Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 147
1 Praise the Eternal!
It is good to sing praises to our God,
for praise is beautiful and pleasant.
2 The Eternal, Architect of earth, is building Jerusalem,
finding the lost, gathering Israel’s outcasts.
3 He binds their wounds,
heals the sorrows of their hearts.
4 He counts all the stars within His hands,
carefully fixing their number
and giving them names.
5 Our Lord is great. Nothing is impossible with His overwhelming power.
He is loving, compassionate, and wise beyond all measure.
6 The Eternal will lift up the lowly
but throw down the wicked to the earth.
Psalm 147 is a postexilic hymn of praise to God as Creator and Sustainer. It celebrates the rebuilding of the walls and gates that protect Jerusalem. God secures the city, grants peace to the border towns, and controls the elements.
7 Open your mouths with thanks!
Sing praises to the Eternal!
Strum the harp in unending praise to our God
8 Who blankets the heavens with clouds,
sends rain to water the thirsty earth,
and pulls up each blade of grass upon the mountainside.
9 He opens His hands to feed all the animals
and scatters seed to nestlings when they cry.
10 He takes no pleasure in the raw strength of horses;
He finds no joy in the speed of the sprinter.
11 But the Eternal does take pleasure in those who worship Him,
those who invest hope in His unfailing love.
20 He has not treated any other nation in such a way;
they live unaware of His commands.
Praise the Eternal!
36 Elihu continued.
2 Elihu: Wait for me to finish, and I will explain.
There is still more to be said on God’s behalf.
3 I will acquire my knowledge from ancient, far away sources
and illustrate the righteous ways of my Maker.
4 Truly, there is no untruth hidden in my words;
in fact, perfect knowledge has graced your presence.
5 Look! God has great strength, but He does not detest human beings;
He is mighty indeed, and His heart swells with understanding.
6 He does not preserve the life of the wicked,
but He grants justice to those who are weak and humble.
7 He does not divert His gaze from the righteous;
He enthrones them with monarchs,
lifts them up to positions of power forever.
8 And if the people are restrained in chains,
caught in the cords of their misery,
9 Then He explains to them their exploits,
their errors, and how they have lived in arrogance.
10 He uncovers their ears so as to hear His teaching
and commands them to abandon their sinful path.
11 If they hear and choose to serve Him,
then they end their days in prosperity and their years in felicity.
12 But if they refuse to listen,
then they will pass over to the land of death by the sword
and will arrive, lacking any wisdom, at their death.
13 The sullied and impure stash away their anger.
Even when He puts them in chains for their own good,
they refuse to cry for His help.
14 They die young,
debased among the male prostitutes of the shrines.
15 As for the righteous—when they are afflicted—
God delivers them through the affliction itself,
and uses the trial to open their ears to His voice.
16 Job, even now, God is enticing you away from the jaws of distress;
He is luring you to a wide, wonderful place free of boundaries
where your table will be covered in the finest foods.
17 You are weighed down, instead, with judgment usually reserved for the wicked.
And yet, ironically, as you seek to lay hold of justice and judgment,
justice and judgment have laid hold of you.
18 Beware that your anger at how you are being judged does not seduce you into scorning.
Do not let the high ransom you are paying through your suffering steer you off God’s path.
19 Will your cry for help lessen your misery?
How about your strength and forcefulness?
Are they yielding you any better result?
20 Do not pine, Job, for the night
when people pass from their earthly homes into oblivion.[a]
21 In short, be careful! Do not turn your life toward evil ways—
which you have preferred to hearing God’s correcting voice in the midst of your suffering.
22 See, God is supreme in His power.
Is there any teacher like Him?
23 Is anyone capable of overseeing His path?
Who has ever said to Him, “You have done wrong”?
Meat left over from pagan temple sacrifices was sold daily in the market. It was about the only option available for those who didn’t raise their own livestock. Paul knows that idols are nothing really because there is only one God, but another brother thinks he is engaging in a heinous act and supporting a pagan temple by eating food that comes from a pagan sacrifice. So what is a believer to do? Well, it is not a matter of knowledge: Who’s right? Who’s wrong? It’s a matter of love. Paul says that he has the right to eat the meat, but that he gladly gives up that right for the sake of the other brother. Paul limits his freedom out of love for the Corinthians.
9 Am I not truly free? Am I not an emissary[a] of the Liberating King? Have I not personally encountered Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work, my mission in the Lord? 2 Even if others don’t recognize that I am His emissary,[b] at least you do because you are the seal, the living proof that the Lord commissioned me to be His representative.
3 Let me speak in my own defense against those keeping themselves busy picking me apart. 4 Have we lost the right to eat and drink? 5 Have we lost the right to bring along our wives, our sisters in Jesus? Other emissaries travel with their wives, and so do the brothers of our Lord, not to mention Cephas. 6 Is it just Barnabas and I who have lost the right to earn a living? 7 Is a soldier in combat required to pay his own salary? Who would plant a vineyard and not enjoy one grape from it? Who would care for and nurture a flock but never taste the fresh milk?
8 These ideas aren’t based on merely human notions; the law says these same things. 9 In Moses’ law, it is written: “Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out your grain.”[c] Is God’s concern here limited to oxen, 10 or does He speak here ultimately for our benefit? These things were written for us, so as the plowman plows and the worker gathers, they can labor with the hopeful expectation that they, too, will share in the good harvest. 11 The same principle applies here: Is it too much to ask that we would be compensated materially for planting life- and world-changing spiritual realities? 12 If you have rightfully supported others, shouldn’t we deserve your support even more?
But we have never insisted on this right; instead, we would rather put up with anything than to put some obstacle in the way that prevents even one person from experiencing the good news of the Anointed One. 13 Perhaps it has escaped your notice that leaders and priests of the temple make their livings off the temple and that those who tend the altar eat their dinners from part of the sacrifices. 14 So it shouldn’t be a stretch that the Lord has arranged for preachers of the gospel to make a living by those who have embraced and been liberated by the gospel.
Paul works hard. He travels the known world starting new churches and writes letters instructing other churches. Simultaneously, he makes and sells tents to fund his basic needs and missionary travels. Would Paul’s time be better spent training young pastors or preaching to a group of church leaders rather than making tents? By giving his churches his service for free, is he doing a disservice to those who will serve these churches in the future and have families to care for?
15 Despite what I’ve said here, I have never staked a claim for such things, and I have no intention to start now; that’s not why I’m writing. I would rather die than have anyone (including me) invalidate my right to boast. 16 You see, if I preach the good news, it’s nothing to brag about. This urgency, this necessity has been laid on me. In fact, if I were to stop sharing this good news, I’d be in big trouble.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.