Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Cry of Anguish and a Song of Praise.
To the Chief Musician; set to [the tune of] Aijeleth Hashshahar (The Doe of the Dawn). A Psalm of David.
22 [a]My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?
Why are You so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning?(A)
2
O my God, I call out by day, but You do not answer;
And by night, but I find no rest nor quiet.
3
But You are holy,
O You who are enthroned in [the holy place where] the praises of Israel [are offered].
4
In You our fathers trusted [leaned on, relied on, and were confident];
They trusted and You rescued them.
5
They cried out to You and were delivered;
They trusted in You and were not disappointed or ashamed.
6
But I am [treated as] a worm [insignificant and powerless] and not a man;
I am the scorn of men and despised by the people.(B)
7
All who see me laugh at me and mock me;
They [insultingly] open their lips, they shake their head, saying,(C)
8
“He trusted and committed himself to the Lord, let Him save him.
Let Him rescue him, because He delights in him.”(D)
9
Yet You are He who pulled me out of the womb;
You made me trust when on my mother’s breasts.
10
I was cast upon You from birth;
From my mother’s womb You have been my God.
11
Do not be far from me, for trouble is near;
And there is no one to help.
12
Many [enemies like] bulls have surrounded me;
Strong bulls of Bashan have encircled me.(E)
13
They open wide their mouths against me,
Like a ravening and a roaring lion.
14
I am poured out like water,
And all my bones are out of joint.
My heart is like wax;
It is melted [by anguish] within me.
15
My strength is dried up like a fragment of clay pottery;
And my [dry] tongue clings to my jaws;
And You have laid me in the dust of death.(F)
Job Says He Has Become a Byword
17 “My spirit is broken, my days are extinguished,
The grave is ready for me.
2
“Surely there are mockers and mockery with me,
And my eye gazes on their obstinacy and provocation.
3
“Give me a pledge (guarantee, promise) with Yourself [acknowledge my innocence before my death];
Who is there that will [a]be my guarantor and give security for me?
4
“But You [Lord] have closed their hearts to understanding,
Therefore You will not exalt them [by giving a verdict against me].
5
“He who denounces and informs against his friends for a share of the spoil,
The eyes of his children will also languish and fail.
6
“But He has made me a byword and mockery among the people,
And I have become one in whose face people spit.
7
“My eye has grown dim (unexpressive) because of grief,
And all my [body’s] members are [wasted away] like a shadow.
8
“The upright will be [astonished and] appalled at this,
And the innocent will stir himself up against the godless and polluted.
9
“Nevertheless the righteous will hold to his ways,
And he who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.(A)
10
“But as for all of you, come back again,
Even though I do not find a wise man among you.
11
“My days are past, my purposes and plans are frustrated and torn apart;
The wishes of my heart [are broken].
12
“These [thoughts try to] make the night into the day;
‘The light is near,’ they say in the presence of darkness [but they pervert the truth].
13
“But if I look to Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead) as my home,
If I make my bed in the darkness,
14
If I call out to the pit (grave), ‘You are my father’;
And to the worm [that feeds on decay], ‘You are my mother and my sister [because I will soon be closest to you],’
15
Where now is my hope?
And who regards or considers or is even concerned about my hope?
16
“Will my hope go down with me to Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead)?
Shall we go down together in the dust?”
7 Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says,
“Today if you hear His voice,
8
Do not harden your hearts as [your fathers did] in the rebellion [of Israel at [a]Meribah],
On the day of testing in the wilderness,
9
Where your fathers tried Me by testing [My forbearance and tolerance],
And saw My works for forty years
[And found I stood their test].
10
“Therefore I was angered with this generation,
And I said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,
And they did not know My ways [nor become progressively better and more intimately acquainted with them]’;
11
So I swore [an oath] in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest [the promised land].’”(A)
The Peril of Unbelief
12 Take care, brothers and sisters, that there not be in any one of you a wicked, unbelieving [b]heart [which refuses to trust and rely on the Lord, a heart] that turns away from the living God. 13 But continually encourage one another every day, as long as it is called “Today” [and there is an opportunity], so that none of you will be hardened [into settled rebellion] by the deceitfulness of sin [its cleverness, delusive glamour, and sophistication]. 14 For we [believers] have become partakers of Christ [sharing in all that the Messiah has for us], if only we hold firm our newborn confidence [which originally led us to Him] until the end, 15 while it is said,
“Today [while there is still opportunity] if you hear His voice,
Do not harden your heart, as when they provoked Me [in the rebellion in the desert at Meribah].”(B)
16 For who were they who heard and yet provoked Him [with rebellious acts]? Was it not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? 17 And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose dead bodies were scattered in the desert? 18 And to whom did He swear [an oath] that they would not enter His rest, but to those who disobeyed [those who would not listen to His word]? 19 So we see that they were not able to enter [into His rest—the promised land] because of unbelief and an unwillingness to trust in God.(C)
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