Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

55 Listen to my prayer, O God; don’t hide yourself when I cry to you. ² Hear me, Lord! Listen to me! For I groan and weep beneath my burden of woe.

³ My enemies shout against me and threaten me with death. They surround me with terror and plot to kill me. Their fury and hatred rise to engulf me. ⁴ My heart is in anguish within me. Stark fear overpowers me. ⁵ Trembling and horror overwhelm me. ⁶ Oh, for wings like a dove, to fly away and rest! ⁷ I would fly to the far-off deserts and stay there. ⁸ I would flee to some refuge from all this storm.

⁹ O Lord, make these enemies begin to quarrel among themselves—destroy them with their own violence and strife.^{[a] 10} Though they patrol their walls night and day against invaders, their real problem is internal—wickedness and dishonesty are entrenched in the heart of the city. ¹¹ There is murder and robbery there, and cheating in the markets and wherever you look.

¹² It was not an enemy who taunted me—then I could have borne it; I could have hidden and escaped. ¹³ But it was you, a man like myself, my companion and my friend. ¹⁴ What fellowship we had, what wonderful discussions as we walked together to the Temple of the Lord on holy days.

¹⁵ Let death seize them and cut them down in their prime, for there is sin in their homes, and they are polluted to the depths of their souls.

8 Bildad the Shuhite replies to Job:

² “How long will you go on like this, Job, blowing words around like wind? ³ Does God twist justice? ⁴ If your children sinned against him, and he punished them, ⁵ and you begged Almighty God for them— ⁶ if you were pure and good, he would hear your prayer and answer you and bless you with a happy home. ⁷ And though you started with little, you would end with much.

⁸ “Read the history books and see— ⁹ for we were born but yesterday and know so little; our days here on earth are as transient as shadows. ¹⁰ But the wisdom of the past will teach you. The experience of others will speak to you, reminding you that ^11-13 those who forget God have no hope. They are like rushes without any mire to grow in; or grass without water to keep it alive. Suddenly it begins to wither, even before it is cut. ¹⁴ A man without God is trusting in a spider’s web. Everything he counts on will collapse. ¹⁵ If he counts on his home for security, it won’t last. ¹⁶ At dawn he seems so strong and virile, like a green plant; his branches spread across the garden. ¹⁷ His roots are in the stream, down among the stones. ¹⁸ But when he disappears, he isn’t even missed! ¹⁹ That is all he can look forward to! And others spring up from the earth to replace him!

²⁰ “But look! God will not cast away a good man, nor prosper evildoers. ²¹ He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy. ²² Those who hate you shall be clothed with shame, and the wicked destroyed.”

7 Now about those questions you asked in your last letter: my answer is that if you do not marry, it is good. ² But usually it is best to be married, each man having his own wife, and each woman having her own husband, because otherwise you might fall back into sin.

³ The man should give his wife all that is her right as a married woman, and the wife should do the same for her husband: ⁴ for a girl who marries no longer has full right to her own body, for her husband then has his rights to it, too; and in the same way the husband no longer has full right to his own body, for it belongs also to his wife. ⁵ So do not refuse these rights to each other. The only exception to this rule would be the agreement of both husband and wife to refrain from the rights of marriage for a limited time, so that they can give themselves more completely to prayer. Afterwards, they should come together again so that Satan won’t be able to tempt them because of their lack of self-control.

⁶ I’m not saying you must marry, but you certainly may if you wish. ⁷ I wish everyone could get along without marrying, just as I do. But we are not all the same. God gives some the gift of a husband or wife, and others he gives the gift of being able to stay happily unmarried. ⁸ So I say to those who aren’t married and to widows—better to stay unmarried if you can, just as I am. ⁹ But if you can’t control yourselves, go ahead and marry. It is better to marry than to burn with lust.