Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 123
The Eyes of a Servant
Heading
A song of the ascents.
The Eyes of a Servant
1 To you I lift up my eyes,
to you who are seated in heaven.
2 Indeed, as the eyes of slaves look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a maid look to the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes look to the Lord our God, until he shows us his grace.
3 Show grace to us, O Lord.
Show grace to us,
for we have had our fill of contempt.
4 Our souls have had their fill of the scorn of the smug
and of the contempt of the arrogant.
Round Two: Job’s Third Speech
21 Then Job responded:
17 How often is the lamp of the wicked extinguished?
How often does the disaster they deserve come upon them?
How often does God in his anger dole out their fair share of pain?
18 How often are they like straw blown by the wind,
like chaff that a windstorm whisks away?
19 People say, “God stores up a man’s punishment for his children,”
but he should repay the man himself so that he experiences it!
20 Let his own eyes see his condemnation.[a]
Let him drink from the rage of the Almighty,
21 for what does he care about his household after his death,
when his allotment of months has run out?
22 Can anyone teach God knowledge,
since he judges even the most exalted ones?
23 One person dies with vigor in his bones,
completely secure and at ease.
24 His body is filled out with fat,[b]
and his bones are rich with marrow.
25 Another person dies with his soul filled with bitterness,
without ever tasting anything good.
26 Both of them lie down together in the dust,
and worms cover them both.
27 Oh, I know your thoughts
and your schemes to harm me.
28 For you say, “Where is the nobleman’s house,
and where is the tent, which was the dwelling of the wicked?”
29 Why don’t you question those who travel the roads?
Why don’t you acknowledge the lessons they learned?[c]
30 They say that the wicked man is spared from the day of disaster,
and that he escapes the day of raging fury.
31 Who denounces him to his face for the way he has lived?
Who repays him for what he has done?
32 When he is carried to the tombs,
when a vigil is kept at his burial mound,
33 the clods of dirt from the streambed are sweet to him.
Everyone follows his funeral procession.
A crowd of people marches ahead of it.[d]
34 So how can you comfort me with your useless words?
There is nothing left from your answers but fraud!
Greeting
The Elder,
To the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in the truth—not only I, but also everyone who knows the truth— 2 because of the truth that remains in us and will be with us forever:
3 Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from[a] Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, in truth and love.
Keep on Walking According to God’s Word
4 I was overjoyed to find out that some of your children are walking in the truth, in keeping with the command we received from the Father. 5 And now I ask you, dear lady—not as though I were writing a new command to you, but the one we have had from the beginning—let us love one another. 6 And this is love: that we walk according to his commands. This is the command: Just as you have heard from the beginning, keep on walking in it.
Beware of Deceivers
7 Many deceivers who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh have gone out into the world. Such a person is a deceiver and an antichrist. 8 Watch yourselves so that you do not lose what we[b] have labored for but receive a full reward.
9 Anyone who goes on ahead and does not remain in the teaching of Christ does not have God. The one who remains in this teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10 If someone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house. Do not even wish him well. 11 For the one who wishes him well shares in his wicked works.
Final Greetings
12 I have many things to write to you, but I did not want to do it with paper and ink. I hope instead to be with you and speak to you face to face so that our[c] joy may be made complete.
13 The children of your chosen sister greet you.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.