Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
32 1-2 What happiness for those whose guilt has been forgiven! What joys when sins are covered over! What relief for those who have confessed their sins and God has cleared their record.
3 There was a time when I wouldn’t admit what a sinner I was.[a] But my dishonesty made me miserable and filled my days with frustration. 4 All day and all night your hand was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water on a sunny day 5 until I finally admitted all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide them. I said to myself, “I will confess them to the Lord.” And you forgave me! All my guilt is gone.
6 Now I say that each believer should confess his sins to God when he is aware of them, while there is time to be forgiven. Judgment will not touch him[b] if he does.
7 You are my hiding place from every storm of life; you even keep me from getting into trouble! You surround me with songs of victory.
21 “Quit quarreling with God! Agree with him and you will have peace at last! His favor will surround you if you will only admit that you were wrong. 22 Listen to his instructions and store them in your heart. 23 If you return to God and put right all the wrong in your home, then you will be restored. 24 If you give up your lust for money and throw your gold away, 25 then the Almighty himself shall be your treasure; he will be your precious silver!
26 “Then you will delight yourself in the Lord and look up to God. 27 You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will fulfill all your promises to him. 28 Whatever you wish will happen! And the light of heaven will shine upon the road ahead of you. 29 If you are attacked and knocked down, you will know that there is someone who will lift you up again. Yes, he will save the humble 30 and help even sinners by your pure hands.”
23 The reply of Job:
2 “My complaint today is still a bitter one, and my punishment far more severe than my fault deserves. 3 Oh, that I knew where to find God—that I could go to his throne and talk with him there. 4-5 I would tell him all about my side of this argument, and listen to his reply, and understand what he wants. 6 Would he merely overpower me with his greatness? No, he would listen with sympathy. 7 Fair and honest men could reason with him and be acquitted by my Judge.
8 “But I search in vain. I seek him here, I seek him there and cannot find him. 9 I seek him in his workshop in the north but cannot find him there; nor can I find him in the south; there, too, he hides himself. 10 But he knows every detail of what is happening to me; and when he has examined me, he will pronounce me completely innocent—as pure as solid gold!
11 “I have stayed in God’s paths, following his steps. I have not turned aside. 12 I have not refused his commandments but have enjoyed them more than my daily food. 13 Nevertheless, his mind concerning me remains unchanged, and who can turn him from his purposes? Whatever he wants to do, he does. 14 So he will do to me all he has planned, and there is more ahead.[a]
15 “No wonder I am so terrified in his presence. When I think of it, terror grips me. 16-17 God has given me a fainting heart; he, the Almighty, has terrified me with darkness all around me, thick, impenetrable darkness everywhere.
1 From: Simon Peter, a servant and missionary of Jesus Christ.
To: All of you who have our kind of faith. The faith I speak of is the kind that Jesus Christ our God and Savior gives to us. How precious it is, and how just and good he is to give this same faith to each of us.
2 Do you want more and more of God’s kindness and peace? Then learn to know him better and better. 3 For as you know him better, he will give you, through his great power, everything you need for living a truly good life: he even shares his own glory and his own goodness with us! 4 And by that same mighty power he has given us all the other rich and wonderful blessings he promised; for instance, the promise to save us from the lust and rottenness all around us, and to give us his own character.
5 But to obtain these gifts, you need more than faith; you must also work hard to be good, and even that is not enough. For then you must learn to know God better and discover what he wants you to do. 6 Next, learn to put aside your own desires so that you will become patient and godly, gladly letting God have his way with you. 7 This will make possible the next step, which is for you to enjoy other people and to like them, and finally you will grow to love them deeply. 8 The more you go on in this way, the more you will grow strong spiritually and become fruitful and useful to our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But anyone who fails to go after these additions to faith is blind indeed, or at least very shortsighted and has forgotten that God delivered him from the old life of sin so that now he can live a strong, good life for the Lord.
10 So, dear brothers, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen, and then you will never stumble or fall away. 11 And God will open wide the gates of heaven for you to enter into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.