Job 18 Cross References - NSB

¹ BILDAD THE SHUHITE ANSWERED: ² »When will you end these speeches? Be sensible, and then we can talk. ³ »Why are we regarded as animals and considered stupid in your sight? ⁴ »You tear yourself to pieces in your anger! Is the earth to be abandoned for your sake? Or must the rocks be moved from their place? ⁵ »The lamp of the wicked is snuffed out. The flame of his fire shall not shine. ⁶ »The light in his tent becomes dark. The lamp beside him will be put out. ⁷ »The vigor of his step is weakened. His own schemes will bring his downfall. ⁸ »His feet cast him into a net and he wanders into its mesh. ⁹ »A trap seizes him by the heel and a snare holds him fast. ¹⁰ »A noose is hidden for him on the ground and a trap lies in his path. ¹¹ »Terrors startle him on every side and chase him at his heels. ¹² »Calamity hungers for him and disaster catch him when he falls. ¹³ »It eats away parts of his skin. Death’s firstborn devours his limbs. ¹⁴ »He is torn from the security of his tent and marched off to the king of terrors. ¹⁵ »Fire resides in his tent; burning sulfur is scattered over his dwelling. ¹⁶ »His roots dry up below and his branches wither above. ¹⁷ »The memory of him perishes from the earth. He has no name in the street. ¹⁸ »He is driven from light into darkness and is banished from the world. ¹⁹ »He has no offspring or descendants among his people, no survivor where once he lived. ²⁰ »Men of the west are appalled at him. Men of the east are seized with horror. ²¹ »This is the dwelling of an evil man! This is the place of one who does not know God!«

²⁴ Jehovah made burning sulfur and fire rain out of the sky on Sodom and Gomorrah.

³ »Reuben, you are my firstborn; you are my strength and the first child of my manhood. You are the proudest and strongest of all my sons.

² But Pharaoh responded: »Who is Jehovah, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I do not know Jehovah, and besides, I will not let Israel go.«

³⁶ »‘I will fill those who are left in the land of their enemies with despair. The sound of a windblown leaf will make them run. They will run away and fall, but no one will be chasing them.

²³ »All its land is brimstone and salt. It is a burning waste, unsown and unproductive. No grass grows on it. Like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which Jehovah overthrew in his anger and in his wrath.

²³ »All its land is brimstone and salt. It is a burning waste, unsown and unproductive. No grass grows on it. Like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which Jehovah overthrew in his anger and in his wrath. ²⁴ »All the nations will say: Why has Jehovah done thus to this land? Why this great outburst of anger?'

¹⁰ After those generations were gathered to their fathers (died) another generation followed them. This new generation did not know Jehovah or the works he had done for Israel.

⁵ »Those who were full have hired themselves out for food. The hungry have ceased to hunger. The barren has borne seven. She who has had many sons has languished.

¹² The sons of Eli were corrupt. They did not know Jehovah.

³⁶ »‘Your descendants who survive will have to go to that priest and ask him for money and food, and beg to be allowed to help the priests, in order to have something to eat.’«

³¹ Someone told David: »Ahithophel is helping Absalom conspire against you!« David said: »Please Jehovah keep Ahithophel’s plans from working!«

¹⁴ Absalom and all the people of Israel said: »The advice of Hushai from Archi’s family is better than Ahithophel’s advice. Jehovah commanded Ahithophel’s good advice to be defeated in order to ruin Absalom.«

⁸ This house will become a mass of broken walls. Everyone who goes by will be overcome with wonder at it and make whistling sounds. They will say: Why has Jehovah done this to this land and to this house?

⁶ Jehovah made the Syrians hear what sounded like the advance of a large army with horses and chariots. The Syrians thought that the king of Israel had hired Hittite and Egyptian kings and their armies to attack them. ⁷ The Syrians arose and fled while it was yet dark. They left their tents, and their horses, and their donkeys in the camp and fled for their lives.

⁹ »You my son Solomon, learn to know your father’s God. Serve Jehovah wholeheartedly and willingly because he searches every heart and understands every thought we have. If you dedicate your life to serving him, he will accept you. On the other hand if you abandon him, he will reject you from then on.

⁹ »If it is the king's pleasure, let a statement ordering their destruction be put in writing. I will give to those responsible for the king's business, ten thousand talents of silver for the king's storehouse.«

¹³ And Haman gave his wife Zeresh and all his friends an account of what took place. Then his wise men and his wife Zeresh said to him, »If Mordecai, who is starting to get the better of you, is of the seed of the Jews, you will not be able to do anything against him, but you will certainly go down before him.«

⁵ Then King Ahasuerus said to Esther the queen: »Who is he and where is he who has had this evil thought in his heart?«

¹⁰ So Haman was put to death by hanging him on the pillar he made for Mordecai. Then the king's rage subsided.

¹⁵ »Suddenly the Sabeans attacked and stole them all. They killed every one of your servants except me. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.«

¹⁷ Before he finished speaking, another servant came and said: »Three bands of Chaldean raiders attacked us. They took away the camels and killed all your servants except me. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.«

¹⁹ when a storm swept in from the desert. It blew the house down and killed them all. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.«

¹¹ Job's three friends heard about all the terrible things that happened to him. Each of them came from his home: Eliphaz of Teman, Bildad of Shuah, and Zophar of Naama. They agreed they would go together to sympathize with Job and comfort him. ¹² They saw him from a distance and did not even recognize him. They cried out loud and wept. Each of them tore his clothes in grief. They threw dust on their heads. ¹³ Then they sat down on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him because they saw that he was in such great pain.

⁵ »Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it once more. May a cloud settle over it and may blackness overwhelm its light. ⁶ »About that night, may thick darkness seize it. May it not be included among the days of the year nor be entered in any of the months.

¹⁷ »There the wicked cease from turmoil, and there the weary are at rest.

²⁰ »Why is light given to those in misery, and life to the bitter in heart?

² »To be sure anger kills a stubborn fool. And jealousy murders a gullible person. ³ »I have seen a stubborn fool take root and I quickly cursed his house. ⁴ »His children are far from help. They are crushed at the court of justice at the city gate. No one is there to rescue them. ⁵ »Hungry people eat what a stubborn fool gathers. They take it even from among the thorns. Thirsty people pant after his wealth.

¹² »He keeps shrewd (crafty) (cunning) people from carrying out their plans so that they cannot do anything successfully. ¹³ »He catches the wise with their own craftiness. The plans of schemers are quickly halted. ¹⁴ »They meet in darkness in the daytime! In bright sunlight they grope as if it were night.

⁴ »The Almighty’s arrows are in me. My spirit drinks in their poison. God’s terrors set themselves against me.

¹ BILDAD THE SHUHITE SPOKE: ² »How long will you say such things? Your words are a blustering wind.

⁴ »When your children sinned against him, he gave them over to the power of their sin.

¹⁴ »What he trusts in is fragile and what he relies on is like a spider’s web.

²² »Your enemies will be clothed in shame. The tents of the wicked will be no more.«

²² to the land of dark night, of deep shadow and disorder, where even the light is like darkness.«

² »Are all these words to go unanswered? Is this talker to be vindicated?

¹⁴ if you put away the sin that is in your hand and allow no evil to dwell in your tent,

²⁰ »But the eyes of the wicked will fail and they will not escape. Their hope will become a dying gasp.«

¹⁸ »As a mountain erodes and crumbles and as a rock is moved from its place,

⁶ »Your own mouth condemns you, not mine! Your own lips testify against you.

²¹ »Terrifying sounds fill his ears. When all seems well, marauders attack him.

²³ »He wanders about as food for vultures and he knows the day of darkness is at hand. ²⁴ »Distress and anguish fill him with terror. They overwhelm him, like a king poised to attack.

³⁰ »He will not escape the darkness; a flame will wither his shoots, and the breath of God’s mouth will carry him away.

² »I have heard many such things. You are all miserable comforters! ³ »Is there no limit to windy words? Or what provokes you that you answer?

⁹ »His anger has torn me and hunted me down. He has gnashed at me with his teeth. My adversary glares at me.

⁴ »You close their minds and hearts so that they cannot understand. That is why you will not honor them.

⁸ »He flies away like a dream banished like a vision of the night. He cannot be found!

¹⁸ »What he toiled for he must give back uneaten. He will not enjoy the profit from his trading. ¹⁹ »For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor and left them destitute. He has violently seized houses he did not build. ²⁰ »He will have no respite from his craving; he cannot save himself by his treasure. ²¹ »There is nothing left for him to devour; his prosperity will not endure. ²² »Distress will overtake him in the midst of his plenty. The full force of misery will come upon him.

²⁵ »He pulls it out of his back, the gleaming point out of his liver. Terrors will come over him. ²⁶ »Total darkness lies in wait for his treasures. A fire will consume him and devour what is left in his tent. ²⁷ »The heavens will expose his guilt. The earth will rise up against him! ²⁸ »A flood will carry off his house. Rushing waters will wash away his possessions on the day of God’s wrath.

² »Listen carefully to my words, and let this be your consolation.

¹⁴ »They say to God: ‘Leave us alone! We do not desire to know your ways.’

¹⁷ »How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? How often does calamity come upon them? How often does God distribute pains and sorrow in his anger?

²⁸ »For you say: ‘Where is the house of the prince? Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?’

¹⁰ »Therefore snares are around you, and sudden terror overwhelms you!

⁷ »Ask the animals and they will teach you, or the birds of the air and they will tell you. ⁸ »Speak to the earth and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you.

⁵ »If only you would be altogether silent! For you, that would be wisdom. ⁶ »Hear my argument. Listen to the plea of my lips.

¹² »Your platitudes are proverbs of ashes. Your defenses are defenses of clay.

¹⁴ »Why do I put myself in jeopardy and take my life in my hands?

¹⁰ »But now, you must come and try again! I will not find one wise man among you.

¹⁶ »Will hope go down with me to the gates of the grave? Will my hope rest with me in the dust?«

¹² »Calamity hungers for him and disaster catch him when he falls. ¹³ »It eats away parts of his skin. Death’s firstborn devours his limbs.

¹³ »My brothers stay far away from me. My friends are complete strangers to me. ¹⁴ »My relatives and my closest friends have stopped coming. My houseguests have forgotten me. ¹⁵ »My female slaves consider me to be a stranger. I am like a foreigner to them. ¹⁶ »I call my slave, but he does not answer, even when I beg him. ¹⁷ »I am repulsive to my wife and my children think I stink. ¹⁸ »Even young children despise me. If I stand up, they make fun of me. ¹⁹ »All my closest friends are disgusted with me. Those I love have turned against me.

⁵ »The success of the wicked is brief and the joy of the godless lasts but a moment.

¹⁷ »For deep darkness is morning to all of them. They are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.

¹ BILDAD THE SHUHITE REPLIED:

¹⁹ »My roots spread out to the waters, with the dew all night on my branches.

³⁸ »If my land has cried out against me, and its furrows have wept together. ³⁹ If I have eaten its yield without payment, and caused the death of its owners;

¹ »Listen to my words Job. Pay attention to everything I say.

¹⁶ »He would bring you out of the jaws of distress to a spacious place free from restriction, to the comfort of your table laden with choice food.

⁸ »Would you undo my justice? Would you condemn me so that you can be righteous?

³⁴ »It looks down on all high things. It is king of everyone who is arrogant.

⁷ »I am angry with you and your two friends, because you did not speak correctly about me, as my servant Job has. ⁸ »So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. You did not speak correctly about me, as my servant Job has.« ⁹ So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite did what Jehovah told them. And Jehovah accepted Job’s prayer.

¹³ He also had seven sons and three daughters.

¹² If one does not repent God will sharpen his sword. He has bent and strung his bow. ¹³ He has prepared his deadly weapons, making his arrows fiery shafts. ¹⁴ See how they conceive evil. They are pregnant with wickedness and give birth to lies.

¹⁵ The nations have dug a pit and fallen in. They have been caught in their own trap.

⁶ He rains down fire and burning sulfur upon wicked people. He makes them drink from a cup filled with scorching wind.

¹⁴ »No mater how many his children, their fate is the sword. His offspring will never have enough to eat. ¹⁵ »The plague will bury those who survive him. Their widows will not weep for them.

¹⁴ The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch. ¹⁵ Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job’s daughters. Their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers. ¹⁶ After this Job lived a hundred and forty years. He saw his children and their children to the fourth generation.

²⁸ O Jehovah, you light my lamp. My God turns my darkness into light.

³⁶ You make a wide path for me to walk on so that my feet do not slip.

¹⁰ Jehovah nullifies the counsel of the nations. He frustrates the plans of the peoples.

¹⁰ Young lions go hungry and may starve, but those who seek Jehovah’s help have all the good things they need.

¹⁶ Jehovah confronts those who do evil in order to wipe out all memory of them from the earth.

⁸ Surprise them with destruction. Let the net that they hid catch them. Let them fall into their own pit and be destroyed.

¹³ Jehovah laughs at him, for he sees that his day will come.

¹⁹ How are they destroyed, suddenly! They are utterly consumed with terrors.

²² I was so foolish and ignorant: I was like a beast before you.

⁵ There they were in great fear, where no fear was: for God has scattered the bones of him that encamps against you. You have put them to shame, because God has despised them.

⁴ My heart is in turmoil within me. The terrors of death have seized me.

⁶ Pour your fury (anger) on the nations that do not know you, on the kingdoms that have not called you.

⁴ They say: »Come and let us destroy them as a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.«

¹⁰ Let his children wander around and beg. Let them seek help far from their ruined homes.

¹³ Let his descendants be cut off and their family name be wiped out by the next generation.

¹⁰ The wicked sees this and becomes angry. He angrily grits his teeth and disappears. The hope of the wicked will perish (be destroyed).

³⁰ »You rejected my advice and paid no attention when I warned you. ³¹ »Now you will get what you deserve for what you have done. Your own advice will make you sick. ³² »Sin and self-satisfaction bring destruction and death to stupid fools.

²² The wicked will be cut off from the land. The unfaithful will be uprooted.

¹² Walk with wisdom and nothing will stand in your way. Run with wisdom and you will not stumble.

¹⁹ The way of the wicked is like darkness. They do not know what makes them stumble.

²² His own iniquities will catch the wicked. He will be held with the cords of his sins.

⁷ The memory of the righteous is blessed. The name of the wicked will waste away.

⁷ O Jehovah, remember the people of Edom. Remember what they did the day Jerusalem was captured. They said: »Tear it down! Tear it down to its foundation.«

²⁸ The hope of the righteous is joy. The prospect for the wicked is bleak.

⁹ The light of the righteous rejoices but the lamp of the wicked will be put out.

³² The wicked is driven away in his wickedness: but the righteous has hope in his death.

¹³ It is foolishness and shame to answer a matter before you hear it.

²⁰ He who curses his father or his mother, his lamp will be put out in obscure darkness.

²⁰ There is no reward for the evil man! The candle of the wicked will be put out.

¹ The wicked run when no man pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion.

⁶ In the transgression of an evil man there is a snare. But the righteous sings and rejoices.

¹⁸ I said in my heart concerning the condition of the sons of men, »God tested them that they might see that they are like animals.«

⁸ Cursed are those who are joining house to house, and putting field to field, till there is no more living-space for any but themselves in all the land! ⁹ With my own ears I heard Jehovah of Hosts say: »Many houses will become empty. Large, beautiful houses will be without people to live in them.

²⁴ You will go up in flames like straw and hay! You have rejected the law of the holy God Jehovah the All-Powerful Holy One of Israel. Now your roots will rot, and your blossoms will turn to dust.

¹⁴ He will be a place of safety for you. But he will be a rock that makes people trip and a stumbling block for both kingdoms of Israel. He will be a trap and a snare for those who live in Jerusalem.

²¹ »Prepare a slaughtering place! The sons of this king will die because of their ancestors' sins. None of them will ever rule the earth or cover it with cities.« ²² Jehovah of Hosts declares: »I will attack Babylon and bring it to ruin. I will leave nothing! There will be no children, no survivors at all. I, Jehovah, have spoken.

³⁰ »Jehovah will be a shepherd to the poor of his people and will let them live in safety. But he will send a terrible famine on you Philistines. It will not leave any of you alive.

¹³ The nations will rush like the raging of many waters. But God will rebuke them and they will flee far away. They will be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind, like a rolling dust before the whirlwind. ¹⁴ In the evening, sudden terror! Before the morning, they are gone! This is the portion of those who loot us, the lot of those who rob us.

¹⁵ Many will stumble over them. They will fall and be broken. They will be trapped and caught.

²¹ They will pass through the land when they are hard-pressed (destressed) and hungry. When they are hungry, they will be furious. Then they will look up and curse their king and God.

²¹ They will pass through the land when they are hard-pressed (destressed) and hungry. When they are hungry, they will be furious. Then they will look up and curse their king and God. ²² They will look toward the nations of the earth and see only distress and gloom. They will go in anguish and be banished into darkness.

⁹ Edom's streams will be turned to tar. Its soil will be turned to burning sulfur. Its land will become blazing tar. ¹⁰ They will not be extinguished day or night, and smoke will always go up from them. Edom will lie in ruins for generations. No one will ever travel through it.

¹¹ But all of you light fires and arm yourselves with flaming torches. So walk in your own light and among the torches you have lit. This is what you will receive from me: You will be tormented.

¹⁰ »Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,« says Jehovah. »I have compassion on you.«

²⁵ Do not go out into the field. Do not walk on the road. The enemy has a sword and terror is on every side.

³ They bend their tongue like their bow. Lies and not truth prevail in the land. They move from evil to evil. »They do not know me,« says Jehovah.

²⁵ Pour out your fury on the nations who do not know you and on people who do not worship you. They have devoured the descendants of Jacob. They have devoured them completely. They have destroyed their homes.

¹⁶ »‘They make their land desolation. It becomes an object of perpetual hissing. Everyone who passes by it will be astonished and shake his head.

³ The next day Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks. Jeremiah said to him: »Pashhur is not the name Jehovah has called you. He has called you Magor-missabib. ⁴ »For Jehovah says: ‘Behold, I am going to make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They will fall by the sword of their enemies while you watch. I will hand over all Judah to the hand (control) of the king of Babylon. He will carry them away as exiles to Babylon and will slay them with the sword.

¹³ »Woe to him who builds his house without righteousness and his upper rooms without justice. Woe to him who uses his neighbor's services without pay and does not give him his wages.

³⁰ »This is what Jehovah says: ‘Write this about Jehoiakin: »He will be childless. He will not prosper in his lifetime. None of his descendants will succeed him as king. They will not sit on David's throne and rule Judah again.«’«

⁵ »What do I see in them? They are terrified. They are retreating. Their warriors are defeated. They flee without looking back. Terror is all around them!« declares Jehovah.

²⁷ Kill all their young bulls. Let them go to be slaughtered. How horrible it will be for them when their time has come, the time for them to be punished.

²⁹ »His fearsome army will surround you. They will take your tents and possessions, your sheep and camels.

⁹ He answered me: »The wickedness of the nations of Israel and Judah is terrible! The land is filled with murder, and the city is filled with wrongdoing. They think that Jehovah has abandoned the land and that he does not see.

¹³ »I will also spread my net over him, and he will be caught in my snare. And I will bring him to Babylon in the land of the Chaldeans. Yet he will not see it, though he will die there.

²⁵ »You dishonest and wicked prince of Israel, the time for your final punishment has come.

³ »The Lord Jehovah says: ‘Now I will spread my net over you with a company of many peoples. They will lift you up in my net.

³³ That same hour it was fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from men and did eat grass like bulls. His body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hair grew like eagles' feathers, and his fingernails like birds' claws.

²¹ »He was driven from the sons of men, and his heart was made like the beasts. His dwelling was with the wild donkeys. He was fed with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven until he knew that the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men, and that he sets up over it whomever he will.

¹⁶ »The people of Ephraim are like sick plants. Their roots are dried up. They have no fruit. Even if they were to have children, I would kill their dear children.«

⁶ »The idol will be carried off to Assyria as tribute to the great emperor. The people of Israel will be disgraced and put to shame because of the advice they followed.

⁹ »Before them I destroyed the Amorite. His height was like the height of the cedars. He was strong like the oaks. Yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath!

¹¹ »In that day you stood on the other side! In that day strangers carried away his wealth. Foreigners entered his gates, and cast lots for Jerusalem! It was as if you were one of them! ¹² Do not look on the day of your brother’s disaster. Do not rejoice over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction! Do not speak proudly in the day of distress. ¹³ »Do not enter the gate of my people in the day of their calamity! Do not look on their affliction in the day of their tragedy! Do not loot their wealth in the day of their disaster. ¹⁴ »Do not stand in the way of those who escape and do not hand over his survivors in the day of distress. ¹⁵ »The Day of Jehovah draws near upon all the nations. It will be done to you just as you have done. Your dealings will return upon you head!

⁶ »I went down to the bottom of the mountains! The earth with its bars closed upon me for a very long time. Yet you have brought my life up from the pit, O Jehovah my God?

⁹ However God replied to Jonah: »Do you have good reason to be angry at the plant?« He said to God: »I have good reason to be angry even unto death.«

⁶ »Will they all taunt him by directing clever sayings and riddles at him? They will say: How horrible it will be for the one who makes himself rich with what is not his own (by extortion) and makes himself wealthy on loans. How long will this go on? ⁷ »Will your creditors and collection agents suddenly arise and make you tremble? Then you will become their prize. ⁸ »The people who remain will plunder you because you have plundered many nations. It is because of the blood you shed and the violence you brought on the land, the city and all who dwell there. ⁹ »He who receives a dishonest profit for his house will have trouble. He may set his nest on high in order to be delivered from the hand of evil! ¹⁰ »You have purposed a shameful thing for your house. You have sinned against yourself by destroying many people. ¹¹ »The stones will cry out from the wall. The beams out of the woodwork will answer it.

⁴ »I will cause it to happen,« said Jehovah of Hosts, »and it will enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of he who swears falsely by my name. The curse will abide in the midst of his house and will consume it with the timber and the stones of the house.«

¹² »The plague will be that Jehovah will strike all the peoples that have gone to war against Jerusalem! Their flesh will wither away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes will wither away in their sockets, and their tongue will wither away in their mouth.

¹ Jehovah of Hosts proclaims: »The day is coming when all arrogant and evil people will burn like stubble. On that day they will burn up and there will be nothing left of them, either root or bough.

²⁶ »Every one who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand. ²⁷ »The rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and battered the house and it fell with a great crash.«

³⁵ »Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

¹⁸ »The spirit seizes him and slams him down. He foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth. I asked your disciples to cast it out but they could not do it.«

³⁹ »A spirit controls him and suddenly he cries out. He foams at the mouth. It throws him into convulsions and he is badly bruised.

⁴² He said: »If you only knew today the things needed to bring peace! But they are hidden from your eyes.

⁴⁴ »They will knock you and your children down to the ground. They will not leave one stone upon another. What’s more you do not know when this visit will take place.«

²⁸ They did not like to retain God in their knowledge, so God gave them over to a reprobate (depraved) mind, to do things that are not fitting.

⁹ David says, »Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling block, and recompense to them.

¹⁰ Be devoted to one another with brotherly love, in honor preferring one another.

¹⁹ For the wisdom of this age is foolishness with God. It is written: »He catches the wise in their own craftiness (deception).« (Job 5:13)

¹¹ We know what it means to respect the Lord so we persuade others. God knows us and I hope that you know us in your hearts (consciences).

⁵⁵ »O death, where is your sting (power to hurt)? O grave, where is your victory?« ⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.

⁵ not in the lust of sexual desire like the nations who do not know God.

³ When they say, »Peace and security!« then sudden destruction will come upon them, as labor pains come to a pregnant woman. They will not escape.

⁸ They will render vengeance to those who do not know God, and to those who do not obey the good news of our Lord Jesus.

⁹ Those who are determined to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare and many foolish and hurtful lusts. These draw men into ruin and destruction.

²⁶ They should come to their senses out of the snare of the Devil. He has taken them captive and they do his will.

¹⁵ And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

⁷ He must have a good reputation with those outside the congregation, so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the Devil.

¹⁶ They profess that they know God; but deny him by their works! They are detestable, disobedient, and not approved for any good work.

³ They speak evil words about you because of their extreme greed. They will exploit you with false evil words. Their judgment from long ago is not idle. Their destruction will not delay.

¹⁹ You know this, my beloved brothers. But let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger.

⁸ I looked, and there was a pale horse. The name of the one who sat on him was Death. The grave followed him. Power was given to them over a fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with pestilence, and with the beasts of the earth.

¹⁵ The kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the military commanders, and the mighty men, and every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains. ¹⁶ They said to the mountains and rocks: »Fall on us, and hide us from the presence of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:

²³ »There will no longer be the light of a candle in you. The voice of the bridegroom and of the bride will be heard no more at all in you. Your merchants were the great men of the earth; for by your spiritistic practice all nations were deceived.

²⁰ The beast was captured, and with him the false prophet that performed signs before him, with which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast, and those who worshiped his image. These both were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with sulfur.

⁸ »But the fearful and unbelieving, abominable and murderers, fornicators and those practicing spiritism, idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur: which is the second death.«

¹³ They are wild waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame. They are wandering stars, for which the black darkness has been reserved forever.