Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
To the Overcomer, even to Jeduthun, A Psalm of David.
1 ¶ I said, I will take heed to my ways that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bit while the wicked is against me.
2 I was dumb with silence; I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred.
3 My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned; then I spoke with my tongue,
4 LORD, make me to know my end and the measure of my days, what it is that I may know how long I am to be of this world.
5 Behold, thou hast made my days as a handbreadth, and my age is as nothing before thee; verily every man that lives is altogether vanity. Selah.
6 Surely man walks in darkness; surely they are disquieted in vain; they heap up riches not knowing who shall gather them.
7 ¶ And now, Lord, what shall I wait for? My hope is in thee.
8 Deliver me from all my rebellions; do not make me the reproach of the foolish.
9 I was dumb, I opened not my mouth because thou didst it.
10 Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand.
11 When thou with chastening dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his greatness to consume away like a moth; surely every man is vanity. Selah.
12 Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.
13 O spare me, that I may recover strength before I go from here and be no more.
32 ¶ So these three men ceased to answer Job because he was righteous in his own eyes.
2 Then the wrath of Elihu, the son of Barachel, the Buzite, of the kindred of Ram, was kindled; against Job was his wrath kindled, because he justified himself rather than God.
3 Also against his three friends was his wrath kindled because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job.
4 Now Elihu had waited until Job had spoken because they were all elder than he.
5 But when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, then his wrath was kindled.
6 ¶ And Elihu, the son of Barachel, the Buzite, answered and said, I am younger, and ye are older; therefore, I was afraid, and I feared to declare unto you my opinion.
7 I said, Days shall speak, and the multitude of years shall declare wisdom.
8 Certainly there is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty gives them understanding.
9 Great men are not always wise; neither do the aged understand judgment.
10 Therefore I said, Hearken to me; I also will declare my knowledge.
11 Behold, I waited for your words; I gave ear to your arguments, while ye searched out what to say.
12 Even so, I attended unto you, and, behold, there was none of you to reprove Job or to answer his words.
13 Lest ye should say, We have found out wisdom; it is needful that God thrust him down, and not man.
14 Now he has not directed his words against me; neither will I answer him with your reasons.
15 ¶ They were amazed, they answered no more; they left off speaking.
16 And I waited, (for they did not speak, but stopped, and answered no more);
17 I said, I will also answer my part, I will also declare my opinion.
18 For I am full of words; the spirit within me constrains me.
19 Behold, my belly is as wine which has no vent; it is ready to burst forth like spirits.
20 I will speak, that I may be able to breathe; I will open my lips and answer.
21 I will not now be a respecter of persons, neither will I give flattering titles unto man.
22 For I do not know how to give flattering titles; otherwise my maker would soon take me away.
19 ¶ There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day;
20 and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, who was laid at his gate, full of sores
21 and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 And it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom; the rich man also died and was buried;
23 and in Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom.
24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.
25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime didst receive thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted here, and thou art tormented.
26 And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who would pass from here to you cannot; neither can they pass from there to us.
27 Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou would send him to my father’s house,
28 for I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.
29 Abraham said unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.
30 And he said, No, father Abraham; but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.
31 And he said unto him, If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, even though one rose from the dead.
Copyright © 2013, 2020 by Ransom Press International