Saturday, October 26, 2019

Job 30

¹"But now they mock me, men younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to put with my sheep dogs. ²Of what use was the strength of their hands to me, since their vigor had gone from them? ³Haggard from want and hunger, they roamed the parched land in desolate wastelands at night. ⁴In the brush they gathered salt herbs, and their food was the root of the broom tree. ⁵They were banished from their fellow men, shouted at as if they were thieves. ⁶They were forced to live in the dry stream beds, among the rocks and in holes in the ground. ⁷They brayed among the bushes and huddled in the undergrowth. ⁸A base and nameless brood, they were driven out of the land.

⁹"And now their sons mock me in song; I have become a byword among them. ¹⁰They detest me and keep their distance; they do not hesitate to spit in my face. ¹¹Now that God has unstrung my bow and afflicted me, they throw off restraint in my presence. ¹²On my right the tribe attacks; they lay snares for my feet, they build their siege ramps against me. ¹³They break up my road; they succeed in destroying me-- without anyone's helping them. ¹⁴They advance as through a gaping breach; amid the ruins they come rolling in. ¹⁵Terrors overwhelm me; my dignity is driven away as by the wind, my safety vanishes like a cloud.

¹⁶"And now my life ebbs away; days of suffering grip me. ¹⁷Night pierces my bones; my gnawing pains never rest. ¹⁸In his great power [God] becomes like clothing to me; he binds me like the neck of my garment. ¹⁹He throws me into the mud, and I am reduced to dust and ashes.

²⁰"I cry out to you, O God, but you do not answer; I stand up, but you merely look at me. ²¹You turn on me ruthlessly; with the might of your hand you attack me. ²²You snatch me up and drive me before the wind; you toss me about in the storm. ²³I know you will bring me down to death, to the place appointed for all the living.

²⁴"Surely no one lays a hand on a broken man when he cries for help in his distress. ²⁵Have I not wept for those in trouble? Has not my soul grieved for the poor? ²⁶Yet when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, then came darkness. ²⁷The churning inside me never stops; days of suffering confront me. ²⁸I go about blackened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help. ²⁹I have become a brother of jackals, a companion of owls. ³⁰My skin grows black and peels; my body burns with fever. ³¹My harp is tuned to mourning, and my flute to the sound of wailing.

Psalm 110

¹Of David. A psalm. The LORD says to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." ²The LORD will extend your mighty scepter from Zion; you will rule in the midst of your enemies. ³Your troops will be willing on your day of battle. Arrayed in holy majesty, from the womb of the dawn you will receive the dew of your youth. ⁴The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind: "You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek." ⁵The Lord is at your right hand; he will crush kings on the day of his wrath. ⁶He will judge the nations, heaping up the dead and crushing the rulers of the whole earth. ⁷He will drink from a brook beside the way; therefore he will lift up his head.

Luke 17:1–19

¹Jesus said to his disciples: "Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. ²It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. ³So watch yourselves.

"If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him. ⁴If he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times comes back to you and says, 'I repent,' forgive him."

⁵The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"

⁶He replied, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey you.

⁷"Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, 'Come along now and sit down to eat'? ⁸Would he not rather say, 'Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink'? ⁹Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? ¹⁰So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.' "

¹¹Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. ¹²As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance ¹³and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!"

¹⁴When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed.

¹⁵One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. ¹⁶He threw himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him--and he was a Samaritan.

¹⁷Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? ¹⁸Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" ¹⁹Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well."