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.

¹² “But though men can do all these things, they don’t know where to find wisdom and understanding. ¹³ They not only don’t know how to get it, but, in fact, it is not to be found among the living.

¹⁴ “‘It’s not here,’ the oceans say; and the seas reply, ‘Nor is it here.’

¹⁵ “It cannot be bought for gold or silver, ¹⁶ nor for all the gold of Ophir or precious onyx stones or sapphires. ¹⁷ Wisdom is far more valuable than gold and glass. It cannot be bought for jewels mounted in fine gold. ¹⁸ Coral or crystal is worthless in trying to get it; its price is far above rubies. ¹⁹ Topaz from Ethiopia cannot purchase it, nor even the purest gold.

²⁰ “Then where can we get it? Where can it be found? ²¹ For it is hid from the eyes of all mankind; even the sharp-eyed birds in the sky cannot discover it.

²² “But Destruction and Death speak of knowing something about it! ^23-24 And God surely knows where it is to be found, for he looks throughout the whole earth, under all the heavens. ²⁵ He makes the winds blow and sets the boundaries of the oceans. ²⁶ He makes the laws of the rain and a path for the lightning. ²⁷ He knows where wisdom is and declares it to all who will listen. He established it and examined it thoroughly. ²⁸ And this is what he says to all mankind: ‘Look, to fear the Lord is true wisdom; to forsake evil is real understanding.’”

29 Job continues:

² “Oh, for the years gone by when God took care of me, ³ when he lighted the way before me and I walked safely through the darkness; ⁴ yes, in my early years, when the friendship of God was felt in my home; ⁵ when the Almighty was still with me and my children were around me; ⁶ when my projects prospered and even the rock poured out streams of olive oil to me!

⁷ “Those were the days when I went out to the city gate and took my place among the honored elders. ⁸ The young saw me and stepped aside, and even the aged rose and stood up in respect at my coming. ⁹ The princes stood in silence and laid their hands upon their mouths. ¹⁰ The highest officials of the city stood in quietness.

8 When the Lamb had broken the seventh seal, there was silence throughout all heaven for what seemed like half an hour. ² And I saw the seven angels that stand before God, and they were given seven trumpets.

³ Then another angel with a golden censer came and stood at the altar; and a great quantity of incense was given to him to mix with the prayers of God’s people, to offer upon the golden altar before the throne. ⁴ And the perfume of the incense mixed with prayers ascended up to God from the altar where the angel had poured them out.

⁵ Then the angel filled the censer with fire from the altar and threw it down upon the earth; and thunder crashed and rumbled, lightning flashed, and there was a terrible earthquake.