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.

15 The answer of Eliphaz the Temanite:

² “You are supposed to be a wise man, and yet you give us all this foolish talk. You are nothing but a windbag. ³ It isn’t right to speak so foolishly. What good do such words do? ^4-5 Have you no fear of God? No reverence for him? Your sins are telling your mouth what to say! Your words are based on clever deception, ⁶ but why should I condemn you? Your own mouth does!

^7-8 “Are you the wisest man alive? Were you born before the hills were made? Have you heard the secret counsel of God? Are you called into his counsel room? Do you have a monopoly on wisdom? ⁹ What do you know more than we do? What do you understand that we don’t? ¹⁰ On our side are aged men much older than your father! ¹¹ Is God’s comfort too little for you? Is his gentleness too rough?

¹² “What is this you are doing, getting carried away by your anger, with flashing eyes? ¹³ And you turn against God and say all these evil things against him. ¹⁴ What man in all the earth can be as pure and righteous as you claim to be? ¹⁵ Why, God doesn’t even trust the angels! Even the heavens can’t be absolutely pure compared with him! ¹⁶ How much less someone like you, who is corrupt and sinful, drinking in sin as a sponge soaks up water!

^17-19 “Listen, and I will answer you from my own experience, confirmed by the experience of wise men who have been told this same thing from their fathers—our ancestors to whom alone the land was given—and they have passed this wisdom to us:

²⁰ “A wicked man is always in trouble throughout his life. ²¹ He is surrounded by terrors, and if there are good days, they will soon be gone. ²² He dares not go out into the darkness lest he be murdered. ^23-24 He wanders around begging for food. He lives in fear, distress, and anguish. His enemies conquer him as a king defeats his foes. ^25-26 Armed with his tin shield, he clenches his fist against God, defying the Almighty, stubbornly assaulting him.

^27-28 “This wicked man is fat and rich, and has lived in conquered cities after killing off their citizens. ²⁹ But he will not continue to be rich, or to extend his possessions. ³⁰ No, darkness shall overtake him forever; the breath of God shall destroy him; the flames shall burn up all he has.

³¹ “Let him no longer trust in foolish riches;^[a] let him no longer deceive himself, for the money he trusts in will be his only reward. ³² Before he dies, all this futility will become evident to him. For all he counted on will disappear ³³ and fall to the ground like a withered grape.^[b] How little will come of his hopes! ³⁴ For the godless are barren: they can produce nothing truly good. God’s fire consumes them with all their possessions. ³⁵ The only thing they can ‘conceive’ is sin, and their hearts give birth only to wickedness.”

²⁷ “The laws of Moses said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ ²⁸ But I say: Anyone who even looks at a woman with lust in his eye has already committed adultery with her in his heart. ²⁹ So if your eye—even if it is your best eye!^[a]—causes you to lust, gouge it out and throw it away. Better for part of you to be destroyed than for all of you to be cast into hell. ³⁰ And if your hand—even your right hand—causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. Better that than find yourself in hell.

³¹ “The law of Moses says, ‘If anyone wants to be rid of his wife, he can divorce her merely by giving her a letter of dismissal.’ ³² But I say that a man who divorces his wife, except for fornication, causes her to commit adultery if she marries again. And he who marries her commits adultery.

³³ “Again, the law of Moses says, ‘You shall not break your vows to God but must fulfill them all.’ ³⁴ But I say: Don’t make any vows! And even to say ‘By heavens!’ is a sacred vow to God, for the heavens are God’s throne. ³⁵ And if you say ‘By the earth!’ it is a sacred vow, for the earth is his footstool. And don’t swear ‘By Jerusalem!’ for Jerusalem is the capital of the great King. ³⁶ Don’t even swear ‘By my head!’ for you can’t turn one hair white or black.