1/14/2012 Job 24 - 28
Yesterday Tomorrow
Job Complains of Violence on the Earth
Job 24:1 “Why are times not kept by the Almighty,
and why do those who know him never see his days?
2 The wicked remove landmarks;
they seize flocks and pasture them.
3 They drive away the donkey of the orphan;
they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
4 They thrust the needy off the road;
the poor of the earth all hide themselves.
5 Like wild asses in the desert
they go out to their toil,
scavenging in the wasteland
food for their young.
6 They reap in a field not their own
and they glean in the vineyard of the wicked.
7 They lie all night naked, without clothing,
and have no covering in the cold.
8 They are wet with the rain of the mountains,
and cling to the rock for want of shelter.
9 “There are those who snatch the orphan child from the breast,
and take as a pledge the infant of the poor.
10 They go about naked, without clothing;
though hungry, they carry the sheaves;
11 between their terraces they press out oil;
they tread the wine presses, but suffer thirst.
12 From the city the dying groan,
and the throat of the wounded cries for help;
yet God pays no attention to their prayer.
... yet God pays no attention to their prayer! I don’t believe that.
13 “There are those who rebel against the light,
who are not acquainted with its ways,
and do not stay in its paths.
14 The murderer rises at dusk
to kill the poor and needy,
and in the night is like a thief.
15 The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight,
saying, ‘No eye will see me’;
and he disguises his face.
16 In the dark they dig through houses;
by day they shut themselves up;
they do not know the light.
17 For deep darkness is morning to all of them;
for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.
18 “Swift are they on the face of the waters;
their portion in the land is cursed;
no treader turns toward their vineyards.
19 Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters;
so does Sheol those who have sinned.
20 The womb forgets them;
the worm finds them sweet;
they are no longer remembered;
so wickedness is broken like a tree.
21 “They harm the childless woman,
and do no good to the widow.
22 Yet God prolongs the life of the mighty by his power;
they rise up when they despair of life.
23 He gives them security, and they are supported;
his eyes are upon their ways.
24 They are exalted a little while, and then are gone;
they wither and fade like the mallow;
they are cut off like the heads of grain.
25 If it is not so, who will prove me a liar,
and show that there is nothing in what I say?”
Bildad Speaks: How Can a Mortal Be Righteous Before God?
Job 25:1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:
2 “Dominion and fear are with God;
he makes peace in his high heaven.
3 Is there any number to his armies?
Upon whom does his light not arise?
4 How then can a mortal be righteous before God?
How can one born of woman be pure?
5 If even the moon is not bright
and the stars are not pure in his sight,
6 how much less a mortal, who is a maggot,
and a human being, who is a worm!”
Job Replies: God’s Majesty Is Unsearchable
Job 26:1 Then Job answered:
2 “How you have helped one who has no power!
How you have assisted the arm that has no strength!
3 How you have counseled one who has no wisdom,
and given much good advice!
4 With whose help have you uttered words,
and whose spirit has come forth from you?
5 The shades below tremble,
the waters and their inhabitants.
6 Sheol is naked before God,
and Abaddon has no covering.
7 He stretches out Zaphon over the void,
and hangs the earth upon nothing.
8 He binds up the waters in his thick clouds,
and the cloud is not torn open by them.
9 He covers the face of the full moon,
and spreads over it his cloud.
10 He has described a circle on the face of the waters,
at the boundary between light and darkness.
11 The pillars of heaven tremble,
and are astounded at his rebuke.
12 By his power he stilled the Sea;
by his understanding he struck down Rahab.
13 By his wind the heavens were made fair;
his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.
14 These are indeed but the outskirts of his ways;
and how small a whisper do we hear of him!
But the thunder of his power who can understand?”
Job Maintains His Integrity
Job 27:1 Job again took up his discourse and said:
2 “As God lives, who has taken away my right,
and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter,
3 as long as my breath is in me
and the spirit of God is in my nostrils,
4 my lips will not speak falsehood,
and my tongue will not utter deceit.
5 Far be it from me to say that you are right;
until I die I will not put away my integrity from me.
6 I hold fast my righteousness, and will not let it go;
my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.
7 “May my enemy be like the wicked,
and may my opponent be like the unrighteous.
8 For what is the hope of the godless when God cuts them off,
when God takes away their lives?
9 Will God hear their cry
when trouble comes upon them?
10 Will they take delight in the Almighty?
Will they call upon God at all times?
11 I will teach you concerning the hand of God;
that which is with the Almighty I will not conceal.
12 All of you have seen it yourselves;
why then have you become altogether vain?
13 This is the portion of the wicked with God,
and the heritage that oppressors receive from the Almighty:
14 If their children are multiplied, it is for the sword;
and their offspring have not enough to eat.
15 Those who survive them the pestilence buries,
and their widows make no lamentation.
16 Though they heap up silver like dust,
and pile up clothing like clay—
17 they may pile it up, but the just will wear it,
and the innocent will divide the silver.
18 They build their houses like nests,
like booths made by sentinels of the vineyard.
19 They go to bed with wealth, but will do so no more;
they open their eyes, and it is gone.
20 Terrors overtake them like a flood;
in the night a whirlwind carries them off.
21 The east wind lifts them up and they are gone;
it sweeps them out of their place.
22 It hurls at them without pity;
they flee from its power in headlong flight.
23 It claps its hands at them,
and hisses at them from its place.
Interlude: Where Wisdom Is Found
Job 28:1 “Surely there is a mine for silver,
and a place for gold to be refined.
2 Iron is taken out of the earth,
and copper is smelted from ore.
3 Miners put an end to darkness,
and search out to the farthest bound
the ore in gloom and deep darkness.
4 They open shafts in a valley away from human habitation;
they are forgotten by travelers,
they sway suspended, remote from people.
5 As for the earth, out of it comes bread;
but underneath it is turned up as by fire.
6 Its stones are the place of sapphires,
and its dust contains gold.
7 “That path no bird of prey knows,
and the falcon’s eye has not seen it.
8 The proud wild animals have not trodden it;
the lion has not passed over it.
9 “They put their hand to the flinty rock,
and overturn mountains by the roots.
10 They cut out channels in the rocks,
and their eyes see every precious thing.
11 The sources of the rivers they probe;
hidden things they bring to light.
12 “But where shall wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
13 Mortals do not know the way to it,
and it is not found in the land of the living.
14 The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’
and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
15 It cannot be gotten for gold,
and silver cannot be weighed out as its price.
16 It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
in precious onyx or sapphire.
17 Gold and glass cannot equal it,
nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.
18 No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal;
the price of wisdom is above pearls.
19 The chrysolite of Ethiopia cannot compare with it,
nor can it be valued in pure gold.
20 “Where then does wisdom come from?
And where is the place of understanding?
21 It is hidden from the eyes of all living,
and concealed from the birds of the air.
22 Abaddon and Death say,
‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’
23 “God understands the way to it,
and he knows its place.
24 For he looks to the ends of the earth,
and sees everything under the heavens.
25 When he gave to the wind its weight,
and apportioned out the waters by measure;
26 when he made a decree for the rain,
and a way for the thunderbolt;
27 then he saw it and declared it;
he established it, and searched it out.
28 And he said to humankind,
‘Truly, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;
and to depart from evil is understanding.’ ”
Devotionals, notes, poetry and more
by Bill Federer
Albert Schweitzer was born this day, January 14, 1875. He was a medical missionary who founded a hospital in the jungle village of Lambarene, Gabon, west central Africa. He won the Nobel Peace Prize and used the prize money to build a leper colony. Overcoming innumerable difficulties, Dr. Albert Schweitzer once wrote: “One day, in my despair, I threw myself into a chair in the consulting room and groaned out: ‘What a blockhead I was to come out here to doctor savages like these!’ Whereupon his native assistant quietly remarked: ‘Yes, Doctor, here on earth you are a great blockhead, but not in heaven.’ ”
William J. Federer. American Minute
by whoever
God often visits us,
but most of the time
we are not at home.
--- Joseph Roux, Meditations of a Parish Priest, 1886
The honour of the world makes us attribute to ourselves all that we do, and ends by setting us upon pedestals like little gods. Well, proud and self-complacent soul, thus deified by the honour of the world, see how the eternal, the living God abases Himself in order to confound you! Man makes himself God through pride, God makes Himself man through humility! Man falsely attributes to himself what belongs to God; and God, in order to teach him to humble himself, takes what belongs to man. This is the remedy for insolence! This alone can confound the honour of the world—that Hill of Calvary, that Cross of Shame, Jesus Christ the Incarnate God, our Pattern, our Master, our King.
--- Jacques Benigne Bossuet (French Catholic)
... from here, there and everywhere
by D.H. Stern
19 ADONAI by wisdom founded the earth,
by understanding he established the heavens,
20 by his knowledge the deep [springs] burst open
and the dew condenses from the sky.
Stern, D. H. (1998). Complete Jewish Bible-OE
: An English version of the Tanakh (OT) and
B'rit Hadashah (NT) (1st ed.). Clarksville, Md.: Jewish
New Testament Publications.
A Daily Devotional by Oswald Chambers
Called of God
Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. --- Isaiah 6:8.
God did not address the call to Isaiah; Isaiah overheard God saying—“Who will go for us?” The call of God is not for the special few, it is for everyone. Whether or not I hear God’s call depends upon the state of my ears; and what I hear depends upon my disposition. “Many are called but few are chosen,” that is, few prove themselves the chosen ones. The chosen ones are those who have come into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ whereby their disposition has been altered and their ears unstopped, and they hear the still small voice questioning all the time—“Who will go for us?” It is not a question of God singling out a man and saying, ‘Now, you go.’ God did not lay a strong compulsion on Isaiah; Isaiah was in the presence of God and he overheard the call, and realized that there was nothing else for him but to say, in conscious freedom—“Here am I; send me.”
Get out of your mind the idea of expecting God to come with compulsions and pleadings. When Our Lord called His disciples there was no irresistible compulsion from outside. The quiet, passionate insistence of His “Follow Me” was spoken to men with every power wide awake. If we let the Spirit of God bring us face to face with God, we too will hear something akin to what Isaiah heard, the still small voice of God; and in perfect freedom will say—“Here am I; send me.”
Chambers, O. (1993). My Utmost for His Highest
the Poetry of R.S. Thomas
Of all the women of the fields--
full skirt, small waist
the scarecrow is the best dressed.
She has an air about her
which more than makes up
for her loss of face.
There is nothing between us.
if I take her arm
there is nowhere to go.
We are alone and strollers
of a fine day with
under us the earth's fathoms waiting.
The Poems of R.S. Thomas
Job 24:2-17
Job wanted God to explain why he, a righteous man, had to suffer as he did. Also he wanted an explanation of why so many wicked folks went through life unpunished. This latter theme fills chap. 24, as the variety and intensity of sins and sinners and the suffering of their victims is spelled out in some detail.
24:2–12 The victims of the cruel and thieving wicked are forced to endure the most wretched of conditions — starvation, cold, and expulsion. These desperate circumstances and more are pictured in these verses in order to underscore the absence of justice and the seeming apathy of the divine judge.
24:2 The first two sins reflect the pastoral culture from which Job came. The moving of “boundary stones” was forbidden in Deut 19:14; Prov 22:28; 23:10. Stealing or seizing (cf. 20:19) flocks was, of course, forbidden in the law of Moses and in virtually every other law code yet discovered. It is possible that these two crimes were interconnected. By moving the boundaries while the flock grazed near the border, the thief thus brought them over to his side of the line.
24:3 This chiastically arranged verse introduces the victims of these crimes. They are the powerless members of the community, those with no men to lead their families 22:9. Deuteronomy 24:6 forbids seizing the means of livelihood as payment for a debt. The donkey and the ox were necessities for the “orphan” (“fatherless” in 22:9; 23:9) and the “widow” (Deut 10:12–19).
24:4 Several commentators and English translations rearrange the verses of this section, but if the flow seems irregular or the logic flawed, it must be remembered who was speaking and the extreme anguish that he was suffering. This is no trial lawyer with a polished presentation but a man with a dreadful disease, on an ash heap, accused of awful crimes by healthy friends with sick arguments. Only GNB and NIV make the passive verb in the second stich active. Such a move improves the parallelism, but it is less vivid than the NEB “the destitute huddle together.” The ungodly “thrust” and “force” the “poor” and “needy” “from the path” and “into hiding” (cf. Prov 28:28). Habel suggests a metaphorical interpretation: “When the property and possessions of the poor are appropriated, they are compelled to leave the mainstream of society and eke out an existence in the hidden corners of their community.”
24:5 How to arrange this long verse into lines is the major challenge of the translator. As Rowley says, “Innumerable emendations have been proposed, but none has been generally accepted.” The NIV has included all the words and presented three lines fairly equal in length. The three preceding verses reported what the wicked did; now the focus is on the situation of the oppressed victims. Like animals they spent their days gathering enough food to sustain life. The least productive area, the desert, was their harvest field and hunting ground.
24:6 The comparison seems to continue in this verse. Their extreme poverty is graphically illustrated, assuming that the “fodder” they gather is for themselves rather than their animals. “Gleaning” was regularly the way the poor fed themselves (cf. Lev 19:10; Ruth 2).
24:7 To the discomfort of banishment and starvation, Job added the hardship created by lack of shelter and clothing. Exodus 22:27 forbad keeping an outer garment overnight for collateral (Job 22:6).
24:8 Job’s picture of the poor and oppressed grows more pitiful with each verse. Now they are abandoned, starved, naked, and “drenched by mountain rains.”
24:9 The Hebrew verbs here are active, the subjects understood to be the wicked. Because of the shift in subject, the NIV resorted to passive verbs so that the orphan “is snatched” and the nursing infant “is seized.” In v. 3 the wicked wealthy took “the widow’s ox in pledge.” Here they take the suckling child for the same reason.
24:10 Except for the verb, v. 10a is identical to v. 7a. Like other phrases in this description of oppression, Job echoed terms that Eliphaz used in his accusation of Job. So “take in pledge” and “naked” were in 22:6, “hungry” in 22:7, and “widows” and “fatherless” in 22:9. The second stich is parallel to the two in v. 11. In the midst of plenty they must do without.
24:11 Surrounded by grain, olives, and wine, the oppressed workers must suffer starvation and thirst. The law provided that even the animals that trod out the grain should be allowed to nibble of it (Deut 25:4). Here, human beings are forbidden to partake of the rich man’s abundance for which they toil. The first line is uncertain. Of it Pope said, “The difficulties … are formidable and one can only guess at the meaning.” An NIV footnote gives a very possible alternative to “among the terraces” (lit. “between their walls”) as “between the millstones.” The verb occurs only here but is assumed to be related to yiṣhār, “[olive] oil.”
24:12 Job concluded his description of the abuses and exploitation of the poor by the rich by telling of their dying groans and vain cries for help. Job reached another low point in his view of divine justice and came almost as close to blasphemy as he did in 9:22–24. It appeared to him that God was oblivious to all this evil.
Alden, R. L. (2001). The New American Commentary Volume 11 - Job
Wikipedia
Chiastic structure (also called chiastic pattern or ring structure) is a literary structure used in ancient literatures including epic poetry (Odyssey and Iliad); scripture (the Torah, the Bible), as well as in the texts of other pre-modern cultures texts. Concepts or ideas are placed in a special symmetric order or pattern in a chiastic structure to emphasize them.
For example, suppose that the first topic in a text is labeled by A, the second topic is labeled by B and the third topic is labeled by C. If the topics in the text appear in the order ABC…CBA so that the first concept that comes up is also the last, the second is the second to last, and so on, the text is said to have a chiastic structure. Also, a chiastic structure can be of the form ABBAABB…ABBA.
Chiastic structures are sometimes called palistrophes,[1] chiasms, symmetric structures, ring structures, or concentric structures
Wikipedia
Job 24:13–17
Verses 13 and 17 form the introduction and conclusion to this short list of serious offenses, crimes that parallel the sixth, seventh, and eighth commandments (Exod 20:13–15). The motif of darkness pervades this passage; all three offenses are committed at night. Verses 13–16 are all triplets.
24:13 “Light” is associated with right, just as darkness is with wrong. Evil people rebel against what is right and prefer darkness to light because they do not want their deeds to be seen.
24:14 The point of the verse is clear — murderers kill innocent and weak people. But the Hebrew says they do it “at the light.” It could be understood as a merismus (see comment at 1:20): By day they kill; by night they are like robbers.
Most commentaries and translations produce a better parallel and work around to what seems inconsistent with v. 13 by reading “at twilight” (AB), “at dusk” (NRSV), “before daylight” (NEB), “at dawn” (NASB, AAT), “when there is no light” (NAB, reading the preposition as a negative), “at evening” (NJPS).
24:15 The next category of malfeasance is adultery. This variety of sinner likewise prefers the darkness (Prov 7:8–9). He “covers/conceals/ disguises” the face, further to ensure anonymity. Murder and adultery, but not theft (cf. Exod 22:1–4), were capital crimes in ancient Israel (Gen 9:6; Exod 21:12; 22:2; Lev 20:10). Virtually all ancient law codes outside Israel dealt similarly with these offenses.
24:16 Verses 14–16 are framed by the word “light,” just as vv. 13–17 are enclosed by the opposites “light” and “morning.” Thieves also operate under cover of darkness for obvious reasons (John 3:20).
24:17 This summary verse maintains the themes of light and darkness. In v. 16c the text reads literally, “They do not know the light.” By contrast in v. 17, “They make friends with the terrors of darkness.” Both words in v. 17 for “darkness” are ṣalmāwet, “shadow of death” (Ps 23:4). Like all fast - talking lawbreakers they turn things upside down and call them by opposite names, so their “morning” is “darkness” (cf. Isa 5:20; 29:16; Amos 5:7; 6:12b; Matt 6:22–23).
On this depressing note Job ended his description of the wicked, who appear to go unpunished because of an apathetic God. Some psalms reflect a corresponding attitude, and so may some of God’s people today as they suffer defenselessly at the hands of others or watch tyrants misusing and victimizing the powerless.
Alden, R. L. (2001). The New American Commentary Volume 11 - Job
Day 14 Winter
I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God. --- Exodus 20:5.
It is in the Bible, and the Bible only, that we meet with the thought of the jealousy of God. (“Unconscious Ministries,” in Wind on the Heath (original title: The Afterglow of God,
Note that the same attitude is very evident in our Lord himself. No one can read the story of the Gospels, believing that God was incarnate in humanity, without awaking to the awful truth that the Lord our God is a jealous God. As surely as God will tolerate no rival, Jesus Christ would tolerate no rival. He makes a claim on the human heart of absolute and unconditional surrender. Even had we never heard from the Old Testament that there was such a thing as divine jealousy, we would conclude it from the life of Jesus. There were many things that Jesus tolerated that we would never have thought to find him tolerating. He bore with social abuses — with personal discourtesies — in a way that is sometimes hard to understand.
But there was one thing Jesus never tolerated, and that was the division of his empire. “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” That is either stupendous arrogance — or the jealousy of God.
A jealous God may be a dark conception, but a jealous God can never be indifferent. He loves with a love so burning and intense that he is passionately jealous for his people. And it was that great love, shown in a beauty that people had never dreamed of, that was at last revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ.
--- George H. Morrison.
Wallis, D. (2001). Take Heart: Daily Devotions with the Church's Great Preachers
My Head to My Feet
Walter Lewis Wilson, medical doctor and Christian, agonized over his fruitless efforts at witnessing. One day in 1913, a French missionary visiting in the Wilson home asked the doctor, “Who is the Holy Spirit to you?”
Wilson replied, “One of the Persons of the Godhead … Teacher, Guide, Third Person of the Trinity.” The friend challenged Wilson: “You haven’t answered my question.” To this Wilson replied sadly: “He is nothing to me. I have no contact with Him and could get along quite well without Him.”
The next year, on January 14, 1914, Wilson heard a sermon by James M. Gray, Reformed Episcopal clergyman and later president of Moody Bible Institute. Speaking from Romans 12:1, Gray leaned over the pulpit and said, “Have you noticed that this verse does not tell us to whom we should give our bodies? It is not the Lord Jesus. He has His own body. It is not the Father. He remains on His throne. Another has come to earth without a body. God gives you the indescribable honor of presenting your bodies to the Holy Spirit, to be His dwelling place on earth.”
Wilson returned home and fell on the carpet. There in the quiet of that late hour, he said, “My Lord, I have treated You like a servant. When I wanted You I called for You. Now I give You this body from my head to my feet. I give you my hands, my limbs, my eyes and lips, my brain. You may send this body to Africa, or lay it on a bed with cancer. It is your body from this moment on.”
The next morning, two ladies came to Wilson’s office selling advertising. He promptly led both to Christ, and that was the beginning of a life of evangelistic fruitfulness. Wilson later founded Central Bible Church in Kansas City, Flagstaff Indian Mission, Calvary Bible College, and he wrote the bestselling Romance of a Doctor’s Visits. “With regard to my own experience with the Holy Spirit, the transformation in my life on January 14, 1914 was much greater than the change that took place when I was saved December 21, 1896.”
Dear friends, God is good. So I beg you to offer your bodies to him as a living sacrifice, pure and pleasing. That’s the most sensible way to serve God. Don’t be like the people of this world, but let God change the way you think. Then you will know how to do everything that is good and pleasing to him.
--- Romans 12:1-2.
Morgan, R. J. On This Day 365 Amazing And Inspiring Stories About Saints, Martyrs And Heroes
SATURDAY, JANUARY 14, 2012 | EPIPHANY
SATURDAY OF THE FIRST WEEK AFTER EPIPHANY
YEAR 2
Psalms (Morning) Psalm 20, 21:1–7 (8–13)
Psalms (Evening) Psalm 110:1–5 (6–7) 116, 117
Old Testament Genesis 6:9–22
New Testament Hebrews 4:1–13
Gospel John 2:13–22
Index of Readings
PSALMS (MORNING)
Psalm 20, 21:1–7 (8–13)
To the leader. A Psalm of David.
1 The LORD answer you in the day of trouble!
The name of the God of Jacob protect you!
2 May he send you help from the sanctuary,
and give you support from Zion.
3 May he remember all your offerings,
and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices. Selah
4 May he grant you your heart’s desire,
and fulfill all your plans.
5 May we shout for joy over your victory,
and in the name of our God set up our banners.
May the LORD fulfill all your petitions.
6 Now I know that the LORD will help his anointed;
he will answer him from his holy heaven
with mighty victories by his right hand.
7 Some take pride in chariots, and some in horses,
but our pride is in the name of the LORD our God.
8 They will collapse and fall,
but we shall rise and stand upright.
9 Give victory to the king, O LORD;
answer us when we call.
1 In your strength the king rejoices, O LORD,
and in your help how greatly he exults!
2 You have given him his heart’s desire,
and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah
3 For you meet him with rich blessings;
you set a crown of fine gold on his head.
4 He asked you for life; you gave it to him—
length of days forever and ever.
5 His glory is great through your help;
splendor and majesty you bestow on him.
6 You bestow on him blessings forever;
you make him glad with the joy of your presence.
7 For the king trusts in the LORD,
and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved.
[ 8 Your hand will find out all your enemies;
your right hand will find out those who hate you.
9 You will make them like a fiery furnace
when you appear.
The LORD will swallow them up in his wrath,
and fire will consume them.
10 You will destroy their offspring from the earth,
and their children from among humankind.
11 If they plan evil against you,
if they devise mischief, they will not succeed.
12 For you will put them to flight;
you will aim at their faces with your bows.
13 Be exalted, O LORD, in your strength!
We will sing and praise your power. ]
PSALMS (EVENING)
Psalm 110:1–5 (6–7) 116, 117
1 The LORD says to my lord,
“Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies your footstool.”
2 The LORD sends out from Zion
your mighty scepter.
Rule in the midst of your foes.
3 Your people will offer themselves willingly
on the day you lead your forces
on the holy mountains.
From the womb of the morning,
like dew, your youth will come to you.
4 The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind,
“You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”
5 The Lord is at your right hand;
he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.
[ 6 He will execute judgment among the nations,
filling them with corpses;
he will shatter heads
over the wide earth.
7 He will drink from the stream by the path;
therefore he will lift up his head. ]
1 I love the LORD, because he has heard
my voice and my supplications.
2 Because he inclined his ear to me,
therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
3 The snares of death encompassed me;
the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;
I suffered distress and anguish.
4 Then I called on the name of the LORD:
“O LORD, I pray, save my life!”
5 Gracious is the LORD, and righteous;
our God is merciful.
6 The LORD protects the simple;
when I was brought low, he saved me.
7 Return, O my soul, to your rest,
for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.
8 For you have delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling.
9 I walk before the LORD
in the land of the living.
10 I kept my faith, even when I said,
“I am greatly afflicted”;
11 I said in my consternation,
“Everyone is a liar.”
12 What shall I return to the LORD
for all his bounty to me?
13 I will lift up the cup of salvation
and call on the name of the LORD,
14 I will pay my vows to the LORD
in the presence of all his people.
15 Precious in the sight of the LORD
is the death of his faithful ones.
16 O LORD, I am your servant;
I am your servant, the child of your serving girl.
You have loosed my bonds.
17 I will offer to you a thanksgiving sacrifice
and call on the name of the LORD.
18 I will pay my vows to the LORD
in the presence of all his people,
19 in the courts of the house of the LORD,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Praise the LORD!
1 Praise the LORD, all you nations!
Extol him, all you peoples!
2 For great is his steadfast love toward us,
and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever.
Praise the LORD!
OLD TESTAMENT
Genesis 6:9–22
9 These are the descendants of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation; Noah walked with God. 10 And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. 12 And God saw that the earth was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted its ways upon the earth. 13 And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence because of them; now I am going to destroy them along with the earth. 14 Make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. 15 This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. 16 Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above; and put the door of the ark in its side; make it with lower, second, and third decks. 17 For my part, I am going to bring a flood of waters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die. 18 But I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons’ wives with you. 19 And of every living thing, of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. 20 Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind, two of every kind shall come in to you, to keep them alive. 21 Also take with you every kind of food that is eaten, and store it up; and it shall serve as food for you and for them.” 22 Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.
NEW TESTAMENT
Hebrews 4:1–13
4 Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest is still open, let us take care that none of you should seem to have failed to reach it. 2 For indeed the good news came to us just as to them; but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. 3 For we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said,
“As in my anger I swore,
‘They shall not enter my rest,’ ”
though his works were finished at the foundation of the world. 4 For in one place it speaks about the seventh day as follows, “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” 5 And again in this place it says, “They shall not enter my rest.” 6 Since therefore it remains open for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, 7 again he sets a certain day—“today”—saying through David much later, in the words already quoted,
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts.”
8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not speak later about another day. 9 So then, a sabbath rest still remains for the people of God; 10 for those who enter God’s rest also cease from their labors as God did from his. 11 Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fall through such disobedience as theirs.
12 Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.
GOSPEL
John 2:13–22
13 The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. 15 Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” 18 The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was speaking of the temple of his body. 22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
The Episcopal Church. Book of Common Prayer Lectionary
On Bible Gateway