Monday, September 30, 2019

Job 4

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

²"If someone ventures a word with you, will you be impatient? But who can keep from speaking? ³Think how you have instructed many, how you have strengthened feeble hands. ⁴Your words have supported those who stumbled; you have strengthened faltering knees. ⁵But now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged; it strikes you, and you are dismayed. ⁶Should not your piety be your confidence and your blameless ways your hope?

⁷"Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed? ⁸As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it. ⁹At the breath of God they are destroyed; at the blast of his anger they perish. ¹⁰The lions may roar and growl, yet the teeth of the great lions are broken. ¹¹The lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

¹²"A word was secretly brought to me, my ears caught a whisper of it. ¹³Amid disquieting dreams in the night, when deep sleep falls on men, ¹⁴fear and trembling seized me and made all my bones shake. ¹⁵A spirit glided past my face, and the hair on my body stood on end. ¹⁶It stopped, but I could not tell what it was. A form stood before my eyes, and I heard a hushed voice: ¹⁷'Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker? ¹⁸If God places no trust in his servants, if he charges his angels with error, ¹⁹how much more those who live in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who are crushed more readily than a moth! ²⁰Between dawn and dusk they are broken to pieces; unnoticed, they perish forever. ²¹Are not the cords of their tent pulled up, so that they die without wisdom?'

Psalm 89

¹A [maskil] of Ethan the Ezrahite. I will sing of the LORD's great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations. ²I will declare that your love stands firm forever, that you established your faithfulness in heaven itself. ³You said, "I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David my servant, ⁴'I will establish your line forever and make your throne firm through all generations.' " [Selah] ⁵The heavens praise your wonders, O LORD, your faithfulness too, in the assembly of the holy ones. ⁶For who in the skies above can compare with the LORD? Who is like the LORD among the heavenly beings? ⁷In the council of the holy ones God is greatly feared; he is more awesome than all who surround him. ⁸O LORD God Almighty, who is like you? You are mighty, O LORD, and your faithfulness surrounds you. ⁹You rule over the surging sea; when its waves mount up, you still them. ¹⁰You crushed Rahab like one of the slain; with your strong arm you scattered your enemies. ¹¹The heavens are yours, and yours also the earth; you founded the world and all that is in it. ¹²You created the north and the south; Tabor and Hermon sing for joy at your name. ¹³Your arm is endued with power; your hand is strong, your right hand exalted. ¹⁴Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you. ¹⁵Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O LORD. ¹⁶They rejoice in your name all day long; they exult in your righteousness. ¹⁷For you are their glory and strength, and by your favor you exalt our horn. ¹⁸Indeed, our shield belongs to the LORD, our king to the Holy One of Israel. ¹⁹Once you spoke in a vision, to your faithful people you said: "I have bestowed strength on a warrior; I have exalted a young man from among the people. ²⁰I have found David my servant; with my sacred oil I have anointed him. ²¹My hand will sustain him; surely my arm will strengthen him. ²²No enemy will subject him to tribute; no wicked man will oppress him. ²³I will crush his foes before him and strike down his adversaries. ²⁴My faithful love will be with him, and through my name his horn will be exalted. ²⁵I will set his hand over the sea, his right hand over the rivers. ²⁶He will call out to me, 'You are my Father, my God, the Rock my Savior.' ²⁷I will also appoint him my firstborn, the most exalted of the kings of the earth. ²⁸I will maintain my love to him forever, and my covenant with him will never fail. ²⁹I will establish his line forever, his throne as long as the heavens endure. ³⁰"If his sons forsake my law and do not follow my statutes, ³¹if they violate my decrees and fail to keep my commands, ³²I will punish their sin with the rod, their iniquity with flogging; ³³but I will not take my love from him, nor will I ever betray my faithfulness. ³⁴I will not violate my covenant or alter what my lips have uttered. ³⁵Once for all, I have sworn by my holiness-- and I will not lie to David-- ³⁶that his line will continue forever and his throne endure before me like the sun; ³⁷it will be established forever like the moon, the faithful witness in the sky." [Selah] ³⁸But you have rejected, you have spurned, you have been very angry with your anointed one. ³⁹You have renounced the covenant with your servant and have defiled his crown in the dust. ⁴⁰You have broken through all his walls and reduced his strongholds to ruins. ⁴¹All who pass by have plundered him; he has become the scorn of his neighbors. ⁴²You have exalted the right hand of his foes; you have made all his enemies rejoice. ⁴³You have turned back the edge of his sword and have not supported him in battle. ⁴⁴You have put an end to his splendor and cast his throne to the ground. ⁴⁵You have cut short the days of his youth; you have covered him with a mantle of shame. [Selah] ⁴⁶How long, O LORD? Will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire? ⁴⁷Remember how fleeting is my life. For what futility you have created all men! ⁴⁸What man can live and not see death, or save himself from the power of the grave? [Selah] ⁴⁹O Lord, where is your former great love, which in your faithfulness you swore to David? ⁵⁰Remember, Lord, how your servant has been mocked, how I bear in my heart the taunts of all the nations, ⁵¹the taunts with which your enemies have mocked, O LORD, with which they have mocked every step of your anointed one. ⁵²Praise be to the LORD forever! Amen and Amen.

Luke 8:19–25

¹⁹Now Jesus' mother and brothers came to see him, but they were not able to get near him because of the crowd. ²⁰Someone told him, "Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you."

²¹He replied, "My mother and brothers are those who hear God's word and put it into practice."

²²One day Jesus said to his disciples, "Let's go over to the other side of the lake." So they got into a boat and set out. ²³As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger.

²⁴The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Master, Master, we're going to drown!"

He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. ²⁵"Where is your faith?" he asked his disciples.

In fear and amazement they asked one another, "Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him."