Day 242 reading

Wisdom·Psalms 133–134

¹Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony! ²It is like fine oil on the head, running down on the beard, running down Aaron’s beard over the collar of his robes. ³It is like the dew of Hermon falling on the mountains of Zion. For there the LORD has bestowed the blessing of life forevermore.

134Come, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD who serve by night in the house of the LORD! ²Lift up your hands to the sanctuary and bless the LORD! ³May the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion.

New Testament·1 Corinthians 3

¹Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual, but as worldly—as infants in Christ. ²I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for solid food. In fact, you are still not ready, ³for you are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and dissension among you, are you not worldly? Are you not walking in the way of man? ⁴For when one of you says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not mere men? ⁵What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, as the Lord has assigned to each his role. ⁶I planted the seed and Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. ⁷So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. ⁸He who plants and he who waters are one in purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. ⁹For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. ¹⁰By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one must be careful how he builds. ¹¹For no one can lay a foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. ¹²If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, ¹³his workmanship will be evident, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will prove the quality of each man’s work. ¹⁴If what he has built survives, he will receive a reward. ¹⁵If it is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as if through the flames. ¹⁶Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? ¹⁷If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. ¹⁸Let no one deceive himself. If any of you thinks he is wise in this age, he should become a fool, so that he may become wise. ¹⁹For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness.” ²⁰And again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.” ²¹Therefore, stop boasting in men. All things are yours, ²²whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future. All of them belong to you, ²³and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

Old Testament·Job 9–10

¹Then Job answered: ²“Yes, I know that it is so, but how can a mortal be righteous before God? ³If one wished to contend with God, he could not answer Him one time out of a thousand. ⁴God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has resisted Him and prospered? ⁵He moves mountains without their knowledge and overturns them in His anger. ⁶He shakes the earth from its place, so that its foundations tremble. ⁷He commands the sun not to shine; He seals off the stars. ⁸He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea. ⁹He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion, of the Pleiades and the constellations of the south. ¹⁰He does great things beyond searching out, and wonders without number. ¹¹Were He to pass by me, I would not see Him; were He to move, I would not recognize Him. ¹²If He takes away, who can stop Him? Who dares to ask Him, ‘What are You doing?’ ¹³God does not restrain His anger; the helpers of Rahab cower beneath Him. ¹⁴How then can I answer Him or choose my arguments against Him? ¹⁵For even if I were right, I could not answer. I could only beg my Judge for mercy. ¹⁶If I summoned Him and He answered me, I do not believe He would listen to my voice. ¹⁷For He would crush me with a tempest and multiply my wounds without cause. ¹⁸He does not let me catch my breath, but overwhelms me with bitterness. ¹⁹If it is a matter of strength, He is indeed mighty! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon Him? ²⁰Even if I were righteous, my mouth would condemn me; if I were blameless, it would declare me guilty. ²¹Though I am blameless, I have no concern for myself; I despise my own life. ²²It is all the same, and so I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’ ²³When the scourge brings sudden death, He mocks the despair of the innocent. ²⁴The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; He blindfolds its judges. If it is not He, then who is it? ²⁵My days are swifter than a runner; they flee without seeing good. ²⁶They sweep by like boats of papyrus, like an eagle swooping down on its prey. ²⁷If I were to say, ‘I will forget my complaint and change my expression and smile,’ ²⁸I would still dread all my sufferings; I know that You will not acquit me. ²⁹Since I am already found guilty, why should I labor in vain? ³⁰If I should wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye, ³¹then You would plunge me into the pit, and even my own clothes would despise me. ³²For He is not a man like me, that I can answer Him, that we can take each other to court. ³³Nor is there a mediator between us, to lay his hand upon us both. ³⁴Let Him remove His rod from me, so that His terror will no longer frighten me. ³⁵Then I would speak without fear of Him. But as it is, I am on my own.

10“I loathe my own life; I will express my complaint and speak in the bitterness of my soul. ²I will say to God: Do not condemn me! Let me know why You prosecute me. ³Does it please You to oppress me, to reject the work of Your hands and favor the schemes of the wicked? ⁴Do You have eyes of flesh? Do You see as man sees? ⁵Are Your days like those of a mortal, or Your years like those of a man, ⁶that You should seek my iniquity and search out my sin— ⁷though You know that I am not guilty, and there is no deliverance from Your hand? ⁸Your hands shaped me and altogether formed me. Would You now turn and destroy me? ⁹Please remember that You molded me like clay. Would You now return me to dust? ¹⁰Did You not pour me out like milk, and curdle me like cheese? ¹¹You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews. ¹²You have granted me life and loving devotion, and Your care has preserved my spirit. ¹³Yet You concealed these things in Your heart, and I know that this was in Your mind: ¹⁴If I sinned, You would take note, and would not acquit me of my iniquity. ¹⁵If I am guilty, woe to me! And even if I am righteous, I cannot lift my head. I am full of shame and aware of my affliction. ¹⁶Should I hold my head high, You would hunt me like a lion, and again display Your power against me. ¹⁷You produce new witnesses against me and multiply Your anger toward me. Hardships assault me in wave after wave. ¹⁸Why then did You bring me from the womb? Oh, that I had died, and no eye had seen me! ¹⁹If only I had never come to be, but had been carried from the womb to the grave. ²⁰Are my days not few? Withdraw from me, that I may have a little comfort, ²¹before I go—never to return— to a land of darkness and gloom, ²²to a land of utter darkness, of deep shadow and disorder, where even the light is like darkness.”