Day 247 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 136:19–26

¹⁹Sihon king of the Amorites His loving devotion endures forever. ²⁰and Og king of Bashan— His loving devotion endures forever. ²¹and He gave their land as an inheritance, His loving devotion endures forever. ²²a heritage to His servant Israel. His loving devotion endures forever. ²³He remembered us in our low estate His loving devotion endures forever. ²⁴and freed us from our enemies. His loving devotion endures forever. ²⁵He gives food to every creature. His loving devotion endures forever. ²⁶Give thanks to the God of heaven! His loving devotion endures forever.

New Testament·1 Corinthians 7:26–8:13

²⁶Because of the present crisis, I think it is good for a man to remain as he is. ²⁷Are you committed to a wife? Do not seek to be released. Are you free of commitment? Do not look for a wife. ²⁸But if you do marry, you have not sinned. And if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this. ²⁹What I am saying, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none; ³⁰those who weep, as if they did not; those who are joyful, as if they were not; those who make a purchase, as if they had nothing; ³¹and those who use the things of this world, as if not dependent on them. For this world in its present form is passing away. ³²I want you to be free from concern. The unmarried man is concerned about the work of the Lord, how he can please the Lord. ³³But the married man is concerned about the affairs of this world, how he can please his wife, ³⁴and his interests are divided. The unmarried woman or virgin is concerned about the work of the Lord, how she can be holy in both body and spirit. But the married woman is concerned about the affairs of this world, how she can please her husband. ³⁵I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but in order to promote proper decorum and undivided devotion to the Lord. ³⁶However, if someone thinks he is acting inappropriately toward his betrothed, and if she is beyond her youth and they ought to marry, let him do as he wishes; he is not sinning; they should get married. ³⁷But the man who is firmly established in his heart and under no constraint, with control over his will and resolve in his heart not to marry the virgin, he will do well. ³⁸So then, he who marries the virgin does well, but he who does not marry her does even better. ³⁹A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, as long as he belongs to the Lord. ⁴⁰In my judgment, however, she is happier if she remains as she is. And I think that I too have the Spirit of God.

8Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. ²The one who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. ³But the one who loves God is known by God. ⁴So about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world, and that there is no God but one. ⁵For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many so-called gods and lords), ⁶yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we exist. And there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we exist. ⁷But not everyone has this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that they eat such food as if it were sacrificed to an idol. And since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. ⁸But food does not bring us closer to God: We are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do. ⁹Be careful, however, that your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. ¹⁰For if someone with a weak conscience sees you who are well informed eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged to eat food sacrificed to idols? ¹¹So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. ¹²By sinning against your brothers in this way and wounding their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. ¹³Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to stumble.

Old Testament·Job 20–21

¹Then Zophar the Naamathite replied: ²“So my anxious thoughts compel me to answer, because of the turmoil within me. ³I have heard a rebuke that insults me, and my understanding prompts a reply. ⁴Do you not know that from antiquity, since man was placed on the earth, ⁵the triumph of the wicked has been brief and the joy of the godless momentary? ⁶Though his arrogance reaches the heavens, and his head touches the clouds, ⁷he will perish forever, like his own dung; those who had seen him will ask, ‘Where is he?’ ⁸He will fly away like a dream, never to be found; he will be chased away like a vision in the night. ⁹The eye that saw him will see him no more, and his place will no longer behold him. ¹⁰His sons will seek the favor of the poor, for his own hands must return his wealth. ¹¹The youthful vigor that fills his bones will lie down with him in the dust. ¹²Though evil is sweet in his mouth and he conceals it under his tongue, ¹³though he cannot bear to let it go and keeps it in his mouth, ¹⁴yet in his stomach his food sours into the venom of cobras within him. ¹⁵He swallows wealth but vomits it out; God will force it from his stomach. ¹⁶He will suck the poison of cobras; the fangs of a viper will kill him. ¹⁷He will not enjoy the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and cream. ¹⁸He must return the fruit of his labor without consuming it; he cannot enjoy the profits of his trading. ¹⁹For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor; he has seized houses he did not build. ²⁰Because his appetite is never satisfied, he cannot escape with his treasure. ²¹Nothing is left for him to consume; thus his prosperity will not endure. ²²In the midst of his plenty, he will be distressed; the full force of misery will come upon him. ²³When he has filled his stomach, God will vent His fury upon him, raining it down on him as he eats. ²⁴Though he flees from an iron weapon, a bronze-tipped arrow will pierce him. ²⁵It is drawn out of his back, the gleaming point from his liver. Terrors come over him. ²⁶Total darkness is reserved for his treasures. A fire unfanned will consume him and devour what is left in his tent. ²⁷The heavens will expose his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him. ²⁸The possessions of his house will be removed, flowing away on the day of God’s wrath. ²⁹This is the wicked man’s portion from God, the inheritance God has appointed him.”

21Then Job answered: ²“Listen carefully to my words; let this be your consolation to me. ³Bear with me while I speak; then, after I have spoken, you may go on mocking. ⁴Is my complaint against a man? Then why should I not be impatient? ⁵Look at me and be appalled; put your hand over your mouth. ⁶When I remember, terror takes hold, and my body trembles in horror. ⁷Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power? ⁸Their descendants are established around them, and their offspring before their eyes. ⁹Their homes are safe from fear; no rod of punishment from God is upon them. ¹⁰Their bulls breed without fail; their cows bear calves and do not miscarry. ¹¹They send forth their little ones like a flock; their children skip about, ¹²singing to the tambourine and lyre and making merry at the sound of the flute. ¹³They spend their days in prosperity and go down to Sheol in peace. ¹⁴Yet they say to God: ‘Leave us alone! For we have no desire to know Your ways. ¹⁵Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him, and what would we gain if we pray to Him?’ ¹⁶Still, their prosperity is not in their own hands, so I stay far from the counsel of the wicked. ¹⁷How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? Does disaster come upon them? Does God, in His anger, apportion destruction? ¹⁸Are they like straw before the wind, like chaff swept away by a storm? ¹⁹It is said that God lays up one’s punishment for his children. Let God repay the man himself, so he will know it. ²⁰Let his eyes see his own destruction; let him drink for himself the wrath of the Almighty. ²¹For what does he care about his household after him, when the number of his months has run out? ²²Can anyone teach knowledge to God, since He judges those on high? ²³One man dies full of vigor, completely secure and at ease. ²⁴His body is well nourished, and his bones are rich with marrow. ²⁵Yet another man dies in the bitterness of his soul, having never tasted prosperity. ²⁶But together they lie down in the dust, and worms cover them both. ²⁷Behold, I know your thoughts full well, the schemes by which you would wrong me. ²⁸For you say, ‘Where now is the nobleman’s house, and where are the tents in which the wicked dwell?’ ²⁹Have you never asked those who travel the roads? Do you not accept their reports? ³⁰Indeed, the evil man is spared from the day of calamity, delivered from the day of wrath. ³¹Who denounces his behavior to his face? Who repays him for what he has done? ³²He is carried to the grave, and watch is kept over his tomb. ³³The clods of the valley are sweet to him; everyone follows behind him, and those before him are without number. ³⁴So how can you comfort me with empty words? For your answers remain full of falsehood.”