Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Make Me Know the Number of My Days
Psalm 39
1 For the music director, for Jeduthun, a psalm of David.
2 I said:
“I will guard my ways, so I will not sin with my tongue.
I will muzzle my mouth while the wicked are before me.”
3 So I became utterly speechless,
kept silent even from good,
but my anguish was stirred up.
4 My heart was hot within me,
while I was musing, the fire burned.
Then I spoke with my tongue:
5 “Let me know, Adonai, my end
and what the number of my days is.
Let me know how short-lived I am.
6 Behold, You made my days mere hand-breadths,
and my lifetime as nothing before You.
Surely all humanity is but vapor. Selah
7 Everyone goes about as a mere phantom.
Surely they are making an uproar in vain, heaping up stuff—
yet not knowing who will gather it.[a]
8 And now, my Lord, what do I wait for?
My hope is in You.
9 Deliver me from all my transgressions.
Do not make me the scorn of a fool.
10 I am speechless, not opening my mouth
—for You have done it.
11 Remove Your scourge from me.
I perish by the blow of Your hand.
12 With rebukes You chasten one for iniquity
and You consume like a moth what he finds pleasure in.
Surely all humanity is but a vapor. Selah
13 Hear my prayer, Adonai,
and listen to my cry—
do not keep silent at my tears.
For with You I am an outsider, a sojourner,
as all my fathers were.
14 Turn your gaze away from me, so I may smile again,
before I go, and am no more.”
Young Elihu Speaks
32 So these three men stopped answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. 2 Then Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite of the clan of Ram became very angry. He was angry with Job for justifying himself rather than God. 3 He was also angry with his three friends because they had not found an answer, and yet had condemned Job. 4 Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because they were older. 5 When Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, his anger was aroused.
6 Then Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite responded and said:
“I am young in days and you are old;
that is why I was timid
and dared not to tell what I know.
7 I thought, ‘Let days speak,
and many years teach wisdom.’[a]
8 But there is a spirit in people,
the breath of Shaddai that gives them understanding.
9 It is not only the aged who are wise
or old men who understand justice.
10 “Therefore I say, ‘Listen to me!
I, even I, will explain what I know.’
11 Look, I waited for your words,
I listened to your reasoning;
while you were searching for words
12 I gave you my full attention.
But behold, no one proved Job wrong;
none among you, answered his statements.
13 Lest you should say, ‘We have found wisdom;
let God refute him, not man!’
14 Job has not directed his words to me
and I will not respond to him with your arguments.
15 “They are dismayed and no longer reply;
words have failed them.
16 Must I wait, since they no longer speak
since they stand there with no reply?
17 I too will answer my part;
I too will declare what I know.
18 For I am full of words,
and the spirit within me compels me;
19 inside I am like wine that has no opening,
like new wineskins ready to burst.
20 I must speak that I may find relief;
I will open my lips that I may answer.
21 I will show partiality to no one,
nor will I flatter anyone;
22 for I do not know how to flatter
else my Maker would quickly carry me away!
19 “Now there was a rich man dressed in purple and fine linen, living it up in luxury every day. 20 But a poor man named Lazarus had been laid at his gate, covered with sores 21 and longing to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Besides, even the dogs were coming to lick his sores.
22 “It happened that the poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. Then the rich man also died and was buried. 23 And from Sheol, as he was in torment, he raised his eyes. And he sees Abraham far off, and Lazarus at his side. [a] 24 So he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me! And send Lazarus so he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, because I am suffering torment in this flame.’[b]
25 “But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your life you received your good things, even as Lazarus received the bad things. But now he is comforted here, and you are tormented. 26 Besides all this, between us and you a great chasm is firmly set, so that those who want to cross over to you cannot, nor can those from there cross over to us.
27 “Then the rich man said, ‘I beg you then, Father Abraham, send Lazarus to my father’s house! 28 For I have five brothers to warn, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’
29 “But Abraham says, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets. Let them listen to them.’
30 “But he said, ‘No, Father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
31 “But Abraham said, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead!’”
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.