Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
To the director: A song of David.
64 God, listen to my complaint.
Save me from the terrible threats of my enemies!
2 Protect me from the secret plans of the wicked.
Hide me from that gang of evil people.
3 They sharpen their tongues to use like swords.
They aim their poisonous words like arrows.
4 Suddenly, from their hiding places, they let their arrows fly.
They shoot to kill innocent people.
5 They encourage each other to do wrong.
They talk about setting traps and say, “No one will see them here!
6 No one will discover our crime.
We have the perfect plan!”
Yes, people can be very tricky and hard to understand.
7 But suddenly, God will shoot his arrows,
and those wicked people will be hit.
8 He will use their own words against them,
and they will be destroyed.
Then everyone who sees them
will shake their heads in amazement.
9 People will see what God has done.
They will tell other people about him.
Then everyone will learn more about God.
They will learn to fear and respect him.
10 Good people are happy to serve the Lord.
They depend on him to protect them.
All those who want to do right will praise him!
Job Answers
19 Then Job answered:
2 “How long will you hurt me
and crush me with your words?
3 You have insulted me ten times now.
You have attacked me without shame!
4 Even if I have sinned,
it is my problem, not yours!
5 You want me to look bad to make yourselves look good.
You say my troubles are proof that I did wrong.
6 I want you to know it was God who did this.
He set this trap for me.
7 I shout, ‘He hurt me!’ but get no answer.
No one hears my cry for fairness.
8 God has blocked my way to keep me from getting through.
He has hidden my path in darkness.
9 He took away my honor.
He took the crown from my head.
10 He hits me on every side until I am worn out.
He takes away my hope.
It is like a tree pulled up by the roots.
11 His anger burns against me.
He treats me like an enemy.
12 He sends his army to attack me.
They build attack towers around me.
They camp around my tent.
13 “God has made my brothers hate me.
Those who knew me have become strangers.
14 My relatives have left me.
My friends have forgotten me.
15 My servant girls and visitors in my home
look at me as if I am a stranger and a foreigner.
16 I call for my servant, but he does not answer.
Even if I beg for help, he will not answer.
17 My wife hates the smell of my breath.
My own brothers hate me.
18 Even little children make fun of me.
When I get up, they say bad things about me.
19 All my close friends hate me.
Even my loved ones have turned against me.
20 “I am so thin, my skin hangs loose on my bones.
I have little life left in me.
21 “Pity me, my friends, pity me,
because God is against me.
22 Why do you persecute me as God does?
Don’t you get tired of hurting me?
One in Christ
11 You were not born as Jews. You are the people the Jews call “uncircumcised.[a]” Those Jews who call you “uncircumcised” call themselves “circumcised.” (Their circumcision is only something they themselves do to their bodies.) 12 Remember that in the past you were without Christ. You were not citizens of Israel, and you did not know about the agreements[b] with the promises that God made to his people. You had no hope, and you did not know God. 13 Yes, at one time you were far away from God, but now in Christ Jesus, you are brought near to him. You are brought near to God through the blood sacrifice of Christ.
14 Christ is the reason we are now at peace. He made us Jews and you who are not Jews one people. We were separated by a wall of hate that stood between us, but Christ broke down that wall. By giving his own body, 15 Christ ended the law with its many commands and rules. His purpose was to make the two groups become one in him. By doing this he would make peace. 16 Through the cross Christ ended the hate between the two groups. And after they became one body, he wanted to bring them both back to God. He did this with his death on the cross. 17 Christ came and brought the message of peace to you non-Jews who were far away from God. And he brought that message of peace to those who were near to God. 18 Yes, through Christ we all have the right to come to the Father in one Spirit.
19 So now you non-Jewish people are not visitors or strangers, but you are citizens together with God’s holy people. You belong to God’s family. 20 You believers are like a building that God owns. That building was built on the foundation that the apostles and prophets prepared. Christ Jesus himself is the most important stone[c] in that building. 21 The whole building is joined together in Christ, and he makes it grow and become a holy temple[d] in the Lord. 22 And in Christ you are being built together with his other people. You are being made into a place where God lives through the Spirit.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International