November 29: Psalm 119:89–176; Job 2; Isaiah 23; John 19:17–42 - a podcast by Crossway

Psalm 119:89–176(Listen)

Lamedh

89   Forever, O LORD, your word
    is firmly fixed in the heavens.
90   Your faithfulness endures to all generations;
    you have established the earth, and it stands fast.
91   By your appointment they stand this day,
    for all things are your servants.
92   If your law had not been my delight,
    I would have perished in my affliction.
93   I will never forget your precepts,
    for by them you have given me life.
94   I am yours; save me,
    for I have sought your precepts.
95   The wicked lie in wait to destroy me,
    but I consider your testimonies.
96   I have seen a limit to all perfection,
    but your commandment is exceedingly broad.

Mem

97   Oh how I love your law!
    It is my meditation all the day.
98   Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies,
    for it is ever with me.
99   I have more understanding than all my teachers,
    for your testimonies are my meditation.
100   I understand more than the aged,¹
    for I keep your precepts.
101   I hold back my feet from every evil way,
    in order to keep your word.
102   I do not turn aside from your rules,
    for you have taught me.
103   How sweet are your words to my taste,
    sweeter than honey to my mouth!
104   Through your precepts I get understanding;
    therefore I hate every false way.

Nun

105   Your word is a lamp to my feet
    and a light to my path.
106   I have sworn an oath and confirmed it,
    to keep your righteous rules.
107   I am severely afflicted;
    give me life, O LORD, according to your word!
108   Accept my freewill offerings of praise, O LORD,
    and teach me your rules.
109   I hold my life in my hand continually,
    but I do not forget your law.
110   The wicked have laid a snare for me,
    but I do not stray from your precepts.
111   Your testimonies are my heritage forever,
    for they are the joy of my heart.
112   I incline my heart to perform your statutes
    forever, to the end.²

Samekh

113   I hate the double-minded,
    but I love your law.
114   You are my hiding place and my shield;
    I hope in your word.
115   Depart from me, you evildoers,
    that I may keep the commandments of my God.
116   Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live,
    and let me not be put to shame in my hope!
117   Hold me up, that I may be safe
    and have regard for your statutes continually!
118   You spurn all who go astray from your statutes,
    for their cunning is in vain.
119   All the wicked of the earth youdiscard like dross,
    therefore I love your testimonies.
120   My flesh trembles for fear of you,
    and I am afraid of your judgments.

Ayin

121   I have done what is just and right;
    do not leave me to my oppressors.
122   Give your servant a pledge of good;
    let not the insolent oppress me.
123   My eyes long for your salvation
    and for the fulfillment of your righteous promise.
124   Deal with your servant according to your steadfast love,
    and teach me your statutes.
125   I am your servant; give me understanding,
    that I may know your testimonies!
126   It is time for the LORD to act,
    for your law has been broken.
127   Therefore I love your commandments
    above gold, above fine gold.
128   Therefore I consider all your precepts to be right;
    I hate every false way.

Pe

129   Your testimonies are wonderful;
    therefore my soul keeps them.
130   The unfolding of your words gives light;
    it imparts understanding to the simple.
131   I open my mouth and pant,
    because I long for your commandments.
132   Turn to me and be gracious to me,
    as is your way with those who love your name.
133   Keep steady my steps according to your promise,
    and let no iniquity get dominion over me.
134   Redeem me from man’s oppression,
    that I may keep your precepts.
135   Make your face shine upon your servant,
    and teach me your statutes.
136   My eyes shed streams of tears,
    because people do not keep your law.

Tsadhe

137   Righteous are you, O LORD,
    and right are your rules.
138   You have appointed your testimonies in righteousness
    and in all faithfulness.
139   My zeal consumes me,
    because my foes forget your words.
140   Your promise is well tried,
    and your servant loves it.
141   I am small and despised,
    yet I do not forget your precepts.
142   Your righteousness is righteous forever,
    and your law is true.
143   Trouble and anguish have found me out,
    but your commandments are my delight.
144   Your testimonies are righteous forever;
    give me understanding that I may live.

Qoph

145   With my whole heart I cry; answer me, O LORD!
    I will keep your statutes.
146   I call to you; save me,
    that I may observe your testimonies.
147   I rise before dawn and cry for help;
    I hope in your words.
148   My eyes are awake before the watches of the night,
    that I may meditate on your promise.
149   Hear my voice according to your steadfast love;
    O LORD, according to your justice give me life.
150   They draw near who persecute me with evil purpose;
    they are far from your law.
151   But you are near, O LORD,
    and all your commandments are true.
152   Long have I known from your testimonies
    that you have founded them forever.

Resh

153   Look on my affliction and deliver me,
    for I do not forget your law.
154   Plead my cause and redeem me;
    give me life according to your promise!
155   Salvation is far from the wicked,
    for they do not seek your statutes.
156   Great is your mercy, O LORD;
    give me life according to your rules.
157   Many are my persecutors and my adversaries,
    but I do not swerve from your testimonies.
158   I look at the faithless with disgust,
    because they do not keep your commands.
159   Consider how I love your precepts!
    Give me life according to your steadfast love.
160   The sum of your word is truth,
    and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.

Sin and Shin

161   Princes persecute me without cause,
    but my heart stands in awe of your words.
162   I rejoice at your word
    like one who finds great spoil.
163   I hate and abhor falsehood,
    but I love your law.
164   Seven times a day I praise you
    for your righteous rules.
165   Great peace have those who love your law;
    nothing can make them stumble.
166   I hope for your salvation, O LORD,
    and I do your commandments.
167   My soul keeps your testimonies;
    I love them exceedingly.
168   I keep your precepts and testimonies,
    for all my ways are before you.

Taw

169   Let my cry come before you, O LORD;
    give me understanding according to your word!
170   Let my plea come before you;
    deliver me according to your word.
171   My lips will pour forth praise,
    for you teach me your statutes.
172   My tongue will sing of your word,
    for all your commandments are right.
173   Let your hand be ready to help me,
    for I have chosen your precepts.
174   I long for your salvation, O LORD,
    and your law is my delight.
175   Let my soul live and praise you,
    and let your rules help me.
176   I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant,
    for I do not forget your commandments.

(ESV)

Job 2(Listen)

Satan Attacks Job’s Health

2 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD.2 And the LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”3 And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.”4 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life.5 But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.”6 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.”

7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.8 And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes.

9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.”10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”¹In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

Job’s Three Friends

11 Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him.12 And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven.13 And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.

(ESV)

Isaiah 23(Listen)

An Oracle Concerning Tyre and Sidon

23 The oracle concerning Tyre.

  Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
    for Tyre is laid waste, without house or harbor!
  From the land of Cyprus¹
    it is revealed to them.
2   Be still, O inhabitants of the coast;
    the merchants of Sidon, who cross the sea, have filled you.
3   And on many waters
  your revenue was the grain of Shihor,
    the harvest of the Nile;
    you were the merchant of the nations.
4   Be ashamed, O Sidon, for the sea has spoken,
    the stronghold of the sea, saying:
  “I have neither labored nor given birth,
    I have neither reared young men
    nor brought up young women.”
5   When the report comes to Egypt,
    they will be in anguish²over the report about Tyre.
6   Cross over to Tarshish;
    wail, O inhabitants of the coast!
7   Is this your exultant city
    whose origin is from days of old,
  whose feet carried her
    to settle far away?
8   Who has purposed this
    against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,
  whose merchants were princes,
    whose traders were the honored of the earth?
9   The LORD of hosts has purposed it,
    to defile the pompous pride of all glory,³
    to dishonor all the honored of the earth.
10   Cross over your land like the Nile,
    O daughter of Tarshish;
    there is no restraint anymore.
11   He has stretched out his hand over the sea;
    he has shaken the kingdoms;
  the LORD has given command concerning Canaan
    to destroy its strongholds.
12   And he said:
  “You will no more exult,
    O oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon;
  arise, cross over to Cyprus,
    even there you will have no rest.”

13 Behold the land of the Chaldeans! This is the people that was not;⁴Assyria destined it for wild beasts. They erected their siege towers, they stripped her palaces bare, they made her a ruin.

14   Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
    for your stronghold is laid waste.

15 In that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, like the days⁵of one king. At the end of seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:

16   “Take a harp;
    go about the city,
    O forgotten prostitute!
  Make sweet melody;
    sing many songs,
    that you may be remembered.”

17 At the end of seventy years, the LORD will visit Tyre, and she will return to her wages and will prostitute herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth.18 Her merchandise and her wages will be holy to the LORD. It will not be stored or hoarded, but her merchandise will supply abundant food and fine clothing for those who dwell before the LORD.

(ESV)

John 19:17–42(Listen)

17 and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha.18 There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them.19 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”20 Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek.21 So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’”22 Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.”

23 When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic.¹But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom,24 so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says,

  “They divided my garments among them,
    and for my clothing they cast lots.”

So the soldiers did these things,25 but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother,“Woman, behold, your son!”27 Then he said to the disciple,“Behold, your mother!”And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

The Death of Jesus

28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture),“I thirst.”29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth.30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said,“It is finished,”and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Jesus’ Side Is Pierced

31 Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away.32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him.33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.34 But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water.35 He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe.36 For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.”37 And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.”

Jesus Is Buried

38 After these things Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus, and Pilate gave him permission. So he came and took away his body.39 Nicodemus also, who earlier had come to Jesus²by night, came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds³in weight.40 So they took the body of Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.41 Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.42 So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.

(ESV)