Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Praise God Who Saved the Nation
For the director of music. A psalm of David. A song.
68 Let God rise up and scatter his enemies;
let those who hate him run away from him.
2 Blow them away as smoke
is driven away by the wind.
As wax melts before a fire,
let the wicked be destroyed before God.
3 But those who do right should be glad
and should rejoice before God;
they should be happy and glad.
4 Sing to God; sing praises to his name.
Prepare the way for him
who rides through the desert,
whose name is the Lord.
Rejoice before him.
5 God is in his holy Temple.
He is a father to orphans,
and he defends the widows.
6 God gives the lonely a home.
He leads prisoners out with joy,
but those who turn against God will live in a dry land.
7 God, you led your people out
when you marched through the desert. Selah
8 The ground shook
and the sky poured down rain
before God, the God of Mount Sinai,
before God, the God of Israel.
9 God, you sent much rain;
you refreshed your tired land.
10 Your people settled there.
God, in your goodness
you took care of the poor.
19 Praise the Lord, God our Savior,
who helps us every day. Selah
20 Our God is a God who saves us;
the Lord God saves us from death.
Eliphaz Answers
22 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
2 “Can anyone be of real use to God?
Can even a wise person do him good?
3 Does it help the Almighty for you to be good?
Does he gain anything if you are innocent?
4 Does God punish you for respecting him?
Does he bring you into court for this?
5 No! It is because your evil is without limits
and your sins have no end.
6 You took your brothers’ things for a debt they didn’t owe;
you took clothes from people and left them naked.
7 You did not give water to tired people,
and you kept food from the hungry.
8 You were a powerful man who owned land;
you were honored and lived in the land.
9 But you sent widows away empty-handed,
and you mistreated orphans.
10 That is why traps are all around you
and sudden danger frightens you.
11 That is why it is so dark you cannot see
and a flood of water covers you.
12 “God is in the highest part of heaven.
See how high the highest stars are!
13 But you ask, ‘What does God know?
Can he judge us through the dark clouds?
14 Thick clouds cover him so he cannot see us
as he walks around high up in the sky.’
15 Are you going to stay on the old path
where evil people walk?
16 They were carried away before their time was up,
and their foundations were washed away by a flood.
17 They said to God, ‘Leave us alone!
The Almighty can do nothing to us.’
18 But it was God who filled their houses with good things.
Their way of thinking is different from mine.
19 “Good people can watch and be glad;
the innocent can laugh at them and say,
20 ‘Surely our enemies are destroyed,
and fire burns up their wealth.’
Other Apostles Accepted Paul
2 After fourteen years I went to Jerusalem again, this time with Barnabas. I also took Titus with me. 2 I went because God showed me I should go. I met with the believers there, and in private I told their leaders the Good News that I preach to the non-Jewish people. I did not want my past work and the work I am now doing to be wasted. 3 Titus was with me, but he was not forced to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. 4 We talked about this problem because some false believers had come into our group secretly. They came in like spies to overturn the freedom we have in Christ Jesus. They wanted to make us slaves. 5 But we did not give in to those false believers for a minute. We wanted the truth of the Good News to continue for you.
6 Those leaders who seemed to be important did not change the Good News that I preach. (It doesn’t matter to me if they were “important” or not. To God everyone is the same.) 7 But these leaders saw that I had been given the work of telling the Good News to those who are not Jewish, just as Peter had the work of telling the Jews. 8 God gave Peter the power to work as an apostle for the Jewish people. But he also gave me the power to work as an apostle for those who are not Jews. 9 James, Peter, and John, who seemed to be the leaders, understood that God had given me this special grace, so they accepted Barnabas and me. They agreed that they would go to the Jewish people and that we should go to those who are not Jewish. 10 The only thing they asked us was to remember to help the poor—something I really wanted to do.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.