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First Reading: Job Chapter 14 and 15
Job 14
14:1
"Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. 2 He springs up
like a flower and withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.
3 Do you fix your eye on such a one? Will you bring him before you for judgment?
4 Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one! 5 Man's days are determined;
you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.
6 So look away from him and let him alone, till he has put in his time like
a hired man.
7 "At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout
again, and its new shoots will not fail. 8 Its roots may grow old in the ground
and its stump die in the soil, 9 yet at the scent of water it will bud and put
forth shoots like a plant. 10 But man dies and is laid low; he breathes his
last and is no more. 11 As water disappears from the sea or a riverbed becomes
parched and dry, 12 so man lies down and does not rise; till the heavens are
no more, men will not awake or be roused from their sleep.
13 "If only you would hide me in the grave and conceal me till your anger
has passed! If only you would set me a time and then remember me! 14 If a man
dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait for my
renewal to come. 15 You will call and I will answer you; you will long for the
creature your hands have made. 16 Surely then you will count my steps but not
keep track of my sin. 17 My offenses will be sealed up in a bag; you will cover
over my sin.
18 "But as a mountain erodes and crumbles and as a rock is moved from its
place, 19 as water wears away stones and torrents wash away the soil, so you
destroy man's hope. 20 You overpower him once for all, and he is gone; you change
his countenance and send him away. 21 If his sons are honored, he does not know
it; if they are brought low, he does not see it. 22 He feels but the pain of
his own body and mourns only for himself."
Job 15
15:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
2 "Would a wise man answer with empty notions or fill his belly with the
hot east wind? 3 Would he argue with useless words, with speeches that have
no value? 4 But you even undermine piety and hinder devotion to God. 5 Your
sin prompts your mouth; you adopt the tongue of the crafty. 6 Your own mouth
condemns you, not mine; your own lips testify against you.
7 "Are you the first man ever born? Were you brought forth before the hills?
8 Do you listen in on God's council? Do you limit wisdom to yourself? 9 What
do you know that we do not know? What insights do you have that we do not have?
10 The gray-haired and the aged are on our side, men even older than your father.
11 Are God's consolations not enough for you, words spoken gently to you? 12
Why has your heart carried you away, and why do your eyes flash, 13 so that
you vent your rage against God and pour out such words from your mouth?
14 "What is man, that he could be pure, or one born of woman, that he could
be righteous? 15 If God places no trust in his holy ones, if even the heavens
are not pure in his eyes, 16 how much less man, who is vile and corrupt, who
drinks up evil like water!
17 "Listen to me and I will explain to you; let me tell you what I have
seen, 18 what wise men have declared, hiding nothing received from their fathers
19(to whom alone the land was given when no alien passed among them): 20 All
his days the wicked man suffers torment, the ruthless through all the years
stored up for him. 21 Terrifying sounds fill his ears; when all seems well,
marauders attack him. 22 He despairs of escaping the darkness; he is marked
for the sword. 23 He wanders about-food for vultures; he knows the day of darkness
is at hand. 24 Distress and anguish fill him with terror; they overwhelm him,
like a king poised to attack, 25 because he shakes his fist at God and vaunts
himself against the Almighty, 26 defiantly charging against him with a thick,
strong shield.
27 "Though his face is covered with fat and his waist bulges with flesh,
28 he will inhabit ruined towns and houses where no one lives, houses crumbling
to rubble. 29 He will no longer be rich and his wealth will not endure, nor
will his possessions spread over the land. 30 He will not escape the darkness;
a flame will wither his shoots, and the breath of God's mouth will carry him
away. 31 Let him not deceive himself by trusting what is worthless, for he will
get nothing in return. 32 Before his time he will be paid in full, and his branches
will not flourish. 33 He will be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes,
like an olive tree shedding its blossoms. 34 For the company of the godless
will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of those who love bribes. 35
They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb fashions deceit."
Luke 8
8:1 After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another,
proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, 2
and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called
Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; 3 Joanna the wife of Cuza, the
manager of Herod's household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping
to support them out of their own means.
4 While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town
after town, he told this parable: 5 "A farmer went out to sow his seed.
As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on,
and the birds of the air ate it up. 6 Some fell on rock, and when it came up,
the plants withered because they had no moisture. 7 Other seed fell among thorns,
which grew up with it and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good
soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown."
When he said this, he called out, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
9 His disciples asked him what this parable meant. 10 He said, "The knowledge
of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I
speak in parables, so that,
"'though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.'
11 "This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. 12
Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes
away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.
13 Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear
it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing
they fall away. 14 The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear,
but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures,
and they do not mature. 15 But the seed on good soil stands for those with a
noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce
a crop.
16 "No one lights a lamp and hides it in a jar or puts it under a bed.
Instead, he puts it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light.
17 For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed
that will not be known or brought out into the open. 18 Therefore consider carefully
how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even
what he thinks he has will be taken from him."
19 Now Jesus' mother and brothers came to see him, but they were not able to
get near him because of the crowd. 20 Someone told him, "Your mother and
brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you."
21 He replied, "My mother and brothers are those who hear God's word and
put it into practice."
22 One day Jesus said to his disciples, "Let's go over to the other side
of the lake." So they got into a boat and set out. 23 As they sailed, he
fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped,
and they were in great danger.
24 The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Master, Master, we're going
to drown!"
He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and
all was calm. 25 "Where is your faith?" he asked his disciples.
In fear and amazement they asked one another, "Who is this? He commands
even the winds and the water, and they obey him."
26 They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes,
which is across the lake from Galilee. 27 When Jesus stepped ashore, he was
met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not
worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs. 28 When he saw
Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice,
"What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you,
don't torture me!" 29 For Jesus had commanded the evil spirit to come out
of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and
foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the
demon into solitary places.
30 Jesus asked him, "What is your name?"
"Legion," he replied, because many demons had gone into him. 31 And
they begged him repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.
32 A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged
Jesus to let them go into them, and he gave them permission. 33 When the demons
came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep
bank into the lake and was drowned.
34 When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported
this in the town and countryside, 35 and the people went out to see what had
happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had
gone out, sitting at Jesus' feet, dressed and in his right mind; and they were
afraid. 36 Those who had seen it told the people how the demon-possessed man
had been cured. 37 Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked
Jesus to leave them, because they were overcome with fear. So he got into the
boat and left.
38 The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to go with him, but Jesus
sent him away, saying, 39 "Return home and tell how much God has done for
you." So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done
for him.
40 Now when Jesus returned, a crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting
him. 41 Then a man named Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, came and fell at
Jesus' feet, pleading with him to come to his house 42 because his only daughter,
a girl of about twelve, was dying.
As Jesus was on his way, the crowds almost crushed him. 43 And a woman was there
who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years, but no one could heal her.
44 She came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately
her bleeding stopped.
45 "Who touched me?" Jesus asked.
When they all denied it, Peter said, "Master, the people are crowding and
pressing against you."
46 But Jesus said, "Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out
from me."
47 Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and
fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched
him and how she had been instantly healed. 48 Then he said to her, "Daughter,
your faith has healed you. Go in peace."
49 While Jesus was still speaking, someone came from the house of Jairus, the
synagogue ruler. "Your daughter is dead," he said. "Don't bother
the teacher any more."
50 Hearing this, Jesus said to Jairus, "Don't be afraid; just believe,
and she will be healed."
51 When he arrived at the house of Jairus, he did not let anyone go in with
him except Peter, John and James, and the child's father and mother. 52 Meanwhile,
all the people were wailing and mourning for her. "Stop wailing,"
Jesus said. "She is not dead but asleep."
53 They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. 54 But he took her by the
hand and said, "My child, get up!" 55 Her spirit returned, and at
once she stood up. Then Jesus told them to give her something to eat. 56 Her
parents were astonished, but he ordered them not to tell anyone what had happened.
GOOD VS. EVIL
Part 2 of 7
The Bible states in several different places that evil or sin comes from the heart of mankind:
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