Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Prayer for Vindication
Of David.[a]
26 Judge me, O Yahweh, because I have walked in my integrity,
and I have trusted Yahweh and not wavered.
2 Prove me, O Yahweh, and test me.
Try my innermost being[b] and my mind.[c]
3 Because your loyal love is before my eyes,
and I walk about in your faithfulness.
4 I do not sit with deceitful people,
nor will I go about with hypocrites.
5 I hate the crowd of evildoers,
and with the wicked I will not sit.
6 I will wash my hands in innocence,
and I will walk about your altar, O Yahweh,
7 to declare with a voice of thanksgiving,
and tell of all your wondrous deeds.
8 O Yahweh, I love the dwelling of your house,[d]
and the place where your glory abides.[e]
9 Do not destroy me[f] with the sinners,
nor my life with men of bloodshed,
10 in whose hands is an evil plan,
and whose right hand is full of bribes.[g]
11 But as for me, I will walk in my integrity.
Redeem me and be gracious to me.
12 My foot stands on level ground.
In assemblies I will bless Yahweh.
Eliphaz’s First Response to Job
4 Then[a] Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,
2 “If someone would test a word with you, would you be offended?
But[b] who can refrain from speaking?
3 Look, you have instructed many,
and you have strengthened weak hands.
4 Your words have raised up the one who stumbles,
and you have strengthened knees giving way.
5 But now it has come to you, and you are worn out;
it touches you, and you are horrified.
6 Is not your fear in God your confidence?
Is not your hope even[c] the integrity of your ways?
7 “Think[d] now, who has perished who is innocent?
Or[e] where are the upright destroyed?
8 Just as I have seen, plowers of mischief
and sowers of trouble will reap it.
9 By[f] the breath of God they perish,
and by[g] the blast of his anger they come to an end.
10 The roar of the lion and the voice of a lion in its prime,
and the teeth of the young lions are broken.
11 The lion is perishing without[h] prey,
and the lion’s whelps are scattered.
12 “And a word came stealing to me,
and my ear received the whisper from it.
13 Amid troubling thoughts from night visions,
at the falling of deep sleep on men,
14 dread met me, and trembling,
and it made many of my bones shake.
15 And a spirit glided before my face;
the hair of my flesh[i] bristled.
16 It stood still, but[j] I could not recognize its appearance;
a form was before[k] my eyes;
there was a hush, and I heard a voice:
17 ‘Can a human being be more righteous than God,
or can a man be more pure than his Maker?
18 Look, he does not trust in his servants
and he charges his angels with error.
19 How much more dwellers in clay houses,
whose foundation is in the dust?
They are crushed like a moth.
20 Between morning and evening[l] they are destroyed;
without anyone regarding it they perish forever.
21 Is not their tent cord pulled up within them?
They die, but[m] not in[n] wisdom.’
Set Free from the Law of Sin and Death
8 Consequently, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what was impossible for the law, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did. By[a] sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and concerning sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the requirement of the law would be fulfilled in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who are living according to the flesh are intent on the things of the flesh, but those who are living according to the Spirit are intent on the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mindset of the flesh is death, but the mindset of the Spirit is life and peace, 7 because the mindset of the flesh is enmity toward God, for it is not subjected to the law of God, for it is not able to do so, 8 and those who are in the flesh are not able to please God.
9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, this person does not belong to him[b]. 10 But if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, the one who raised Christ Jesus[c] from the dead will also make alive your mortal bodies through his Spirit who lives in you.
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