Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A Prayer for Mercy
A song ·for going up to worship [of ascents; C perhaps sung while traveling to Jerusalem to celebrate an annual religious festival like Passover].
123 Lord, I ·look upward [L lift up my eyes] to you,
you who ·live [are enthroned; L sit] in heaven.
2 ·Slaves depend on their masters [L Like the eyes of servants/slaves to the hand of their master],
and ·a female servant depends on her mistress [L like the eyes of a maidservant to the hand of her mistress].
·In the same way, we depend on the Lord our God [L …thus our eyes are to the Lord our God as…];
we wait for him to show us ·mercy [grace].
3 ·Have mercy on [Be gracious to] us, Lord. ·Have mercy on [Be gracious to] us,
because we have been insulted.
4 We ·have suffered [are filled with the] ·many insults [much ridicule] from ·lazy [untroubled; unworried] people
and much ·cruelty [scorn] from the proud.
Job Answers Zophar
21 Then Job answered:
17 Yet how often are the lamps of evil people ·turned off [extinguished; C the implied answer is not often; Job questions the type of teaching found in Proverbs; Prov. 24:19–20]?
How often does ·trouble [calamity] come to them [Prov. 24:21–22]?
How often ·do they suffer God’s angry punishment [L does he deal out pain in his anger]?
18 ·How often are they [or Let them be] like straw in the wind
or like chaff that is blown away by a storm [Ps. 1:4]?
19 It is said [C defenders of the idea that the wicked suffer for their sins], ‘God ·saves [stores] up a person’s ·punishment [guilt] for his children.’
But God should ·punish [pay back] the wicked themselves so they will know it.
20 Their eyes should see their own destruction,
and they should ·suffer [L drink from the] the anger of ·the Almighty [Shaddai].
21 They do not care about the families they leave behind
when their lives have come to an end.
22 “·No one [L Who…?] can teach knowledge to God;
he is the one who judges even the most ·important [exalted] people [C Job wants to teach God to punish the wicked but thinks his attempt will be futile].
23 One person dies ·while he still has all his strength [L in perfect vigor],
feeling completely safe and ·comfortable [untroubled].
24 His ·body [or pail] was ·well fed [L full of milk],
and ·his bones were strong and healthy [L the marrow of his bones were well lubricated].
25 But another person dies ·with an unhappy heart [L in bitterness],
never enjoying ·any happiness [or the good life].
26 They ·are buried next to each other [L lie down together in the dust],
and worms cover them both.
27 “I know very well your thoughts
and your ·plans [schemes] to ·wrong [hurt; do violence to] me.
28 You [C the friends] ask, ‘Where is this ·great man’s [L prince’s] house?
Where are the tents where the wicked live [C they don’t agree with Job that the wicked are rich and successful]?’
29 Have you never asked those who ·travel [L pass by on the road]?
Have you ·never listened to their stories [L not recognized their signs]?
30 On the day of ·God’s anger and punishment [L calamity; disaster],
it is the wicked who are spared.
31 Who will accuse them to their faces?
Who will pay them back for the evil they have done?
32 They are carried to their graves,
and someone keeps watch over their tombs [C a sign of a peaceful death and burial].
33 The dirt in the valley seems sweet to them.
Everybody follows after them,
and many people go before them.
34 “So how can you comfort me with this ·nonsense [empty/meaningless drivel]?
Your answers are ·only lies [or disloyal]!”
Do Not Help False Teachers
1 From the ·Elder [or old man; C Greek: presbyteros, referring to advanced age, a church office, or both; 1 Tim. 5:17; Titus 1:5; 1 Pet. 5:1; see 3 John 1].
To the ·chosen [elect] lady [C most likely a metaphor for a church] and her children [C the members of that church]:
I love all of you in the truth [C the truth about the Gospel of Jesus Christ], and all those who know the truth love you. 2 We love you because of the truth that ·lives [abides; remains] in us and will be with us forever.
3 Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, will be with us in truth and love.
4 I ·was very happy [rejoiced greatly] to learn that some of your children are ·following the way of [living by; L walking in] truth [C living as the Gospel requires], as the Father commanded us. 5 And now, dear lady, this is not a new command [L I am writing] but is the same command we have had from the beginning. I ask you that we all love each other. 6 And ·love means [L this is love:] ·living the way God commanded us to live [L walking according to his commands]. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is this: ·Live a life of love [L You must walk in it; C that is, in love; Rom. 13:1–10].
7 [L For] Many ·false teachers [deceivers] ·are in [L have gone out into] the world now [Mark 13:5–6, 22] who do not confess that Jesus Christ came to earth ·as a human [T in the flesh]. Anyone who does not confess this is ·a false teacher [L the deceiver] and ·an enemy of Christ [L the antichrist; C one who radically opposes Christ; 1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3]. 8 ·Be careful [Watch] yourselves that you do not lose everything you[a] have worked for, but that you receive your full reward.
9 Anyone who ·goes beyond [runs ahead of] Christ’s teaching and does not ·continue to follow only his teaching [L abide/remain in it] does not have God. But whoever ·continues to follow [L abides/remains in] ·the teaching of Christ [L the teaching] has both the Father and the Son. 10 If someone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not ·greet [welcome] that person or ·accept [receive] them into your house. 11 If you welcome such a person, you ·share [participate] in the evil work.
12 I have many things to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to ·come to [visit] you and talk face to face so ·we can be full of joy [our joy can be complete]. 13 The children of your ·chosen [elect] sister [see 1:1; C probably refers to another church] greet you [3 John 13–14].
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