Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Job continues to speak
14 Everyone that a woman gives birth to lives only for a short time.
The days of his life are full of trouble.
2 He is like a flower that grows
and then it soon dies.
His life quickly disappears like a shadow.
3 I am only a human like that,
so why do you watch me so carefully?
Why do you want to bring me into a court to judge me?
4 People are not clean and pure.
Nobody can change them to become pure.
5 You have decided how long people should live.
You control the number of months that each person will live.
Nobody can live any longer than that.
6 So do not watch us! Leave us alone!
We must work for the time that you have decided.
Please leave us to work in peace.
7 If someone cuts down a tree,
the tree may not die.
New branches may grow from it.
8 Its roots in the ground may be old.
The part of the tree that remains may be nearly dead.
9 But if only a little water comes near to it,
it will start to grow again.
It will make new branches,
like a young plant.
10 But when people lose their strength and they die,
that is the end.
After they die, where do they go?
11 When the water disappears from a lake or a river,
they become dry.
12 It is the same with people when they die.
They will never rise to live again.
As long as the sky remains above the earth,
they will continue to sleep in death.
13 Please hide me in the place where dead people go!
Hide me there until you are no longer angry.
Decide how long I must be there,
and then remember me again!
14 If a man dies, will he live again?
If I knew that, I would suffer patiently.
I would wait until my troubles have finished.
From trouble to hope[a]
3 I am the man who has seen trouble.
God punished me because he was angry with me.
2 He has led me into the dark.
There is no light, so I cannot see the right way.
3 He is completely against me.[b]
He causes me trouble all the time.
4 God has caused my skin and my whole body to become old.
He has broken my bones.
5 He has fought against me from every side.
He caused much trouble for me,
so that I am very sad.
6 He has brought me to this dark place.
So I am like a person who has been dead for a long time.
7 It is as if God has built high walls round me, and I cannot go out.
My troubles are very bad.
They hold me down like heavy chains.
8 I shout and I pray for help, but God does not listen.
9 On every road that I go along, he has put big rocks in my way.
I cannot go past them.
19 Lord, please remember all my troubles, because I am sad.
Remember that I am very lonely.
My troubles are like poison for me.
20 I think about all those things,
and I feel small and alone.
21 But then I choose to remember God,
and this is my hope:[a]
22 The Lord's faithful love never comes to an end.
He never stops being kind to us.[b]
23 Every day, we can trust him to be kind again.
We know that he will do what he has promised to do.
24 ‘He is my Lord,’ I say to myself.
‘He is the reason why I can hope for good things.’
This is a song that David wrote for the music leader.
Lord, please help me!
31 Lord, I have come to you to keep me safe.
Never let me become ashamed.
You always do what is right
so please save me!
2 Listen to me,
and quickly send help to me.
Lord, be a rock where I can hide.
Be a strong place to keep me safe.
3 You are my high rock and my strong place.
Because of your good name,
lead me and be my guide.[a]
4 You are the place where I can hide,
so keep me safe.
Do not let my enemies' traps catch me.
15 You are the one who decides
what will happen to me in my whole life.
Save me from the power of my enemies
and from the people who want to catch me.
16 Turn towards me, your servant,
and be kind to me!
Keep me safe,
because of your faithful love.
4 Christ had trouble and pain while he lived in his human body. So you should prepare yourselves to have trouble and pain too. Think about it in the same way that Christ did. If someone has trouble and pain in his body, he stops doing wrong things. 2 As a result, that person will want to do what God wants him to do. In his life in this world, he will not want to do the bad things that people think are good.
3 You have already had enough time in your life to do bad things. Those are the kinds of things that people who do not know God like to do. You did many evil things that your bodies wanted to do. You had sex in a wrong way. You often became drunk. You went to wild parties where you drank too much alcohol. You also worshipped useless idols.[a]
4 But now you no longer live in the same wicked way as those people do. They continue to enjoy those wrong things all the time. But you do not join with them. So they insult you. 5 But those people will have to explain to God what they have done. He is ready to judge every person, whether they are alive now or they have already died. 6 That is why even dead people needed to hear the good news about Christ. Their bodies had to die, as all people must die. But they heard the good news so that their spirits could live, as God wants them to live.[b]
We must use God's gifts properly
7 All things in this world will soon come to an end. So you must think clearly. Then you will be able to pray in a serious way. 8 Continue to love each other very much. That is more important than anything else. If you love people, you will forgive them for any wrong things that they have done.
Joseph from Arimathea buries Jesus' body
57 That evening a rich man who came from a town called Arimathea went to Pilate. The man's name was Joseph, and he had become a disciple of Jesus. 58 Joseph asked Pilate for the dead body of Jesus. Pilate told his soldiers to give Jesus' body to Joseph. 59 So Joseph took Jesus' body. He put a clean piece of linen cloth around it. 60 Then he put the body in a large hole in a rock. He had made the hole for his own body when he died. After he put Jesus' body there, he rolled a very big stone across the front of the hole to shut it. Then he went away. 61 Mary from Magdala and Mary the mother of James were there. They were sitting where they could see the hole in the rock where Joseph had put Jesus' body.
Soldiers watch the place where Joseph had buried Jesus
62 The next day was the Jewish day of rest. The leaders of the priests and the Pharisees met together with Pilate. 63 They said to him, ‘Sir, that man told lies. When he was still living, he said, “Three days after I die, I will become alive again.” We know that is what he said. 64 So you should tell some soldiers to watch the place where Joseph put Jesus' body. They should watch there for the next three days. Then his disciples cannot come to take his body away. If they did that, then they could say to the people, “God has caused Jesus to become alive again.” This will be worse than the lies that Jesus told when he was alive.’
65 Pilate said to them, ‘OK. You may take a group of soldiers to watch the place. Let them fix the rock well, so that nobody can open it.’ 66 So the Jewish leaders and the soldiers went to the place where Joseph had put Jesus' body. They fixed the big stone that closed the front of the hole with a seal. Then they would know if someone had moved it. The soldiers stayed there to watch the place very carefully.
Joseph buries Jesus
38 There was a man called Joseph who came from the town of Arimathea. He was one of Jesus' disciples, but he was afraid of the Jewish leaders. So he had not told people that he was a disciple of Jesus. Joseph went to Pilate and asked if he could take Jesus' dead body away. Pilate agreed. So Joseph went there and he took the body away. 39 Nicodemus went with Joseph. He was the man who had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought about 33 kilograms of spices called myrrh and aloes.[a] 40 The two men covered Jesus' dead body with these spices. And they tied long pieces of linen cloth around it many times. That is how the Jewish people prepare a dead body before they bury it. 41 There was a garden near the place where they had killed Jesus on the cross. In that garden there was a place where they could put the bodies of dead people. It was a new hole in the rock, where nobody had ever put a dead body before. 42 The next day was the Jewish day of rest. So they put Jesus in that hole in the rock, because it was near.
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