Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Prayer About a False Friend
For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A maskil of David.
55 God, listen to my prayer.
Do not ignore my prayer.
2 Pay attention to me and answer me.
I am troubled and upset
3 by what the enemy says
and how the wicked look at me.
They bring troubles down on me.
In anger they attack me.
4 I am frightened inside.
The terror of death has attacked me.
5 I am scared and shaking.
Terror grips me.
6 I said, “I wish I had wings like a dove.
Then I would fly away and rest.
7 I would wander far away.
I would stay in the desert. Selah
8 I would hurry to my place of escape,
far away from the wind and storm.”
9 Lord, destroy and confuse their words.
I see violence and fighting in the city.
10 Day and night they are all around its walls.
Evil and trouble are everywhere inside.
11 Destruction is everywhere in the city.
Trouble and lying never leave its streets.
12 It was not an enemy insulting me.
I could stand that.
It was not someone who hated me.
I could hide from him.
13 But it is you, a person like me.
You were my companion and good friend.
14 We had a good friendship.
We went together to God’s Temple.
15 Let death take away my enemies.
Let them die while they are still young
because evil lives with them.
Bildad Speaks to Job
8 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:
2 “How long will you say such things?
Your words are no more than a strong wind.
3 God does not twist fairness.
God All-Powerful does not make wrong what is right.
4 Your children sinned against God.
And he punished them for their sins.
5 But you should ask God for help.
Pray to God All-Powerful for mercy.
6 You must be good and honest.
Then he will start doing something for you.
And he will bring you back where you belong.
7 The place you began will seem unimportant
because your future will be so successful.
8 “Ask old people
and find out what their ancestors learned.
9 We were only born yesterday and know nothing.
Our days on earth are like only a shadow.
10 Those people will teach you and tell you.
They will tell you what they know.
11 Papyrus plants cannot grow tall where there is no wet land.
Reeds cannot grow tall without water.
12 While they are still growing and not yet cut,
they will dry up more quickly than grass.
13 That is what will happen to everyone who forgets God.
The hope of the person without God will be gone.
14 What he trusts in is easily broken.
It is as easily broken as a spider’s web.
15 He leans on the spider’s web, but it breaks.
He holds on to it, but it does not hold him up.
16 He is like a well-watered plant in the sunshine.
The plant spreads its roots all through the garden.
17 It wraps its roots around a pile of rocks.
And it looks for a place among the stones.
18 But the plant may be torn from its place.
Then that place rejects it and says, ‘I never saw you.’
19 Then its life dries up.
And other plants grow up from the dirt in its place.
20 “Surely God does not reject innocent men.
He does not give strength to those who do evil.
21 God will yet fill your mouth with laughter.
And he will fill your lips with shouts of joy.
22 Your enemies will be covered in shame.
And the tents of the wicked will be gone.”
About Marriage
7 Now I will discuss the things you wrote to me about. It is good for a man not to marry. 2 But sexual immorality is a danger. So each man should have his own wife. And each woman should have her own husband. 3 The husband should give his wife all that she should have as his wife. And the wife should give her husband all that he should have as her husband. 4 The wife does not have power over her own body. Her husband has the power over her body. And the husband does not have power over his own body. His wife has the power over his body. 5 Do not refuse to give your bodies to each other. But you might both agree to stay away from intimate relations for a time. You might do this so that you can give your time to prayer. Then come together again. This is so that Satan cannot tempt you in your weakness. 6 I say this to give you permission. It is not a command. 7 I wish everyone were like me. But each person has his own gift from God. One has one gift, another has another gift.
8 Now for those who are not married and for the widows I say this: It is good for them to stay single as I am. 9 But if they cannot control their bodies, then they should marry. It is better to marry than to burn with lust.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.