Today’s Readings: Mon 26 Dec 2016

Job 29–31

29:1And Job again took up his discourse, and said:

2“Oh, that I were as in the months of old,as in the days when God watched over me,3when his lamp shone upon my head,and by his light I walked through darkness,4as I was in my prime,when the friendship of God was upon my tent,5when the Almighty was yet with me,when my children were all around me,6when my steps were washed with butter,and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!7When I went out to the gate of the city,when I prepared my seat in the square,8the young men saw me and withdrew,and the aged rose and stood;9the princes refrained from talkingand laid their hand on their mouth;10the voice of the nobles was hushed,and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.11When the ear heard, it called me blessed,and when the eye saw, it approved,12because I delivered the poor who cried for help,and the fatherless who had none to help him.13The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me,and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.14I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;my justice was like a robe and a turban.15I was eyes to the blindand feet to the lame.16I was a father to the needy,and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know.17I broke the fangs of the unrighteousand made him drop his prey from his teeth.18Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my nest,and I shall multiply my days as the sand,19my roots spread out to the waters,with the dew all night on my branches,20my glory fresh with me,and my bow ever new in my hand.’ 21“Men listened to me and waitedand kept silence for my counsel.22After I spoke they did not speak again,and my word dropped upon them.23They waited for me as for the rain,and they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.24I smiled on them when they had no confidence,and the light of my face they did not cast down.25I chose their way and sat as chief,and I lived like a king among his troops,like one who comforts mourners. 30:1“But now they laugh at me,men who are younger than I,whose fathers I would have disdainedto set with the dogs of my flock.2What could I gain from the strength of their hands,men whose vigor is gone?3Through want and hard hungerthey gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and desolation;4they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes,and the roots of the broom tree for their food.5They are driven out from human company;they shout after them as after a thief.6In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell,in holes of the earth and of the rocks.7Among the bushes they bray;under the nettles they huddle together.8A senseless, a nameless brood,they have been whipped out of the land. 9“And now I have become their song;I am a byword to them.10They abhor me; they keep aloof from me;they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.11Because God has loosed my cord and humbled me,they have cast off restraint in my presence.12On my right hand the rabble rise;they push away my feet;they cast up against me their ways of destruction.13They break up my path;they promote my calamity;they need no one to help them.14As through a wide breach they come;amid the crash they roll on.15Terrors are turned upon me;my honor is pursued as by the wind,and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud. 16“And now my soul is poured out within me;days of affliction have taken hold of me.17The night racks my bones,and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.18With great force my garment is disfigured;it binds me about like the collar of my tunic.19God has cast me into the mire,and I have become like dust and ashes.20I cry to you for help and you do not answer me;I stand, and you only look at me.21You have turned cruel to me;with the might of your hand you persecute me.22You lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it,and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.23For I know that you will bring me to deathand to the house appointed for all living. 24“Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand,and in his disaster cry for help?25Did not I weep for him whose day was hard?Was not my soul grieved for the needy?26But when I hoped for good, evil came,and when I waited for light, darkness came.27My inward parts are in turmoil and never still;days of affliction come to meet me.28I go about darkened, but not by the sun;I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.29I am a brother of jackalsand a companion of ostriches.30My skin turns black and falls from me,and my bones burn with heat.31My lyre is turned to mourning,and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.

31:1“I have made a covenant with my eyes;how then could I gaze at a virgin?2What would be my portion from God aboveand my heritage from the Almighty on high?3Is not calamity for the unrighteous,and disaster for the workers of iniquity?4Does not he see my waysand number all my steps? 5“If I have walked with falsehoodand my foot has hastened to deceit;6(Let me be weighed in a just balance,and let God know my integrity!)7if my step has turned aside from the wayand my heart has gone after my eyes,and if any spot has stuck to my hands,8then let me sow, and another eat,and let what grows for me be rooted out. 9“If my heart has been enticed toward a woman,and I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door,10then let my wife grind for another,and let others bow down on her.11For that would be a heinous crime;that would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges;12for that would be a fire that consumes as far as Abaddon,and it would burn to the root all my increase. 13“If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant,when they brought a complaint against me,14what then shall I do when God rises up?When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him?15Did not he who made me in the womb make him?And did not one fashion us in the womb? 16“If I have withheld anything that the poor desired,or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,17or have eaten my morsel alone,and the fatherless has not eaten of it18(for from my youth the fatherless grew up with me as with a father,and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow),19if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing,or the needy without covering,20if his body has not blessed me,and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep,21if I have raised my hand against the fatherless,because I saw my help in the gate,22then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder,and let my arm be broken from its socket.23For I was in terror of calamity from God,and I could not have faced his majesty. 24“If I have made gold my trustor called fine gold my confidence,25if I have rejoiced because my wealth was abundantor because my hand had found much,26if I have looked at the sun when it shone,or the moon moving in splendor,27and my heart has been secretly enticed,and my mouth has kissed my hand,28this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges,for I would have been false to God above. 29“If I have rejoiced at the ruin of him who hated me,or exulted when evil overtook him30(I have not let my mouth sinby asking for his life with a curse),31if the men of my tent have not said,‘Who is there that has not been filled with his meat?’32(the sojourner has not lodged in the street;I have opened my doors to the traveler),33if I have concealed my transgressions as others doby hiding my iniquity in my heart,34because I stood in great fear of the multitude,and the contempt of families terrified me,so that I kept silence, and did not go out of doors—35Oh, that I had one to hear me!(Here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me!)Oh, that I had the indictment written by my adversary!36Surely I would carry it on my shoulder;I would bind it on me as a crown;37I would give him an account of all my steps;like a prince I would approach him. 38“If my land has cried out against meand its furrows have wept together,39if I have eaten its yield without paymentand made its owners breathe their last,40let thorns grow instead of wheat,and foul weeds instead of barley.”

The words of Job are ended.

John 20:10–18

10Then the disciples went back to their homes.

11But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb. 12And she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. 13They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” 14Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. 15Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” 16Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). 17Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’” 18Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”—and that he had said these things to her.

Psalm 139:1–12

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

139:1O LORD, you have searched me and known me!2You know when I sit down and when I rise up;you discern my thoughts from afar.3You search out my path and my lying downand are acquainted with all my ways.4Even before a word is on my tongue,behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.5You hem me in, behind and before,and lay your hand upon me.6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;it is high; I cannot attain it. 7Where shall I go from your Spirit?Or where shall I flee from your presence?8If I ascend to heaven, you are there!If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!9If I take the wings of the morningand dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,10even there your hand shall lead me,and your right hand shall hold me.11If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,and the light about me be night,”12even the darkness is not dark to you;the night is bright as the day,for darkness is as light with you.

Ecclesiastes 11:4–6

4He who observes the wind will not sow,and he who regards the clouds will not reap.

5As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.

6In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.