Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The Prayer of a Suffering Man
For the director of music. To the tune of “The Doe of Dawn.” A psalm of David.
22 My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
You seem far from saving me,
far away from my groans.
2 My God, I call to you during the day,
but you do not answer.
I call at night;
I am not silent.
3 You sit as the Holy One.
The praises of Israel are your throne.
4 Our ancestors trusted you;
they trusted, and you saved them.
5 They called to you for help
and were rescued.
They trusted you
and were not disappointed.
6 But I am like a worm instead of a man.
People make fun of me and hate me.
7 Those who look at me laugh.
They stick out their tongues and shake their heads.
8 They say, “Turn to the Lord for help.
Maybe he will save you.
If he likes you,
maybe he will rescue you.”
9 You had my mother give birth to me.
You made me trust you
while I was just a baby.
10 I have leaned on you since the day I was born;
you have been my God since my mother gave me birth.
11 So don’t be far away from me.
Now trouble is near,
and there is no one to help.
12 People have surrounded me like angry bulls.
Like the strong bulls of Bashan, they are on every side.
13 Like hungry, roaring lions
they open their mouths at me.
14 My strength is gone,
like water poured out onto the ground,
and my bones are out of joint.
My heart is like wax;
it has melted inside me.
15 My strength has dried up like a clay pot,
and my tongue sticks to the top of my mouth.
You laid me in the dust of death.
Zophar Answers
20 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered:
2 “My troubled thoughts cause me to answer,
because I am very upset.
3 You correct me and I am insulted,
but I understand how to answer you.
4 “You know how it has been for a long time,
ever since people were first put on the earth.
5 The happiness of evil people is brief,
and the joy of the wicked lasts only a moment.
6 Their pride may be as high as the heavens,
and their heads may touch the clouds,
7 but they will be gone forever, like their own dung.
People who knew them will say, ‘Where are they?’
8 They will fly away like a dream
and not be found again;
they will be chased away like a vision in the night.
9 Those who saw them will not see them again;
the places where they lived will see them no more.
10 Their children will have to pay back the poor,
and they will have to give up their wealth.
11 They had the strength of their youth in their bones,
but it will lie with them in the dust of death.
12 “Evil may taste sweet in their mouths,
and they may hide it under their tongues.
13 They cannot stand to let go of it;
they keep it in their mouths.
14 But their food will turn sour in their stomachs,
like the poison of a snake inside them.
15 They have swallowed riches, but they will spit them out;
God will make them vomit their riches up.
16 They will suck the poison of snakes,
and the snake’s fangs will kill them.
17 They will not admire the sparkling streams
or the rivers flowing with honey and cream.
18 They must give back what they worked for without eating it;
they will not enjoy the money they made from their trading,
19 because they troubled the poor and left them with nothing.
They have taken houses they did not build.
20 “Evil people never lack an appetite,
and nothing escapes their selfishness.
21 But nothing will be left for them to eat;
their riches will not continue.
22 When they still have plenty, trouble will catch up to them,
and great misery will come down on them.
23 When the wicked fill their stomachs,
God will send his burning anger against them,
and blows of punishment will fall on them like rain.
24 The wicked may run away from an iron weapon,
but a bronze arrow will stab them.
25 They will pull the arrows out of their backs
and pull the points out of their livers.
Terrors will come over them;
26 total darkness waits for their treasure.
A fire not fanned by people will destroy them
and burn up what is left of their tents.
27 The heavens will show their guilt,
and the earth will rise up against them.
28 A flood will carry their houses away,
swept away on the day of God’s anger.
29 This is what God plans for evil people;
this is what he has decided they will receive.”
Obey God’s Law
15 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem. They asked him, 2 “Why don’t your followers obey the unwritten laws which have been handed down to us? They don’t wash their hands before they eat.”
3 Jesus answered, “And why do you refuse to obey God’s command so that you can follow your own teachings? 4 God said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’[a] and ‘Anyone who says cruel things to his father or mother must be put to death.’[b] 5 But you say a person can tell his father or mother, ‘I have something I could use to help you, but I have given it to God already.’ 6 You teach that person not to honor his father or his mother. You rejected what God said for the sake of your own rules. 7 You are hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he said about you:
8 ‘These people show honor to me with words,
but their hearts are far from me.
9 Their worship of me is worthless.
The things they teach are nothing but human rules.’” Isaiah 29:13
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.