Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
For the choir director; a psalm by David.
64 Hear my voice, O God, when I complain.
Protect my life from a terrifying enemy.
2 Hide me from the secret plots of criminals,
from the mob of troublemakers.
3 They sharpen their tongues like swords.
They aim bitter words like arrows
4 to shoot at innocent people from their hiding places.
They shoot at them suddenly, without any fear.
5 They encourage one another in their evil plans.
They talk about setting traps and say,
“Who can see them?”
6 They search for the perfect crime and say,
“We have perfected a foolproof scheme!”
Human nature and the human heart are a mystery!
7 But God will shoot them with an arrow.
Suddenly, they will be struck dead.
8 They will trip over their own tongues.
Everyone who sees them will shake his head.
9 Everyone will be afraid and conclude,
“This is an act of God!”
They will learn from what he has done.
10 Righteous people will find joy in the Lord and take refuge in him.
Everyone whose motives are decent will be able to brag.
Bildad Speaks: Why Do You Think You Are So Great, Job?
18 Then Bildad from Shuah replied ⌞to Job⌟,
2 “How long before your words will end?
Think it through, and then we’ll talk.
3 Why do you think of us as cattle?
Why are we considered stupid in your eyes?
4 Why do you rip yourself apart in anger?
Should the earth be abandoned for your sake
or a boulder be dislodged?
What a Wicked Person Can Expect from Life
5 “Indeed, the light of the wicked is snuffed out.
The flame of his fire stops glowing.
6 The light in his tent becomes dark,
and the lamp above him is snuffed out.
7 “His healthy stride is shortened,
and his own planning trips him up.
8 His own feet get him tangled in a net
as he walks around on its webbing.
9 A trap catches his heel.
A snare holds him.
10 A rope is hidden on the ground for him.
A trap is on his path ⌞to catch⌟ him.
11 “Terrors suddenly pounce on him from every side
and chase him every step he takes.
12 Hunger undermines his strength.
Disaster is waiting beside him.
13 His skin is eaten away by disease.
Death’s firstborn son eats away at the limbs of his body.
14 He is dragged from the safety of his tent
and marched off to the king of terrors.
15 Fire lives in his tent.
Sulfur is scattered over his home.
16 His roots dry up under him.
His branches wither over him.
17 All memory about him will vanish from the earth,
and his reputation will not be known on the street corner.
18 He will be driven from the light into the dark
and chased out of the world.
19 He will not have any children or descendants among his people
or any survivor where he used to live.
20 People in the west are shocked by what happens to him.
People in the east are seized with horror.
21 This is what happens to the homes of wicked people
and to those who do not know God.”
18 The message about the cross is nonsense to those who are being destroyed, but it is God’s power to us who are being saved. 19 Scripture says,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise.
I will reject the intelligence of intelligent people.”
20 Where is the wise person? Where is the scholar? Where is the persuasive speaker of our time? Hasn’t God turned the wisdom of the world into nonsense? 21 The world with its wisdom was unable to recognize God in terms of his own wisdom. So God decided to use the nonsense of the Good News we speak to save those who believe. 22 Jews ask for miraculous signs, and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but our message is that Christ was crucified. This offends Jewish people and makes no sense to people who are not Jewish. 24 But to those Jews and Greeks who are called, he is Christ, God’s power and God’s wisdom. 25 God’s nonsense is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
26 Brothers and sisters, consider what you were when God called you to be Christians. Not many of you were wise from a human point of view. You were not in powerful positions or in the upper social classes. 27 But God chose what the world considers nonsense to put wise people to shame. God chose what the world considers weak to put what is strong to shame. 28 God chose what the world considers ordinary and what it despises—what it considers to be nothing—in order to destroy what it considers to be something. 29 As a result, no one can brag in God’s presence. 30 You are partners with Christ Jesus because of God. Jesus has become our wisdom sent from God, our approval, our holiness, and our ransom from sin. 31 As Scripture says, “Whoever brags must brag about what the Lord has done.”
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