Job 5 Cross References - MSB

¹ “Call out if you please, but who will answer? To which of the holy ones will you turn? ² For resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple. ³ I have seen a fool taking root, but suddenly his house was cursed. ⁴ His sons are far from safety, crushed in court without a defender. ⁵ The hungry consume his harvest, taking it even from the thorns, and the thirsty pant after his wealth. ⁶ For distress does not spring from the dust, and trouble does not sprout from the ground. ⁷ Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward. ⁸ However, if I were you, I would appeal to God and lay my cause before Him— ⁹ the One who does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number. ¹⁰ He gives rain to the earth and sends water upon the fields. ¹¹ He sets the lowly on high, so that mourners are lifted to safety. ¹² He thwarts the schemes of the crafty, so that their hands find no success. ¹³ He catches the wise in their craftiness, and sweeps away the plans of the cunning. ¹⁴ They encounter darkness by day and grope at noon as in the night. ¹⁵ He saves the needy from the sword in their mouth and from the clutches of the powerful. ¹⁶ So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts its mouth. ¹⁷ Blessed indeed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. ¹⁸ For He wounds, but He also binds; He strikes, but His hands also heal. ¹⁹ He will rescue you from six calamities; no harm will touch you in seven. ²⁰ In famine He will redeem you from death, and in battle from the stroke of the sword. ²¹ You will be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, and will not fear havoc when it comes. ²² You will laugh at destruction and famine, and need not fear the beasts of the earth. ²³ For you will have a covenant with the stones of the field, and the wild animals will be at peace with you. ²⁴ You will know that your tent is secure, and find nothing amiss when inspecting your home. ²⁵ You will know that your offspring will be many, your descendants like the grass of the earth. ²⁶ You will come to the grave in full vigor, like a sheaf of grain gathered in season. ²⁷ Indeed, we have investigated, and it is true! So hear it and know for yourself.”

² He said: “The LORD came from Sinai and dawned upon us from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran and came with myriads of holy ones, with flaming fire at His right hand. ³ Surely You love the people; all the holy ones are in Your hand, and they sit down at Your feet; each receives Your words—

¹⁸ If God puts no trust in His servants, and He charges His angels with error,

⁸ Do you listen in on the council of God or limit wisdom to yourself? ⁹ What do you know that we do not? What do you understand that is not clear to us? ¹⁰ Both the gray-haired and the aged are on our side—men much older than your father.

¹⁵ If God puts no trust in His holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in His eyes,

³ As for the saints in the land, they are the excellence in whom all my delight resides.

¹⁶ In the camp they envied Moses, as well as Aaron, the holy one of the LORD.

¹ “Be silent before Me, O islands, and let the peoples renew their strength. Let them come forward and testify; let us together draw near for judgment.

²¹ “Present your case,” says the LORD. “Submit your arguments,” says the King of Jacob. ²² “Let them come and tell us what will happen. Tell the former things, so that we may reflect on them and know the outcome. Or announce to us what is coming. ²³ Tell us the things that are to come, so that we may know that you are gods. Yes, do something good or evil, that we may look on together in dismay.

¹ Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, To the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus:

¹ Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set out for us.

¹ When Rachel saw that she was not bearing any children for Jacob, she envied her sister. “Give me children, or I will die!” she said to Jacob.

⁸ And Saul was furious and resented this song. “They have ascribed tens of thousands to David,” he said, “but only thousands to me. What more can he have but the kingdom?” ⁹ And from that day forward Saul kept a jealous eye on David.

⁴ You who tear yourself in anger—should the earth be forsaken on your account, or the rocks be moved from their place?

¹ For the choirmaster. Of David. The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt; their acts are vile. There is no one who does good.

⁴ I say to the proud, ‘Do not boast,’ and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horn.

⁶ A senseless man does not know, and a fool does not understand,

¹⁷ Fools, in their rebellious ways, and through their iniquities, suffered affliction.

²² “How long, O simple ones, will you love your simple ways? How long will scoffers delight in their scorn and fools hate knowledge? ²³ If you had repented at my rebuke, then surely I would have poured out my spirit on you; I would have made my words known to you.

⁵ O simple ones, learn to be shrewd; O fools, gain understanding.

¹⁶ A fool’s anger is known at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult.

⁹ Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger settles in the lap of a fool.

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

⁹ Then God asked Jonah, “Have you any right to be angry about the plant?” “I do,” he replied. “I am angry enough to die!”

⁸ But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow wickedness, there will be anger and wrath.

⁶ They are the kind who worm their way into households and captivate vulnerable women who are weighed down with sins and led astray by various passions,

¹⁵ ‘Cursed is the man who makes a carved idol or molten image—an abomination to the LORD, the work of the hands of a craftsman—and sets it up in secret.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’ ¹⁶ ‘Cursed is he who dishonors his father or mother.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’ ¹⁷ ‘Cursed is he who moves his neighbor’s boundary stone.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’ ¹⁸ ‘Cursed is he who lets a blind man wander in the road.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’ ¹⁹ ‘Cursed is he who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’ ²⁰ ‘Cursed is he who sleeps with his father’s wife, for he has violated his father’s marriage bed.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’ ²¹ ‘Cursed is he who lies with any animal.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’ ²² ‘Cursed is he who sleeps with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’ ²³ ‘Cursed is he who sleeps with his mother-in-law.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’ ²⁴ ‘Cursed is he who strikes down his neighbor in secret.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’ ²⁵ ‘Cursed is he who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’ ²⁶ ‘Cursed is he who does not put the words of this law into practice.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’

¹⁸ They are but foam on the surface of the water; their portion of the land is cursed, so that no one turns toward their vineyards.

⁸ For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?

³⁵ I have seen a wicked, ruthless man flourishing like a well-rooted native tree, ³⁶ yet he passed away and was no more; though I searched, he could not be found.

²⁵ May their place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in their tents.

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. ⁸ They mock and speak with malice; with arrogance they threaten oppression. ⁹ They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongues strut across the earth.

¹⁸ Surely You set them on slick ground; You cast them down into ruin. ¹⁹ How suddenly they are laid waste, completely swept away by terrors! ²⁰ Like one waking from a dream, so You, O Lord, awaken and despise their form.

⁷ that though the wicked sprout like grass, and all evildoers flourish, they will be forever destroyed.

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. ³ But You know me, O LORD; You see me and test my heart toward You. Drag away the wicked like sheep to the slaughter and set them apart for the day of carnage.

²⁰ “For it is written in the book of Psalms: ‘May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it,’ and, ‘May another take his position.’

⁵ You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

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!”

¹⁰ The lion may roar, and the fierce lion may growl, yet the teeth of the young lions are broken. ¹¹ The old lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

⁴ When your children sinned against Him, He gave them over to their rebellion.

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

¹⁶ The roots beneath him dry up, and the branches above him wither away. ¹⁷ The memory of him perishes from the earth, and he has no name in the land. ¹⁸ He is driven from light into darkness and is chased from the inhabited world. ¹⁹ He has no offspring or posterity among his people, no survivor where he once lived.

¹⁴ Though his sons are many, they are destined for the sword; and his offspring will never have enough food.

² or they will shred my soul like a lion and tear me to pieces with no one to rescue me.

⁹ May his children be fatherless and his wife a widow. ¹⁰ May his children wander as beggars, seeking sustenance far from their ruined homes. ¹¹ May the creditor seize all he owns, and strangers plunder the fruits of his labor. ¹² May there be no one to extend kindness to him, and no one to favor his fatherless children. ¹³ May his descendants be cut off; may their name be blotted out from the next generation. ¹⁴ May the iniquity of his fathers be remembered before the LORD, and the sin of his mother never be blotted out. ¹⁵ May their sins always remain before the LORD, that He may cut off their memory from the earth.

¹⁵⁵ Salvation is far from the wicked because they do not seek Your statutes.

⁵ Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. He will not be put to shame when he confronts the enemies at the gate.

¹² For I know that your transgressions are many and your sins are numerous. You oppress the righteous by taking bribes; you deprive the poor of justice in the gate.

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? ⁵ No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

³³ A people you do not know will eat the produce of your land and of all your toil. All your days you will be oppressed and crushed.

⁵¹ They will eat the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain or new wine or oil, no calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks, until they have caused you to perish.

³ Whenever the Israelites would plant their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites, and other people of the east would come up and invade them, ⁴ encamping against them as far as Gaza and destroying the produce of the land. They left Israel with no sustenance, neither sheep nor oxen nor donkeys. ⁵ For the Midianites came with their livestock and their tents like a great swarm of locusts. They and their camels were innumerable, and they entered the land to ravage it. ⁶ Israel was greatly impoverished by Midian, and the Israelites cried out to the LORD.

¹¹ Then the angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites.

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.

¹⁵ the Sabeans swooped down and took them away. They put the servants to the sword, 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!”

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.”

⁶ The tents of robbers are safe, and those who provoke God are secure—those who carry their god in their hands.

⁸ For his own feet lead him into a net, and he wanders into its mesh. ⁹ A trap seizes his heel; a snare grips him. ¹⁰ A noose is hidden in the ground, and a trap lies in his path.

¹⁵ He swallows wealth but vomits it out; God will force it from his stomach.

⁸ The LORD has sworn by His right hand and by His mighty arm: “Never again will I give your grain to your enemies for food, nor will foreigners drink the new wine for which you have toiled.

³⁴ “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me; he has crushed me. He has set me aside like an empty vessel; he has swallowed me like a monster; he filled his belly with my delicacies and vomited me out.

⁴⁴ I will punish Bel in Babylon. I will make him spew out what he swallowed. The nations will no longer stream to him; even the wall of Babylon will fall.

⁵ The Lord is like an enemy; He has swallowed up Israel. He has swallowed up all her palaces and destroyed her strongholds. He has multiplied mourning and lamentation for the Daughter of Judah.

¹⁶ All your enemies open their mouths against you. They hiss and gnash their teeth, saying, “We have swallowed her up. This is the day for which we have waited. We have lived to see it!”

⁷ For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. There is no standing grain; what sprouts fails to yield flour. Even if it should produce, the foreigners would swallow it up.

²⁷ if I had not dreaded the taunt of the enemy, lest their adversaries misunderstand and say: ‘Our own hand has prevailed; it was not the LORD who did all this.’”

⁹ but keep watching it. If it goes up the road to its homeland, toward Beth-shemesh, it is the LORD who has brought on us this great disaster. But if it does not, then we will know that it was not His hand that punished us and that it happened by chance.”

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,

⁷ For we are consumed by Your anger and terrified by Your wrath.

⁷ I form the light and create the darkness; I bring prosperity and create calamity. I, the LORD, do all these things.

³⁸ Do not both adversity and good come from the mouth of the Most High?

⁴ They speak mere words; with false oaths they make covenants. So judgment springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of a field.

⁶ If a ram’s horn sounds in a city, do the people not tremble? If calamity comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it?

¹⁵ See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God, and that no root of bitterness springs up to cause trouble and defile many.

¹⁷ And to Adam He said: “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat, cursed is the ground because of you; through toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. ¹⁸ Both thorns and thistles it will yield for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. ¹⁹ By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground—because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”

¹ “Man, who is born of woman, is short of days and full of trouble.

⁸ You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your presence. ⁹ For all our days decline in Your fury; we finish our years with a sigh.

⁸ All things are wearisome, more than one can describe; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear content with hearing.

²² For what does a man get for all the toil and striving with which he labors under the sun?

¹⁵ As a man came from his mother’s womb, so he will depart again, naked as he arrived. He takes nothing for his labor to carry in his hands. ¹⁶ This too is a grievous evil: Exactly as a man is born, so he will depart. What does he gain as he toils for the wind? ¹⁷ Moreover, all his days he eats in darkness, with much sorrow, sickness, and anger.

¹³ No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide an escape, so that you can stand up under it.

⁷ In great fear and distress, Jacob divided his people into two camps, as well as the flocks and herds and camels. ⁸ He thought, “If Esau comes and attacks one camp, then the other camp can escape.” ⁹ Then Jacob declared, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, the LORD who told me, ‘Go back to your country and to your kindred, and I will make you prosper,’ ¹⁰ I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness You have shown Your servant. Indeed, with only my staff I came across the Jordan, but now I have become two camps. ¹¹ Please deliver me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid that he may come and attack me and the mothers and children with me. ¹² But You have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper, and I will make your offspring like the sand of the sea, too numerous to count.’”

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.

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

²¹ Reconcile now and be at peace with Him; thereby good will come to you.

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

⁵ Commit your way to the LORD; trust in Him, and He will do it.

¹⁵ Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.”

¹ For the choirmaster. According to Jeduthun. A Psalm of Asaph. I cried out to God; I cried aloud to God to hear me. 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.

¹ From inside the fish, Jonah prayed to the LORD his God, ² saying: “In my distress I called to the LORD, and He answered me. From the belly of Sheol I called for help, and You heard my voice. ³ For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the current swirled about me; all Your breakers and waves swept over me. ⁴ At this, I said, ‘I have been banished from Your sight; yet I will look once more toward Your holy temple.’ ⁵ The waters engulfed me to take my life; the watery depths closed around me; the seaweed wrapped around my head. ⁶ To the roots of the mountains I descended; the earth beneath me barred me in forever! But You raised my life from the pit, O LORD my God! ⁷ As my life was fading away, I remembered the LORD. My prayer went up to You, to Your holy temple.

¹² For this reason, even though I suffer as I do, I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day.

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.

¹⁹ So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should entrust their souls to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.

¹⁰ He does great things beyond searching out, and wonders without number.

⁷ Can you fathom the deep things of God or discover the limits of the Almighty? ⁸ They are higher than the heavens—what can you do? They are deeper than Sheol—what can you know? ⁹ Their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea.

⁵ The dead tremble—those beneath the waters and those who dwell in them. ⁶ Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering. ⁷ He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth upon nothing. ⁸ He wraps up the waters in His clouds, yet the clouds do not burst under their own weight. ⁹ He covers the face of the full moon, spreading over it His cloud. ¹⁰ He has inscribed a horizon on the face of the waters at the boundary between light and darkness. ¹¹ The foundations of heaven quake, astounded at His rebuke. 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?”

⁵ God thunders wondrously with His voice; He does great things we cannot comprehend.

³ You asked, ‘Who is this who conceals My counsel without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.

⁵ Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders You have done, and the plans You have for us—none can compare to You—if I proclaim and declare them, they are more than I can count.

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

¹⁰ For You are great and perform wonders; You alone are God.

¹⁸ If I were to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand; and when I awake, I am still with You.

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.

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

²⁶ when He set a limit for the rain and a path for the thunderbolt,

²⁸ which the clouds pour out and shower abundantly on mankind.

²⁶ to bring rain on a barren land, on a desert where no man lives, ²⁷ to satisfy the parched wasteland and make it sprout with tender grass? ²⁸ Does the rain have a father? Who has begotten the drops of dew?

⁹ You attend to the earth and water it; with abundance You enrich it. The streams of God are full of water, for You prepare our grain by providing for the earth. ¹⁰ You soak its furrows and level its ridges; You soften it with showers and bless its growth. ¹¹ You crown the year with Your bounty, and Your paths overflow with plenty.

⁸ who covers the sky with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass to grow on the hills.

²⁴ They have not said in their hearts, ‘Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives the rains, both autumn and spring, in season, who keeps for us the appointed weeks of harvest.’

¹³ When He thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He generates the lightning with the rain and brings forth the wind from His storehouses.

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.

⁷ “I also withheld the rain from you when the harvest was three months away. I sent rain on one city but withheld it from another. One field received rain; another without rain withered.

¹⁷ Yet He has not left Himself without testimony to His goodness: He gives you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.”

²⁷ The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He drives out the enemy before you, giving the command, ‘Destroy him!’

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

¹⁴ “Because he loves Me, I will deliver him; because he knows My name, I will protect him.

⁴¹ But He lifts the needy from affliction and increases their families like flocks.

⁷ He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the dump

²⁴ Then all the trees of the field will know that I am the LORD. I bring the tall tree down and make the low tree tall. I dry up the green tree and make the withered tree flourish. I, the LORD, have spoken, and I have done it.’”

⁵² He has brought down rulers from their thrones, but has exalted the humble. ⁵³ He has filled the hungry with good things, but has sent the rich away empty.

²¹ Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.

⁹ The brother in humble circumstances should exult in his high position.

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. ⁸ Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter to mourning, and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

¹⁰ And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, will Himself restore you, secure you, strengthen you, and establish you.

¹⁵ When our enemies heard that we were aware of their scheme and that God had frustrated it, each of us returned to his own work on the wall.

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.

¹¹ Though they intend You harm, the schemes they devise will not prevail.

¹⁰ The LORD frustrates the plans of the nations; He thwarts the devices of the peoples. ¹¹ The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the purposes of His heart to all generations.

¹⁷ For the arms of the wicked will be broken, but the LORD upholds the righteous.

³⁰ There is no wisdom, no understanding, no counsel that can prevail against the LORD.

¹⁰ Devise a plan, but it will be thwarted; state a proposal, but it will not happen. For God is with us.”

³ Then the spirit of the Egyptians will be emptied out from among them, and I will frustrate their plans, so that they will resort to idols and spirits of the dead, to mediums and spiritists.

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!

¹¹ Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent His angel and rescued me from Herod’s grasp and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating.”

¹² When daylight came, some of the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul. ¹³ More than forty of them were involved in this plot. ¹⁴ They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have bound ourselves with a solemn oath not to eat anything until we have killed Paul. ¹⁵ Now then, you and the Sanhedrin petition the commander to bring him down to you tomorrow on the pretext of examining his case more carefully. We are ready to kill him on the way.” ¹⁶ But when the son of Paul’s sister heard about the plot, he went into the barracks and told Paul. ¹⁷ Then Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the commander; he has something to tell him.” ¹⁸ So the centurion took him to the commander and said, “Paul the prisoner sent and asked me to bring this young man to you. He has something to tell you.” ¹⁹ The commander took the young man by the hand, drew him aside, and asked, “What do you need to tell me?” ²⁰ He answered, “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul to the Sanhedrin tomorrow on the pretext of acquiring more information about him. ²¹ Do not let them persuade you, because more than forty men are waiting to ambush him. They have bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they have killed him; they are ready now, awaiting your consent.” ²² So the commander dismissed the young man and instructed him, “Do not tell anyone that you have reported this to me.”

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!”

³⁴ But you can thwart the counsel of Ahithophel for me if you return to the city and say to Absalom: ‘I will be your servant, my king; in the past I was your father’s servant, but now I will be your servant.’

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.

⁴ “Who is in the court?” the king asked. Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the palace to ask the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows he had prepared for him. ⁵ So the king’s attendants answered him, “Haman is there, standing in the court.” “Bring him in,” ordered the king. ⁶ Haman entered, and the king asked him, “What should be done for the man whom the king is delighted to honor?” Now Haman thought to himself, “Whom would the king be delighted to honor more than me?” ⁷ And Haman told the king, “For the man whom the king is delighted to honor, ⁸ have them bring a royal robe that the king himself has worn and a horse on which the king himself has ridden—one with a royal crest placed on its head. ⁹ Let the robe and the horse be entrusted to one of the king’s most noble princes. Let them array the man the king wants to honor and parade him on the horse through the city square, proclaiming before him, ‘This is what is done for the man whom the king is delighted to honor!’” ¹⁰ “Hurry,” said the king to Haman, “and do just as you proposed. Take the robe and the horse to Mordecai the Jew, who is sitting at the king’s gate. Do not neglect anything that you have suggested.” ¹¹ So Haman took the robe and the horse, arrayed Mordecai, and paraded him through the city square, crying out before him, “This is what is done for the man whom the king is delighted to honor!”

¹⁰ So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the fury of the king subsided.

²⁵ But when it came before the king, he commanded by letter that the wicked scheme which Haman had devised against the Jews should come back upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.

¹⁵ He has dug a hole and hollowed it out; he has fallen into a pit of his own making. ¹⁶ His trouble recoils on himself, and his violence falls on his own head.

¹⁵ The nations have fallen into a pit of their making; their feet are caught in the net they have hidden. ¹⁶ The LORD is known by the justice He brings; the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands. Higgaion Selah

²⁶ to the pure You show Yourself pure, but to the crooked You show Yourself shrewd.

⁷ For without cause they laid their net for me; without reason they dug a pit for my soul. ⁸ May ruin befall them by surprise; may the net they hid ensnare them; may they fall into the hazard they created.

³² for the LORD detests the perverse, but He is a friend to the upright.

⁵¹ He has performed mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who are proud in the thoughts of their hearts.

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?

¹⁹ For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness.”

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.

²⁵ They grope in the darkness without light; He makes them stagger like drunkards.

¹⁹ But the way of the wicked is like the darkest gloom; they do not know what makes them stumble.

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.

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.

¹⁰ The lion may roar, and the fierce lion may growl, yet the teeth of the young lions are broken.

¹⁴ But You have regarded trouble and grief; You see to repay it by Your hand. The victim entrusts himself to You; You are the helper of the fatherless.

¹⁷ You have heard, O LORD, the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their hearts. You will incline Your ear,

¹⁰ All my bones will exclaim, “Who is like You, O LORD, who delivers the afflicted from the aggressor, the poor and needy from the robber?”

⁴ May he vindicate the afflicted among the people; may he save the children of the needy and crush the oppressor.

¹² For he will deliver the needy who cry out and the afflicted who have no helper. ¹³ He will take pity on the poor and needy and save the lives of the oppressed.

³¹ For He stands at the right hand of the needy one, to save him from the condemners of his soul.

¹² I know that the LORD upholds justice for the poor and defends the cause of the needy.

⁷ But among all the Israelites, not even a dog will snarl at man or beast.’ Then you will know that the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.

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. ⁹ He guards the steps of His faithful ones, but the wicked perish in darkness; for by his own strength shall no man prevail.

¹⁸ For the needy will not always be forgotten; nor the hope of the oppressed forever dashed.

¹¹ But the king will rejoice in God; all who swear by Him will exult, for the mouths of liars will be shut.

⁴² The upright see and rejoice, and all iniquity shuts its mouth.

³² What answer will be given to the envoys of that nation? “The LORD has founded Zion, where His afflicted people will find refuge.”

¹² Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; even today I declare that I will restore to you double.

¹⁹ Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.

¹² Blessed is the man You discipline, O LORD, and teach from Your law,

¹¹ My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD, and do not loathe His rebuke; ¹² for the LORD disciplines the one He loves, as does a father the son in whom he delights.

¹⁸ I have surely heard Ephraim’s moaning: ‘You disciplined me severely, like an untrained calf. Restore me, that I may return, for You are the LORD my God.

⁵ And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you. ⁶ For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives.” ⁷ Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? ⁸ If you do not experience discipline like everyone else, then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. ⁹ Furthermore, we have all had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Should we not much more submit to the Father of our spirits and live? ¹⁰ Our fathers disciplined us for a short time as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good, so that we may share in His holiness. 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.

¹² Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

¹¹ See how blessed we consider those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen the outcome from the Lord. He is full of compassion and mercy.

¹⁹ Those I love, I rebuke and discipline. Therefore be earnest and repent.

³⁹ See now that I am He; there is no God besides Me. I bring death and I give life; I wound and I heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My hand.

⁶ The LORD brings death and gives life; He brings down to Sheol and raises up.

³ He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

²⁶ The light of the moon will be as bright as the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter—like the light of seven days—on the day that the LORD binds up the brokenness of His people and heals the wounds He has inflicted.

¹ Come, let us return to the LORD. For He has torn us to pieces, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bind up our wounds.

¹⁹ Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him from them all.

³ Surely He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler, and from the deadly plague. ⁴ He will cover you with His feathers; under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and rampart. ⁵ You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, ⁶ nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the calamity that destroys at noon. ⁷ Though a thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, no harm will come near you. ⁸ You will only see it with your eyes and witness the punishment of the wicked. ⁹ Because you have made the LORD your dwelling—my refuge, the Most High— ¹⁰ no evil will befall you, no plague will approach your tent.

¹⁶ For though a righteous man may fall seven times, he still gets up; but the wicked stumble in bad times.

⁸ We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the hardships we encountered in the province of Asia. We were under a burden far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life.

⁹ if all this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.

⁷ God sent me before you to preserve you as a remnant on the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

⁶ The ravens would bring him bread and meat in the morning and evening, and he would drink from the brook.

³ Though an army encamps around me, my heart will not fear; though a war breaks out against me, I will keep my trust.

¹⁹ to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.

¹⁹ In the time of evil they will not be ashamed, and in the days of famine they will be satisfied.

⁷ No man can possibly redeem his brother or pay his ransom to God.

¹⁰ to Him who gives victory to kings, who frees His servant David from the deadly sword.

³ The LORD does not let the righteous go hungry, but He denies the craving of the wicked.

¹⁶ he will dwell on the heights; the mountain fortress will be his refuge; his food will be provided and his water assured.

¹⁴ I will ransom them from the power of Sheol; I will redeem them from Death. Where, O Death, are your plagues? Where, O Sheol, is your sting? Compassion is hidden from My eyes.

¹⁷ Though the fig tree does not bud and no fruit is on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though the sheep are cut off from the fold and no cattle are in the stalls,

⁶ You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. All these things must happen, but the end is still to come.

²⁰ You hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the schemes of men. You conceal them in Your shelter from accusing tongues.

²¹ His speech is smooth as butter, but war is in his heart. His words are softer than oil, yet they are swords unsheathed.

⁴ My soul is among the lions; I lie down with ravenous beasts—with men whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords.

⁵ You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, ⁶ nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the calamity that destroys at noon. ⁷ Though a thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand, no harm will come near you.

¹⁸ Speaking rashly is like a piercing sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

¹⁷ No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their vindication is from Me,” declares the LORD.

¹⁸ Then some said, “Come, let us make plans against Jeremiah, for the law will never be lost to the priest, nor counsel to the wise, nor an oracle to the prophet. Come, let us denounce him and pay no heed to any of his words.”

⁵ In the same way, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it boasts of great things. Consider how small a spark sets a great forest ablaze. ⁶ The tongue also is a fire, a world of wickedness among the parts of the body. It pollutes the whole person, sets the course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. ⁷ All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and creatures of the sea are being tamed and have been tamed by man, ⁸ but no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.

²¹ This is the word that the LORD has spoken against him: ‘The Virgin Daughter of Zion despises you and mocks you; the Daughter of Jerusalem shakes her head behind you.

¹³ You will tread on the lion and cobra; you will trample the young lion and serpent.

⁹ No lion will be there, and no vicious beast will go up on it. Such will not be found there, but the redeemed will walk upon it.

²⁵ The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but the food of the serpent will be dust. They will neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mountain,” says the LORD.

²⁵ I will make with them a covenant of peace and rid the land of wild animals, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the forest.

¹⁸ On that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the creatures that crawl on the ground. And I will abolish bow and sword and weapons of war in the land, and will make them lie down in safety.

⁶ And I will give peace to the land, and you will lie down with nothing to fear. I will rid the land of dangerous animals, and no sword will pass through your land.

¹² They will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. ¹³ You will tread on the lion and cobra; you will trample the young lion and serpent.

⁶ The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the goat; the calf and young lion and fatling will be together, and a little child will lead them. ⁷ The cow will graze with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. ⁸ The infant will play by the cobra’s den, and the toddler will reach into the viper’s nest. ⁹ They will neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the sea is full of water.

¹⁵ Or if I send wild beasts through the land to leave it childless and desolate, with no man passing through it for fear of the beasts, ¹⁶ then as surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, even if these three men were in it, they could not deliver their own sons or daughters. They alone would be delivered, but the land would be desolate.

²² My God sent His angel and shut the mouths of the lions. They have not hurt me, for I was found innocent in His sight, and I have done no wrong against you, O king.”

³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities nor powers, neither the present nor the future, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

⁶ You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.

³ When David and his men came to the city, they found it burned down and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive.

⁶ if you are pure and upright, even now He will rouse Himself on your behalf and restore your righteous estate.

⁶ The light in his tent grows dark, and the lamp beside him goes out.

¹⁵ Fire resides in his tent; burning sulfur rains down on his dwelling.

²¹ Surely such is the dwelling of the wicked and the place of one who does not know God.”

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.

¹³ His soul will dwell in prosperity, and his descendants will inherit the land.

¹⁰ no evil will befall you, no plague will approach your tent.

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

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

⁷ The LORD will guard you from all evil; He will preserve your soul. ⁸ The LORD will watch over your coming and going, both now and forevermore.

⁵ Then the LORD will create over all of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud of smoke by day and a glowing flame of fire by night. For over all the glory there will be a canopy, ⁶ a shelter to give shade from the heat by day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and the rain.

⁵ And the LORD took him outside and said, “Now look to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able.” Then He told him, “So shall your offspring be.”

⁹ I will turn toward you and make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will establish My covenant with you.

⁴ The fruit of your womb will be blessed, as well as the produce of your land and the offspring of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.

¹³ And he also had seven sons and three daughters. ¹⁴ He named his first daughter Jemimah, his second Keziah, and his third Keren-happuch. ¹⁵ No women as beautiful as Job’s daughters could be found in all the land, and their father granted them an inheritance among their brothers. ¹⁶ After this, Job lived 140 years and saw his children and their children to the fourth generation.

¹⁶ May there be an abundance of grain in the land; may it sway atop the hills. May its fruit trees flourish like the forests of Lebanon, and its people like the grass of the field.

² His descendants will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed.

³ Children are indeed a heritage from the LORD, and the fruit of the womb is His reward. ⁴ Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are children born in one’s youth. ⁵ Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. He will not be put to shame when he confronts the enemies at the gate.

³ Your wife will be like a fruitful vine flourishing within your house, your sons like olive shoots sitting around your table. ⁴ In this way indeed shall blessing come to the man who fears the LORD. ⁵ May the LORD bless you from Zion, that you may see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life, ⁶ that you may see your children’s children. Peace be upon Israel!

³ For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and currents on the dry ground. I will pour out My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring. ⁴ They will sprout among the grass like willows by flowing streams.

¹⁵ You, however, will go to your fathers in peace and be buried at a ripe old age.

⁸ And at a ripe old age he breathed his last and died, old and contented, and was gathered to his people.

¹⁶ After this, Job lived 140 years and saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. ¹⁷ And so Job died, old and full of years.

¹⁶ With long life I will satisfy him and show him My salvation.”

¹¹ For through wisdom your days will be multiplied, and years will be added to your life.

²⁷ The fear of the LORD prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be cut short.

¹³ and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD that I am giving you this day for your own good?

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 “Truly then you are the people with whom wisdom itself will die!

¹⁷ Listen to me and I will inform you. I will describe what I have seen,

² “Can a man be of use to God? Can even a wise man benefit Him?

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.

² Great are the works of the LORD; they are pondered by all who delight in them.

³ if you truly call out to insight and lift your voice to understanding, ⁴ if you seek it like silver and search it out like hidden treasure, ⁵ then you will discern the fear of the LORD and discover the knowledge of God.

¹² If you are wise, you are wise to your own advantage; but if you scoff, you alone will bear the consequences.