Sunday, October 20, 2019

Job 23:1-17

¹Then Job replied:

²"Even today my complaint is bitter; his hand is heavy in spite of my groaning. ³If only I knew where to find him; if only I could go to his dwelling! ⁴I would state my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments. ⁵I would find out what he would answer me, and consider what he would say. ⁶Would he oppose me with great power? No, he would not press charges against me. ⁷There an upright man could present his case before him, and I would be delivered forever from my judge. ⁸"But if I go to the east, he is not there; if I go to the west, I do not find him. ⁹When he is at work in the north, I do not see him; when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him. ¹⁰But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold. ¹¹My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside. ¹²I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.

¹³"But he stands alone, and who can oppose him? He does whatever he pleases. ¹⁴He carries out his decree against me, and many such plans he still has in store. ¹⁵That is why I am terrified before him; when I think of all this, I fear him. ¹⁶God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me. ¹⁷Yet I am not silenced by the darkness, by the thick darkness that covers my face.

Job 24:1-12

¹"Why does the Almighty not set times for judgment? Why must those who know him look in vain for such days? ²Men move boundary stones; they pasture flocks they have stolen. ³They drive away the orphan's donkey and take the widow's ox in pledge. ⁴They thrust the needy from the path and force all the poor of the land into hiding. ⁵Like wild donkeys in the desert, the poor go about their labor of foraging food; the wasteland provides food for their children. ⁶They gather fodder in the fields and glean in the vineyards of the wicked. ⁷Lacking clothes, they spend the night naked; they have nothing to cover themselves in the cold. ⁸They are drenched by mountain rains and hug the rocks for lack of shelter. ⁹The fatherless child is snatched from the breast; the infant of the poor is seized for a debt. ¹⁰Lacking clothes, they go about naked; they carry the sheaves, but still go hungry. ¹¹They crush olives among the terraces; they tread the winepresses, yet suffer thirst. ¹²The groans of the dying rise from the city, and the souls of the wounded cry out for help. But God charges no one with wrongdoing.

Psalm 106:24–48

²⁴Then they despised the pleasant land; they did not believe his promise. ²⁵They grumbled in their tents and did not obey the LORD. ²⁶So he swore to them with uplifted hand that he would make them fall in the desert, ²⁷make their descendants fall among the nations and scatter them throughout the lands. ²⁸They yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods; ²⁹they provoked the LORD to anger by their wicked deeds, and a plague broke out among them. ³⁰But Phinehas stood up and intervened, and the plague was checked. ³¹This was credited to him as righteousness for endless generations to come. ³²By the waters of Meribah they angered the LORD, and trouble came to Moses because of them; ³³for they rebelled against the Spirit of God, and rash words came from Moses' lips. ³⁴They did not destroy the peoples as the LORD had commanded them, ³⁵but they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs. ³⁶They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them. ³⁷They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons. ³⁸They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was desecrated by their blood. ³⁹They defiled themselves by what they did; by their deeds they prostituted themselves. ⁴⁰Therefore the LORD was angry with his people and abhorred his inheritance. ⁴¹He handed them over to the nations, and their foes ruled over them. ⁴²Their enemies oppressed them and subjected them to their power. ⁴³Many times he delivered them, but they were bent on rebellion and they wasted away in their sin. ⁴⁴But he took note of their distress when he heard their cry; ⁴⁵for their sake he remembered his covenant and out of his great love he relented. ⁴⁶He caused them to be pitied by all who held them captive. ⁴⁷Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise. ⁴⁸Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Let all the people say, "Amen!" Praise the LORD.

Luke 13:31-35

³¹At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, "Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you."

³²He replied, "Go tell that fox, 'I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.' ³³In any case, I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day--for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!

³⁴"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! ³⁵Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.' "

Luke 14:1-11

¹One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. ²There in front of him was a man suffering from dropsy. ³Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?" ⁴But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him away.

⁵Then he asked them, "If one of you has a son or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull him out?" ⁶And they had nothing to say.

⁷When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: ⁸"When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. ⁹If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, 'Give this man your seat.' Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. ¹⁰But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, 'Friend, move up to a better place.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests. ¹¹For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."