Day 248 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 137

¹By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. ²There on the willows we hung our harps, ³for there our captors requested a song; our tormentors demanded songs of joy: “Sing us a song of Zion.” ⁴How can we sing a song of the LORD in a foreign land? ⁵If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand cease to function. ⁶May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not exalt Jerusalem as my greatest joy! ⁷Remember, O LORD, the sons of Edom on the day Jerusalem fell: “Destroy it,” they said, “tear it down to its foundations!” ⁸O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, blessed is he who repays you as you have done to us. ⁹Blessed is he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.

New Testament·1 Corinthians 9:1–16

¹Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you yourselves not my workmanship in the Lord? ²Even if I am not an apostle to others, surely I am to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. ³This is my defense to those who scrutinize me: ⁴Have we no right to food and to drink? ⁵Have we no right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas? ⁶Or are Barnabas and I the only apostles who must work for a living? ⁷Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Who tends a flock and does not drink of its milk? ⁸Do I say this from a human perspective? Doesn’t the Law say the same thing? ⁹For it is written in the Law of Moses: “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it about oxen that God is concerned? ¹⁰Isn’t He actually speaking on our behalf? Indeed, this was written for us, because when the plowman plows and the thresher threshes, they should also expect to share in the harvest. ¹¹If we have sown spiritual seed among you, is it too much for us to reap a material harvest from you? ¹²If others have this right to your support, shouldn’t we have it all the more? But we did not exercise this right. Instead, we put up with anything rather than hinder the gospel of Christ. ¹³Do you not know that those who work in the temple eat of its food, and those who serve at the altar partake of its offerings? ¹⁴In the same way, the Lord has prescribed that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel. ¹⁵But I have not used any of these rights. And I am not writing this to suggest that something be done for me. Indeed, I would rather die than let anyone nullify my boast. ¹⁶Yet when I preach the gospel, I have no reason to boast, because I am obligated to preach. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!

Old Testament·Job 22–23

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied: ²“Can a man be of use to God? Can even a wise man benefit Him? ³Does it delight the Almighty that you are righteous? Does He profit if your ways are blameless? ⁴Is it for your reverence that He rebukes you and enters into judgment against you? ⁵Is not your wickedness great? Are not your iniquities endless? ⁶For you needlessly demanded security from your brothers and deprived the naked of their clothing. ⁷You gave no water to the weary and withheld food from the famished, ⁸while the land belonged to a mighty man, and a man of honor lived on it. ⁹You sent widows away empty-handed, and the strength of the fatherless was crushed. ¹⁰Therefore snares surround you, and sudden peril terrifies you; ¹¹it is so dark you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you. ¹²Is not God as high as the heavens? Look at the highest stars, how lofty they are! ¹³Yet you say: ‘What does God know? Does He judge through thick darkness? ¹⁴Thick clouds veil Him so He does not see us as He traverses the vault of heaven.’ ¹⁵Will you stay on the ancient path that wicked men have trod? ¹⁶They were snatched away before their time, and their foundations were swept away by a flood. ¹⁷They said to God, ‘Depart from us. What can the Almighty do to us?’ ¹⁸But it was He who filled their houses with good things; so I stay far from the counsel of the wicked. ¹⁹The righteous see it and are glad; the innocent mock them: ²⁰‘Surely our foes are destroyed, and fire has consumed their excess.’ ²¹Reconcile now and be at peace with Him; thereby good will come to you. ²²Receive instruction from His mouth, and lay up His words in your heart. ²³If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored. If you remove injustice from your tents ²⁴and consign your gold to the dust and the gold of Ophir to the stones of the ravines, ²⁵then the Almighty will be your gold and the finest silver for you. ²⁶Surely then you will delight in the Almighty and lift up your face to God. ²⁷You will pray to Him, and He will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows. ²⁸Your decisions will be carried out, and light will shine on your ways. ²⁹When men are brought low and you say, ‘Lift them up!’ then He will save the lowly. ³⁰He will deliver even one who is not innocent, rescuing him through the cleanness of your hands.”

23Then Job answered: ²“Even today my complaint is bitter. His hand is heavy despite my groaning. ³If only I knew where to find Him, so that I could go to His seat. ⁴I would plead my case before Him and fill my mouth with arguments. ⁵I would learn how He would answer, and consider what He would say. ⁶Would He contend with me in His great power? No, He would certainly take note of me. ⁷Then an upright man could reason with Him, and I would be delivered forever from my Judge. ⁸If I go east, He is not there, and if I go west, I cannot find Him. ⁹When He is at work in the north, I cannot behold Him; when He turns to the south, I cannot see Him. ¹⁰Yet He knows the way I have taken; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold. ¹¹My feet have followed in His tracks; I have kept His way without turning aside. ¹²I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my daily bread. ¹³But He is unchangeable, and who can oppose Him? He does what He desires. ¹⁴For He carries out His decree against me, and He has many such plans. ¹⁵Therefore I am terrified in His presence; when I consider 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.