Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

39 I said to myself, I’m going to quit complaining! I’ll keep quiet, especially when the ungodly are around me. ^2-3 But as I stood there silently the turmoil within me grew to the bursting point. The more I mused, the hotter the fires inside. Then at last I spoke and pled with God: ⁴ Lord, help me to realize how brief my time on earth will be. Help me to know that I am here for but a moment more. ^5-6 My life is no longer than my hand! My whole lifetime is but a moment to you. Proud man! Frail as breath! A shadow! And all his busy rushing ends in nothing. He heaps up riches for someone else to spend. ⁷ And so, Lord, my only hope is in you.

⁸ Save me from being overpowered by my sins, for even fools will mock me then.

⁹ Lord, I am speechless before you. I will not open my mouth to speak one word of complaint, for my punishment is from you.^[a]

¹⁰ Lord, don’t hit me anymore—I am exhausted beneath your hand. ¹¹ When you punish a man for his sins, he is destroyed, for he is as fragile as a moth-infested cloth; yes, man is frail as breath.

¹² Hear my prayer, O Lord; listen to my cry! Don’t sit back, unmindful of my tears. For I am your guest. I am a traveler passing through the earth, as all my fathers were.

¹³ Spare me, Lord! Let me recover and be filled with happiness again before my death.

26 Job’s reply:

² “What wonderful helpers you all are! And how you have encouraged me in my great need! ³ How you have enlightened my stupidity! What wise things you have said! ⁴ How did you ever think of all these brilliant comments?

^5-6 “The dead stand naked, trembling before God in the place where they go. ⁷ God stretches out heaven over empty space and hangs the earth upon nothing. ⁸ He wraps the rain in his thick clouds, and the clouds are not split by the weight. ⁹ He shrouds his throne with his clouds. ¹⁰ He sets a boundary for the ocean, yes, and a boundary for the day and for the night. ¹¹ The pillars of heaven tremble at his rebuke. ¹² And by his power the sea grows calm; he is skilled at crushing its pride! ¹³ The heavens are made beautiful by his Spirit;^[a] he pierces the swiftly gliding serpent.

¹⁴ “These are some of the minor things he does, merely a whisper of his power. Who then can withstand his thunder?”

⁹ After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from all nations and provinces and languages, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white, with palm branches in their hands. ¹⁰ And they were shouting with a mighty shout, “Salvation comes from our God upon the throne, and from the Lamb.”

¹¹ And now all the angels were crowding around the throne and around the Elders and the four Living Beings, and falling face down before the throne and worshiping God. ¹² “Amen!” they said. “Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be to our God forever and forever. Amen!”

¹³ Then one of the twenty-four Elders asked me, “Do you know who these are, who are clothed in white, and where they come from?”

¹⁴ “No, sir,” I replied. “Please tell me.”

“These are the ones coming out of the Great Tribulation,” he said; “they washed their robes and whitened them by the blood of the Lamb. ¹⁵ That is why they are here before the throne of God, serving him day and night in his temple. The one sitting on the throne will shelter them; ¹⁶ they will never be hungry again, nor thirsty, and they will be fully protected from the scorching noontime heat. ¹⁷ For the Lamb standing in front of the throne^[a] will feed them and be their Shepherd and lead them to the springs of the Water of Life. And God will wipe their tears away.”