Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
55 Give ear to my prayer, O God, and hide not Thyself from my supplication.
2 Attend unto me and hear me; I mourn in my complaint and moan,
3 because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked; for they cast iniquity upon me, and in wrath they hate me.
4 My heart is sorely pained within me, and the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
5 Fearfulness and trembling have come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me.
6 And I said, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove! For then would I fly away and be at rest.
7 Lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in the wilderness; Selah
8 I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest.”
9 Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues, for I have seen violence and strife in the city.
10 Day and night they go about it upon the walls thereof; mischief also and sorrow are in the midst of it.
11 Wickedness is in the midst thereof; deceit and guile depart not from her streets.
12 For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it. Neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him.
13 But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide and mine acquaintance.
14 We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company.
15 Let death seize upon them, and let them go down alive into hell; for wickedness is in their dwellings and among them.
15 Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite and said:
2 “Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind?
3 Should he reason with unprofitable talk, or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?
4 Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God.
5 For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.
6 Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I; yea, thine own lips testify against thee.
7 “Art thou the first man that was born? Or wast thou made before the hills?
8 Hast thou heard the secret of God? And dost thou withhold wisdom for thyself?
9 What knowest thou, that we know not? What understandest thou, which is not in us?
10 With us are both the grayheaded and very aged men, much elder than thy father.
11 Are the consolations of God small with thee? Is there any secret thing with thee?
12 Why doth thine heart carry thee away, and what do thine eyes wink at,
13 that thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth?
14 What is man, that he should be clean? And he that is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
15 Behold, He putteth no trust in His saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in His sight.
16 How much more abominable and filthy is man, who drinketh iniquity like water?
17 “I will show thee, hear me; and that which I have seen I will declare,
18 what wise men have told from their fathers and have not hid it,
19 unto whom alone the earth was given and no stranger passed among them:
20 The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor.
21 A dreadful sound is in his ears; in his prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.
22 He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for by the sword.
23 He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’ He knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
24 Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready for the battle:
25 for he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty;
26 he runneth upon Him, even on His neck, with the thick bosses of his bucklers.
27 Because he covereth his face with his fatness and maketh dollops of fat on his flanks,
28 and he dwelleth in desolate cities and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps,
29 he shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue; neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth.
30 He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of His mouth shall he go away.
31 Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity, for vanity shall be his recompense.
32 It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green.
33 He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive.
34 For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.
35 They conceive evil and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit.”
27 “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old, ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery.’
28 But I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
29 And if thy right eye cause thee to fall, pluck it out and cast it from thee; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
30 And if thy right hand cause thee to fall, cut it off and cast it from thee; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
31 “It hath been said, ‘Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement.’
32 But I say unto you, that whosoever shall put away his wife, except for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery; and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.
33 “Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old times, ‘Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths.’
34 But I say unto you, swear not at all: neither by Heaven, for it is God’s throne;
35 nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
36 Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.
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