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Job 22 (ESV)

Eliphaz Speaks: Job’s Wickedness Is Great

22 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

“Can a man be profitable to God?
Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.
Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are in the right,
or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless?
Is it for your fear of him that he reproves you
and enters into judgment with you?
Is not your evil abundant?
There is no end to your iniquities.
For you have exacted pledges of your brothers for nothing
and stripped the naked of their clothing.
You have given no water to the weary to drink,
and you have withheld bread from the hungry.
The man with power possessed the land,
and the favored man lived in it.
You have sent widows away empty,
and the arms of the fatherless were crushed.
10  Therefore snares are all around you,
and sudden terror overwhelms you,
11  or darkness, so that you cannot see,
and a flood of water covers you.

12  “Is not God high in the heavens?
See the highest stars, how lofty they are!
13  But you say, ‘What does God know?
Can he judge through the deep darkness?
14  Thick clouds veil him, so that he does not see,
and he walks on the vault of heaven.’
15  Will you keep to the old way
that wicked men have trod?
16  They were snatched away before their time;
their foundation was washed away.
17  They said to God, ‘Depart from us,’
and ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’
18  Yet he filled their houses with good things—
but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
19  The righteous see it and are glad;
the innocent one mocks at them,
20  saying, ‘Surely our adversaries are cut off,
and what they left the fire has consumed.’

21  “Agree with God, and be at peace;
thereby good will come to you.
22  Receive instruction from his mouth,
and lay up his words in your heart.
23  If you return to the Almighty you will be built up;
if you remove injustice far from your tents,
24  if you lay gold in the dust,
and gold of Ophir among the stones of the torrent-bed,
25  then the Almighty will be your gold
and your precious silver.
26  For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty
and lift up your face to God.
27  You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you,
and you will pay your vows.
28  You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you,
and light will shine on your ways.
29  For when they are humbled you say, ‘It is because of pride’;
but he saves the lowly.
30  He delivers even the one who is not innocent,
who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”

Psalm 106:1–23 (ESV)

Give Thanks to the Lord, for He Is Good

106 Praise the Lord!
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever!

Who can utter the mighty deeds of the Lord,
or declare all his praise?

Blessed are they who observe justice,
who do righteousness at all times!

Remember me, O Lord, when you show favor to your people;
help me when you save them,

that I may look upon the prosperity of your chosen ones,
that I may rejoice in the gladness of your nation,
that I may glory with your inheritance.

Both we and our fathers have sinned;
we have committed iniquity; we have done wickedness.

Our fathers, when they were in Egypt,
did not consider your wondrous works;
they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love,
but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea.

Yet he saved them for his name’s sake,
that he might make known his mighty power.

He rebuked the Red Sea, and it became dry,
and he led them through the deep as through a desert.

10  So he saved them from the hand of the foe
and redeemed them from the power of the enemy.

11  And the waters covered their adversaries;
not one of them was left.

12  Then they believed his words;
they sang his praise.

13  But they soon forgot his works;
they did not wait for his counsel.

14  But they had a wanton craving in the wilderness,
and put God to the test in the desert;

15  he gave them what they asked,
but sent a wasting disease among them.

16  When men in the camp were jealous of Moses
and Aaron, the holy one of the Lord,

17  the earth opened and swallowed up Dathan,
and covered the company of Abiram.

18  Fire also broke out in their company;
the flame burned up the wicked.

19  They made a calf in Horeb
and worshiped a metal image.

20  They exchanged the glory of God
for the image of an ox that eats grass.

21  They forgot God, their Savior,
who had done great things in Egypt,

22  wondrous works in the land of Ham,
and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.

23  Therefore he said he would destroy them—
had not Moses, his chosen one,
stood in the breach before him,
to turn away his wrath from destroying them.

Luke 13:18–30 (ESV)

The Mustard Seed and the Leaven

18 He said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? 19 It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”

20 And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? 21 It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.”

The Narrow Door

22 He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23 And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ 28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. 29 And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God. 30 And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

[Luther] had previously expressed himself in a similar fashion in his sermons on Genesis of the year 1527. In these he said: “I have often said that anyone who wishes to study Holy Scripture shall see to it that he sticks to the simple meaning of the words, as far as possible, and does not depart from them unless he be compelled to do so by some article of the faith that would demand another meaning than the literal one. For we must be sure that there is no plainer speech on earth than that which God has spoken. Therefore, when Moses writes that God in six days created heaven and earth and all that therein is, let it so remain that there were six days, and you dare not find an explanation that six days were one day. Give the Holy Ghost the honor of being wiser that yourself, for you should so deal with Scripture that you believe that God Himself is speaking. Since it is God who is speaking, it is not fitting frivolously to twist His words to mean what you want them to mean, unless necessity should compel a departure from their literal meaning, namely when faith does not permit the literal meaning.” (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.

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