Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Cry of Anguish and a Song of Praise.
For the music director; upon [a]Aijeleth Hashshahar. A Psalm of David.
22 (A)My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?
(B)Far from my [b]help are the words of my [c](C)groaning.
2 My God, I (D)cry out by day, but You do not answer;
And by night, but [d]I have no rest.
3 Yet (E)You are holy,
You who [e]are enthroned upon (F)the praises of Israel.
4 In You our fathers (G)trusted;
They trusted and You (H)rescued them.
5 To You they cried out and they fled to safety;
(I)In You they trusted and were not [f]disappointed.
6 But I am a (J)worm and not a person,
A (K)disgrace of mankind and (L)despised by the people.
7 All who see me (M)deride me;
They [g]sneer, they (N)shake their heads, saying,
8 “[h]Turn [i]him over to the Lord; (O)let Him save him;
Let Him rescue him, because He delights in him.”
9 Yet You are He who (P)brought me forth from the womb;
You made me trust when upon my mother’s breasts.
10 I was cast upon You (Q)from [j]birth;
You have been my God from my mother’s womb.
11 (R)Do not be far from me, for [k]trouble is near;
For there is (S)no one to help.
12 Many (T)bulls have surrounded me;
Strong bulls of (U)Bashan have encircled me.
13 They (V)open their mouths wide at me,
As a ravening and roaring (W)lion.
14 I am (X)poured out like water,
And all my (Y)bones are out of joint;
My (Z)heart is like wax;
It is melted within [l]me.
15 My (AA)strength is dried up like a piece of pottery,
And (AB)my tongue clings to my jaws;
And You (AC)lay me [m]in the dust of death.
Job Says He Has Become a Proverb
17 “My spirit is broken, my days are extinguished,
The [a](A)grave is ready for me.
2 (B)Mockers are certainly with me,
And my eye [b]gazes on their provocation.
3 “Make a pledge (C)for me with Yourself;
Who is there that will [c]be my guarantor?
4 For You have [d](D)kept their hearts away from understanding;
Therefore You will not exalt them.
5 He who (E)informs against friends for a share of the spoils,
The (F)eyes of his children also will perish.
6 “But He has made me a (G)proverb among the people,
And I am [e]one at whom people (H)spit.
7 My eye has also become (I)inexpressive because of grief,
And all my (J)body parts are like a shadow.
8 The upright will be appalled at this,
And the (K)innocent will stir himself up against the godless.
9 Nevertheless (L)the righteous will hold to his way,
And (M)the one who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.
10 But come again all of [f]you now,
For I (N)do not find a wise man among you.
11 My (O)days are past, my plans are torn apart,
The wishes of my heart.
12 They make night into day, saying,
‘The light is near,’ in the presence of darkness.
13 If I hope for [g](P)Sheol as my home,
I [h]make my bed in the darkness;
14 If I call to the (Q)grave, ‘You are my father’;
To the (R)maggot, ‘my mother and my sister’;
15 Where then is (S)my hope?
And who looks at my hope?
16 [i]Will it go down with me to Sheol?
Shall we together (T)go down into the dust?”
7 Therefore, just as (A)the Holy Spirit says,
“(B)Today if you hear His voice,
8 (C)Do not harden your hearts as [a]when they provoked Me,
As on the day of trial in the wilderness,
9 (D)Where your fathers put Me to the test,
And saw My works for (E)forty years.
10 (F)Therefore I was angry with this generation,
And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,
And they did not know My ways’;
11 (G)As I swore in My anger,
‘They certainly shall not enter My rest.’”
The Danger of Unbelief
12 (H)Take care, brothers and sisters, that there will not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart [b]that falls away from (I)the living God. 13 But (J)encourage one another every day, as long as it is still called “today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the (K)deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ (L)if we keep the beginning of our [c](M)commitment firm until the end, 15 while it is said,
16 For who (O)provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, (P)did 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, (Q)whose dead bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He swear (R)that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were (S)disobedient? 19 And so we see that they were not able to enter because of (T)unbelief.
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