Job 9 Cross References - BSB

¹ Then Job answered: ² “Yes, I know that it is so, but how can a mortal be righteous before God? ³ If one wished to contend with God, he could not answer Him one time out of a thousand. ⁴ God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has resisted Him and prospered? ⁵ He moves mountains without their knowledge and overturns them in His anger. ⁶ He shakes the earth from its place, so that its foundations tremble. ⁷ He commands the sun not to shine; He seals off the stars. ⁸ He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea. ⁹ He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion, of the Pleiades and the constellations of the south. ¹⁰ He does great things beyond searching out, and wonders without number. ¹¹ Were He to pass by me, I would not see Him; were He to move, I would not recognize Him. ¹² If He takes away, who can stop Him? Who dares to ask Him, ‘What are You doing?’ ¹³ God does not restrain His anger; the helpers of Rahab cower beneath Him. ¹⁴ How then can I answer Him or choose my arguments against Him? ¹⁵ For even if I were right, I could not answer. I could only beg my Judge for mercy. ¹⁶ If I summoned Him and He answered me, I do not believe He would listen to my voice. ¹⁷ For He would crush me with a tempest and multiply my wounds without cause. ¹⁸ He does not let me catch my breath, but overwhelms me with bitterness. ¹⁹ If it is a matter of strength, He is indeed mighty! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon Him? ²⁰ Even if I were righteous, my mouth would condemn me; if I were blameless, it would declare me guilty. ²¹ Though I am blameless, I have no concern for myself; I despise my own life. ²² It is all the same, and so I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’ ²³ When the scourge brings sudden death, He mocks the despair of the innocent. ²⁴ The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; He blindfolds its judges. If it is not He, then who is it? ²⁵ My days are swifter than a runner; they flee without seeing good. ²⁶ They sweep by like boats of papyrus, like an eagle swooping down on its prey. ²⁷ If I were to say, ‘I will forget my complaint and change my expression and smile,’ ²⁸ I would still dread all my sufferings; I know that You will not acquit me. ²⁹ Since I am already found guilty, why should I labor in vain? ³⁰ If I should wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye, ³¹ then You would plunge me into the pit, and even my own clothes would despise me. ³² For He is not a man like me, that I can answer Him, that we can take each other to court. ³³ Nor is there a mediator between us, to lay his hand upon us both. ³⁴ Let Him remove His rod from me, so that His terror will no longer frighten me. ³⁵ Then I would speak without fear of Him. But as it is, I am on my own.

⁴⁶ When they sin against You—for there is no one who does not sin—and You become angry with them and deliver them to an enemy who takes them as captives to his own land, whether far or near,

¹⁷ ‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God, or a man more pure than his Maker?

³ Do You open Your eyes to one like this? Will You bring him into judgment before You? ⁴ Who can bring out clean from unclean? No one!

⁴ How then can a man be just before God? How can one born of woman be pure?

² This kindled the anger of Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram. He burned with anger against Job for justifying himself rather than God,

⁹ ‘I am pure, without transgression; I am clean, with no iniquity in me.

⁵ For Job has declared, ‘I am righteous, yet God has deprived me of justice.

³ If You, O LORD, kept track of iniquities, then who, O Lord, could stand?

² Do not bring Your servant into judgment, for no one alive is righteous before You.

²⁰ Therefore no one will be justified in His sight by works of the law. For the law merely brings awareness of sin.

²⁰ Even if I were righteous, my mouth would condemn me; if I were blameless, it would declare me guilty.

³² For He is not a man like me, that I can answer Him, that we can take each other to court. ³³ Nor is there a mediator between us, to lay his hand upon us both.

² I will say to God: Do not condemn me! Let me know why You prosecute me.

³ If only I knew where to find Him, so that I could go to His seat. ⁴ I would plead my case before Him and fill my mouth with arguments. ⁵ I would learn how He would answer, and consider what He would say. ⁶ Would He contend with me in His great power? No, He would certainly take note of me. ⁷ Then an upright man could reason with Him, and I would be delivered forever from my Judge.

³⁵ (Oh, that I had one to hear me! Here is my signature. Let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser compose an indictment. ³⁶ Surely I would carry it on my shoulder and wear it like a crown. ³⁷ I would give account of all my steps; I would approach Him like a prince.)—

¹³ Why do you complain to Him that He answers nothing a man asks?

¹⁴ If He were to set His heart to it and withdraw His Spirit and breath, ¹⁵ all flesh would perish together and mankind would return to the dust.

² “Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let him who argues with God give an answer.”

¹² Who can discern his own errors? Cleanse me from my hidden faults.

¹² For evils without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, so that I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart has failed within me.

¹⁵ For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and humble in spirit, to restore the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the contrite. ¹⁶ For I will not accuse you forever, nor will I always be angry; for then the spirit of man would grow weak before Me, with the breath of those I have made.

²⁰ But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, “Why did You make me like this?”

⁸ If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

²⁰ Even if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and He knows all things.

¹⁴ Otherwise, I will send all My plagues against you and your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like Me in all the earth. ¹⁵ For by this time I could have stretched out My hand and struck you and your people with a plague to wipe you off the earth. ¹⁶ But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display My power to you, and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth. ¹⁷ Still, you lord it over My people and do not allow them to go.

¹⁷ And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. Then I will gain honor by means of Pharaoh and all his army and chariots and horsemen. ¹⁸ The Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I am honored through Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

¹² Now behold, God Himself is with us as our head, and His priests with their trumpets sound the battle call against you. O children of Israel, do not fight against the LORD, the God of your fathers, for you will not succeed.”

¹⁰ It still brings me comfort, and joy through unrelenting pain, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

¹⁹ If it is a matter of strength, He is indeed mighty! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon Him?

⁶ and disclose to you the secrets of wisdom, for true wisdom has two sides. Know then that God exacts from you less than your iniquity deserves.

¹³ Wisdom and strength belong to God; counsel and understanding are His.

²³ He wanders about as food for vultures; he knows the day of darkness is at hand. ²⁴ Distress and anguish terrify him, overwhelming him like a king poised to attack. ²⁵ For he has stretched out his hand against God and has vaunted himself against the Almighty, ²⁶ rushing headlong at Him with a thick, studded shield. ²⁷ Though his face is covered with fat and his waistline bulges with flesh,

⁵ Indeed, God is mighty, but He despises no one; He is mighty in strength of understanding.

⁹ Do you have an arm like God’s? Can you thunder with a voice like His?

²⁴ How many are Your works, O LORD! In wisdom You have made them all; the earth is full of Your creatures.

⁵ By His insight He made the heavens. His loving devotion endures forever.

¹⁴ Blessed is the man who is always reverent, but he who hardens his heart falls into trouble.

¹ A man who remains stiff-necked after much reproof will suddenly be shattered beyond recovery.

²⁰ and declared: “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to Him.

³⁴ But at the end of those days I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to heaven, and my sanity was restored to me. Then I praised the Most High, and I honored and glorified Him who lives forever: “For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom endures from generation to generation. ³⁵ All the peoples of the earth are counted as nothing, and He does as He pleases with the army of heaven and the peoples of the earth. There is no one who can restrain His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’” ³⁶ At the same time my sanity was restored, my honor and splendor returned to me for the glory of my kingdom. My advisers and nobles sought me out, and I was restored to my throne, and surpassing greatness was added to me. ³⁷ Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, for all His works are true and all His ways are just. And He is able to humble those who walk in pride.

²⁰ But when his heart became arrogant and his spirit was hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne, and his glory was taken from him. ²¹ He was driven away from mankind, and his mind was like that of a beast. He lived with the wild donkeys and ate grass like an ox, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until he acknowledged that the Most High God rules over the kingdom of mankind, setting over it whom He wishes. ²² But you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this. ²³ Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. The vessels from His house were brought to you, and as you drank wine from them with your nobles, wives, and concubines, you praised your gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you have failed to glorify the God who holds in His hand your very breath and all your ways. ²⁴ Therefore He sent the hand that wrote the inscription. ²⁵ Now this is the inscription that was written: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, PARSIN. ²⁶ And this is the interpretation of the message: MENE means that God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end. ²⁷ TEKEL means that you have been weighed on the scales and found deficient. ²⁸ PERES means that your kingdom has been divided and given over to the Medes and Persians.” ²⁹ Then Belshazzar gave the command, and they clothed Daniel in purple, placed a gold chain around his neck, and proclaimed him the third highest ruler in the kingdom. ³⁰ That very night Belshazzar king of the Chaldeans was slain,

³³ O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways!

²² Are we trying to provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?

⁸ that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.

¹⁹ and the surpassing greatness of His power to us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of His mighty strength,

¹⁰ His purpose was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms,

²⁰ Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us,

²⁴ Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you unblemished in His glorious presence, with great joy— ²⁵ to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority through Jesus Christ our Lord before all time, and now, and for all eternity. Amen.

⁵ These are the names of the men who are to assist you: From the tribe of Reuben, Elizur son of Shedeur; ⁶ from Simeon, Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai;

⁹ The miner strikes the flint; he overturns mountains at their base.

² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth is transformed and the mountains are toppled into the depths of the seas,

⁸ the earth shook and the heavens poured down rain before God, the One on Sinai, before God, the God of Israel.

⁶ O mountains, that you skipped like rams, O hills, like lambs?

¹² Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, or marked off the heavens with the span of his hand? Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket, or weighed the mountains on a scale and the hills with a balance?

⁶ He stood and measured the earth; He looked and startled the nations; the ancient mountains crumbled; the perpetual hills collapsed. His ways are everlasting.

¹⁰ The mountains saw You and quaked; torrents of water swept by. The deep roared with its voice and lifted its hands on high.

⁷ What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain. Then he will bring forth the capstone accompanied by shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’”

⁴ On that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half the mountain moving to the north and half to the south. ⁵ You will flee by My mountain valley, for it will extend to Azal. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with Him.

²¹ “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen.

⁵¹ At that moment the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth quaked and the rocks were split.

¹¹ There will be great earthquakes, famines, and pestilences in various places, along with fearful sights and great signs from heaven.

² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

¹⁴ The sky receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved from its place.

¹³ And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand were killed in the quake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

¹⁸ And there were flashes of lightning, and rumblings, and peals of thunder, and a great earthquake the likes of which had not occurred since men were upon the earth—so mighty was the great quake. ¹⁹ The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. And God remembered Babylon the great and gave her the cup of the wine of the fury of His wrath. ²⁰ Then every island fled, and no mountain could be found.

⁸ He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap. He seats them among princes and bestows on them a throne of honor. For the foundations of the earth are the LORD’s, and upon them He has set the world.

¹¹ The foundations of heaven quake, astounded at His rebuke.

⁴ Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. ⁵ Who fixed its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched a measuring line across it? ⁶ On what were its foundations set, or who laid its cornerstone, ⁷ while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

³ When the earth and all its dwellers quake, it is I who bear up its pillars. Selah

⁷ Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob,

¹⁹ Men will flee to caves in the rocks and holes in the ground, away from the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of His majesty, when He rises to shake the earth.

²¹ They will flee to caverns in the rocks and crevices in the cliffs, away from the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of His majesty, when He rises to shake the earth.

¹³ Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken from its place at the wrath of the LORD of Hosts on the day of His burning anger. ¹⁴ Like a hunted gazelle, like a sheep without a shepherd, each will return to his own people, each will flee to his native land.

¹ Behold, the LORD lays waste the earth and leaves it in ruins. He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants—

¹⁹ The earth is utterly broken apart, the earth is split open, the earth is shaken violently. ²⁰ The earth staggers like a drunkard and sways like a shack. Earth’s rebellion weighs it down, and it falls, never to rise again.

²⁴ I looked at the mountains, and behold, they were quaking; all the hills were swaying.

¹⁰ Before them the earth quakes; the heavens tremble. The sun and moon grow dark, and the stars lose their brightness.

⁶ For this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land.

²¹ “Tell Zerubbabel governor of Judah that I am about to shake the heavens and the earth:

²⁶ At that time His voice shook the earth, but now He has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth, but heaven as well.”

¹¹ Then I saw a great white throne and the One seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from His presence, and no place was found for them.

²¹ Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that darkness may spread over the land of Egypt—a palpable darkness.” ²² So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and total darkness covered all the land of Egypt for three days.

¹² On the day that the LORD gave the Amorites over to the Israelites, Joshua spoke to the LORD in the presence of Israel: “O sun, stand still over Gibeon, O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.”

⁷ He seals up the hand of every man, so that all men may know His work.

¹² In your days, have you commanded the morning or assigned the dawn its place, ¹³ that it might spread to the ends of the earth and shake the wicked out of it? ¹⁴ The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its hills stand out like the folds of a garment. ¹⁵ Light is withheld from the wicked, and their upraised arm is broken.

¹⁹ Where is the way to the home of light? Do you know where darkness resides, ²⁰ so you can lead it back to its border? Do you know the paths to its home?

¹⁰ For the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light. The rising sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light.

⁷ When I extinguish you, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars. I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light. ⁸ All the shining lights in the heavens I will darken over you, and I will bring darkness upon your land,’ declares the Lord GOD.

³⁵ All the peoples of the earth are counted as nothing, and He does as He pleases with the army of heaven and the peoples of the earth. There is no one who can restrain His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’”

¹³ For behold, He who forms the mountains, who creates the wind and reveals His thoughts to man, who turns the dawn to darkness and strides on the heights of the earth—the LORD, the God of Hosts, is His name.”

⁹ And in that day, declares the Lord GOD, I will make the sun go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the daytime.

²⁹ Immediately after the tribulation of those days: ‘The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.’

²⁵ There will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among the nations, bewildered by the roaring of the sea and the surging of the waves. ²⁶ Men will faint from fear and anxiety over what is coming upon the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

⁶ And God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters, to separate the waters from the waters.” ⁷ So God made the expanse and separated the waters beneath it from the waters above. And it was so.

¹⁸ can you, like Him, spread out the skies to reflect the heat like a mirror of bronze?

¹¹ and I declared: ‘You may come this far, but no farther; here your proud waves must stop’?

¹⁶ Have you journeyed to the vents of the sea or walked in the trenches of the deep?

⁶ By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and all the stars by the breath of His mouth.

¹⁹ Your path led through the sea, Your way through the mighty waters, but Your footprints were not to be found.

³ The floodwaters have risen, O LORD; the rivers have raised their voice; the seas lift up their pounding waves. ⁴ Above the roar of many waters—the mighty breakers of the sea—the LORD on high is majestic.

² He wraps Himself in light as with a garment; He stretches out the heavens like a tent, ³ laying the beams of His chambers in the waters above, making the clouds His chariot, walking on the wings of the wind.

²² He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth; its dwellers are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.

⁵ This is what God the LORD says—He who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and its offspring, who gives breath to the people on it and life to those who walk in it:

²⁴ Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer who formed you from the womb: “I am the LORD, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who by Myself spread out the earth,

¹¹ Thus you are to tell them: “These gods, who have made neither the heavens nor the earth, will perish from this earth and from under these heavens.”

¹ This is the burden of the word of the LORD concerning Israel. Thus declares the LORD, who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundation of the earth, who forms the spirit of man within him:

²⁵ During the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went out to them, walking on the sea. ²⁶ When the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost!” they said, and cried out in fear. ²⁷ But Jesus spoke up at once: “Take courage! It is I. Do not be afraid.” ²⁸ “Lord, if it is You,” Peter replied, “command me to come to You on the water.” ²⁹ “Come,” said Jesus. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water, and came toward Jesus. ³⁰ But when he saw the strength of the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”

¹⁹ When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus approaching the boat, walking on the sea—and they were terrified.

¹⁶ God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. And He made the stars as well.

⁹ The tempest comes from its chamber, and the cold from the driving north winds.

³¹ Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loosen the belt of Orion? ³² Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons or lead out the Bear and her cubs? ³³ Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set their dominion over the earth? ³⁴ Can you command the clouds so that a flood of water covers you? ³⁵ Can you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’? ³⁶ Who has put wisdom in the heart or given understanding to the mind? ³⁷ Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Or who can tilt the water jars of the heavens ³⁸ when the dust hardens into a mass and the clods of earth stick together? ³⁹ Can you hunt the prey for a lioness or satisfy the hunger of young lions ⁴⁰ when they crouch in their dens and lie in wait in the thicket? ⁴¹ Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God as they wander about for lack of food?

³ laying the beams of His chambers in the waters above, making the clouds His chariot, walking on the wings of the wind.

¹³ He waters the mountains from His chambers; the earth is satisfied by the fruit of His works.

⁴ He determines the number of the stars; He calls them each by name.

⁸ He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns darkness into dawn and darkens day into night, who summons the waters of the sea and pours them over the face of the earth—the LORD is His name—

¹³ From there we weighed anchor and came to Rhegium. After one day, a south wind came up, and on the second day we arrived at Puteoli.

¹¹ Who among the gods is like You, O LORD? Who is like You—majestic in holiness, revered with praises, performing wonders?

⁹ the One who does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number.

¹² By His power He stirred the sea; by His understanding He shattered Rahab. ¹³ By His breath the skies were cleared; His hand pierced the fleeing serpent. ¹⁴ Indeed, these are but the fringes of His ways; how faint is the whisper we hear of Him! Who then can understand the thunder of His power?”

²³ The Almighty is beyond our reach; He is exalted in power! In His justice and great righteousness He does not oppress.

¹⁵ My mouth will declare Your righteousness and Your salvation all day long, though I cannot know their full measure.

¹⁸ Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds.

⁴ He alone does great wonders. His loving devotion endures forever.

¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men, yet they cannot fathom the work that God has done from beginning to end.

²⁶ Lift up your eyes on high: Who created all these? He leads forth the starry host by number; He calls each one by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing. ²⁷ Why do you say, O Jacob, and why do you assert, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my claim is ignored by my God”? ²⁸ Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary; His understanding is beyond searching out.

² I am pleased to declare the signs and wonders that the Most High God has performed for me. ³ How great are His signs, how mighty His wonders! His kingdom is an eternal kingdom; His dominion endures from generation to generation.

⁸ If I go east, He is not there, and if I go west, I cannot find Him. ⁹ When He is at work in the north, I cannot behold Him; when He turns to the south, I cannot see Him.

¹⁴ How much less, then, when you say that you do not see Him, that your case is before Him and you must wait for Him,

¹⁶ He alone is immortal and dwells in unapproachable light. No one has ever seen Him, nor can anyone see Him. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.

¹⁰ If He comes along to imprison you, or convenes a court, who can stop Him?

¹³ But He is unchangeable, and who can oppose Him? He does what He desires.

²⁹ But when He remains silent, who can condemn Him? When He hides His face, who can see Him? Yet He watches over both man and nation,

⁹ Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker—one clay pot among many. Does the clay ask the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘He has no hands’?

⁶ “O house of Israel, declares the LORD, can I not treat you as this potter treats his clay? Just like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.

²⁶ Yes, Father, for this was well-pleasing in Your sight.

¹⁵ Do I not have the right to do as I please with what is mine? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

¹⁸ Therefore God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden. ¹⁹ One of you will say to me, “Then why does God still find fault? For who can resist His will?” ²⁰ But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, “Why did You make me like this?”

³⁴ “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor?”

¹¹ In Him we were also chosen as God’s own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will,

¹² By His power He stirred the sea; by His understanding He shattered Rahab.

⁹ Do you have an arm like God’s? Can you thunder with a voice like His? ¹⁰ Then adorn yourself with majesty and splendor, and clothe yourself with honor and glory. ¹¹ Unleash the fury of your wrath; look on every proud man and bring him low.

¹⁰ You crushed Rahab like a carcass; You scattered Your enemies with Your mighty arm.

⁷ Egypt’s help is futile and empty; therefore I have called her Rahab Who Sits Still.

² Yet He too is wise and brings disaster; He does not call back His words. He will rise up against the house of the wicked and against the allies of evildoers. ³ But the Egyptians are men, not God; their horses are flesh, not spirit. When the LORD stretches out His hand, the helper will stumble, and the one he helps will fall; both will perish together.

⁹ Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD. Wake up as in days past, as in generations of old. Was it not You who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced through the dragon?

⁶ But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” ⁷ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

²⁷ But will God indeed dwell upon the earth? Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built.

¹⁹ how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who can be crushed like a moth!

³ If one wished to contend with God, he could not answer Him one time out of a thousand.

⁴ You have said, ‘My doctrine is sound, and I am pure in Your sight.’ ⁵ But if only God would speak and open His lips against you,

⁴ I would plead my case before Him and fill my mouth with arguments.

⁷ Then an upright man could reason with Him, and I would be delivered forever from my Judge.

⁶ how much less man, who is but a maggot, and the son of man, who is but a worm!”

⁵ Refute me if you can; prepare your case and confront me.

³⁸ then may whatever prayer or petition Your people Israel make—each knowing his own afflictions and spreading out his hands toward this temple— ³⁹ be heard by You from heaven, Your dwelling place. And may You forgive and act, and repay each man according to all his ways, since You know his heart—for You alone know the hearts of all men—

¹³ And when he prayed to Him, the LORD received his plea and heard his petition; so He brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD is God.

⁸ However, if I were you, I would appeal to God and lay my cause before Him—

⁵ But if you would earnestly seek God and ask the Almighty for mercy,

¹⁵ If I am guilty, woe to me! And even if I am righteous, I cannot lift my head. I am full of shame and aware of my affliction.

²⁷ You will pray to Him, and He will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows.

³¹ Suppose someone says to God, ‘I have endured my punishment; I will offend no more. ³² Teach me what I cannot see; if I have done wrong, I will not do it again.’

⁹ They will come with weeping, and by their supplication I will lead them; I will make them walk beside streams of waters, on a level path where they will not stumble. For I am Israel’s Father, and Ephraim is My firstborn.”

³ So I turned my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and petition, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.

¹⁸ Incline Your ear, O my God, and hear; open Your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears Your name. For we are not presenting our petitions before You because of our righteous acts, but because of Your great compassion.

⁴ My conscience is clear, but that does not vindicate me. It is the Lord who judges me.

²³ When they heaped abuse on Him, He did not retaliate; when He suffered, He made no threats, but entrusted Himself to Him who judges justly.

⁹ Moses relayed this message to the Israelites, but on account of their broken spirit and cruel bondage, they did not listen to him.

¹³ “Please, my Lord,” Gideon replied, “if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all His wonders of which our fathers told us, saying, ‘Has not the LORD brought us up out of Egypt?’ But now the LORD has forsaken us and delivered us into the hand of Midian.”

²⁴ If I smiled at them, they did not believe it; the light of my countenance was precious.

⁶ In my distress I called upon the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From His temple He heard my voice, and my cry for His help reached His ears.

¹⁸ If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. ¹⁹ But God has surely heard; He has attended to the sound of my prayer. ²⁰ Blessed be God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld from me His loving devotion!

¹ I love the LORD, for He has heard my voice—my appeal for mercy. ² Because He has inclined His ear to me, I will call on Him as long as I live.

¹ A song of ascents. When the LORD restored the captives of Zion, we were like dreamers.

⁴¹ While they were still in disbelief because of their joy and amazement, He asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?”

¹⁴ When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed that she forgot to open the gate, but ran inside and announced, “Peter is standing at the gate!” ¹⁵ “You are out of your mind,” they told her. But when she kept insisting it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.” ¹⁶ But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astounded.

¹⁴ a messenger came and reported to Job: “While the oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, ¹⁵ the Sabeans swooped down and took them away. They put the servants to the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you!” ¹⁶ While he was still speaking, another messenger came and reported: “The fire of God fell from heaven. It burned and consumed the sheep and the servants, and I alone have escaped to tell you!” ¹⁷ While he was still speaking, another messenger came and reported: “The Chaldeans formed three bands, raided the camels, and took them away. They put the servants to the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you!” ¹⁸ While he was still speaking, another messenger came and reported: “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, ¹⁹ when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on the young people and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”

³ Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one on earth like him, a man who is blameless and upright, who fears God and shuns evil. He still retains his integrity, even though you incited Me against him to ruin him without cause.”

⁷ So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and infected Job with terrible boils from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.

¹³ Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights, but no one spoke a word to him because they saw how intense his suffering was.

¹² I was at ease, but He shattered me; He seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has set me up as His target;

¹⁴ He breaks me with wound upon wound; He rushes me like a mighty warrior.

¹⁷ yet my hands are free of violence and my prayer is pure.

²² You snatch me up into the wind and drive me before it; You toss me about in the storm.

⁶ Would I lie about my case? My wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.’

³ Surely none who wait for You will be put to shame; but those who are faithless without cause will be disgraced.

⁵ The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; the LORD shatters the cedars of Lebanon.

⁷ Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls; all Your breakers and waves have rolled over me.

¹⁵ so pursue them with Your tempest, and terrify them with Your storm.

¹⁷ I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the level. Hail will sweep away your refuge of lies, and water will flood your hiding place.

¹⁹ Behold, the storm of the LORD has gone out with fury, a whirlwind swirling down upon the heads of the wicked.

¹³ Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: In My wrath I will release a windstorm, and in My anger torrents of rain and hail will fall with destructive fury.

²⁷ The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its collapse!”

²⁰ A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not extinguish, till He leads justice to victory.

³ Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the works of God would be displayed in him.

²⁵ But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated Me without reason.’

²⁰ Why is light given to the miserable, and life to the bitter of soul,

¹⁹ Will You never look away from me, or leave me alone to swallow my spittle?

² “As surely as God lives, who has deprived me of justice—the Almighty, who has embittered my soul—

¹³ Turn Your gaze away from me, that I may again be cheered before I depart and am no more.”

⁷ Your wrath weighs heavily upon me; all Your waves have submerged me. Selah

¹⁵ From my youth I was afflicted and near death. I have borne Your terrors; I am in despair. ¹⁶ Your wrath has swept over me; Your terrors have destroyed me. ¹⁷ All day long they engulf me like water; they enclose me on every side. ¹⁸ You have removed my beloved and my friend; darkness is my closest companion.

³ Indeed, He keeps turning His hand against me all day long.

¹⁵ He has filled me with bitterness; He has intoxicated me with wormwood.

¹⁸ So I say, “My strength has perished, along with my hope from the LORD.” ¹⁹ Remember my affliction and wandering, the wormwood and the gall.

¹¹ No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields a harvest of righteousness and peace to those who have been trained by it.

⁴ God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has resisted Him and prospered?

³⁵ (Oh, that I had one to hear me! Here is my signature. Let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser compose an indictment.

⁵ Refute me if you can; prepare your case and confront me. ⁶ I am just like you before God; I was also formed from clay. ⁷ Surely no fear of me should terrify you; nor will my hand be heavy upon you.

¹⁷ But now you are laden with the judgment due the wicked; judgment and justice have seized you. ¹⁸ Be careful that no one lures you with riches; do not let a large bribe lead you astray. ¹⁹ Can your wealth or all your mighty effort keep you from distress?

⁹ Do you have an arm like God’s? Can you thunder with a voice like His? ¹⁰ Then adorn yourself with majesty and splendor, and clothe yourself with honor and glory.

¹¹ God has spoken once; I have heard this twice: that power belongs to God,

¹³ And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’

²⁵ For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.

¹ There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. And this man was blameless and upright, fearing God and shunning evil.

² “Yes, I know that it is so, but how can a mortal be righteous before God?

⁵ For your iniquity instructs your mouth, and you choose the language of the crafty. ⁶ Your own mouth, not mine, condemns you; your own lips testify against you.

¹ So these three men stopped answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. ² This kindled the anger of Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram. He burned with anger against Job for justifying himself rather than God,

⁸ Surely you have spoken in my hearing, and I have heard these very words: ⁹ ‘I am pure, without transgression; I am clean, with no iniquity in me. ¹⁰ Yet God finds occasions against me; He counts me as His enemy. ¹¹ He puts my feet in the stocks; He watches over all my paths.’ ¹² Behold, you are not right in this matter. I will answer you, for God is greater than man. ¹³ Why do you complain to Him that He answers nothing a man asks?

³⁵ ‘Job speaks without knowledge; his words lack insight.’

¹⁶ So Job opens his mouth in vain and multiplies words without knowledge.”

¹⁹ When words are many, sin is unavoidable, but he who restrains his lips is wise.

²⁰ The one with a perverse heart finds no good, and he whose tongue is deceitful falls into trouble.

⁵ Then I said: “Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips dwelling among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Hosts.”

³⁶ But I tell you that men will give an account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. ³⁷ For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”

²⁹ But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

¹⁵ So He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is prized among men is detestable before God.

¹² Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³ Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ All of us who are mature should embrace this point of view. And if you think differently about some issue, God will reveal this to you as well.

⁵ and constant friction between men of depraved mind who are devoid of the truth. These men regard godliness as a means of gain.

² We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to control his whole body.

¹⁵ so that I would prefer strangling and death over my life in this body. ¹⁶ I loathe my life! I would not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.

²¹ Why do You not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For soon I will lie down in the dust; You will seek me, but I will be no more.”

²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. ²⁴ See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the way everlasting.

²⁶ He who trusts in himself is a fool, but one who walks in wisdom will be safe.

⁹ The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? ¹⁰ I, the LORD, search the heart; I examine the mind to reward a man according to his way, by what his deeds deserve.

⁸ Your hands shaped me and altogether formed me. Would You now turn and destroy me?

¹ So I took all this to heart and concluded that the righteous and the wise, as well as their deeds, are in God’s hands. Man does not know what lies ahead, whether love or hate. ² It is the same for all: There is a common fate for the righteous and the wicked, for the good and the bad, for the clean and the unclean, for the one who sacrifices and the one who does not. As it is for the good, so it is for the sinner; as it is for the one who makes a vow, so it is for the one who refuses to take a vow. ³ This is an evil in everything that is done under the sun: There is one fate for everyone. Furthermore, the hearts of men are full of evil and madness while they are alive, and afterward they join the dead.

³ and tell her that this is what the LORD says: ‘I am against you, and I will draw My sword from its sheath and cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked. ⁴ Because I will cut off both the righteous and the wicked, My sword will be unsheathed against everyone from south to north.

² To this He replied, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered this fate? ³ No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you too will all perish. ⁴ Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam collapsed on them: Do you think that they were more sinful than all the others living in Jerusalem?

¹⁵ Now therefore, I have come to present this matter to my lord the king because the people have made me afraid. Your servant thought, ‘I will speak to the king. Perhaps he will grant the request of his maidservant.

¹⁷ And now your servant says, ‘May the word of my lord the king bring me rest, for my lord the king is able to discern good and evil, just like the angel of God. May the LORD your God be with you.’”

¹³ One day, while Job’s sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,

⁷ Consider now, I plead: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Or where have the upright been destroyed?

²⁰ Behold, God does not reject the blameless, nor will He strengthen the hand of evildoers.

¹² From the city, men groan, and the souls of the wounded cry out, yet God charges no one with wrongdoing.

²² Yet for Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

¹⁹ Or if I send a plague into that land and pour out My wrath upon it through bloodshed, cutting off from it both man and beast, ²⁰ then as surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, they could not deliver their own sons or daughters. Their righteousness could deliver only themselves. ²¹ For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘How much worse will it be when I send against Jerusalem My four dire judgments—sword, famine, wild beasts, and plague—in order to cut off from it both man and beast?

¹³ Surely testing will come! And what if even the scepter, which the sword despises, does not continue?’ declares the Lord GOD.

³⁶ Still others endured mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. ³⁷ They were stoned, they were sawed in two, they were put to death by the sword. They went around in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, oppressed, and mistreated.

³⁰ But David continued up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went up. His head was covered, and he was walking barefoot. And all the people with him covered their heads and went up, weeping as they went.

⁴ But the king covered his face and cried out at the top of his voice, “O my son Absalom! O Absalom, my son, my son!”

¹² Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate. But Haman rushed home, with his head covered in grief.

⁸ Just as the king returned from the palace garden to the banquet hall, Haman was falling on the couch where Esther was reclining. The king exclaimed, “Would he actually assault the queen while I am in the palace?” As soon as the words had left the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.

³ Does it please You to oppress me, to reject the work of Your hands and favor the schemes of the wicked?

⁶ The tents of robbers are safe, and those who provoke God are secure—those who carry their god in their hands. ⁷ But ask the animals, and they will instruct you; ask the birds of the air, and they will tell you. ⁸ Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; let the fish of the sea inform you. ⁹ Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? ¹⁰ The life of every living thing is in His hand, as well as the breath of all mankind.

¹⁷ He leads counselors away barefoot and makes fools of judges.

¹¹ God has delivered me to unjust men; He has thrown me to the clutches of the wicked.

⁷ Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power? ⁸ Their descendants are established around them, and their offspring before their eyes. ⁹ Their homes are safe from fear; no rod of punishment from God is upon them. ¹⁰ Their bulls breed without fail; their cows bear calves and do not miscarry. ¹¹ They send forth their little ones like a flock; their children skip about, ¹² singing to the tambourine and lyre and making merry at the sound of the flute. ¹³ They spend their days in prosperity and go down to Sheol in peace. ¹⁴ Yet they say to God: ‘Leave us alone! For we have no desire to know Your ways. ¹⁵ Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him, and what would we gain if we pray to Him?’

²⁵ If this is not so, then who can prove me a liar and reduce my words to nothing?”

¹⁴ from such men, O LORD, by Your hand—from men of the world whose portion is in this life. May You fill the bellies of Your treasured ones and satisfy their sons, so they leave their abundance to their children.

³ For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. ⁴ They have no struggle in their death; their bodies are well-fed. ⁵ They are free of the burdens others carry; they are not afflicted like other men. ⁶ Therefore pride is their necklace; a garment of violence covers them. ⁷ From their prosperity proceeds iniquity; the imaginations of their hearts run wild.

¹ Righteous are You, O LORD, when I plead before You. Yet about Your judgments I wish to contend with You: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease? ² You planted them, and they have taken root. They have grown and produced fruit. You are ever on their lips, but far from their hearts.

⁴ The ground is cracked because no rain has fallen on the land. The farmers are ashamed; they cover their heads.

¹⁷ This decision is the decree of the watchers, the verdict declared by the holy ones, so that the living will know that the Most High rules over the kingdom of mankind and gives it to whom He wishes, setting over it the lowliest of men.’

¹⁸ As for you, O king, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness, glory and honor. ¹⁹ Because of the greatness that He bestowed on him, the people of every nation and language trembled in fear before him. He killed whom he wished and kept alive whom he wished; he exalted whom he wished and humbled whom he wished. ²⁰ But when his heart became arrogant and his spirit was hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne, and his glory was taken from him. ²¹ He was driven away from mankind, and his mind was like that of a beast. He lived with the wild donkeys and ate grass like an ox, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until he acknowledged that the Most High God rules over the kingdom of mankind, setting over it whom He wishes.

⁷ After this, as I watched in my vision in the night, suddenly a fourth beast appeared, and it was terrifying—dreadful and extremely strong—with large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed; then it trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the beasts before it, and it had ten horns. ⁸ While I was contemplating the horns, suddenly another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like those of a man and a mouth that spoke words of arrogance. ⁹ As I continued to watch, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took His seat. His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze. ¹⁰ A river of fire was flowing, coming out from His presence. Thousands upon thousands attended Him, and myriads upon myriads stood before Him. The court was convened, and the books were opened. ¹¹ Then I kept watching because of the arrogant words the horn was speaking. As I continued to watch, the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire. ¹² As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was removed, but they were granted an extension of life for a season and a time. ¹³ In my vision in the night I continued to watch, and I saw One like the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into His presence. ¹⁴ And He was given dominion, glory, and kingship, that the people of every nation and language should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. ¹⁵ I, Daniel, was grieved in my spirit, and the visions in my mind alarmed me. ¹⁶ I approached one of those who were standing there, and I asked him the true meaning of all this. So he told me the interpretation of these things: ¹⁷ ‘These four great beasts are four kings who will arise from the earth. ¹⁸ But the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom and possess it forever—yes, forever and ever.’ ¹⁹ Then I wanted to know the true meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others—extremely terrifying—devouring and crushing with iron teeth and bronze claws, then trampling underfoot whatever was left. ²⁰ I also wanted to know about the ten horns on its head and the other horn that came up, before which three of them fell—the horn whose appearance was more imposing than the others, with eyes and with a mouth that spoke words of arrogance. ²¹ As I watched, this horn was waging war against the saints and prevailing against them, ²² until the Ancient of Days arrived and pronounced judgment in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came for them to possess the kingdom. ²³ This is what he said: ‘The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on the earth, different from all the other kingdoms, and it will devour the whole earth, trample it down, and crush it. ²⁴ And the ten horns are ten kings who will rise from this kingdom. After them another king, different from the earlier ones, will rise and subdue three kings. ²⁵ He will speak out against the Most High and oppress the saints of the Most High, intending to change the appointed times and laws; and the saints will be given into his hand for a time, and times, and half a time. ²⁶ But the court will convene, and his dominion will be taken away and completely destroyed forever. ²⁷ Then the sovereignty, dominion, and greatness of the kingdoms under all of heaven will be given to the people, the saints of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will serve and obey Him.’ ²⁸ Thus ends the matter. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts troubled me greatly, and my face turned pale. But I kept the matter to myself.”

¹⁴ You have made men like the fish of the sea, like creeping things that have no ruler. ¹⁵ The foe pulls all of them up with a hook; he catches them in his dragnet, and gathers them in his fishing net; so he rejoices gladly. ¹⁶ Therefore he sacrifices to his dragnet and burns incense to his fishing net, for by these things his portion is sumptuous and his food is rich. ¹⁷ Will he, therefore, empty his net and continue to slay nations without mercy?

¹⁴ The couriers rode out in haste on their royal horses, pressed on by the command of the king. And the edict was also issued in the citadel of Susa.

⁶ My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle; they come to an end without hope. ⁷ Remember that my life is but a breath. My eyes will never again see happiness.

⁵ You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath. Selah

¹¹ You discipline and correct a man for his iniquity, consuming like a moth what he holds dear; surely each man is but a vapor. Selah

⁴⁷ Remember the briefness of my lifespan! For what futility You have created all men!

⁹ For all our days decline in Your fury; we finish our years with a sigh. ¹⁰ The length of our days is seventy years—or eighty if we are strong—yet their pride is but labor and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

¹⁴ You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

²³ Saul and Jonathan, beloved and delightful in life, were not divided in death. They were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions.

²⁷ Does the eagle soar at your command and make his nest on high? ²⁸ He dwells on a cliff and lodges there; his stronghold is on a rocky crag. ²⁹ From there he spies out food; his eyes see it from afar. ³⁰ His young ones feast on blood; and where the slain are, there he is.”

⁵ When you glance at wealth, it disappears, for it makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky.

² which sends couriers by sea, in papyrus vessels on the waters. Go, swift messengers, to a people tall and smooth-skinned, to a people widely feared, to a powerful nation of strange speech, whose land is divided by rivers.

¹³ Behold, he advances like the clouds, his chariots like the whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined!

¹⁹ Those who chased us were swifter than the eagles in the sky; they pursued us over the mountains and ambushed us in the wilderness.

⁸ Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves of the night. Their horsemen charge ahead, and their cavalry comes from afar. They fly like a vulture, swooping down to devour.

¹¹ Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

¹³ When I think my bed will comfort me and my couch will ease my complaint,

² In the day of trouble I sought the Lord; through the night my outstretched hands did not grow weary; my soul refused to be comforted. ³ I remembered You, O God, and I groaned; I mused and my spirit grew faint. Selah

¹⁸ My sorrow is beyond healing; my heart is faint within me.

⁷ You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave anyone unpunished who takes His name in vain.

²⁵ For the thing I feared has overtaken me, and what I dreaded has befallen me.

²⁰ Even if I were righteous, my mouth would condemn me; if I were blameless, it would declare me guilty. ²¹ Though I am blameless, I have no concern for myself; I despise my own life.

¹⁴ If I sinned, You would take note, and would not acquit me of my iniquity.

¹⁶ For then You would count my steps, but would not keep track of my sin.

⁶ When I remember, terror takes hold, and my body trembles in horror.

¹⁵ From my youth I was afflicted and near death. I have borne Your terrors; I am in despair. ¹⁶ Your wrath has swept over me; Your terrors have destroyed me.

¹²⁰ My flesh trembles in awe of You; I stand in fear of Your judgments.

²² It is all the same, and so I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’

⁷ though You know that I am not guilty, and there is no deliverance from Your hand?

¹⁴ If I sinned, You would take note, and would not acquit me of my iniquity. ¹⁵ If I am guilty, woe to me! And even if I am righteous, I cannot lift my head. I am full of shame and aware of my affliction. ¹⁶ Should I hold my head high, You would hunt me like a lion, and again display Your power against me. ¹⁷ You produce new witnesses against me and multiply Your anger toward me. Hardships assault me in wave after wave.

¹⁶ Still, their prosperity is not in their own hands, so I stay far from the counsel of the wicked. ¹⁷ How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? Does disaster come upon them? Does God, in His anger, apportion destruction?

²⁷ Behold, I know your thoughts full well, the schemes by which you would wrong me.

⁵ Is not your wickedness great? Are not your iniquities endless? ⁶ For you needlessly demanded security from your brothers and deprived the naked of their clothing. ⁷ You gave no water to the weary and withheld food from the famished, ⁸ while the land belonged to a mighty man, and a man of honor lived on it. ⁹ You sent widows away empty-handed, and the strength of the fatherless was crushed. ¹⁰ Therefore snares surround you, and sudden peril terrifies you; ¹¹ it is so dark you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you. ¹² Is not God as high as the heavens? Look at the highest stars, how lofty they are! ¹³ Yet you say: ‘What does God know? Does He judge through thick darkness? ¹⁴ Thick clouds veil Him so He does not see us as He traverses the vault of heaven.’ ¹⁵ Will you stay on the ancient path that wicked men have trod? ¹⁶ They were snatched away before their time, and their foundations were swept away by a flood. ¹⁷ They said to God, ‘Depart from us. What can the Almighty do to us?’ ¹⁸ But it was He who filled their houses with good things; so I stay far from the counsel of the wicked. ¹⁹ The righteous see it and are glad; the innocent mock them: ²⁰ ‘Surely our foes are destroyed, and fire has consumed their excess.’ ²¹ Reconcile now and be at peace with Him; 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 restored. If you remove injustice from your tents ²⁴ and consign your gold to the dust and the gold of Ophir to the stones of the ravines, ²⁵ then the Almighty will be your gold and the finest silver for you. ²⁶ Surely then you will delight in the Almighty and lift up your face to God. ²⁷ You will pray to Him, and He will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows. ²⁸ Your decisions will be carried out, and light will shine on your ways. ²⁹ When men are brought low and you say, ‘Lift them up!’ then He will save the lowly. ³⁰ He will deliver even one who is not innocent, rescuing him through the cleanness of your hands.”

³³ the LORD will not leave them in their power or let them be condemned under judgment.

¹³ Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure; in innocence I have washed my hands.

³⁵ you say, ‘I am innocent. Surely His anger will turn from me.’ Behold, I will judge you, because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’

⁷ If my steps have turned from the path, if my heart has followed my eyes, or if impurity has stuck to my hands,

⁶ I wash my hands in innocence that I may go about Your altar, O LORD,

¹³ He who conceals his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them will find mercy.

¹⁶ Wash and cleanse yourselves. Remove your evil deeds from My sight. Stop doing evil! ¹⁷ Learn to do right; seek justice and correct the oppressor. Defend the fatherless and plead the case of the widow.” ¹⁸ “Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will become like wool.

²² Although you wash with lye and use an abundance of soap, the stain of your guilt is still before Me,” declares the Lord GOD.

¹⁴ Wash the evil from your heart, O Jerusalem, so that you may be saved. How long will you harbor wicked thoughts within you?

³ Because they were ignorant of God’s righteousness and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.

⁶ Your own mouth, not mine, condemns you; your own lips testify against you.

⁶ Their cobwebs cannot be made into clothing, and they cannot cover themselves with their works. Their deeds are sinful deeds, and acts of violence are in their hands.

⁶ Each of us has become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.

⁸ More than that, I count all things as loss compared to the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God on the basis of faith.

¹⁹ God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?

⁷ But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or height, for I have rejected him; the LORD does not see as man does. For man sees the outward appearance, but the LORD sees the heart.”

¹⁸ Behold, now that I have prepared my case, I know that I will be vindicated. ¹⁹ Can anyone indict me? If so, I will be silent and die. ²⁰ Only grant these two things to me, so that I need not hide from You: ²¹ Withdraw Your hand from me, and do not let Your terror frighten me. ²² Then call me, and I will answer, or let me speak, and You can reply. ²³ How many are my iniquities and sins? Reveal to me my transgression and sin.

¹² Behold, you are not right in this matter. I will answer you, for God is greater than man.

⁵ Look to the heavens and see; gaze at the clouds high above you. ⁶ If you sin, what do you accomplish against Him? If you multiply your transgressions, what do you do to Him? ⁷ If you are righteous, what do you give Him, or what does He receive from your hand?

¹⁰ Whatever exists was named long ago, and what happens to a man is foreknown; but he cannot contend with one stronger than he.

¹⁹ Behold, one will come up like a lion from the thickets of the Jordan to the watered pasture. For in an instant I will chase Edom from her land. Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this? For who is like Me, and who can challenge Me? What shepherd can stand against Me?”

²⁵ If a man sins against another man, God can intercede for him; but if a man sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to their father, since the LORD intended to put them to death.

¹⁶ At that time two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. ¹⁷ One woman said, “Please, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I gave birth while she was in the house. ¹⁸ On the third day after I gave birth, this woman also had a baby. We were alone, with no one in the house but the two of us. ¹⁹ During the night this woman’s son died because she rolled over on him. ²⁰ So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I was asleep. She laid him in her bosom and put her dead son at my bosom. ²¹ The next morning, when I got up to nurse my son, I discovered he was dead. But when I examined him, I realized that he was not the son I had borne.” ²² “No,” said the other woman, “the living one is my son and the dead one is your son.” But the first woman insisted, “No, the dead one is yours and the living one is mine.” So they argued before the king. ²³ Then the king replied, “This woman says, ‘My son is alive and yours is dead,’ but that woman says, ‘No, your son is dead and mine is alive.’” ²⁴ The king continued, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought him a sword, ²⁵ and the king declared, “Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.” ²⁶ Then the woman whose son was alive spoke to the king because she yearned with compassion for her son. “Please, my lord,” she said, “give her the living baby. Do not kill him!” But the other woman said, “He will be neither mine nor yours. Cut him in two!” ²⁷ Then the king gave his ruling: “Give the living baby to the first woman. By no means should you kill him; she is his mother.” ²⁸ When all Israel heard of the judgment the king had given, they stood in awe of him, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice.

²³ So He said He would destroy them—had not Moses His chosen one stood before Him in the breach to divert His wrath from destroying them.

¹ My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate before the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. ² He Himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

¹¹ Would His majesty not terrify you? Would the dread of Him not fall upon you?

²⁰ Only grant these two things to me, so that I need not hide from You: ²¹ Withdraw Your hand from me, and do not let Your terror frighten me. ²² Then call me, and I will answer, or let me speak, and You can reply.

¹⁵ Therefore I am terrified in His presence; when I consider this, I fear Him.

² “How I long for the months gone by, for the days when God watched over me, ³ when His lamp shone above my head, and by His light I walked through the darkness, ⁴ when I was in my prime, when the friendship of God rested on my tent, ⁵ when the Almighty was still with me and my children were around me, ⁶ when my steps were bathed in cream and the rock poured out for me streams of oil! ⁷ When I went out to the city gate and took my seat in the public square, ⁸ the young men saw me and withdrew, and the old men rose to their feet. ⁹ The princes refrained from speaking and covered their mouths with their hands. ¹⁰ The voices of the nobles were hushed, and their tongues stuck to the roofs of their mouths. ¹¹ For those who heard me called me blessed, and those who saw me commended me, ¹² because I rescued the poor who cried out and the fatherless who had no helper. ¹³ The dying man blessed me, and I made the widow’s heart sing for joy. ¹⁴ I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; justice was my robe and my turban. ¹⁵ I served as eyes to the blind and as feet to the lame. ¹⁶ I was a father to the needy, and I took up the case of the stranger. ¹⁷ I shattered the fangs of the unjust and snatched the prey from his teeth. ¹⁸ So I thought: ‘I will die in my nest and multiply my days as the sand. ¹⁹ My roots will spread out to the waters, and the dew will rest nightly on my branches. ²⁰ My glory is ever new within me, and my bow is renewed in my hand.’ ²¹ Men listened to me with expectation, waiting silently for my counsel. ²² After my words, they spoke no more; my speech settled on them like dew. ²³ They waited for me as for rain and drank in my words like spring showers. ²⁴ If I smiled at them, they did not believe it; the light of my countenance was precious. ²⁵ I chose their course and presided as chief. So I dwelt as a king among his troops, as a comforter of the mourners.

²³ For calamity from God terrifies me, and His splendor I cannot overpower.

⁷ Surely no fear of me should terrify you; nor will my hand be heavy upon you.

¹ “At this my heart also pounds and leaps from its place.

¹⁰ Remove Your scourge from me; I am perishing by the force of Your hand.

¹¹ Who knows the power of Your anger? Your wrath matches the fear You are due.