Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Prayer for the Destruction of the Treacherous.
To the Chief Musician; with stringed instruments. A skillful song, or a didactic or reflective poem, of David.
55 Listen to my prayer, O God,
And do not hide Yourself from my plea.
2
Listen to me and answer me;
I am restless and distraught in my complaint and distracted
3
Because of the voice of the enemy,
Because of the pressure of the wicked;
For they bring down trouble on me,
And in anger they persecute me.
4
My heart is in anguish within me,
And the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
5
Fear and trembling have come upon me;
Horror has overwhelmed me.
6
And I say, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest.
7
“I would wander far away,
I would lodge in the [peace of the] wilderness. Selah.
8
“I would hurry to my refuge [my tranquil shelter far away]
From the stormy wind and from the tempest.”
9
[a]Confuse [my enemies], O Lord, divide their tongues [destroying their schemes],
For I have seen violence and strife in the city.
10
Day and night they go around her walls;
Wickedness and mischief are in her midst.
11
Destruction is within her;
Oppression and deceit do not depart from her streets and market places.
12
For it is not an enemy who taunts me—
Then I could bear it;
Nor is it one who has hated me who insolently exalts himself against me—
Then I could hide from him.
13
But it is you, a man my equal and my counsel,
My companion and my familiar friend;
14
We who had sweet [b]fellowship together,
Who walked to the house of God in company.
15
Let death come deceitfully upon them;
Let them go down alive to Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead),
For evil [of every kind] is in their dwelling and in their hearts, in their midst.
Eliphaz Says Job Presumes Much
15 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered [Job] and said,
2
“Should a wise man [such as you] utter such windy and vain knowledge [as we have just heard]
And fill himself with the east wind [of withering, parching, and violent accusations]?
3
“Should he rebuke and argue with useless talk?
Or with words in which there is no benefit?
4
“Indeed, you are doing away with fear,
And you are diminishing meditation before God.
5
“For your guilt teaches your mouth,
And you choose [to speak] the language of the crafty and cunning.
6
“Your own mouth condemns you, and not I;
Yes, your own lips testify against you.
7
“Were you the first man to be born [the original wise man],
Or were you created before the hills?
8
“Do you hear the secret counsel of God,
And do you limit [the possession of] wisdom to yourself?
9
“What do you know that we do not know?
What do you understand that is not equally clear to us?
10
“Among us are both the gray-haired and the aged,
Older than your father.
11
“Are the consolations of God [as we have interpreted them to you] too trivial for you,
[Or] were we too gentle toward you [in our first speech] to be effective?
12
“Why does your heart carry you away [allowing you to be controlled by emotion]?
And why do your eyes flash [in anger or contempt],
13
That you should turn your spirit against God
And let such words [as you have spoken] go out of your mouth?
14
“What is man, that he should be pure and clean,
Or he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous and just?
15
“Behold, God puts no trust in His holy ones (angels);
Indeed, the heavens are not pure in His sight—
16
How much less [pure and clean is] the one who is repulsive and corrupt,
Man, who drinks unrighteousness and injustice like water!
What Eliphaz Has Seen of Life
17
“I will tell you, listen to me;
And what I have seen I will also declare;
18
What wise men have [freely] told,
And have not hidden [anything passed on to them] from their fathers,
19
To whom alone the land was given,
And no stranger passed among them [corrupting the truth].
20
“The wicked man writhes with pain all his days,
And numbered are the years stored up for him, the ruthless one.
21
“A [dreadful] sound of terrors is in his ears;
While at peace and in a time of prosperity the destroyer comes upon him [the tent of the robber is not at peace].
22
“He does not believe that he will return out of the darkness [for fear of being murdered],
And he is destined for the sword [of God’s vengeance].
23
“He wanders about for food, saying, ‘Where is it?’
He knows that the day of darkness and destruction is already at hand.
24
“Distress and anxiety terrify him,
They overpower him like a king ready for battle.
25
“Because he has stretched out his hand against God
And behaves arrogantly against [a]the Almighty,
26
Running and charging headlong against Him
With his ornamented and massive shield;
27
For he has covered his face with his fat,
Adding layers of fat to his thighs [giving himself up to pleasures],
28
And he has lived in desolate [God-forsaken] cities,
In houses which no one should inhabit,
Which were destined to become heaps [of ruins];
29
He will not become rich, nor will his wealth endure;
And his grain will not bend to the earth nor his possessions be extended on the earth.
30
“He will not escape from darkness [fleeing disaster];
The flame [of God’s wrath] will wither his branch,
And by the blast of His mouth he will go away.
31
“Let him not trust in vanity (emptiness, futility) and be led astray;
For emptiness will be his [b]reward [for such living].
32
“It will be fulfilled while he still lives,
And his branch will not be green [but shall wither away].
33
“He will fail to bring his grapes to maturity [leaving them to wither unnourished] on the vine,
And will cast off blossoms [and fail to bring forth fruit] like the olive tree.
34
“For the company of the godless is barren,
And fire consumes the tents of bribery (wrong and injustice).
35
“They conceive mischief and bring forth wickedness,
And their inmost soul prepares deceit and fraud.”
27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery’;(A) 28 but I say to you that everyone who [so much as] looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye makes you stumble and leads you to sin, tear it out and throw it away [that is, remove yourself from the source of temptation]; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 If your right hand makes you stumble and leads you to sin, cut it off and throw it away [that is, remove yourself from the source of temptation]; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
31 “It has also been said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife is to give her a certificate of divorce’; 32 but I say to you that whoever divorces his wife, except on grounds of sexual immorality, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a woman who has been divorced commits adultery.(B)
33 “Again, you have heard that it was said to the men of old, ‘You shall not make false vows, but you shall fulfill your vows to the Lord [as a religious duty].’ 34 But I say to you, do not make an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God; 35 or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King.(C) 36 Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you are not able to make a single hair white or black.
Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, CA 90631. All rights reserved.