Job 12 Cross References - MSB

¹ Then Job answered: ² “Truly then you are the people with whom wisdom itself will die! ³ But I also have a mind; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these? ⁴ I am a laughingstock to my friends, though I called on God, and He answered. The righteous and upright man is a laughingstock. ⁵ The one at ease scorns misfortune as the fate of those whose feet are slipping. 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. ¹¹ Does not the ear test words as the tongue tastes its food? ¹² Wisdom is found with the elderly, and understanding comes with long life. ¹³ Wisdom and strength belong to God; counsel and understanding are His. ¹⁴ What He tears down cannot be rebuilt; the man He imprisons cannot be released. ¹⁵ If He holds back the waters, they dry up, and if He releases them, they overwhelm the land. ¹⁶ True wisdom and power belong to Him. The deceived and the deceiver are His. ¹⁷ He leads counselors away barefoot and makes fools of judges. ¹⁸ He loosens the bonds placed by kings and fastens a belt around their waists. ¹⁹ He leads priests away barefoot and overthrows the established. ²⁰ He deprives the trusted of speech and takes away the discernment of elders. ²¹ He pours out contempt on nobles and disarms the mighty. ²² He reveals the deep things of darkness and brings deep shadows into light. ²³ He makes nations great and destroys them; He enlarges nations, then disperses them. ²⁴ He deprives the earth’s leaders of reason and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland. ²⁵ They grope in the darkness without light; He makes them stagger like drunkards.

²⁴ Teach me, and I will be silent. Help me understand how I have erred. ²⁵ How painful are honest words! But what does your argument prove?

⁸ Please inquire of past generations and consider the discoveries of their fathers. ⁹ For we were born yesterday and know nothing; our days on earth are but a shadow. ¹⁰ Will they not teach you and tell you, and speak from their understanding?

² “Should this stream of words go unanswered and such a speaker be vindicated?

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.

¹² But a witless man can no more become wise than the colt of a wild donkey can be born a man!

² “Does a wise man answer with empty counsel or fill his belly with the hot east wind?

⁴ You have closed their minds to understanding; therefore You will not exalt them.

¹⁰ But come back and try again, all of you. For I will not find a wise man among you.

³ I have heard a rebuke that insults me, and my understanding prompts a reply.

⁷ I thought that age should speak, and many years should teach wisdom. ⁸ But there is a spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding. ⁹ It is not only the old who are wise, or the elderly who understand justice. ¹⁰ Therefore I say, ‘Listen to me; I too will declare what I know.’ ¹¹ Indeed, I waited while you spoke; I listened to your reasoning; as you searched for words, ¹² I paid you full attention. But no one proved Job wrong; not one of you rebutted his arguments. ¹³ So do not claim, ‘We have found wisdom; let God, not man, refute him.’

¹¹ A rich man is wise in his own eyes, but a poor man with discernment sees through him.

²¹ Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.

¹⁰ We are fools for Christ, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are honored, but we are dishonored.

⁵ I say this to your shame. Is there really no one among you wise enough to arbitrate between his brothers? ⁶ Is tasteless food eaten without salt, or is there flavor in the white of an egg? ⁷ My soul refuses to touch them; they are loathsome food to me.

² What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you. ³ Yet I desire to speak to the Almighty and argue my case before God. ⁴ You, however, smear with lies; you are all worthless physicians. ⁵ If only you would remain silent; for that would be your wisdom!

² “How you have helped the powerless and saved the arm that is feeble! ³ How you have counseled the unwise and provided fully sound insight! ⁴ Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be like him.

⁵ I consider myself in no way inferior to those “super-apostles.”

²¹ To my shame I concede that we were too weak for that! Speaking as a fool, however, I can match what anyone else dares to boast about. ²² Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. ²³ Are they servants of Christ? I am speaking like I am out of my mind, but I am so much more: in harder labor, in worse beatings, in more imprisonments, in frequent danger of death.

²⁹ Reconsider; do not be unjust. Reconsider, for my righteousness is at stake.

³ Should your babbling put others to silence? Will you scoff without rebuke?

¹⁰ They open their mouths against me and strike my cheeks with contempt; they join together against me.

²⁰ My friends are my scoffers as my eyes pour out tears to God.

² Surely mockers surround me, and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion.

⁶ He has made me a byword among the people, a man in whose face they spit.

³ Bear with me while I speak; then, after I have spoken, you may go on mocking.

¹ “But now they mock me, men younger than I am, whose fathers I would have refused to entrust with my sheep dogs.

⁷ All who see me mock me; they sneer and shake their heads: ⁸ “He trusts in the LORD, let the LORD deliver him; let the LORD rescue him, since He delights in him.”

¹⁶ Like godless jesters at a feast, they gnashed their teeth at me.

¹⁵ When he calls out to Me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him.

² He who walks in uprightness fears the LORD, but the one who is devious in his ways despises Him.

³ Call to Me, and I will answer and show you great and unsearchable things you do not know.

⁷ But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.

²⁹ And they twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on His head. They put a staff in His right hand and knelt down before Him to mock Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”

⁴⁰ And they laughed at Him. After He had put them all outside, He took the child’s father and mother and His own companions, and went in where the child was lying.

¹⁴ The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all of this and were scoffing at Jesus.

³² When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some began to mock him, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this topic.”

³⁶ Still others endured mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.

³⁵ Vengeance is Mine; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; for their day of disaster is near, and their doom is coming quickly.”

⁵ Does a wild donkey bray over fresh grass, or an ox low over its fodder?

⁴ I could also speak like you if you were in my place; I could heap up words against you and shake my head at you.

⁵ Indeed, the lamp of the wicked is extinguished; the flame of his fire does not glow.

⁵ My steps have held to Your paths; my feet have not slipped.

¹⁸ If I say, “My foot is slipping,” Your loving devotion, O LORD, supports me.

³ Have mercy on us, O LORD, have mercy, for we have endured much contempt. ⁴ We have endured much scorn from the arrogant, much contempt from the proud.

⁹ The light of the righteous shines brightly, but the lamp of the wicked is extinguished.

²⁰ Whoever curses his father or mother, his lamp will be extinguished in deepest darkness.

¹⁶ Give glory to the LORD your God before He brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the dusky mountains. You wait for light, but He turns it into deep gloom and thick darkness.

¹ Woe to those at ease in Zion and those secure on Mount Samaria, the distinguished ones of the foremost nation, to whom the house of Israel comes. ² Cross over to Calneh and see; go from there to the great Hamath; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Is their territory larger than yours? ³ You dismiss the day of calamity and bring near a reign of violence. ⁴ You lie on beds inlaid with ivory, and lounge upon your couches. You dine on lambs from the flock and calves from the stall. ⁵ You improvise songs on the harp like David and invent your own musical instruments. ⁶ You drink wine by the bowlful and anoint yourselves with the finest oils, but you fail to grieve over the ruin of Joseph.

⁸ The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’

¹⁹ Then I will say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry!”’

¹⁹ Now there was a rich man dressed in purple and fine linen, who lived each day in joyous splendor. ²⁰ And a beggar named Lazarus lay at his gate, covered with sores

²⁴ The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; He blindfolds its judges. If it is not He, then who is it?

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?’

¹⁸ But it was He who filled their houses with good things; so I stay far from the counsel of the wicked.

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.

¹ Of David. Do not fret over those who do evil; do not envy those who do wrong.

³⁵ I have seen a wicked, ruthless man flourishing like a well-rooted native tree,

¹¹ The wicked say, “How can God know? Does the Most High have knowledge?” ¹² Behold, these are the wicked—always carefree as they increase their wealth.

²⁷ Like cages full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit. Therefore they have become powerful and rich.

²⁹ Have you never asked those who travel the roads? Do you not accept their reports? ³⁰ Indeed, the evil man is spared from the day of calamity, delivered from the day of wrath.

⁶ Walk in the manner of the ant, O slacker; observe its ways and become wise.

³ The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s manger, but Israel does not know; My people do not understand.”

⁷ Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons. The turtledove, the swift, and the thrush keep their time of migration, but My people do not know the requirements of the LORD.

¹⁷ You might say in your heart, “The power and strength of my hands have made this wealth for me.” ¹⁸ But remember that it is the LORD your God who gives you the power to gain wealth, in order to confirm His covenant that He swore to your fathers even to this day.

⁷ The LORD sends poverty and wealth; He humbles and He exalts.

³ But I also have a mind; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these?

²⁰ so that all may see and know, may consider and understand, that the hand of the LORD has done this and the Holy One of Israel has created it.”

⁵ By My great power and outstretched arm, I made the earth and the men and beasts on the face of it, and I give it to whom I please. ⁶ So now I have placed all these lands under the authority of My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. I have even made the beasts of the field subject to him.

¹⁸ As for you, O king, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar sovereignty and greatness, glory and honor.

¹⁷ So now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of Your servant. For Your sake, O Lord, cause Your face to shine upon Your desolate sanctuary.

³⁵ Finally the city clerk quieted the crowd and declared, “Men of Ephesus, doesn’t everyone know that the city of Ephesus is guardian of the temple of the great goddess Artemis and of her image, which fell from heaven?

³⁶ For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen.

⁵ Listen, my beloved brothers: Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him? ⁶ But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you and drag you into court? ⁷ Are they not the ones who blaspheme the noble name by which you have been called?

⁷ Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.

¹⁷ And behold, I will bring floodwaters upon the earth to destroy every creature under the heavens that has the breath of life. Everything on the earth will perish.

²² But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, when one man sins, will You be angry with the whole congregation?”

³ as long as my breath is still within me and the breath of God remains in my nostrils,

⁴ The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

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.

²⁹ When You hide Your face, they are terrified; when You take away their breath, they die and return to dust.

³ Put not your trust in princes, in mortal man, who cannot save. ⁴ When his spirit departs, he returns to the ground; on that very day his plans perish.

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.

⁶ Flesh is born of flesh, but spirit is born of the Spirit.

²⁵ Nor is He served by the hands of men, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.

²⁸ ‘For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are His offspring.’

³⁰ Is there iniquity on my tongue? Can my mouth not discern malice?

³ For the ear tests words as the mouth tastes food.

¹⁵ I speak to reasonable people; judge for yourselves what I say.

¹⁰ so that you may be able to test and prove what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,

¹⁴ But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained their senses to distinguish good from evil.

³ if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

⁸ Please inquire of past generations and consider the discoveries of their fathers.

¹⁰ Both the gray-haired and the aged are on our side—men much older than your father.

⁷ I thought that age should speak, and many years should teach wisdom.

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

¹⁶ True wisdom and power belong to Him. The deceived and the deceiver are His.

²⁰ From where then does wisdom come, and where does understanding dwell? ²¹ It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing and concealed from the birds of the air. ²² Abaddon and Death say, ‘We have heard a rumor about it.’ ²³ But God understands its way, and He knows its place. ²⁴ For He looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens. ²⁵ When God fixed the weight of the wind and measured out the waters, ²⁶ when He set a limit for the rain and a path for the thunderbolt, ²⁷ then He looked at wisdom and appraised it; He established it and searched it out. ²⁸ And He said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”

⁶ So Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite declared: “I am young in years, while you are old; that is why I was timid and afraid to tell you what I know. ⁷ I thought that age should speak, and many years should teach wisdom. ⁸ But there is a spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding. ⁹ It is not only the old who are wise, or the elderly who understand justice.

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

³⁶ Who has put wisdom in the heart or given understanding to the mind?

⁵ Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding has no limit.

⁶ For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. ⁷ He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk with integrity,

¹⁴ Counsel and sound judgment are mine; I have insight and strength.

¹³ Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or informed Him as His counselor? ¹⁴ Whom did He consult to enlighten Him, and who taught Him the paths of justice? Who imparted knowledge to Him and showed Him the way of understanding?

¹⁰ I declare the end from the beginning, and ancient times from what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.’

¹² The LORD made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heavens by His understanding.

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

¹⁵ For I will give you speech and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to contradict or resist.

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

²⁴ but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

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

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,

³ in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

⁵ Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

⁴⁶ This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand. This day I will strike you down, cut off your head, and give the carcasses of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the creatures of the earth. Then the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.

¹⁸ And you have shown this day how well you have dealt with me; for when the LORD delivered me into your hand, you did not kill me.

⁸ Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hand. Now, therefore, please let me thrust the spear through him into the ground with one stroke. I will not need to strike him twice!”

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.

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

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

¹⁰ He tears me down on every side until I am gone; He uproots my hope like a tree.

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

²³ “I will make her a place for owls and for swamplands; I will sweep her away with the broom of destruction,” declares the LORD of Hosts.

²² I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.

² Indeed, You have made the city a heap of rubble, the fortified town a ruin. The fortress of strangers is a city no more; it will never be rebuilt.

⁵⁸ This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Babylon’s thick walls will be leveled, and her high gates consumed by fire. So the labor of the people will be for nothing; the nations will exhaust themselves to fuel the flames.”

⁶⁴ Then you are to say, ‘In the same way Babylon will sink and never rise again, because of the disaster I will bring upon her. And her people will grow weary.’” Here end the words of Jeremiah.

⁴ Though Edom may say, “We have been devastated, but we will rebuild the ruins,” this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “They may build, but I will demolish. They will be called the Land of Wickedness, and a people with whom the LORD is indignant forever.

³² For God has consigned everyone to disobedience so that He may have mercy on everyone.

⁷ To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of the One who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What He opens no one can shut (except Him who opens) and no one can open.

¹³ Then God said to Noah, “The end of all living creatures has come before Me, because through them the earth is full of violence. Now behold, I will destroy both them and the earth.

¹¹ In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.

¹⁷ or the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you. He will shut the heavens so that there will be no rain, nor will the land yield its produce, and you will soon perish from the good land that the LORD is giving you.

³⁵ When the skies are shut and there is no rain because Your people have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and they turn from their sins because You have afflicted them, ³⁶ then may You hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, so that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk. May You send rain on the land that You gave Your people as an inheritance.

¹ Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was among the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As surely as the LORD lives—the God of Israel before whom I stand—there will be neither dew nor rain in these years except at my word!”

¹⁰ The life of every living thing is in His hand, as well as the breath of all mankind.

⁷ At Your rebuke the waters fled; at the sound of Your thunder they hurried away— ⁸ the mountains rose and the valleys sank to the place You assigned for them— ⁹ You set a boundary they cannot cross, that they may never again cover the earth.

²² Can the worthless idols of the nations bring rain? Do the skies alone send showers? Is this not by You, O LORD our God? So we put our hope in You, for You have done all these things.

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—

⁴ He rebukes the sea and dries it up; He makes all the rivers run dry. Bashan and Carmel wither, and the flower of Lebanon wilts.

²⁵ But I tell you truthfully that there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and great famine swept over all the land.

¹⁷ Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. ¹⁸ Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth yielded its crops.

⁶ These witnesses have power to shut the sky so that no rain will fall during the days of their prophecy, and power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they wish.

²² And he replied, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.’ ‘You will surely entice him and prevail,’ said the LORD. ‘Go and do it.’ ²³ So you see, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouths of all these prophets of yours, and the LORD has pronounced disaster against you.”

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

⁷ Will you speak wickedly on God’s behalf or speak deceitfully for Him?

⁹ Would it be well when He examined you? Could you deceive Him like a man?

⁹ But if the prophet is enticed to speak a message, then it was I the LORD who enticed him, and I will stretch out My hand against him and destroy him from among My people Israel.

¹³ And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’

³¹ Now someone told David: “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” So David pleaded, “O LORD, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness!”

¹⁴ Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than that of Ahithophel.” For the LORD had purposed to thwart the good counsel of Ahithophel in order to bring disaster on Absalom.

²³ When Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and set out for his house in his hometown. He put his affairs in order and hanged himself. So he died and was buried in his father’s tomb.

¹⁴ with kings and counselors of the earth, who built for themselves cities now in ruins,

¹² Where are your wise men now? Let them tell you and reveal what the LORD of Hosts has planned against Egypt. ¹³ The princes of Zoan have become fools; the princes of Memphis are deceived. The cornerstones of her tribes have led Egypt astray. ¹⁴ The LORD has poured into her a spirit of confusion. Egypt has been led astray in all she does, as a drunkard staggers through his own vomit.

¹⁴ Therefore I will again confound these people with wonder upon wonder. The wisdom of the wise will vanish, and the intelligence of the intelligent will be hidden.”

¹⁹ For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” ²⁰ Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

¹¹ So the LORD brought against them the military commanders of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon. ¹² And in his distress, Manasseh sought the favor of the LORD his God and earnestly humbled himself before the God of his fathers. 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. ¹⁴ After this, Manasseh rebuilt the outer wall of the City of David from west of Gihon in the valley to the entrance of the Fish Gate, and he brought it around the hill of Ophel and heightened it considerably. He also stationed military commanders in all the fortified cities of Judah.

¹⁶ Truly, O LORD, I am Your servant; I am Your servant, the son of Your maidservant; You have broken my bonds.

³¹ On the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month of the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the first year of the reign of Evil-merodach king of Babylon, he pardoned Jehoiachin king of Judah and released him from prison. ³² And he spoke kindly to Jehoiachin and set his throne above the thrones of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. ³³ So Jehoiachin changed out of his prison clothes, and he dined regularly at the king’s table for the rest of his life. ³⁴ And the king of Babylon provided Jehoiachin a daily portion for the rest of his life, until the day of his death.

²¹ He changes the times and seasons; He removes kings and establishes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.

¹⁶ And He has a name written on His robe and on His thigh: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

²⁴ When they had brought the kings to Joshua, he summoned all the men of Israel and said to the army commanders who had accompanied him, “Come here and put your feet on the necks of these kings.” So the commanders came forward and put their feet on their necks.

⁴² And because the LORD, the God of Israel, fought for Israel, Joshua captured all these kings and their land in one campaign.

⁴⁵ But David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. ⁴⁶ This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand. This day I will strike you down, cut off your head, and give the carcasses of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the creatures of the earth. Then the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.

²² Yet by His power, God drags away the mighty; though rising up, they have no assurance of life.

²⁸ They caused the cry of the poor to come before Him, and He heard the outcry of the afflicted.

⁹ Men cry out under great oppression; they plead for relief from the arm of the mighty.

³⁶ Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies! ³⁷ So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there. ³⁸ One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer put him to the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat. And his son Esar-haddon reigned in his place.

¹ This is what the LORD says to Cyrus His anointed, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him, to disarm kings, to open the doors before him, so that the gates will not be shut:

¹⁴ They will make war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will triumph over them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and He will be accompanied by His called and chosen and faithful ones.”

¹⁹ Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies assembled to wage war against the One seated on the horse, and against His army. ²⁰ But the beast was captured along with the false prophet, who on its behalf had performed signs deceiving those who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. Both the beast and the false prophet were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. ²¹ And the rest were killed with the sword that proceeded from the mouth of the One seated on the horse. And all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.

²⁴ He deprives the earth’s leaders of reason and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland.

⁹ It is not only the old who are wise, or the elderly who understand justice.

¹⁷ For God has deprived her of wisdom; He has not endowed her with understanding.

²¹ The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of judgment.

¹⁹ Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue lasts only a moment.

²² Lying lips are detestable to the LORD, but those who deal faithfully are His delight.

¹ For behold, the Lord GOD of Hosts is about to remove from Jerusalem and Judah both supply and support: the whole supply of food and water, ² the mighty man and the warrior, the judge and the prophet, the soothsayer and the elder, ³ the commander of fifty and the dignitary, the counselor, the cunning magician, and the clever enchanter.

² But if you refuse to let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs.

²⁴ So they set it aside until morning as Moses had commanded, and it did not smell or contain any maggots.

²³ And the LORD also speaks concerning Jezebel: ‘The dogs will devour Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.’ ²⁴ Anyone belonging to Ahab who dies in the city will be eaten by dogs, and anyone who dies in the field will be eaten by the birds of the air.”

²⁶ ‘As surely as I saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons yesterday, declares the LORD, so will I repay you on this plot of ground, declares the LORD.’ Now then, according to the word of the LORD, pick him up and throw him on the plot of ground.”

³⁴ Then Jehu went in and ate and drank. “Take care of this cursed woman,” he said, “and bury her, for she was the daughter of a king.” ³⁵ But when they went out to bury her, they found nothing but her skull, her feet, and the palms of her hands. ³⁶ So they went back and told Jehu, who replied, “This is the word of the LORD, which He spoke through His servant Elijah the Tishbite: ‘On the plot of ground at Jezreel the dogs will devour the flesh of Jezebel. ³⁷ And Jezebel’s body will lie like dung in the field on the plot of ground at Jezreel, so that no one can say: This is Jezebel.’”

⁴⁰ He pours out contempt on the nobles and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland.

²⁷ None of them grows weary or stumbles; no one slumbers or sleeps. No belt is loose and no sandal strap is broken.

⁵ Righteousness will be the belt around His hips, and faithfulness the sash around His waist.

²¹ I will clothe him with your robe and tie your sash around him. I will put your authority in his hand, and he will be a father to the dwellers of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.

⁹ The LORD of Hosts planned it, to defile all its glorious beauty, to disgrace all the renowned of the earth.

²¹ In that day the LORD will punish the host of heaven above and the kings of the earth below. ²² They will be gathered together like prisoners in a pit. They will be confined to a dungeon and punished after many days.

³⁸ One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer put him to the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat. And his son Esar-haddon reigned in his place.

²¹ He changes the times and seasons; He removes kings and establishes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. ²² He reveals the deep and hidden things; He knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with Him.

³² You will be driven away from mankind to live with the beasts of the field, and you will feed on grass like an ox. And seven times will pass you by, until you acknowledge that the Most High rules over the kingdom of mankind and gives it to whom He wishes.” ³³ At that moment the sentence against Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from mankind. He ate grass like an ox, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven, until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird.

¹² And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they withdrew to their country by another route. ¹³ When the Magi had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up!” he said. “Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the Child to kill Him.”

²³ Immediately, because Herod did not give glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.

¹⁰ Finally, my brothers, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.

¹⁴ Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness arrayed,

¹² But one of his servants replied, “No one, my lord the king. For Elisha, the prophet in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom.”

⁵ May darkness and gloom reclaim it, and a cloud settle over it; may the blackness of the day overwhelm it.

¹⁷ For to them, deep darkness is their morning; surely they are friends with the terrors of darkness!

²⁰ From where then does wisdom come, and where does understanding dwell? ²¹ It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing and concealed from the birds of the air. ²² Abaddon and Death say, ‘We have heard a rumor about it.’ ²³ But God understands its way, and He knows its place.

²² There is no darkness or deep shadow where the workers of iniquity can hide.

²¹ would not God have discovered, since He knows the secrets of the heart?

¹² even the darkness is not dark to You, but the night shines like the day, for darkness is as light to You.

²² He reveals the deep and hidden things; He knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with Him.

²⁶ So do not be afraid of them. For there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, and nothing hidden that will not be made known.

⁷⁹ to shine on those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the path of peace.”

¹⁰ But God has revealed it to us by His Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.

⁵ Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.

⁷ but the Israelites were fruitful and increased rapidly; they multiplied and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them.

²⁰ So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied and became even more numerous.

³⁸ He blesses them, and they multiply greatly; He does not let their herds diminish.

³ You have enlarged the nation and increased its joy. The people rejoice before You as they rejoice at harvest time, as men rejoice in dividing the plunder.

¹⁵ You have enlarged the nation, O LORD; You have enlarged the nation. You have gained glory for Yourself; You have extended all the borders of the land.

⁶ In the days to come, Jacob will take root. Israel will bud and blossom and fill the whole world with fruit.

² Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who gave you birth. When I called him, he was but one; then I blessed him and multiplied him.

²² The least of you will become a thousand, and the smallest a mighty nation. I am the LORD; in its time I will accomplish it quickly.

¹⁹ Thanksgiving will proceed from them, a sound of celebration. I will multiply them, and they will not be decreased; I will honor them, and they will not be belittled.

²² As the hosts of heaven cannot be counted and as the sand on the seashore cannot be measured, so too will I multiply the descendants of My servant David and the Levites who minister before Me.”

⁸ I will whistle for them to gather, for I have redeemed them; and they will be as numerous as they once were.

²⁰ He deprives the trusted of speech and takes away the discernment of elders.

⁴ Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no path to a city in which to dwell.

⁹ And He replied: “Go and tell this people, ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ ¹⁰ Make the hearts of this people calloused; deafen their ears and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

¹ This is the burden against Egypt: Behold, the LORD rides on a swift cloud; He is coming to Egypt. The idols of Egypt will tremble before Him, and the hearts of the Egyptians will melt within them.

¹⁶ Let his mind be changed from that of a man, and let him be given the mind of a beast till seven times pass him by.

³³ At that moment the sentence against Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled. He was driven away from mankind. He ate grass like an ox, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven, until his hair grew like the feathers of an eagle and his nails like the claws of a bird.

¹¹ So Ephraim has become like a silly, senseless dove—calling out to Egypt, then turning to Assyria.

¹¹ And they struck the men at the entrance, young and old, with blindness, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the door.

²⁹ and at noon you will grope about like a blind man in the darkness. You will not prosper in your ways. Day after day you will be oppressed and plundered, with no one to save you.

¹⁴ They encounter darkness by day and grope at noon as in the night.

²⁷ They reeled and staggered like drunkards, and all their skill was useless.

¹⁴ The LORD has poured into her a spirit of confusion. Egypt has been led astray in all she does, as a drunkard staggers through his own vomit.

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.

¹⁰ Like the blind, we feel our way along the wall, groping like those without eyes. We stumble at midday as in the twilight; among the vigorous we are like the dead.

¹¹ Now look, the hand of the Lord is against you, and for a time you will be blind and unable to see the light of the sun.” Immediately mist and darkness fell over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand.

¹¹ But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness. He does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.