

¹³ ‘The ostrich’s wings flap wildly,
   though its pinions lack plumage.^*
14 For it leaves its eggs to the earth,
   and lets them be warmed on the ground,
¹⁵ forgetting that a foot may crush them,
   and that a wild animal may trample them.
¹⁶ It deals cruelly with its young, as if they were not its own;
   though its labour should be in vain, yet it has no fear;
¹⁷ because God has made it forget wisdom,
   and given it no share in understanding.
¹⁸ When it spreads its plumes aloft,^*
   it laughs at the horse and its rider.

¹⁹ ‘Do you give the horse its might?
   Do you clothe its neck with mane?
²⁰ Do you make it leap like the locust?
   Its majestic snorting is terrible.
²¹ It paws^* violently, exults mightily;
   it goes out to meet the weapons.
²² It laughs at fear, and is not dismayed;
   it does not turn back from the sword.
²³ Upon it rattle the quiver,
   the flashing spear, and the javelin.
²⁴ With fierceness and rage it swallows the ground;
   it cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet.
²⁵ When the trumpet sounds, it says “Aha!”
   From a distance it smells the battle,
   the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

²⁶ ‘Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars,
   and spreads its wings towards the south?
²⁷ Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up
   and makes its nest on high?
²⁸ It lives on the rock and makes its home
   in the fastness of the rocky crag.
²⁹ From there it spies the prey;
   its eyes see it from far away.
³⁰ Its young ones suck up blood;
   and where the slain are, there it is.’

The Dispute about Greatness

24 A dispute also arose among them as to which one of them was to be regarded as the greatest. ²⁵But he said to them, ‘The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those in authority over them are called benefactors. ²⁶But not so with you; rather the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves. ²⁷For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.

28 ‘You are those who have stood by me in my trials; ²⁹and I confer on you, just as my Father has conferred on me, a kingdom, ³⁰so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.