Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Job 27

¹And Job continued his discourse:

²"As surely as God lives, who has denied me justice, the Almighty, who has made me taste bitterness of soul, ³as long as I have life within me, the breath of God in my nostrils, ⁴my lips will not speak wickedness, and my tongue will utter no deceit. ⁵I will never admit you are in the right; till I die, I will not deny my integrity. ⁶I will maintain my righteousness and never let go of it; my conscience will not reproach me as long as I live.

⁷"May my enemies be like the wicked, my adversaries like the unjust! ⁸For what hope has the godless when he is cut off, when God takes away his life? ⁹Does God listen to his cry when distress comes upon him? ¹⁰Will he find delight in the Almighty? Will he call upon God at all times?

¹¹"I will teach you about the power of God; the ways of the Almighty I will not conceal. ¹²You have all seen this yourselves. Why then this meaningless talk?

¹³"Here is the fate God allots to the wicked, the heritage a ruthless man receives from the Almighty: ¹⁴However many his children, their fate is the sword; his offspring will never have enough to eat. ¹⁵The plague will bury those who survive him, and their widows will not weep for them. ¹⁶Though he heaps up silver like dust and clothes like piles of clay, ¹⁷what he lays up the righteous will wear, and the innocent will divide his silver. ¹⁸The house he builds is like a moth's cocoon, like a hut made by a watchman. ¹⁹He lies down wealthy, but will do so no more; when he opens his eyes, all is gone. ²⁰Terrors overtake him like a flood; a tempest snatches him away in the night. ²¹The east wind carries him off, and he is gone; it sweeps him out of his place. ²²It hurls itself against him without mercy as he flees headlong from its power. ²³It claps its hands in derision and hisses him out of his place.

Psalm 108

¹A song. A psalm of David. My heart is steadfast, O God; I will sing and make music with all my soul. ²Awake, harp and lyre! I will awaken the dawn. ³I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples. ⁴For great is your love, higher than the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies. ⁵Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let your glory be over all the earth. ⁶Save us and help us with your right hand, that those you love may be delivered. ⁷God has spoken from his sanctuary: "In triumph I will parcel out Shechem and measure off the Valley of Succoth. ⁸Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine; Ephraim is my helmet, Judah my scepter. ⁹Moab is my washbasin, upon Edom I toss my sandal; over Philistia I shout in triumph." ¹⁰Who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom? ¹¹Is it not you, O God, you who have rejected us and no longer go out with our armies? ¹²Give us aid against the enemy, for the help of man is worthless. ¹³With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies.

Luke 15:11–32

¹¹Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. ¹²The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them.

¹³"Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. ¹⁴After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. ¹⁶He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

¹⁷"When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! ¹⁸I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. ¹⁹I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' ²⁰So he got up and went to his father.

"But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

²¹"The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. '

²²"But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. ²³Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. ²⁴For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.

²⁵"Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ²⁷'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.'

²⁸"The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. ²⁹But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. ³⁰But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!'

³¹" 'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. ³²But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' "