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Psalm 123

1  To you I lift up my eyes, ♦︎
   to you that are enthroned in the heavens.
2  As the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, ♦︎
   or the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress,
3  So our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, ♦︎
   until he have mercy upon us.
4  Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have mercy upon us, ♦︎
   for we have had more than enough of contempt.
5  Our soul has had more than enough of the scorn of the arrogant, ♦︎
   and of the contempt of the proud.

Job Replies: The Wicked Often Go Unpunished

21Then Job answered:
¹⁷ ‘How often is the lamp of the wicked put out?
   How often does calamity come upon them?
   How often does God^* distribute pains in his anger?
¹⁸ How often are they like straw before the wind,
   and like chaff that the storm carries away?
¹⁹ You say, “God stores up their iniquity for their children.”
   Let it be paid back to them, so that they may know it.
²⁰ Let their own eyes see their destruction,
   and let them drink of the wrath of the Almighty.^*
21 For what do they care for their household after them,
   when the number of their months is cut off?
²² Will any teach God knowledge,
   seeing that he judges those that are on high?
²³ One dies in full prosperity,
   being wholly at ease and secure,
²⁴ his loins full of milk
   and the marrow of his bones moist.
²⁵ Another dies in bitterness of soul,
   never having tasted of good.
²⁶ They lie down alike in the dust,
   and the worms cover them.

²⁷ ‘Oh, I know your thoughts,
   and your schemes to wrong me.
²⁸ For you say, “Where is the house of the prince?
   Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?”
²⁹ Have you not asked those who travel the roads,
   and do you not accept their testimony,
³⁰ that the wicked are spared on the day of calamity,
   and are rescued on the day of wrath?
³¹ Who declares their way to their face,
   and who repays them for what they have done?
³² When they are carried to the grave,
   a watch is kept over their tomb.
³³ The clods of the valley are sweet to them;
   everyone will follow after,
   and those who went before are innumerable.
³⁴ How then will you comfort me with empty nothings?
   There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood.’

THE SECOND LETTER OF

John

Salutation

1 The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth, and not only I but also all who know the truth, ²because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us for ever:

3 Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from^* Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, in truth and love.

Truth and Love

4 I was overjoyed to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we have been commanded by the Father. ⁵But now, dear lady, I ask you, not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning, let us love one another. ⁶And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment just as you have heard it from the beginning—you must walk in it.

7 Many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh; any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist! ⁸Be on your guard, so that you do not lose what we^* have worked for, but may receive a full reward. ⁹Everyone who does not abide in the teaching of Christ, but goes beyond it, does not have God; whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. ¹⁰Do not receive into the house or welcome anyone who comes to you and does not bring this teaching; ¹¹for to welcome is to participate in the evil deeds of such a person.

Final Greetings

12 Although I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink; instead I hope to come to you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete.

13 The children of your elect sister send you their greetings.^*