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.
Job’s Second Speech: A Response to Eliphaz
7 “Does not a human being[a] have hard service[b] on earth?
And are not his[c] days like the days of a laborer?
2 Like a slave he longs for the shadow,
and like a laborer he waits for his wages.
3 So I had to inherit[d] months of worthlessness,
and nights of misery are apportioned to me.
4 When I lie down, I say,[e] ‘When shall I rise?’
But[f] the night is long,
and I have my fill of tossing until dawn.
5 My body is clothed with maggots and clods of dust;
my skin hardens, then[g] it gives way again.
6 “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,
and they come to an end without hope.[h]
7 Remember that my life is a breath;
my eye will not return to see good.
8 The eye of the one seeing me will not see me;
your eyes are upon me, but[i] I will be gone.[j]
9 A cloud vanishes, and it goes away,
so he who goes down to Sheol will not come up.
10 He does not return again to his house,
and his place does not recognize him again.
11 “Even[k] I will not restrain my mouth;
I will speak in my spirit’s anguish;
I will complain in my inner self’s[l] bitterness.
12 Am I the sea, or a sea monster,
that you set a guard over me?
13 When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me,
and my couch[m] will ease my complaint,’
14 then[n] you terrify me with dreams,[o]
and with visions you terrify[p] me.
15 So[q] my inner self[r] will choose[s] strangling—
death more than my existence.[t]
16 I loathe my life; I would not live forever;
depart from me, for my days are a breath.
17 “What is a human being that you make him great
and that you fix your mind on him,[u]
18 so that[v] you visit him every morning,[w]
you test him every moment?[x]
19 How long[y] will you not turn away from me?
Or not leave me alone until I swallow[z] my spit?
20 If I have sinned, what have I done to you, watcher of humanity?
Why have you made me as a target for yourself,
so that[aa] I have become a burden to myself?[ab]
21 And why do you not pardon my transgression
and take away my guilt?
For now I shall lie in the dust,
and you will seek me, but[ac] I will be no more.”[ad]
Hypocrisy, Law, and the Kingdom of God
14 Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him. 15 And he said to them, “You are the ones who justify themselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts! For what is considered exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.
16 “The law and the prophets were until John; from that time on the kingdom of God has been proclaimed, and everyone is urgently pressed[a] into it. 17 But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the law to become invalid.
On Divorce
18 “Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and the one who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.
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