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Psalm 39

1  I said, ‘I will keep watch over my ways, ♦︎
   so that I offend not with my tongue.
2  ‘I will guard my mouth with a muzzle, ♦︎
   while the wicked are in my sight.’
3  So I held my tongue and said nothing; ♦︎
   I kept silent but to no avail.
4  My distress increased, my heart grew hot within me; ♦︎
   while I mused, the fire was kindled
      and I spoke out with my tongue:
5  ‘Lord, let me know my end and the number of my days, ♦︎
   that I may know how short my time is.
6  ‘You have made my days but a handsbreadth,
      and my lifetime is as nothing in your sight; ♦︎
   truly, even those who stand upright are but a breath.
7  ‘We walk about like a shadow
      and in vain we are in turmoil; ♦︎
   we heap up riches and cannot tell who will gather them.
8  ‘And now, what is my hope? ♦︎
   Truly my hope is even in you.
9  ‘Deliver me from all my transgressions ♦︎
   and do not make me the taunt of the fool.’
10  I fell silent and did not open my mouth, ♦︎
   for surely it was your doing.
11  Take away your plague from me; ♦︎
   I am consumed by the blows of your hand.
12  With rebukes for sin you punish us;
      like a moth you consume our beauty; ♦︎
   truly, everyone is but a breath.
13  Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my cry; ♦︎
   hold not your peace at my tears.
14  For I am but a stranger with you, ♦︎
   a wayfarer, as all my forebears were.
15  Turn your gaze from me, that I may be glad again, ♦︎
   before I go my way and am no more.

Elihu Rebukes Job’s Friends

32So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. ²Then Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became angry. He was angry at Job because he justified himself rather than God; ³he was angry also at Job’s three friends because they had found no answer, though they had declared Job to be in the wrong.^{* 4}Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job, because they were older than he. ⁵But when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouths of these three men, he became angry.

6 Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite answered:
‘I am young in years,
   and you are aged;
therefore I was timid and afraid
   to declare my opinion to you.
⁷ I said, “Let days speak,
   and many years teach wisdom.”
⁸ But truly it is the spirit in a mortal,
   the breath of the Almighty,^* that makes for understanding.
⁹ It is not the old^* that are wise,
   nor the aged that understand what is right.
¹⁰ Therefore I say, “Listen to me;
   let me also declare my opinion.”

¹¹ ‘See, I waited for your words,
   I listened for your wise sayings,
   while you searched out what to say.
¹² I gave you my attention,
   but there was in fact no one that confuted Job,
   no one among you that answered his words.
¹³ Yet do not say, “We have found wisdom;
   God may vanquish him, not a human.”
¹⁴ He has not directed his words against me,
   and I will not answer him with your speeches.

¹⁵ ‘They are dismayed, they answer no more;
   they have not a word to say.
¹⁶ And am I to wait, because they do not speak,
   because they stand there, and answer no more?
¹⁷ I also will give my answer;
   I also will declare my opinion.
¹⁸ For I am full of words;
   the spirit within me constrains me.
¹⁹ My heart is indeed like wine that has no vent;
   like new wineskins, it is ready to burst.
²⁰ I must speak, so that I may find relief;
   I must open my lips and answer.
²¹ I will not show partiality to any person
   or use flattery towards anyone.
²² For I do not know how to flatter—
   or my Maker would soon put an end to me!

The Rich Man and Lazarus

19 ‘There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. ²⁰And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, ²¹who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. ²²The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham.^* The rich man also died and was buried. ²³In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side.^{* 24}He called out, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.” ²⁵But Abraham said, “Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. ²⁶Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.” ²⁷He said, “Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house— ²⁸for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.” ²⁹Abraham replied, “They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.” ³⁰He said, “No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.” ³¹He said to him, “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.” ’