Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹² Happy is the nation whose God is the Lord. Happy are the people He has chosen for His own.

¹³ The Lord looks from heaven. He sees all the sons of men. ¹⁴ From where He sits He looks upon all who live on the earth. ¹⁵ He made the hearts of them all. And He understands whatever they do. ¹⁶ No king is saved by the power of his strong army. A soldier is not saved by great strength. ¹⁷ A horse cannot be trusted to win a battle. Its great strength cannot save anyone.

¹⁸ See, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, and on those who hope for His loving-kindness, ¹⁹ to save their soul from death, and to keep them alive when there is nothing to eat. ²⁰ Our soul waits for the Lord. He is our help and our safe cover. ²¹ For our heart is full of joy in Him, because we trust in His holy name. ²² O Lord, let Your loving-kindness be upon us as we put our hope in You.

Job Talks

21 Then Job answered, ² “Be careful to listen to my words. Let this be the comfort you give me. ³ Listen to me while I speak. Then after I have spoken, you may keep on making fun of me. ⁴ As for me, am I complaining against man? Why should my spirit not be troubled? ⁵ Look at me, and be surprised; and put your hand over your mouth. ⁶ When I think, I am troubled; and fear takes hold of my body. ⁷ Why do the sinful live, become old, and become very powerful? ⁸ They watch their children’s children become strong in front of their eyes. ⁹ Their houses are safe from fear. And the punishment of God does not come upon them. ¹⁰ Their bull mates without trouble. Their cow gives birth to live calves. ¹¹ They send out their little ones like a flock, and their children jump around. ¹² They sing to the timbrel and the harp. They show their joy at the sound of the horn. ¹³ They spend their days with much more than they need. And all at once they go down to the place of the dead. ¹⁴ They say to God, ‘Leave us alone! We do not want to know Your ways. ¹⁵ Who is the All-powerful, that we should serve Him? What would we have more than we have if we prayed to Him?’ ¹⁶ See, their well-being is not in their own hands. The wisdom of the sinful is far from me.

9 I am telling the truth because I belong to Christ. The Holy Spirit tells my heart that I am not lying. ² I have much sorrow. The pain in my heart never leaves. ³ I could even wish that I might be kept from being with Christ if that would help my people to be saved from the punishment of sin. They are of my own flesh and blood. ⁴ They are Jews and are the people God chose for Himself. He shared His shining-greatness with them and gave them His Law and a way to worship. They have His promises. ⁵ The early preachers came from this family. Christ Himself was born of flesh from this family and He is over all things. May God be honored and thanked forever. Let it be so.

⁶ I am not saying that God did not keep His promises. Not all the Jews are people God chose for Himself. ⁷ Not all of Abraham’s family are children of God. God told Abraham, “Only the family of Isaac will be called your family.”^{(A) 8} This means that children born to Abraham are not all children of God. Only those that are born because of God’s promise to Abraham are His children. ⁹ This was the promise God made: “About this time next year I will come, and Sarah will have a son.” ^(B)