Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

¹² while you, Lord, are a famous King forever. Your fame will endure to every generation.

¹³ I know that you will come and have mercy on Jerusalem—and now is the time to pity her—the time you promised help. ¹⁴ For your people love every stone in her walls and feel sympathy for every grain of dust in her streets. ¹⁵ Now let the nations and their rulers tremble before the Lord, before his glory. ¹⁶ For Jehovah will rebuild Jerusalem! He will appear in his glory!

¹⁷ He will listen to the prayers of the destitute, for he is never too busy to heed their requests. ¹⁸ I am recording this so that future generations will also praise the Lord for all that he has done. And a people that shall be created shall praise the Lord. ¹⁹ Tell them that God looked down from his temple in heaven ²⁰ and heard the groans of his people in slavery—they were children of death—and released them, ^21-22 so that multitudes would stream to the Temple in Jerusalem to praise him, and his praises were sung throughout the city; and many rulers throughout the earth came to worship him.

²³ He has cut me down in middle life, shortening my days. ²⁴ But I cried to him, “O God, you live forever and forever! Don’t let me die halfway through my years! ²⁵ In ages past you laid the foundations of the earth and made the heavens with your hands! ²⁶ They shall perish, but you go on forever. They will grow old like worn-out clothing, and you will change them like a man putting on a new shirt and throwing away the old one! ²⁷ But you yourself never grow old. You are forever, and your years never end.

²⁸ “But our families will continue; generation after generation will be preserved by your protection.”

6 Job’s reply:

² “Oh, that my sadness and troubles were weighed. ³ For they are heavier than the sand of a thousand seashores. That is why I spoke so rashly. ⁴ For the Lord has struck me down with his arrows; he has sent his poisoned arrows deep within my heart. All God’s terrors are arrayed against me. ^5-7 When wild donkeys bray, it is because their grass is gone; oxen do not low when they have food; a man complains when there is no salt in his food. And how tasteless is the uncooked white of an egg—my appetite is gone when I look at it; I gag at the thought of eating it!

^8-9 “Oh, that God would grant the thing I long for most—to die beneath his hand and be freed from his painful grip. ¹⁰ This, at least, gives me comfort despite all the pain—that I have not denied the words of the holy God. ¹¹ Oh, why does my strength sustain me? How can I be patient till I die? ¹² Am I unfeeling, like stone? Is my flesh made of brass? ¹³ For I am utterly helpless, without any hope.

^7-8 Meanwhile, Jesus and his disciples withdrew to the beach, followed by a huge crowd from all over Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, from beyond the Jordan River, and even from as far away as Tyre and Sidon. For the news about his miracles had spread far and wide and vast numbers came to see him for themselves.

⁹ He instructed his disciples to bring around a boat and to have it standing ready to rescue him in case he was crowded off the beach. ¹⁰ For there had been many healings that day and as a result great numbers of sick people were crowding around him, trying to touch him.

¹¹ And whenever those possessed by demons caught sight of him they would fall down before him shrieking, “You are the Son of God!” ¹² But he strictly warned them not to make him known.