Sunday, 30 June

1.   "My spirit is broken, My days are extinguished, The grave is ready for me. 2.   Are not mockers with me? And does not my eye dwell on their provocation? 3.   "Now put down a pledge for me with Yourself. Who is he who will shake hands with me? 4.   For You have hidden their heart from understanding; Therefore You will not exalt them . 5.   He who speaks flattery to his friends, Even the eyes of his children will fail. 6.   "But He has made me a byword of the people, And I have become one in whose face men spit. 7.   My eye has also grown dim because of sorrow, And all my members are like shadows. 8.   Upright men are astonished at this, And the innocent stirs himself up against the hypocrite. 9.   Yet the righteous will hold to his way, And he who has clean hands will be stronger and stronger. 10.   "But please, come back again, all of you, For I shall not find one wise man among you. 11.   My days are past, My purposes are broken off, Even the thoughts of my heart. 12.   They change the night into day; ‘The light is near,’ they say , in the face of darkness. 13.   If I wait for the grave as my house, If I make my bed in the darkness, 14.   If I say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ And to the worm, ‘You are my mother and my sister,’ 15.   Where then is my hope? As for my hope, who can see it? 16.   Will they go down to the gates of Sheol? Shall we have rest together in the dust?"

1.   Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said: 2.   "How long till you put an end to words? Gain understanding, and afterward we will speak. 3.   Why are we counted as beasts, And regarded as stupid in your sight? 4.   You who tear yourself in anger, Shall the earth be forsaken for you? Or shall the rock be removed from its place? 5.   "The light of the wicked indeed goes out, And the flame of his fire does not shine. 6.   The light is dark in his tent, And his lamp beside him is put out. 7.   The steps of his strength are shortened, And his own counsel casts him down. 8.   For he is cast into a net by his own feet, And he walks into a snare. 9.   The net takes him by the heel, And a snare lays hold of him. 10.   A noose is hidden for him on the ground, And a trap for him in the road. 11.   Terrors frighten him on every side, And drive him to his feet. 12.   His strength is starved, And destruction is ready at his side. 13.   It devours patches of his skin; The firstborn of death devours his limbs. 14.   He is uprooted from the shelter of his tent, And they parade him before the king of terrors. 15.   They dwell in his tent who are none of his; Brimstone is scattered on his dwelling. 16.   His roots are dried out below, And his branch withers above. 17.   The memory of him perishes from the earth, And he has no name among the renowned. 18.   He is driven from light into darkness, And chased out of the world. 19.   He has neither son nor posterity among his people, Nor any remaining in his dwellings. 20.   Those in the west are astonished at his day, As those in the east are frightened. 21.   Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, And this is the place of him who does not know God."

1.   Then Job answered and said: 2.   "How long will you torment my soul, And break me in pieces with words? 3.   These ten times you have reproached me; You are not ashamed that you have wronged me. 4.   And if indeed I have erred, My error remains with me. 5.   If indeed you exalt yourselves against me, And plead my disgrace against me, 6.   Know then that God has wronged me, And has surrounded me with His net. 7.   "If I cry out concerning wrong, I am not heard. If I cry aloud, there is no justice. 8.   He has fenced up my way, so that I cannot pass; And He has set darkness in my paths. 9.   He has stripped me of my glory, And taken the crown from my head. 10.   He breaks me down on every side, And I am gone; My hope He has uprooted like a tree. 11.   He has also kindled His wrath against me, And He counts me as one of His enemies. 12.   His troops come together And build up their road against me; They encamp all around my tent. 13.   "He has removed my brothers far from me, And my acquaintances are completely estranged from me. 14.   My relatives have failed, And my close friends have forgotten me. 15.   Those who dwell in my house, and my maidservants, Count me as a stranger; I am an alien in their sight. 16.   I call my servant, but he gives no answer; I beg him with my mouth. 17.   My breath is offensive to my wife, And I am repulsive to the children of my own body. 18.   Even young children despise me; I arise, and they speak against me. 19.   All my close friends abhor me, And those whom I love have turned against me. 20.   My bone clings to my skin and to my flesh, And I have escaped by the skin of my teeth. 21.   "Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends, For the hand of God has struck me! 22.   Why do you persecute me as God does , And are not satisfied with my flesh? 23.   "Oh, that my words were written! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book! 24.   That they were engraved on a rock With an iron pen and lead, forever! 25.   For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; 26.   And after my skin is destroyed, this I know , That in my flesh I shall see God, 27.   Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me! 28.   If you should say, ‘How shall we persecute him?’ ––Since the root of the matter is found in me, 29.   Be afraid of the sword for yourselves; For wrath brings the punishment of the sword, That you may know there is a judgment."

1.   O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? 2.   This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3.   Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? 4.   Have you suffered so many things in vain––if indeed it was in vain? 5.   Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? –– 6.   just as Abraham "believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." 7.   Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. 8.   And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying , "In you all the nations shall be blessed." 9.   So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. 10.   For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them." 11.   But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for "the just shall live by faith." 12.   Yet the law is not of faith, but "the man who does them shall live by them." 13.   Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"), 14.   that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. 15.   Brethren, I speak in the manner of men: Though it is only a man’s covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it. 16.   Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, "And to seeds," as of many, but as of one, "And to your Seed," who is Christ. 17.   And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. 18.   For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise. 19.   What purpose then does the law serve ? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. 20.   Now a mediator does not mediate for one only , but God is one. 21.   Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. 22.   But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 23.   But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. 24.   Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25.   But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. 26.   For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27.   For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28.   There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29.   And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.