Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
39 I thought, “I will guard my ways, so that I do not sin with my tongue. I will keep my mouth bridled while the wicked are in my sight.
2 I was dumb and spoke nothing. I kept silent, even from good; and my sorrow was more stirred.
3 My heart was hot within me. While I was musing, the fire kindled and I spoke with my tongue:
4 “LORD, let me know my end, and the measure of my days, what it is. Let me know how long I have to live.”
5 Behold, You have made my days as a handbreadth and my age as nothing in Your sight. Surely, every man is altogether vanity in his best state. Selah.
6 Doubtless, man walks in a shadow, and disquiets himself pointlessly. He heaps up riches and cannot tell who shall gather them.
7 And now LORD, for what do I wait? My hope is even in You.
8 Deliver me from all my transgressions, and do not make me a rebuke to the foolish.
9 I should have been dumb, and not have opened my mouth, because You did it.
10 Take Your plague away from me; for I am consumed by the stroke of Your hand.
11 When, with rebukes, You chastise man for iniquity, You make his beauty melt away as a moth. Surely, every man is vanity. Selah.
12 Hear my prayer, O LORD; and hear my cry. Do not keep silent at my tears; for I am a stranger with You and a sojourner, as all my fathers.
13 Keep Your anger from me, so that I may recover my strength before I go away and am no more. To him who excels: A Psalm of David.
12 “But where is wisdom found? And where is the place of understanding?
13 “Man does not know its price. For it is not found in the land of the living.
14 “The depth says, ‘It is not in me.’ The sea also says, ‘It is not with me.’
15 “Gold shall not be given for it, nor shall silver be weighed for its price.
16 “It shall not be valued with the wedge of gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.
17 “Neither gold nor crystal shall be equal to it, nor shall it be exchanged for jewelry of fine gold.
18 “No mention shall be made of coral or of the gabish. For wisdom is more precious than pearls.
19 “The topaz of Ethiopia shall not be equal to it, nor shall it be valued with the wedge of pure gold.
20 “From where, then, does wisdom come? And where is the place of understanding,
21 “seeing it is hidden from the eyes of all the living, and is hidden from the birds of the heaven?
22 “Destruction and death say, ‘We have heard of its fame with our ears.’
23 “God understands its way. And He knows its place.
24 “For He beholds the ends of the world, sees all that is under Heaven,
25 “to make the weight of the winds and to weigh the waters by measure.
26 “When He made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunders,
27 “then He saw it and counted it. He prepared it and also considered it.
28 “And to man He said, ‘Behold, the fear of the LORD is wisdom. And to depart from evil is understanding.’”
29 So Job proceeded, and continued his parable, saying,
2 “Oh that I were as in times past, when God preserved me,
3 “when His light shined upon my head! By His light I walked through the darkness,
4 “as I was in the days of my youth, when God’s providence was upon my tabernacle,
5 “when the Almighty was still with me, and my children all around me,
6 “when I washed my paths with butter, and when the rock poured out rivers of oil for me.
7 “When I went out to the gate, to the judgment seat, I caused them to prepare my seat in the street.
8 “The young men saw me and hid themselves. And the aged arose, stood up.
9 “The princes stopped talking and laid their hand on their mouth.
10 “The voice of princes was hidden, and their tongue clung to the roof of their mouth.
8 And when He had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in Heaven for about half an hour.
2 And I saw the seven angels who stood before God. And to them were given seven trumpets.
3 Then another angel came and stood before the altar, having a golden censer. And much incense was given to him; which he would offer, with the prayers of all saints, upon the golden altar which is before the throne.
4 And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand.
5 And the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and cast it into the Earth. And there were voices and thunderings and lightnings and an earthquake.
© 2019, 2024 by Five Talents Audio. All rights reserved.