Day 254 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 141

¹I call upon You, O LORD; come quickly to me. Hear my voice when I call to You. ²May my prayer be set before You like incense, my uplifted hands like the evening offering. ³Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch at the door of my lips. ⁴Do not let my heart be drawn to any evil thing or take part in works of wickedness with men who do iniquity; let me not feast on their delicacies. ⁵Let the righteous man strike me; let his rebuke be an act of loving devotion. It is oil for my head; let me not refuse it. For my prayer is ever against the deeds of the wicked. ⁶When their rulers are thrown down from the cliffs, the people will listen to my words, for they are pleasant. ⁷As when one plows and breaks up the soil, so our bones have been scattered at the mouth of Sheol. ⁸But my eyes are fixed on You, O GOD the Lord. In You I seek refuge; do not leave my soul defenseless. ⁹Keep me from the snares they have laid for me, and from the lures of evildoers. ¹⁰Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I pass by in safety.

New Testament·1 Corinthians 13

¹If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a ringing gong or a clanging cymbal. ²If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³If I give all I possess to the poor and exult in the surrender of my body, but have not love, I gain nothing. ⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no account of wrongs. ⁶Love takes no pleasure in evil, but rejoices in the truth. ⁷It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. ⁸Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be restrained; where there is knowledge, it will be dismissed. ⁹For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰but when the perfect comes, the partial passes away. ¹¹When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I set aside childish ways. ¹²Now we see but a dim reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. ¹³And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love; but the greatest of these is love.

Old Testament·Job 35–36

¹And Elihu went on to say: ²“Do you think this is just? You say, ‘I am more righteous than God.’ ³For you ask, ‘What does it profit me, and what benefit do I gain apart from sin?’ ⁴I will reply to you and to your friends as well. ⁵Look to the heavens and see; gaze at the clouds high above you. ⁶If you sin, what do you accomplish against Him? If you multiply your transgressions, what do you do to Him? ⁷If you are righteous, what do you give Him, or what does He receive from your hand? ⁸Your wickedness affects only a man like yourself, and your righteousness only a son of man. ⁹Men cry out under great oppression; they plead for relief from the arm of the mighty. ¹⁰But no one asks, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives us songs in the night, ¹¹who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the air?’ ¹²There they cry out, but He does not answer, because of the pride of evil men. ¹³Surely God does not listen to empty pleas, and the Almighty does not take note of it. ¹⁴How much less, then, when you say that you do not see Him, that your case is before Him and you must wait for Him, ¹⁵and further, that in His anger He has not punished or taken much notice of folly! ¹⁶So Job opens his mouth in vain and multiplies words without knowledge.”

36And Elihu continued: ²“Bear with me a little longer, and I will show you that there is more to be said on God’s behalf. ³I get my knowledge from afar, and I will ascribe justice to my Maker. ⁴For truly my words are free of falsehood; one perfect in knowledge is with you. ⁵Indeed, God is mighty, but He despises no one; He is mighty in strength of understanding. ⁶He does not keep the wicked alive, but He grants justice to the afflicted. ⁷He does not take His eyes off the righteous, but He enthrones them with kings and exalts them forever. ⁸And if men are bound with chains, caught in cords of affliction, ⁹then He tells them their deeds and how arrogantly they have transgressed. ¹⁰He opens their ears to correction and commands that they turn from iniquity. ¹¹If they obey and serve Him, then they end their days in prosperity and their years in happiness. ¹²But if they do not obey, then they perish by the sword and die without knowledge. ¹³The godless in heart harbor resentment; even when He binds them, they do not cry for help. ¹⁴They die in their youth, among the male shrine prostitutes. ¹⁵God rescues the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ears in oppression. ¹⁶Indeed, He drew you from the jaws of distress to a spacious and broad place, to a table full of richness. ¹⁷But now you are laden with the judgment due the wicked; judgment and justice have seized you. ¹⁸Be careful that no one lures you with riches; do not let a large bribe lead you astray. ¹⁹Can your wealth or all your mighty effort keep you from distress? ²⁰Do not long for the night, when people vanish from their homes. ²¹Be careful not to turn to iniquity, for this you have preferred to affliction. ²²Behold, God is exalted in His power. Who is a teacher like Him? ²³Who has appointed His way for Him, or told Him, ‘You have done wrong’? ²⁴Remember to magnify His work, which men have praised in song. ²⁵All mankind has seen it; men behold it from afar. ²⁶Indeed, God is great—beyond our knowledge; the number of His years is unsearchable. ²⁷For He draws up drops of water which distill the rain from the mist, ²⁸which the clouds pour out and shower abundantly on mankind. ²⁹Furthermore, who can understand how the clouds spread out, how the thunder roars from His pavilion? ³⁰See how He scatters His lightning around Him and covers the depths of the sea. ³¹For by these He judges the nations and provides food in abundance. ³²He fills His hands with lightning and commands it to strike its mark. ³³The thunder declares His presence; even the cattle regard the rising storm.