Today's Reading

¹Then Job answered,

²"Oh that my anguish were weighed, and all my calamity laid in the balances!

³For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas, therefore have my words been rash.

⁴For the arrows of the Almighty are within me. My spirit drinks up their poison. The terrors of God set themselves in array against me.

⁵Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass? Or does the ox low over his fodder?

⁶Can that which has no flavor be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?

⁷My soul refuses to touch them. They are as loathsome food to me.

⁸"Oh that I might have my request, that God would grant the thing that I long for,

⁹even that it would please God to crush me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!

¹⁰Be it still my consolation, yes, let me exult in pain that doesn't spare, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

¹¹What is my strength, that I should wait? What is my end, that I should be patient?

¹²Is my strength the strength of stones? Or is my flesh of brass?

¹³Isn't it that I have no help in me, That wisdom is driven quite from me?

¹⁴"To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown from his friend; even to him who forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

¹⁵My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook, as the channel of brooks that pass away;

¹⁶Which are black by reason of the ice, in which the snow hides itself.

¹⁷In the dry season, they vanish. When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place.

¹⁸The caravans that travel beside them turn aside. They go up into the waste, and perish.

¹⁹The caravans of Tema looked. The companies of Sheba waited for them.

²⁰They were distressed because they were confident. They came there, and were confounded.

²¹For now you are nothing. You see a terror, and are afraid.

²²Did I say, 'Give to me?' or, 'Offer a present for me from your substance?'

²³or, 'Deliver me from the adversary's hand?' or, 'Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors?'

²⁴"Teach me, and I will hold my peace. Cause me to understand wherein I have erred.

²⁵How forcible are words of uprightness! But your reproof, what does it reprove?

²⁶Do you intend to reprove words, seeing that the speeches of one who is desperate are as wind?

²⁷Yes, you would even cast lots for the fatherless, and make merchandise of your friend.

²⁸Now therefore be pleased to look at me, for surely I shall not lie to your face.

²⁹Please return. Let there be no injustice. Yes, return again. My cause is righteous.

³⁰Is there injustice on my tongue? Can't my taste discern mischievous things?

¹"Isn't a man forced to labor on earth? Aren't his days like the days of a hired hand?

²As a servant who earnestly desires the shadow, as a hireling who looks for his wages,

³so am I made to possess months of misery, wearisome nights are appointed to me.

⁴When I lie down, I say, 'When shall I arise, and the night be gone?' I toss and turn until the dawning of the day.

⁵My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust. My skin closes up, and breaks out afresh.

⁶My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope.

⁷Oh remember that my life is a breath. My eye shall no more see good.

⁸The eye of him who sees me shall see me no more. Your eyes shall be on me, but I shall not be.

⁹As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away, so he who goes down to Sheol shall come up no more.

¹⁰He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.

¹¹"Therefore I will not keep silent. I will speak in the anguish of my spirit. I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

¹²Am I a sea, or a sea monster, that you put a guard over me?

¹³When I say, 'My bed shall comfort me. My couch shall ease my complaint;'

¹⁴then you scare me with dreams, and terrify me through visions:

¹⁵so that my soul chooses strangling, death rather than my bones.

¹⁶I loathe my life. I do not want to live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.

¹⁷What is man, that you should magnify him, that you should set your mind on him,

¹⁸that you should visit him every morning, and test him every moment?

¹⁹How long will you not look away from me, nor leave me alone until I swallow down my spittle?

²⁰If I have sinned, what do I do to you, you watcher of men? Why have you set me as a mark for you, so that I am a burden to myself?

²¹Why do you not pardon my disobedience, and take away my iniquity? For now shall I lie down in the dust. You will seek me diligently, but I shall not be."

¹Then Bildad the Shuhite answered,

²"How long will you speak these things? Shall the words of your mouth be a mighty wind?

³Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert righteousness?

⁴If your children have sinned against him, He has delivered them into the hand of their disobedience.

⁵If you want to seek God diligently, make your supplication to the Almighty.

⁶If you were pure and upright, surely now he would awaken for you, and make the habitation of your righteousness prosperous.

⁷Though your beginning was small, yet your latter end would greatly increase.

⁸"Please inquire of past generations. Find out about the learning of their fathers.

⁹(For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days on earth are a shadow.)

¹⁰Shall they not teach you, tell you, and utter words out of their heart?

¹¹"Can the papyrus grow up without mire? Can the rushes grow without water?

¹²While it is yet in its greenness, not cut down, it withers before any other reed.

¹³So are the paths of all who forget God. The hope of the godless man shall perish,

¹⁴Whose confidence shall break apart, Whose trust is a spider's web.

¹⁵He shall lean on his house, but it shall not stand. He shall cling to it, but it shall not endure.

¹⁶He is green before the sun. His shoots go forth over his garden.

¹⁷His roots are wrapped around the rock pile. He sees the place of stones.

¹⁸If he is destroyed from his place, then it shall deny him, saying, 'I have not seen you.'

¹⁹Behold, this is the joy of his way: out of the earth, others shall spring.

²⁰"Behold, God will not cast away a blameless man, neither will he uphold the evildoers.

²¹He will still fill your mouth with laughter, your lips with shouting.

²²Those who hate you shall be clothed with shame. The tent of the wicked shall be no more."

¹Now I declare to you, brothers, the Good News which I preached to you, which also you received, in which you also stand,

²by which also you are saved, if you hold firmly the word which I preached to you-unless you believed in vain.

³For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,

⁴that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

⁵and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

⁶Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers at once, most of whom remain until now, but some have also fallen asleep.

⁷Then he appeared to Jacob, then to all the apostles,

⁸and last of all, as to the child born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also.

⁹For I am the least of the apostles, who is not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

¹⁰But by the grace of God I am what I am. His grace which was bestowed on me was not futile, but I worked more than all of them; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

¹¹Whether then it is I or they, so we proclaim, and so you believed.

¹²Now if Christ is preached, that he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?

¹³But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither has Christ been raised.

¹⁴If Christ has not been raised, then our proclaiming is in vain, and your faith also is in vain.

¹⁵Yes, we are found false witnesses of God, because we testified about God that he raised up Christ, whom he did not raise up, if it is so that the dead are not raised.

¹⁶For if the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised.

¹⁷If Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins.

¹⁸Then they also who are fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

¹⁹If we have only hoped in Christ in this life, we are of all men most pitiable.

²⁰But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.

²¹For since death came by man, the resurrection of the dead also came by man.

²²For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

²³But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then those who are Christ's, at his coming.

²⁴Then the end comes, when he will deliver up the Kingdom to God, even the Father; when he will have abolished all rule and all authority and power.

²⁵For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

²⁶The last enemy that will be abolished is death.

²⁷For, "He put all things in subjection under his feet." But when he says, "All things are put in subjection," it is evident that he is excepted who subjected all things to him.

²⁸When all things have been subjected to him, then the Son will also himself be subjected to him who subjected all things to him, that God may be all in all.

²⁹Or else what will they do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why then are they baptized for them?

³⁰Why do we also stand in jeopardy every hour?

³¹I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

³²If I fought with animals at Ephesus for human purposes, what does it profit me? If the dead are not raised, then "let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die."

³³Do not be deceived! "Evil companionships corrupt good morals."

³⁴Wake up righteously, and do not sin, for some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.

³⁵But someone will say, "How are the dead raised?" and, "With what kind of body do they come?"

³⁶You foolish one, that which you yourself sow is not made alive unless it dies.

³⁷That which you sow, you do not sow the body that will be, but a bare grain, maybe of wheat, or of some other kind.

³⁸But God gives it a body even as it pleased him, and to each seed a body of its own.

³⁹All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds.

⁴⁰There are also celestial bodies, and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial differs from that of the terrestrial.

⁴¹There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory.

⁴²So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption.

⁴³It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.

⁴⁴It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is also a spiritual body.

⁴⁵So also it is written, "The first man, Adam, became a living soul." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.

⁴⁶However that which is spiritual is not first, but that which is natural, then that which is spiritual.

⁴⁷The first man is of the earth, made of dust. The second man is from heaven.

⁴⁸As is the one made of dust, such are those who are also made of dust; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.

⁴⁹As we have borne the image of those made of dust, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.

⁵⁰Now I say this, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God; neither does corruption inherit incorruption.

⁵¹Behold, I tell you a mystery. We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,

⁵²in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.

⁵³For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

⁵⁴But when this corruptible will have put on incorruption, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then what is written will happen: "Death is swallowed up in victory."

⁵⁵"Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting?"

⁵⁶The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

⁵⁷But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁵⁸Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the Lord's work, because you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

¹Praise Yah! Praise the Lord from the heavens! Praise him in the heights!

²Praise him, all his angels! Praise him, all his army!

³Praise him, sun and moon! Praise him, all you shining stars!

⁴Praise him, you heavens of heavens, You waters that are above the heavens.

⁵Let them praise the name of the Lord, For he commanded, and they were created.

⁶He has also established them forever and ever. He has made a decree which will not pass away.

⁷Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures, and all depths!

⁸Lightning and hail, snow and clouds; stormy wind, fulfilling his word;

⁹mountains and all hills; fruit trees and all cedars;

¹⁰wild animals and all livestock; small creatures and flying birds;

¹¹kings of the earth and all peoples; princes and all judges of the earth;

¹²both young men and maidens; old men and children:

¹³let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted. His glory is above the earth and the heavens.

¹⁴He has lifted up the horn of his people, the praise of all his holy ones; even of the children of Israel, a people near to him. Praise Yah!

¹Do not be envious of evil men; neither desire to be with them:

²for their hearts plot violence, and their lips talk about mischief.

³Through wisdom a house is built; by understanding it is established;

⁴by knowledge the rooms are filled with all rare and beautiful treasure.

⁵A wise man has great power; and a knowledgeable man increases strength;

⁶for by wise guidance you wage your war; and victory is in many advisors.

⁷Wisdom is too high for a fool: he doesn't open his mouth in the gate.

⁸One who plots to do evil will be called a schemer.

⁹The schemes of folly are sin. The mocker is detested by men.

¹⁰If you falter in the time of trouble, your strength is small.

¹¹Rescue those who are being led away to death! Indeed, hold back those who are staggering to the slaughter!

¹²If you say, "Behold, we did not know this;" doesn't he who weighs the hearts consider it? He who keeps your soul, doesn't he know it? Shall he not render to every man according to his work?

¹³My son, eat honey, for it is good; the droppings of the honeycomb, which are sweet to your taste:

¹⁴so you shall know wisdom to be to your soul; if you have found it, then there will be a reward, your hope will not be cut off.

¹⁵Do not lie in wait, wicked man, against the habitation of the righteous. Do not destroy his resting place:

¹⁶for a righteous man falls seven times, and rises up again; but the wicked are overthrown by calamity.

¹⁷Do not rejoice when your enemy falls. Do not let your heart be glad when he is overthrown;

¹⁸lest the Lord see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him.

¹⁹Do not fret yourself because of evildoers; neither be envious of the wicked:

²⁰for there will be no reward to the evil man; and the lamp of the wicked shall be snuffed out.

²¹My son, fear the Lord and the king. Do not join those who are rebellious:

²²for their calamity will rise suddenly; the destruction from them both-who knows?

²³These also are sayings of the wise. To show partiality in judgment is not good.

²⁴He who says to the wicked, "You are righteous;" peoples shall curse him, and nations shall abhor him-

²⁵but it will go well with those who convict the guilty, and a rich blessing will come on them.

²⁶An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips.

²⁷Prepare your work outside, and get your fields ready. Afterwards, build your house.

²⁸Do not be a witness against your neighbor without cause. Do not deceive with your lips.

²⁹Do not say, "I will do to him as he has done to me; I will render to the man according to his work."

³⁰I went by the field of the sluggard, by the vineyard of the man void of understanding;

³¹Behold, it was all grown over with thorns. Its surface was covered with nettles, and its stone wall was broken down.

³²Then I saw, and considered well. I saw, and received instruction:

³³a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep;

³⁴so your poverty will come as a robber, and your want as an armed man.