Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 26
Vindicate Me, O Lord
Heading
By David.
Affirmation of Innocence and Plea for Judgment
1 Judge me favorably, O Lord,
because I have walked in my integrity.
In the Lord I have trusted. I have not wavered.
2 Test me, O Lord, and examine me.
Refine my thoughts and my emotions,
3 for your mercy is in front of my eyes,
and I keep walking in your truth.
Separation From Evil
4 I do not sit with deceivers.
I do not associate with hypocrites.
5 I hate the company of evildoers.
I do not sit with the wicked.
Affirmation of Innocence and Love for God
6 I wash my hands from sin,
so I can march around your altar, O Lord,
7 to shout thanks to you
and to proclaim all your wonderful deeds.
8 Lord, I love the house where you reside,
the place where your glory dwells.
Separation From Evil
9 Do not snatch my soul away along with sinners,
nor my life with bloodthirsty men,
10 who grasp wicked schemes in their hands,
whose right hands are full of bribes.
Affirmation of Innocence and Prayer for Redemption
11 But as for me, I will walk in my integrity.
Redeem me and be merciful to me.
12 My feet stand on level ground.
In the assemblies I will bless the Lord.
Job’s Friends Arrive to Comfort Him
11 Three friends of Job heard about all this adversity that had come upon him, and each of them came from his own homeland: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Na’amathite.[a] They met together and went to sympathize with Job and to comfort him. 12 When they caught sight of Job from a distance, they did not recognize him. They raised their voices and wept. Each man tore his robe and tossed dust into the air and onto his head. 13 They sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights, but no one spoke a word to him because they saw that his suffering was very great.
The Arguments Between Job and His Friends
Round One: Job’s First Speech
3 Finally, Job opened his lips and cursed the day of his birth. 2 Job spoke up and said:
3 May the day of my birth perish,
and the night when it was said, “A child has been conceived!”
4 As for that day, let it be darkness!
May God above have no concern for it.
May light not shine on it.
5 May darkness and the shadow of death[b] reclaim it.
May a dark cloud settle over it.
May whatever blackens the day terrify it.
6 As for that night, may deep darkness take it away!
May it not be included[c] among the days of the year
or show up in the list of months.
7 Oh let that night be barren!
May no joyful shout be heard in it.
8 May those who curse days cast a spell on it,
those who are able to awaken Leviathan.[d]
9 May its twilight stars be darkened.
May it wait hopefully for light but receive none.
May it never see the eyelids of dawn,
10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb,
and it did not hide trouble from my eyes.
11 Why did I not die at birth
or pass away as I came from the womb?
12 Why did my mother’s knees receive me?
Why were her breasts there to nurse me?
13 For then I would be lying down peacefully.
I would be sleeping and resting quietly
14 with the kings and counselors of the earth,
with those who rebuilt ruined cities for themselves,[e]
15 with high officials who accumulated gold,
with those who filled their houses with silver.
16 Why was I not hidden like a stillborn child,
like the infants who never see the light of day?
17 There the wicked cease from turmoil.
There the weary are at rest.
18 There the prisoners are at ease together.
They no longer hear the voice of the slave driver.
19 There the small and great are alike,
and the slave is free from his master.
20 Why is light given to those weighed down with grief?
Why is life given to those whose spirit is bitter,
21 to those who yearn for death but it does not come,
though they dig for it more than for buried treasure,
22 to those who will be thrilled with happiness,
those who will celebrate when they reach the grave?
23 Why is light given to a man whose path is hidden,
to one whom God has hedged in?
24 Now my sighing takes the place of my daily bread.
My groans gush forth like water,
25 because what I feared has overwhelmed me,
and that which I dreaded has come upon me.
26 I have no ease, no quiet, no rest.
Instead, turmoil has come.
23 But before this faith came, we were held in custody under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith was revealed. 24 So the law was our chaperone[a] until Christ, so that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a chaperone.[b]
Sons of God Through Faith
26 In fact, you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 Indeed, as many of you as were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ. 28 There is not Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female, for you are all one and the same in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants[c] and heirs according to the promise.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.