Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The leader must use the music called ‘The Deer of the Dawn.’
This is a song that David wrote.
Please help me, God!
22 My God!
My God, why have you left me alone?
Why is my help far away?
I am crying out in great pain!
2 My God!
I call aloud to you for help every day,
all day and all night!
But you do not answer my prayers,
so I cannot sleep.
3 I know that you are the Holy God.
You sit on your throne as king,
and Israel's people praise you.
4 Our ancestors trusted in you.
When they trusted you, you saved them.
5 They called aloud to you and you saved them.
They trusted in you,
and you did not disappoint them.[a]
6 People insult me.
They think that I am worth nothing.
It seems that I am only a worm,
and I am not really a man.
7 Everyone that sees me laughs at me.
They laugh and they shake their heads.
8 They say, ‘He should trust in the Lord!
The Lord should save him.
If the Lord is really happy with him,
the Lord should rescue him.’
9 Lord, you brought me safely to birth.
You took care of me at my mother's breasts.
10 From the day that I was born,
I have always been in your care.
You have been my God since my mother gave birth to me.
11 So do not stay far from me now.
Trouble is near to me,
and there is nobody to help me.
12 There is danger all round me,
like the strong bulls of Bashan.[b]
I cannot move
because my enemies are very near, all around me.
13 They open their mouths like lions!
They are ready to eat me!
They are like lions that tear their food into pieces.
14 My strength has gone,
like water that is poured away.
My bones do not join together properly.
I feel weak inside
and hope has disappeared.
15 My mouth has become dry like a piece of a broken pot.
My tongue sticks to my mouth.
You have left me down in the dirt,
as good as dead!
Bildad speaks to Job again[a]
18 Then Bildad, the man from Shuah, replied. This is what he said:
2 ‘You should not continue to talk like that!
Stop and think carefully. Then we can talk.
3 You should not think that we are as foolish as cows.
4 You are so angry that you are hurting yourself.
You will never change the way that things happen in the world.
Your anger will not cause the earth to shake,
or any rocks to move from their places.
What happens to wicked people
5 The light of a wicked person's life will stop shining.
His fire will no longer burn brightly.
6 His tent will be dark.
The lamp that gives him light will stop burning.
7 Once he was strong
but now his legs are weak.
His own ideas cause him to fall down.
8 He does not know where he is going
and he walks into a dangerous trap.
9 A trap catches his foot
and he cannot move.
10 Someone has hidden a rope on the ground.
It catches him as he walks along.
11 Everywhere a wicked person goes,
things frighten him.
He cannot escape from them.
12 Now he is hungry
and his strength has disappeared.
Terrible trouble is ready to take hold of him
whenever it has the chance.
13 A bad disease eats his skin.
It causes his arms and his legs to become useless
and he dies.
14 Then he has to leave his tent
where he had lived safely.
He will have to meet the terrible king of death.
15 Other people will live in his tent.
They have used sulphur to burn all his things.[b]
16 He is like a tree whose roots have become dry,
and its branches have fallen off.
17 Nobody remembers that he ever lived.
They have forgotten his name.
18 The wicked person has had to leave this world.
He has gone from a place where there is light
to a place where it is dark.
19 He has no children or grandchildren.
He has no family to live in his home.
20 All people are very upset
when they see what has happened to him.
Wherever they live,
they are very upset.
21 I know that this is what happens to the homes of evil people.
It happens to people who turn away from God.’
God's special place of rest
4 God promised his people that they could go to his special place of rest. That promise is still true for us today. So we must be very careful. Do not fail to arrive in that place. We certainly do not want that to happen. 2 We have heard God's good news, just like God's people in the wilderness heard his message. But that message did not help them, because they did not believe it. They did not trust God, like those who obeyed him. 3 But those of us who trust God do enjoy his special place of rest. This is what God said:
‘Because I was very angry with them, I promised this:
“They will never arrive in my special place of rest.” ’[a]
God said that, even though he had finished his work when he made the world. 4 In the Bible God has spoken about the seventh day like this:
‘God rested from all his work on the seventh day.’[b]
5 As we have already seen, God said something later about his rest:
‘They will never arrive in my special place of rest.’
6 So we see that there is still a chance for people to go to God's place of rest. But those people who first heard God's message in the wilderness refused to obey him. As a result, they did not arrive in his special place of rest. 7 So God chose another time for people to go to his place of rest. He called it ‘Today’. A long time after Moses, David spoke God's message. As we have already seen, he said:
‘You must listen when you hear God speak today.
Do not refuse to obey him.’
8 This shows that Joshua did not bring God's people to the place where they could rest. Later, God had to speak again about another day of rest. 9 So we see this: God still has a place ready for his people, where they can rest. They will rest as God rested on the seventh day. 10 When God made the world and everything, he rested after he had finished his work. It is the same for everyone who goes to God's place of rest. They too will rest. They will no longer need to work.[c]
11 So we must do everything possible to arrive in God's special place of rest. God's people in the wilderness did not obey him. We must not be like them. If we do not obey God, we also will fail to arrive in that place.
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