Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

64 Hear, O God, my voice in my plaint; preserve my life from fear of the enemy:

² Hide me from the secret counsel of evil-doers, from the tumultuous crowd of the workers of iniquity,

³ Who have sharpened their tongue like a sword, [and] have aimed their arrow, a bitter word;

⁴ That they may shoot in secret at the perfect: suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not.

⁵ They encourage themselves in an evil matter, they concert to hide snares; they say, Who will see them?

⁶ They devise iniquities: We have it ready, the plan is diligently sought out. And each one's inward [thought] and heart is deep.

⁷ But God will shoot an arrow at them: suddenly are they wounded;

⁸ By their own tongue they are made to fall over one another: all that see them shall flee away.

⁹ And all men shall fear, and shall declare God's doing; and they shall wisely consider his work.

¹⁰ The righteous shall rejoice in Jehovah, and trust in him; and all the upright in heart shall glory.

18 And Bildad the Shuhite answered and said,

² How long will ye hunt for words? Be intelligent, and then we will speak.

³ Wherefore are we counted as beasts, and reputed stupid in your sight?

⁴ Thou that tearest thyself in thine anger, shall the earth be forsaken for thee? and shall the rock be removed out of its place?

⁵ Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the flame of his fire shall not shine.

⁶ The light shall become dark in his tent, and his lamp over him shall be put out.

⁷ The steps of his strength shall be straitened, and his own counsel shall cast him down.

⁸ For he is sent into the net by his own feet, and he walketh on the meshes;

⁹ The gin taketh [him] by the heel, the snare layeth hold on him;

¹⁰ A cord is hidden for him in the ground, and his trap in the way.

¹¹ Terrors make him afraid on every side, and chase him at his footsteps.

¹² His strength is hunger-bitten, and calamity is ready at his side.

¹³ The firstborn of death devoureth the members of his body; it will devour his members.

¹⁴ His confidence shall be rooted out of his tent, and it shall lead him away to the king of terrors:

¹⁵ They who are none of his shall dwell in his tent; brimstone shall be showered upon his habitation:

¹⁶ His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off;

¹⁷ His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name on the pasture-grounds.

¹⁸ He is driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.

¹⁹ He hath neither son nor grandson among his people, nor any remaining in the places of his sojourn.

²⁰ They that come after shall be astonished at his day, as they that went before [them] were affrighted.

²¹ Surely, such are the dwellings of the unrighteous man, and such the place of him that knoweth not God.

¹⁸ For the word of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but to us that are saved it is God's power.

¹⁹ For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and set aside the understanding of the understanding ones.

²⁰ Where [is the] wise? where scribe? where disputer of this world? has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

²¹ For since, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom has not known God, God has been pleased by the foolishness of the preaching to save those that believe.

²² Since Jews indeed ask for signs, and Greeks seek wisdom;

²³ but *we* preach Christ crucified, to Jews an offence, and to nations foolishness;

²⁴ but to those that [are] called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ God's power and God's wisdom.

²⁵ Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

²⁶ For consider your calling, brethren, that [there are] not many wise according to flesh, not many powerful, not many high-born.

²⁷ But God has chosen the foolish things of the world, that he may put to shame the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world, that he may put to shame the strong things;

²⁸ and the ignoble things of the world, and the despised, has God chosen, [and] things that are not, that he may annul the things that are;

²⁹ so that no flesh should boast before God.

³⁰ But of him are *ye* in Christ Jesus, who has been made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and holiness, and redemption;

³¹ that according as it is written, He that boasts, let him boast in [the] Lord.