Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 39
For the worship leader, Jeduthun.[a] A song of David.
As an individual lament, Psalm 39 grieves over the brevity of life. The superscription recalls David’s appointment of Jeduthun as one of the tabernacle’s leading musicians (1 Chronicles 16:41–42).
1 I promised, “I’ll be careful on life’s journey
not to sin with my words;
I’ll seal my lips
when wicked people are around.”
2 I kept my mouth shut;
I had nothing to say—not even anything good—
which came to grieve me more and more.
3 I felt my heart become hot inside me
as I thought on these things; a fire ignited and burned.
Then I said,
4 “Eternal One, let me understand my end
and how brief my earthly existence is;
help me realize my life is fleeting.
5 You have determined the length of my days,
and my life is nothing compared to You.
Even the longest life is only a breath.”
[pause][b]
6 In truth, each of us journeys through life like a shadow.
We busy ourselves accomplishing nothing, piling up assets we can never keep;
We can’t even know who will end up with those things.
7 In light of all this, Lord, what am I really waiting for?
You are my hope.
8 Keep me from all the wrong I would do;
don’t let the foolish laugh at me.
9 I am quiet; I keep my mouth closed
because this has come from You.
10 Take Your curse from me;
I can’t endure Your punishment.
11 You discipline us for our sins.
Like a moth, You consume everything we treasure;
it’s evident we are merely a breath.
[pause]
12 Hear me, O Eternal One;
listen to my pleading,
and don’t ignore my tears
Because I am estranged from You—
a wanderer like my fathers before me.
13 Look away from me so I might have a chance to recover my joy and smile again
before I lay this life down and am no more.
12 But where is wisdom found,
and where does understanding dwell?
Proverbs 1:20–33 and 8:3–36 give the best articulated picture of wisdom in the Bible. Personified there as Lady Wisdom, this character was created by God long before His creation of the world—which she then aided in. After creation, she wanted nothing more than to be with humanity and help them to have full, truthful lives; but here Job explains that wisdom is now hidden. Certainly God knows where she is, although He isn’t telling; but humans have a better chance of finding immeasurable wealth than of attaining wisdom. This is because she is only found on one road, and that’s the God-fearing road of piety. In order to find wisdom, one must allow God to direct him there; and ironically, the knowledge that God must direct lives is wisdom itself!
13 Job: No human perceives wisdom’s true value,
nor has she been found in the land of the living.
14 The deep says, “She is not to be seen within me.”
“Nor within me,” says the voice of the raging sea.
15 No gold can be given in trade for wisdom,
nor a sum of silver weighed out as her price.
16 She cannot be bought with all the gold of Ophir,
neither with onyx nor sapphire.
17 The shimmer of gold and brightness of glass cannot compare,
and no refined gold jewelry is worth her in trade.
18 Perish the mention of coral and crystal;
even more than pearls is the value of wisdom.
19 Ethiopian topaz—unequal as well;
even gold, unalloyed, is too paltry indeed.
20 Then from where does wisdom come?
Where does understanding dwell?
21 She is hidden away from every eye,
even from birds looking down from the sky.
22 Destruction and Death have both confessed,
“Rumors are all we know about her.”
23 God understands wisdom’s path and way;
her place is known to Him alone.
24 For He gazes out to the edge of the earth,
sees all that falls beneath the sky overhead.
25 He lent the wind its weight and force
and measured out the waters’ spread.
26 When He set a limit on the rain that falls
and made the thunderbolt a road to race,
27 Then He saw wisdom and made her known,
He settled her and searched out for her a place.
28 And to humankind, He said, “Now, the fear of the Lord is wisdom,
and to depart from evil is understanding.”
The great wisdom of the ages begins with fearing God. It is the evil of the world that clouds our understanding and leads us into foolishness.
29 Job continued.
2 Job: Ah, that I were as I once was, months ago
during the time when God oversaw me,
3 When His lamp shone above my head,
and by His light, I walked through the darkness.
4 Ah, to be in the ripest time of life once more—
when the intimacies of friendship with God enfolded my tent,
5 When the Highest One[a] was with me
and my children encircled me,
6 When my steps were bathed in milk
and the rock poured out rivers of olive oil, showering my body,
7 When I went up to the gate of the city,
when I took my seat in the town square where the elders meet.
8 There the young saw me and made room for me, in deference to elders.
The old rose and stood out of respect.
9 The leaders stopped talking
with their hands over their mouths.
10 The voices of nobles fell to a hush;
their tongues stuck to the roofs of their mouths.
8 When the Lamb cracked open the seventh and final seal, a great silence filled all heaven penetrating everything for about half an hour. 2 Then I saw seven heavenly messengers, the ones who stand before God, receive seven trumpets.
3 An eighth messenger came and stood before the altar carrying a golden censer. He received a large portion of incense to complement the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar that sits in front of the throne. 4 From the hand of the eighth messenger, the smoke of the incense mixed with the prayers of God’s people and billowed up before God. 5 The messenger filled the censer with fiery coals from the altar and cast it upon the earth, causing a great commotion of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.