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Prime Timers

The Prime Timers were a Bible study group at St. Martin's for eight years. One of the goals of our founder, Jackie Rose, was to have a weekly web page for the group and all the pages are still online here. The group disbanded but the readings below are being kept up to date.

Lectionary readings

The Readings for Sunday, October 7 are from Lectionary Year B, Proper 22 Sunday closest to October 5: Job 1:1; 2:1-10; Psalm 26 or Genesis 2:18-24; Psalm 8; Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12 and Mark 10:2-16. The text is from the Bible Study Tools - New International Version.

Job 1:1; 2:1-10

¹ In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil.

¹ On another day the angels came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came with them to present himself before him. ² And the LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.” ³ Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.” ⁴ “Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life. ⁵ But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.” ⁶ The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.”

⁷ So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. ⁸ Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.

⁹ His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!” ¹⁰ He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

Psalm 26

¹ Vindicate me, LORD,
     for I have led a blameless life;
     I have trusted in the LORDand have not faltered.

² Test me, LORD, and try me,
     examine my heart and my mind;

³ for I have always been mindful of your unfailing love
     and have lived in reliance on your faithfulness.

⁴ I do not sit with the deceitful,
     nor do I associate with hypocrites.

⁵ I abhor the assembly of evildoers
     and refuse to sit with the wicked.

⁶ I wash my hands in innocence,
     and go about your altar, LORD,

⁷ proclaiming aloud your praise
     and telling of all your wonderful deeds.

⁸ LORD, I love the house where you live,
     the place where your glory dwells.

⁹ Do not take away my soul along with sinners,
     my life with those who are bloodthirsty,

¹⁰ in whose hands are wicked schemes,
     whose right hands are full of bribes.

¹¹ I lead a blameless life;
     deliver me and be merciful to me.

¹² My feet stand on level ground;
     in the great congregation I will praise the LORD.

or Genesis 2:18-24

¹⁸ The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” ¹⁹ Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. ²⁰ So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals. But for Adam no suitable helper was found. ²¹ So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. ²² Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. ²³ The man said,

    “This is now bone of my bones
         and flesh of my flesh;
     she shall be called ‘woman,’
         for she was taken out of man.”

²⁴ That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

Psalm 8

¹ LORD, our Lord,
     how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory in the heavens.
    ² Through the praise of children and infants

you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
     to silence the foe and the avenger.

³ When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers,
     the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,

⁴ what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
     human beings that you care for them?

⁵ You have made them a little lower than the angels
     and crowned them with glory and honor.

⁶ You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
     you put everything under their feet:

⁷ all flocks and herds,
     and the animals of the wild,

⁸ the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea,
     all that swim the paths of the seas.

⁹ LORD, our Lord,
     how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12

¹ In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, ² but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. ³ The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. ⁴ So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.

⁵ It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. ⁶ But there is a place where someone has testified:

    “What is mankind that you are mindful of them,
         a son of man that you care for him?
   ⁷ You made them a little lower than the angels;
         you crowned them with glory and honor
   ⁸ and put everything under their feet.”

In putting everything under them, God left nothing that is not subject to them. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them. ⁹ But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

¹⁰ In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. ¹¹ Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. ¹² He says,

    “I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters;
         in the assembly I will sing your praises.”

Mark 10:2-16

² Some Pharisees came and tested him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” ³ “What did Moses command you?” he replied. ⁴ They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.” ⁵ “It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law,” Jesus replied. ⁶ “But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female.’ ⁷ ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, ⁸ and the two will become one flesh.’So they are no longer two, but one flesh. ⁹ Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

¹⁰ When they were in the house again, the disciples asked Jesus about this. ¹¹ He answered, “Anyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her. ¹² And if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery.”

¹³ People were bringing little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them, but the disciples rebuked them. ¹⁴ When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ¹⁵ Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” ¹⁶ And he took the children in his arms, placed his hands on them and blessed them.

Thanks to Bible Study Tools for today's text.