Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
12 How blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people he chose to be his possession.
13 From heaven the Lord observes.
He sees all the children of Adam.
14 From his throne room he looks at all the inhabitants of earth.
15 He alone is the one who shapes all their hearts.
He understands all their deeds.
16 No king is saved by the great size of his army.
No hero is rescued by his great strength.
17 You cannot rely on a horse to save you.
Its great strength will not deliver you.
18 Look, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him,
on those who wait for his mercy.
19 He will deliver their souls from death.
He keeps them alive in famine.
Concluding Prayer
20 Our souls wait for the Lord.
He is our help and our shield.
21 Yes, in him our heart rejoices,
because we trust in his holy name.
22 May your mercy, O Lord, be on us,
even as we wait confidently for you.
Round Two: Job’s Third Speech
21 Then Job responded:
2 Listen carefully to my words—
that is the kind of encouragement you should give me.
3 Put up with me while I speak.
Then, after I have spoken, you may resume your mocking.
4 Is my complaint against a man?
Why shouldn’t I be impatient?
5 Look at me and be shocked,[a]
and then put your hand over your mouth.
6 When I remember all this, I am terrified,[b]
and horror makes my flesh tremble.
7 Why do the wicked keep living,
reach old age,
and even become stronger?
8 Their descendants are firmly established in their presence,
and they live long enough to see their offspring.
9 Their houses are safe from fear,
and God’s rod does not strike them.
10 The wicked man’s bulls breed without failing.
His cows deliver calves without miscarrying.
11 Their toddlers frolic like flocks,
and their children dance around.
12 They sing to the accompaniment of hand drums and lyres.
They celebrate to the sound of a flute.
13 They finish out[c] their days in prosperity.
Then they go down to the grave in a moment.
14 They say to God, “Keep away from us.
We know your ways, but we find no pleasure in them.”
15 “Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him,
and what benefit do we gain from pleading with him?”
16 But I know that their prosperity is not in their own hands,
so I have distanced myself from the way of life[d] of the wicked.
The Blessings of the True Israel
9 I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying—my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit 2 that I have great sorrow and continuous pain in my heart. 3 For I almost wish that I myself could be cursed and separated from Christ in place of my brothers, my relatives according to the flesh, 4 those who are Israelites. Theirs are the adoption as sons, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. 5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, came the Christ, who is God over all, eternally blessed. Amen.
6 This does not mean that God’s word has failed, because not all who are descended from Israel are really Israel, 7 and not all who are descended from Abraham are really his children. On the contrary, “Your line of descent will be traced through Isaac.”[a] 8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are counted as his descendants. 9 For this is what the promise said: “I will arrive at this set time, and Sarah will have a son.”[b]
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.