Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
9
O [reverently] fear the Lord, you His saints (believers, holy ones);
For to those who fear Him there is no want.
10
The young lions lack [food] and grow hungry,
But they who seek the Lord will not lack any good thing.
11
Come, you children, listen to me;
I will teach you to fear the Lord [with awe-inspired reverence and worship Him with obedience].
12
Who is the man who desires life
And loves many days, that he may see good?
13
Keep your tongue from evil
And your lips from speaking deceit.
14
Turn away from evil and do good;
Seek peace and pursue it.
Job Says His Friends’ Proverbs Are Ashes
13 [Job continued:] “Behold, my eye has seen all this,
My ear has heard and understood it.
2
“What you know I also know;
I am not inferior to you.
3
“But I wish to speak to [a]the Almighty,
And I desire to argue with God.
4
“But you smear me with lies [you defame my character most untruthfully];
You are all worthless physicians and have no remedy to offer.
5
“Oh, that you would be completely silent,
And that silence would be your wisdom!
6
“Please hear my argument
And listen to the pleadings of my lips.
7
“Will you speak what is unjust for God,
And speak what is deceitful for Him?
8
“Will you show partiality for Him [and be unjust to me so that you may gain favor with Him]?
Will you contend and plead for God?
9
“Will it be well for you when He investigates you [and your tactics against me]?
Or will you deceive Him as one deceives a man?
10
“He will surely reprimand you
If you secretly show partiality.
11
“Will not His majesty terrify you,
And will not the dread of Him fall upon you?
12
“Your memorable sayings are [worthless, merely] proverbs of ashes;
Your defenses are defenses of [crumbling] clay.
Job Is Sure He Will Be Vindicated
13
“Be silent before me so that I may speak;
And let happen to me what may.
14
“Why should I take my flesh in my teeth
And put my life in my hands [incurring the wrath of God]?
15
“Even though He kills me;
I will hope in Him.
Nevertheless, I will argue my ways to His face.
16
“This also will be my salvation,
For a godless man may not come before Him.
17
“Listen diligently to my speech,
And let my declaration fill your ears.
18
“Behold now, I have prepared my case;
I know that I will be vindicated.
19
“Who will argue and contend with me?
For then I would be silent and die.
The Samaritan Woman
7 Then a woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink”— 8 For His disciples had gone off into the city to buy food— 9 The Samaritan woman asked Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me, a [a]Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (For Jews have nothing to do with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew [about] God’s gift [of eternal life], and who it is who says, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him [instead], and He would have given you living water (eternal life).” 11 She said to Him, “Sir, [b]You have nothing to draw with [no bucket and rope] and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? 12 Are You greater than our father [c]Jacob, who gave us the well, and who used to drink from it himself, and his sons and his cattle also?” 13 Jesus answered her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. 14 But whoever drinks the water that I give him will never be thirsty again. But the water that I give him will become in him a spring of water [satisfying his thirst for God] welling up [continually flowing, bubbling within him] to eternal life.”
15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not get thirsty nor [have to continually] come all the way here to draw.” 16 At this, Jesus said, “Go, call your husband and come back.” 17 The woman answered, “I do not have a husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I do not have a husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the man you are now living with is not your [d]husband. You have said this truthfully.” 19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I see that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews say that the place where one ought to worship is in Jerusalem [at the temple].” 21 Jesus replied, “Woman, believe Me, a time is coming [when God’s kingdom comes] when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You [Samaritans] do not know what you worship; we [Jews] do know what we worship, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But a time is coming and is already here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit [from the heart, the inner self] and in truth; for the Father seeks such people to be His worshipers. 24 God is spirit [the Source of life, yet invisible to mankind], and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ—the Anointed); when that One comes, He will tell us everything [we need to know].” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you, am He (the Messiah).”
Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved.