Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 68
For the choir director; a psalm by David; a song.
1 Elohim will arise.
His enemies will be scattered.
Those who hate him will flee from him.
2 Blow them away like smoke.
Let wicked people melt in Elohim’s presence like wax next to a fire.
3 But let righteous people rejoice.
Let them celebrate in Elohim’s presence.
Let them overflow with joy.
4 Sing to Elohim; make music to praise his name.
Make a highway for him to ride through the deserts.[a]
Yah is his name.
Celebrate in his presence.
5 The Elohim who is in his holy dwelling place
is the Ab of the fatherless and the defender of widows.
6 Elohim places lonely people in families.
He leads prisoners out of prison into productive lives,
but rebellious people must live in an unproductive land.
7 O Elohim, when you went in front of your people,
when you marched through the desert, Selah
8 the earth quaked and the sky poured
in the presence of the Elohim of Sinai,
in the presence of the Elohim of Israel.
9 You watered the land with plenty of rain, O Elohim.
You refreshed it when your land was exhausted.
10 Your flock settled there.
Out of your goodness, O Elohim,
you provided for oppressed people.
19 Thanks be to Adonay,
who daily carries our burdens for us.
El is our salvation. Selah
20 Our El is the El of victories.
Yahweh Adonay is our escape from death.
Eliphaz Speaks: Admit You Are Wicked, Job
22 Then Eliphaz from Teman replied to Job,
2 “Can a human be of any use to El
when even a wise person is only useful to himself?
3 Is Shadday pleased when you are righteous?
Does he gain anything when you follow the path of integrity?
4 Does God correct you
and bring you into a court of law because you fear him?
5 “Aren’t you really very wicked?
Is there no end to your wrongdoing?
6 For no reason you take your brothers’ goods as security for a loan
and strip them of their clothes.[a]
7 You don’t even give a tired person a drink of water,
and you take food away from hungry people.
8 A strong person owns the land.
A privileged person lives in it.
9 You send widows away empty-handed,
and the arms of orphans are broken.
10 That is why traps are all around you
and great fear suddenly grips you.
11 That is why darkness surrounds you and you cannot see
and a flood of water covers you.
12 “Isn’t Eloah high above in the heavens?
Look how high the highest stars are!
13 You ask, ‘What does El know?
Can he judge anything from behind a dark cloud?
14 Thick clouds surround him so that he cannot see.
He walks above the clouds.’[b]
15 “Are you following the old path that wicked people have taken?
16 They are snatched up before their time.
A river washes their foundation away.
17 They told El, ‘Leave us alone!
What can Shadday do for us?’
18 Yet, he filled their homes with good things.
(The plan of the wicked is foreign to my way of thinking.)
19 The righteous saw it and were glad,
and the innocent made fun of them by saying,
20 ‘Indeed, their wealth has been wiped out,
and a fire has burned up what little they had left.’
Paul Was Accepted as an Apostle by the Leaders in Jerusalem
2 Then 14 years later I went to Jerusalem again with Barnabas. I also took Titus along. 2 I went in response to a revelation from God. I showed them the way I spread the Good News among people who are not Jewish. I did this in a private meeting with those recognized as important people to see whether all my efforts had been wasted.
3 Titus was with me, and although he is Greek, no one forced him to be circumcised.
4 False Christians were brought in. They slipped in as spies to learn about the freedom Christ Yeshua gives us. They hoped to find a way to control us. 5 But we did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the Good News would always be yours.
6 Those who were recognized as important people didn’t add a single thing to my message. (What sort of people they were makes no difference to me, since God doesn’t play favorites.) 7 In fact, they saw that I had been entrusted with telling the Good News to people who are not circumcised as Peter had been entrusted to tell it to those who are circumcised. 8 The one who made Peter an apostle to Jewish people also made me an apostle to people who are not Jewish. 9 James, Cephas, and John (who were recognized as the most important people) acknowledged that God had given me this special gift.[a] So they shook hands with Barnabas and me, agreeing to be our partners. It was understood that we would work among the people who are not Jewish and they would work among Jewish people. 10 The only thing they asked us to do was to remember the poor, the very thing which I was eager to do.
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.