Home > Reading > Daily Reading – October 13, 2018

Job 16 (ESV)

Job Replies: Miserable Comforters Are You

16 Then Job answered and said:

“I have heard many such things;
miserable comforters are you all.
Shall windy words have an end?
Or what provokes you that you answer?
I also could speak as you do,
if you were in my place;
I could join words together against you
and shake my head at you.
I could strengthen you with my mouth,
and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain.

“If I speak, my pain is not assuaged,
and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me?
Surely now God has worn me out;
he has made desolate all my company.
And he has shriveled me up,
which is a witness against me,
and my leanness has risen up against me;
it testifies to my face.
He has torn me in his wrath and hated me;
he has gnashed his teeth at me;
my adversary sharpens his eyes against me.
10  Men have gaped at me with their mouth;
they have struck me insolently on the cheek;
they mass themselves together against me.
11  God gives me up to the ungodly
and casts me into the hands of the wicked.
12  I was at ease, and he broke me apart;
he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces;
he set me up as his target;
13  his archers surround me.
He slashes open my kidneys and does not spare;
he pours out my gall on the ground.
14  He breaks me with breach upon breach;
he runs upon me like a warrior.
15  I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin
and have laid my strength in the dust.
16  My face is red with weeping,
and on my eyelids is deep darkness,
17  although there is no violence in my hands,
and my prayer is pure.

18  “O earth, cover not my blood,
and let my cry find no resting place.
19  Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven,
and he who testifies for me is on high.
20  My friends scorn me;
my eye pours out tears to God,
21  that he would argue the case of a man with God,
as a son of man does with his neighbor.
22  For when a few years have come
I shall go the way from which I shall not return.

Psalm 102 (ESV)

Do Not Hide Your Face from Me

102 A Prayer of one afflicted, when he is faint and pours out his complaint before the Lord.

Hear my prayer, O Lord;
let my cry come to you!

Do not hide your face from me
in the day of my distress!
Incline your ear to me;
answer me speedily in the day when I call!

For my days pass away like smoke,
and my bones burn like a furnace.

My heart is struck down like grass and has withered;
I forget to eat my bread.

Because of my loud groaning
my bones cling to my flesh.

I am like a desert owl of the wilderness,
like an owl of the waste places;

I lie awake;
I am like a lonely sparrow on the housetop.

All the day my enemies taunt me;
those who deride me use my name for a curse.

For I eat ashes like bread
and mingle tears with my drink,

10  because of your indignation and anger;
for you have taken me up and thrown me down.

11  My days are like an evening shadow;
I wither away like grass.

12  But you, O Lord, are enthroned forever;
you are remembered throughout all generations.

13  You will arise and have pity on Zion;
it is the time to favor her;
the appointed time has come.

14  For your servants hold her stones dear
and have pity on her dust.

15  Nations will fear the name of the Lord,
and all the kings of the earth will fear your glory.

16  For the Lord builds up Zion;
he appears in his glory;

17  he regards the prayer of the destitute
and does not despise their prayer.

18  Let this be recorded for a generation to come,
so that a people yet to be created may praise the Lord:

19  that he looked down from his holy height;
from heaven the Lord looked at the earth,

20  to hear the groans of the prisoners,
to set free those who were doomed to die,

21  that they may declare in Zion the name of the Lord,
and in Jerusalem his praise,

22  when peoples gather together,
and kingdoms, to worship the Lord.

23  He has broken my strength in midcourse;
he has shortened my days.

24  “O my God,” I say, “take me not away
in the midst of my days—
you whose years endure
throughout all generations!”

25  Of old you laid the foundation of the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands.

26  They will perish, but you will remain;
they will all wear out like a garment.
You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away,

27  but you are the same, and your years have no end.

28  The children of your servants shall dwell secure;
their offspring shall be established before you.

Luke 11:37–54 (ESV)

Woes to the Pharisees and Lawyers

37 While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked him to dine with him, so he went in and reclined at table. 38 The Pharisee was astonished to see that he did not first wash before dinner. 39 And the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. 40 You fools! Did not he who made the outside make the inside also? 41 But give as alms those things that are within, and behold, everything is clean for you.

42 “But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. 43 Woe to you Pharisees! For you love the best seat in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. 44 Woe to you! For you are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it.”

45 One of the lawyers answered him, “Teacher, in saying these things you insult us also.” 46 And he said, “Woe to you lawyers also! For you load people with burdens hard to bear, and you yourselves do not touch the burdens with one of your fingers. 47 Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets whom your fathers killed. 48 So you are witnesses and you consent to the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their tombs. 49 Therefore also the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and persecute,’ 50 so that the blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, 51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be required of this generation. 52 Woe to you lawyers! For you have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.”

53 As he went away from there, the scribes and the Pharisees began to press him hard and to provoke him to speak about many things, 54 lying in wait for him, to catch him in something he might say.

Even in the introduction [to his lectures on Galatians delivered between 1535 and 1545] Luther discussed how the six days of creation are to be understood. He recalls that Hilary and Augustine, these two great lights of the church, were of the opinion that the world was created suddenly and not gradually in the course of six days. Then he opposes this view and writes: “Because we are not sufficiently able to understand how these days occurred nor why God wished to observe such distinctions of times, we shall rather admit our ignorance than attempt to twist the words unnecessarily into an unnatural meaning. As far, therefore, as St. Augustine’s opinion is concerned, we hold that Moses spoke literally not allegorically or figuratively, that is, the world and all its creatures was created within the six days as the words declare. Because we are not able to comprehend we shall remain disciples and leave the instructorship to the Holy Ghost.” (51)

–Johann Michael Reu, Luther on the Scriptures

This daily Bible reading guide, Reading the Word of God, was conceived and prepared as a result of the ongoing discussions between representatives of three church bodies: Lutheran Church—Canada (LCC), The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) and the North American Lutheran Church (NALC). The following individuals have represented their church bodies and approved this introduction and the reading guide: LCC: President Robert Bugbee; NALC: Bishop John Bradosky, Revs. Mark Chavez, James Nestingen, and David Wendel; LCMS: Revs. Albert Collver, Joel Lehenbauer, John Pless, and Larry Vogel.

Learn More