Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Prayer for Vindication
Of David.[a]
26 Judge me, O Yahweh, because I have walked in my integrity,
and I have trusted Yahweh and not wavered.
2 Prove me, O Yahweh, and test me.
Try my innermost being[b] and my mind.[c]
3 Because your loyal love is before my eyes,
and I walk about in your faithfulness.
4 I do not sit with deceitful people,
nor will I go about with hypocrites.
5 I hate the crowd of evildoers,
and with the wicked I will not sit.
6 I will wash my hands in innocence,
and I will walk about your altar, O Yahweh,
7 to declare with a voice of thanksgiving,
and tell of all your wondrous deeds.
8 O Yahweh, I love the dwelling of your house,[d]
and the place where your glory abides.[e]
9 Do not destroy me[f] with the sinners,
nor my life with men of bloodshed,
10 in whose hands is an evil plan,
and whose right hand is full of bribes.[g]
11 But as for me, I will walk in my integrity.
Redeem me and be gracious to me.
12 My foot stands on level ground.
In assemblies I will bless Yahweh.
11 Thus[a] Job’s three friends heard of this calamity that had come upon him. So[b] each set out from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite. And they met[c] together to come to console him and to comfort him.
12 Thus[d] they lifted up their eyes[e] from afar, but[f] they did not recognize him, so[g] they raised their voice, and they wept, and each man tore his outer garment[h] and threw dust on their heads toward the sky.[i] 13 Then[j] they sat with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights, but[k] no one spoke[l] a word to him because they saw that his[m] suffering was very great.
Job Regrets His Birth
3 Afterward[n] Job opened his mouth and cursed[o] his day. 2 Thus[p] Job spoke up[q] and said,
3 “Let the day perish on which I was born,
and the night that said, ‘A man-child is conceived.’
4 Let that day become[r] darkness;
may God not seek it from above,
nor may daylight shine on it.
5 Let darkness and deep shadow claim it;
let clouds[s] settle on it;
let them[t] terrify it with the blackness[u] of day.
6 Let darkness seize that night;[v]
let it not rejoice among the days of the year;
let it not enter among the number of the months.
7 Look, let that night become[w] barren;
let a joyful song not enter it.
8 Let those who curse the day curse it,
those who are skilled at rousing Leviathan.
9 Let the stars of its dawn be dark;
let it hope for light but[x] there be none,
and let it not see the eyelids of dawn
10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb,
nor[y] did it hide trouble from my eyes.
Job Wishes He Had Died
11 “Why did I not die at[z] birth?
Why did I not come forth from the womb and expire?
12 Why did the knees receive me
and the breasts, that I could suck?
13 For now I would lie down, and I would be at peace;
I would be asleep; then I would be at rest[aa]
14 with kings and counselors of the earth,
who rebuild [ab] ruins for themselves,
15 or with high officials who have gold,[ac]
who fill up their houses with silver.
16 Or why was I not hidden like a miscarriage,
like infants who did not see the light?
17 There the wicked cease from troubling,
and there the weary[ad] are at rest;
18 the prisoners are at ease together;
they do not hear the oppressor’s voice.
19 The small and the great are there,
and the slave is free from his masters.[ae]
Job Wishes He Might Die
20 “Why does he[af] give light to one in misery
and life to those bitter of soul,
21 who wait for death, but[ag] it does not come,[ah]
and search[ai] for it more than for treasures,
22 who rejoice exceedingly,[aj]
and they are glad when they find the grave?
23 Why does he[ak] give light to a man whose way is hidden,
and God has fenced him in all around?
24 For[al] my sighing comes before[am] my bread,[an]
and my groanings gush forth like water
25 because the dread that I feel[ao] has come upon me,
and what I feared befalls me.
26 I am not at ease, and I am not at peace,
and I do not have rest, thus[ap] turmoil has come.”
23 But before faith came, we were detained under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith was revealed. 24 So then, the law became our guardian until Christ, in order that we could be justified by faith. 25 But after[a] faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. 26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus,[b] 27 for as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are descendants of Abraham, heirs according to the promise.
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