Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Job’s piety and life of bliss

1 A man in the land of Uz was named Job. That man was honest, a person of absolute integrity; he feared God and avoided evil.

Job’s Adversary refuses to give up

2 One day the divine beings came to present themselves before the Lord. The Adversary also came among them to present himself before the Lord. ² The Lord said to the Adversary, “Where have you come from?”

The Adversary answered the Lord, “From wandering throughout the earth.”

³ The Lord said to the Adversary, “Have you thought about my servant Job, for there is no one like him on earth, a man who is honest, who is of absolute integrity, who reveres God and avoids evil? He still holds on to his integrity, even though you incited me to ruin him for no reason.”

⁴ The Adversary responded to the Lord, “Skin for skin—people will give up everything they have in exchange for their lives. ⁵ But stretch out your hand and strike his bones and flesh. Then he will definitely curse^[a] you to your face.”

⁶ The Lord answered the Adversary, “There he is—within your power; only preserve his life.”

The test intensifies

⁷ The Adversary departed from the Lord’s presence and struck Job with severe sores from the sole of his foot to the top of his head. ⁸ Job took a piece of broken pottery to scratch himself and sat down on a mound of ashes. ⁹ Job’s wife said to him, “Are you still clinging to your integrity? Curse^[b] God, and die.”

¹⁰ Job said to her, “You’re talking like a foolish woman. Will we receive good from God but not also receive bad?” In all this, Job didn’t sin with his lips.

Psalm 26

Of David.

The Son is God’s ultimate messenger

1 In the past, God spoke through the prophets to our ancestors in many times and many ways. ² In these final days, though, he spoke to us through a Son. God made his Son the heir of everything and created the world through him. ³ The Son is the light of God’s glory and the imprint of God’s being. He maintains everything with his powerful message. After he carried out the cleansing of people from their sins, he sat down at the right side of the highest majesty. ⁴ And the Son became so much greater than the other messengers, such as angels, that he received a more important title than theirs.

Jesus is the enthroned human being

⁵ God didn’t put the world that is coming (the world we are talking about) under the angels’ control. ⁶ Instead, someone declared somewhere,

When he puts everything under their control, he doesn’t leave anything out of control. But right now, we don’t see everything under their control yet. ⁹ However, we do see the one who was made lower in order than the angels for a little while—it’s Jesus! He’s the one who is now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of his death. He suffered death so that he could taste death for everyone through God’s grace.

Qualified to be a high priest

¹⁰ It was appropriate for God, for whom and through whom everything exists, to use experiences of suffering to make perfect the pioneer of salvation. This salvation belongs to many sons and daughters whom he’s leading to glory. ¹¹ This is because the one who makes people holy and the people who are being made holy all come from one source. That is why Jesus isn’t ashamed to call them brothers and sisters when he says,

² Some Pharisees came and, trying to test him, they asked, “Does the Law allow a man to divorce his wife?”

³ Jesus answered, “What did Moses command you?”

⁴ They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a divorce certificate and to divorce his wife.”

⁵ Jesus said to them, “He wrote this commandment for you because of your unyielding hearts. ⁶ At the beginning of creation, God made them male and female.^{[a] 7} Because of this, a man should leave his father and mother and be joined together with his wife, ⁸ and the two will be one flesh.^[b] So they are no longer two but one flesh. ⁹ Therefore, humans must not pull apart what God has put together.”

¹⁰ Inside the house, the disciples asked him again about this. ¹¹ He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; ¹² and if a wife divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

Jesus blesses children

¹³ People were bringing children to Jesus so that he would bless them. But the disciples scolded them. ¹⁴ When Jesus saw this, he grew angry and said to them, “Allow the children to come to me. Don’t forbid them, because God’s kingdom belongs to people like these children. ¹⁵ I assure you that whoever doesn’t welcome God’s kingdom like a child will never enter it.” ¹⁶ Then he hugged the children and blessed them.