Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Prayer About a False Friend
For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A maskil of David.
55 God, listen to my prayer
and do not ignore my cry for help.
2 Pay attention to me and answer me.
I am troubled and upset
3 by what the enemy says
and how the wicked look at me.
They bring troubles down on me,
and in anger they attack me.
4 I am frightened inside;
the terror of death has attacked me.
5 I am scared and shaking,
and terror grips me.
6 I said, “I wish I had wings like a dove.
Then I would fly away and rest.
7 I would wander far away
and stay in the desert. Selah
8 I would hurry to my place of escape,
far away from the wind and storm.”
9 Lord, destroy and confuse their words,
because I see violence and fighting in the city.
10 Day and night they are all around its walls,
and evil and trouble are everywhere inside.
11 Destruction is everywhere in the city;
trouble and lying never leave its streets.
12 It was not an enemy insulting me.
I could stand that.
It was not someone who hated me.
I could hide from him.
13 But it is you, a person like me,
my companion and good friend.
14 We had a good friendship
and walked together to God’s Temple.
15 Let death take away my enemies.
Let them die while they are still young
because evil lives with them.
Eliphaz Answers Job
15 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
2 “A wise person would not answer with empty words
or fill his stomach with the hot east wind.
3 He would not argue with useless words
or make speeches that have no value.
4 But you even destroy respect for God
and limit the worship of him.
5 Your sin teaches your mouth what to say;
you use words to trick others.
6 It is your own mouth, not mine, that shows you are wicked;
your own lips testify against you.
7 “You are not the first man ever born;
you are not older than the hills.
8 You did not listen in on God’s secret council.
But you limit wisdom to yourself.
9 You don’t know any more than we know.
You don’t understand any more than we understand.
10 Old people with gray hair are on our side;
they are even older than your father.
11 Is the comfort God gives you not enough for you,
even when words are spoken gently to you?
12 Has your heart carried you away from God?
Why do your eyes flash with anger?
13 Why do you speak out your anger against God?
Why do these words pour out of your mouth?
14 “How can anyone be pure?
How can someone born to a woman be good?
15 God places no trust in his holy ones,
and even the heavens are not pure in his eyes.
16 How much less pure is one who is terrible and rotten
and drinks up evil as if it were water!
17 “Listen to me, and I will tell you about it;
I will tell you what I have seen.
18 These are things wise men have told;
their ancestors told them, and they have hidden nothing.
19 (The land was given to their fathers only,
and no foreigner lived among them.)
20 The wicked suffer pain all their lives;
the cruel suffer during all the years saved up for them.
21 Terrible sounds fill their ears,
and when things seem to be going well, robbers attack them.
22 Evil people give up trying to escape from the darkness;
it has been decided that they will die by the sword.
23 They wander around and will become food for vultures.
They know darkness will soon come.
24 Worry and suffering terrify them;
they overwhelm them, like a king ready to attack,
25 because they shake their fists at God
and try to get their own way against the Almighty.
26 They stubbornly charge at God
with thick, strong shields.
27 “Although the faces of the wicked are thick with fat,
and their bellies are fat with flesh,
28 they will live in towns that are ruined,
in houses where no one lives,
which are crumbling into ruins.
29 The wicked will no longer get rich,
and the riches they have will not last;
the things they own will no longer spread over the land.
30 They will not escape the darkness.
A flame will dry up their branches;
God’s breath will carry the wicked away.
31 The wicked should not fool themselves by trusting what is useless.
If they do, they will get nothing in return.
32 Their branches will dry up before they finish growing
and will never turn green.
33 They will be like a vine whose grapes are pulled off before they are ripe,
like an olive tree that loses its blossoms.
34 People without God can produce nothing.
Fire will destroy the tents of those who take money to do evil,
35 who plan trouble and give birth to evil,
whose hearts plan ways to trick others.”
Jesus Teaches About Sexual Sin
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You must not be guilty of adultery.’[a] 28 But I tell you that if anyone looks at a woman and wants to sin sexually with her, in his mind he has already done that sin with the woman. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, take it out and throw it away. It is better to lose one part of your body than to have your whole body thrown into hell. 30 If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
Jesus Teaches About Divorce
31 “It was also said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a written divorce paper.’[b] 32 But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife forces her to be guilty of adultery. The only reason for a man to divorce his wife is if she has sexual relations with another man. And anyone who marries that divorced woman is guilty of adultery.
Make Promises Carefully
33 “You have heard that it was said to our people long ago, ‘Don’t break your promises, but keep the promises you make to the Lord.’[c] 34 But I tell you, never swear an oath. Don’t swear an oath using the name of heaven, because heaven is God’s throne. 35 Don’t swear an oath using the name of the earth, because the earth belongs to God. Don’t swear an oath using the name of Jerusalem, because that is the city of the great King. 36 Don’t even swear by your own head, because you cannot make one hair on your head become white or black.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.