Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
9 Fear the Lord, you (A)His saints;
For to those who fear Him there is (B)no lack of anything.
10 The young lions do without and suffer hunger;
But they who seek the Lord will (C)not lack any good thing.
11 (D)Come, you children, listen to me;
(E)I will teach you (F)the fear of the Lord.
12 (G)Who is the person who desires life
And loves length of days, that he may (H)see good?
13 Keep (I)your tongue from evil
And your lips from speaking (J)deceit.
14 (K)Turn from evil and do good;
Seek peace and (L)pursue it.
Job Chides His Accusers
12 Then Job responded,
2 “Truly then (A)you are the people,
And with you wisdom will die!
3 But (B)I have intelligence as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
And [a]who does not know such things as these?
4 I am a (C)joke to [b]my friends,
The one who called on God and He answered him;
The just and (D)blameless man is a joke.
5 [c]He who is at ease holds disaster in contempt,
As prepared for those whose feet slip.
6 The (E)tents of the destroyers prosper,
And those who provoke God (F)are secure,
[d]Whom God brings (G)into their power.
7 “But just ask the animals, and have them teach you;
And the birds of the sky, and have them tell you.
8 Or speak to the earth, and have it teach you;
And have the fish of the sea tell you.
9 Who among all these does not know
That (H)the hand of the Lord has done this,
10 (I)In whose hand is the life of every living thing,
And (J)the breath of all mankind?
11 Does (K)the ear not put words to the test,
As the palate [e]tastes its food?
12 Wisdom is with the (L)aged,
And with [f]long life comes understanding.
Job Speaks of the Power of God
13 “(M)Wisdom and (N)might are with Him;
Advice and (O)understanding belong to Him.
14 Behold, He (P)tears down, and it cannot be rebuilt;
He [g](Q)imprisons a person, and [h]there is no release.
15 Behold, He (R)restrains the waters, and they dry up;
And He (S)sends them out, and they [i]inundate the earth.
16 Strength and sound wisdom are with Him.
One who (T)goes astray and one who leads astray belong to Him.
17 He makes (U)advisers walk [j]barefoot
And makes fools of (V)judges.
18 He (W)undoes the binding of kings,
And ties a loincloth around their waist.
19 He makes priests walk [k]barefoot,
And overthrows (X)the secure ones.
20 He deprives the trusted ones of speech,
And (Y)takes away the discernment of the elders.
21 He (Z)pours contempt on nobles,
And (AA)loosens the belt of the strong.
22 He (AB)reveals mysteries from the darkness,
And brings the deep darkness into light.
23 He (AC)makes the nations great, then destroys them;
He [l]enlarges the nations, then leads them away.
24 He (AD)deprives the leaders of the earth’s people of [m]intelligence
And makes them wander in a pathless wasteland.
25 They (AE)grope in darkness with no light,
And He makes them (AF)stagger like a drunken person.
17 Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and [a]hindrances (A)contrary to the teaching which you learned, and (B)turn away from them. 18 For such people are (C)slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of (D)their own [b]appetites; and by their (E)smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting. 19 For the report of your obedience (F)has reached everyone; therefore I am rejoicing over you, but (G)I want you to be wise in what is good, and innocent in what is evil. 20 (H)The God of peace will soon crush (I)Satan under your feet.
(J)The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.
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