Job 9 Cross References - WEB

¹ Then Job answered, ² “Truly I know that it is so, but how can man be just with God? ³ If he is pleased to contend with him, he can’t answer him one time in a thousand. ⁴ God is wise in heart, and mighty in strength. Who has hardened himself against him and prospered? ⁵ He removes the mountains, and they don’t know it, when he overturns them in his anger. ⁶ He shakes the earth out of its place. Its pillars tremble. ⁷ He commands the sun and it doesn’t rise, and seals up the stars. ⁸ He alone stretches out the heavens, and treads on the waves of the sea. ⁹ He makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the rooms of the south. ¹⁰ He does great things past finding out; yes, marvelous things without number. ¹¹ Behold, he goes by me, and I don’t see him. He passes on also, but I don’t perceive him. ¹² Behold, he snatches away. Who can hinder him? Who will ask him, ‘What are you doing?’ ¹³ “God will not withdraw his anger. The helpers of Rahab stoop under him. ¹⁴ How much less will I answer him, And choose my words to argue with him? ¹⁵ Though I were righteous, yet I wouldn’t answer him. I would make supplication to my judge. ¹⁶ If I had called, and he had answered me, yet I wouldn’t believe that he listened to my voice. ¹⁷ For he breaks me with a storm, and multiplies my wounds without cause. ¹⁸ He will not allow me to catch my breath, but fills me with bitterness. ¹⁹ If it is a matter of strength, behold, he is mighty! If of justice, ‘Who,’ says he, ‘will summon me?’ ²⁰ Though I am righteous, my own mouth will condemn me. Though I am blameless, it will prove me perverse. ²¹ I am blameless. I don’t respect myself. I despise my life. ²² “It is all the same. Therefore I say he destroys the blameless and the wicked. ²³ If the scourge kills suddenly, he will mock at the trial of the innocent. ²⁴ The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. If not he, then who is it? ²⁵ “Now my days are swifter than a runner. They flee away. They see no good. ²⁶ They have passed away as the swift ships, as the eagle that swoops on the prey. ²⁷ If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face, and cheer up;’ ²⁸ I am afraid of all my sorrows, I know that you will not hold me innocent. ²⁹ I will be condemned. Why then do I labor in vain? ³⁰ If I wash myself with snow, and cleanse my hands with lye, ³¹ yet you will plunge me in the ditch. My own clothes will abhor me. ³² For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, that we should come together in judgment. ³³ There is no umpire between us, that might lay his hand on us both. ³⁴ Let him take his rod away from me. Let his terror not make me afraid; ³⁵ then I would speak, and not fear him, for I am not so in myself.

⁴⁶ If they sin against you (for there is no man who doesn’t sin), and you are angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near;

¹⁷ ‘Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his Maker?

³ Do you open your eyes on such a one, and bring me into judgment with you? ⁴ Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one.

⁴ How then can man be just with God? Or how can he who is born of a woman be clean?

² Then the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel, the Buzite, of the family of Ram, was kindled against Job. His wrath was kindled because he justified himself rather than God.

⁹ ‘I am clean, without disobedience. I am innocent, neither is there iniquity in me.

⁵ For Job has said, ‘I am righteous, God has taken away my right:

³ If you, Yah, kept a record of sins, Lord, who could stand?

² Don’t enter into judgment with your servant, for in your sight no man living is righteous.

²⁰ Because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight; for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.

²⁰ Though I am righteous, my own mouth will condemn me. Though I am blameless, it will prove me perverse.

³² For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, that we should come together in judgment. ³³ There is no umpire between us, that might lay his hand on us both.

² I will tell God, ‘Do not condemn me. Show me why you contend with me.

³ Oh that I knew where I might find him! That I might come even to his seat! ⁴ I would set my cause in order before him, and fill my mouth with arguments. ⁵ I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would tell me. ⁶ Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No, but he would listen to me. ⁷ There the upright might reason with him, so I should be delivered forever from my judge.

³⁵ oh that I had one to hear me! Behold, here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me! Let the accuser write my indictment! ³⁶ Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; and I would bind it to me as a crown. ³⁷ I would declare to him the number of my steps. as a prince would I go near to him.

¹³ Why do you strive against him, because he doesn’t give account of any of his matters?

¹⁴ If he set his heart on himself, if he gathered to himself his spirit and his breath, ¹⁵ all flesh would perish together, and man would turn again to dust.

² “Shall he who argues contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it.”

¹² Who can discern his errors? Forgive me from hidden errors.

¹² For innumerable evils have surrounded me. My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up. They are more than the hairs of my head. My heart has failed me.

¹⁵ For the high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy, says: “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite. ¹⁶ For I will not contend forever, neither will I always be angry; for the spirit would faint before me, and the souls whom I have made.

²⁰ But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed ask him who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?”

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

²⁰ because if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.

¹⁴ For this time I will send all my plagues against your heart, against your officials, and against your people; that you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth. ¹⁵ For now I would have stretched out my hand, and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth; ¹⁶ but indeed for this cause I have made you stand: to show you my power, and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth, ¹⁷ because you still exalt yourself against my people, that you won’t let them go.

¹⁷ Behold, I myself will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they will go in after them. I will get myself honor over Pharaoh, and over all his armies, over his chariots, and over his horsemen. ¹⁸ The Egyptians shall know that I am Yahweh when I have gotten myself honor over Pharaoh, over his chariots, and over his horsemen.”

¹² Behold, God is with us at our head, and his priests with the trumpets of alarm to sound an alarm against you. Children of Israel, don’t fight against Yahweh, the God of your fathers; for you will not prosper.”

¹⁰ Let it still be my consolation, yes, let me exult in pain that doesn’t spare, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

¹⁹ If it is a matter of strength, behold, he is mighty! If of justice, ‘Who,’ says he, ‘will summon me?’

⁶ that he would show you the secrets of wisdom! For true wisdom has two sides. Know therefore that God exacts of you less than your iniquity deserves.

¹³ “With God is wisdom and might. He has counsel and understanding.

²³ He wanders abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’ He knows that the day of darkness is ready at his hand. ²⁴ Distress and anguish make him afraid. They prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle. ²⁵ Because he has stretched out his hand against God, and behaves himself proudly against the Almighty, ²⁶ he runs at him with a stiff neck, with the thick shields of his bucklers, ²⁷ because he has covered his face with his fatness, and gathered fat on his thighs.

⁵ “Behold, God is mighty, and doesn’t despise anyone. He is mighty in strength of understanding.

⁹ Or do you have an arm like God? Can you thunder with a voice like him?

²⁴ Yahweh, how many are your works! In wisdom, you have made them all. The earth is full of your riches.

⁵ to him who by understanding made the heavens; for his loving kindness endures forever:

¹⁴ Blessed is the man who always fears; but one who hardens his heart falls into trouble.

¹ He who is often rebuked and stiffens his neck will be destroyed suddenly, with no remedy.

²⁰ Daniel answered, “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever; for wisdom and might are his.

³⁴ At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored him who lives forever; for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom from generation to generation. ³⁵ All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and he does according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and no one can stop his hand, or ask him, “What are you doing?” ³⁶ At the same time my understanding returned to me; and for the glory of my kingdom, my majesty and brightness returned to me. My counselors and my lords sought me; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent greatness was added to me. ³⁷ Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven; for all his works are truth, and his ways justice; and those who walk in pride he is able to abase.

²⁰ But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him. ²¹ He was driven from the sons of men, and his heart was made like the animals’, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. He was fed with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of the sky; until he knew that the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men, and that he sets up over it whomever he will. ²² “You, his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this, ²³ but have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines, have drunk wine from them. You have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which don’t see, or hear, or know; and you have not glorified the God in whose hand your breath is, and whose are all your ways. ²⁴ Then the part of the hand was sent from before him, and this writing was inscribed. ²⁵ “This is the writing that was inscribed: ‘MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.’ ²⁶ “This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE: God has counted your kingdom, and brought it to an end. ²⁷ TEKEL: you are weighed in the balances, and are found wanting. ²⁸ PERES: your kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.” ²⁹ Then Belshazzar commanded, and they clothed Daniel with purple, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. ³⁰ In that night Belshazzar the Chaldean King was slain.

³³ Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out!

²² Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?

⁸ which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,

¹⁹ and what is the exceeding greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to that working of the strength of his might

¹⁰ to the intent that now through the assembly the manifold wisdom of God might be made known to the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places,

²⁰ Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,

²⁴ Now to him who is able to keep them from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory in great joy, ²⁵ to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.

⁵ These are the names of the men who shall stand with you: Of Reuben: Elizur the son of Shedeur. ⁶ Of Simeon: Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai.

⁹ He puts his hand on the flinty rock, and he overturns the mountains by the roots.

² Therefore we won’t be afraid, though the earth changes, though the mountains are shaken into the heart of the seas;

⁸ The earth trembled. The sky also poured down rain at the presence of the God of Sinai— at the presence of God, the God of Israel.

⁶ You mountains, that you skipped like rams; you little hills, like lambs?

¹² Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and marked off the sky with his span, and calculated the dust of the earth in a measuring basket, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?

⁶ He stood, and shook the earth. He looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains were crumbled. The age-old hills collapsed. His ways are eternal.

¹⁰ The mountains saw you, and were afraid. The storm of waters passed by. The deep roared and lifted up its hands on high.

⁷ Who are you, great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you are a plain; and he will bring out the capstone with shouts of ‘Grace, grace, to it!’”

⁴ His feet will stand in that day on the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in two, from east to west, making a very great valley. Half of the mountain will move toward the north, and half of it toward the south. ⁵ You shall flee by the valley of my mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azel; yes, you shall flee, just like you fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Yahweh my God will come, and all the holy ones with you.

²¹ Jesus answered them, “Most certainly I tell you, if you have faith, and don’t doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you told this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it would be done.

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

¹¹ There will be great earthquakes, famines, and plagues in various places. There will be terrors and great signs from heaven.

² If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but don’t have love, I am nothing.

¹⁴ The sky was removed like a scroll when it is rolled up. Every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

¹³ In that day there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified, and gave glory to the God of heaven.

¹⁸ There were lightnings, sounds, and thunders; and there was a great earthquake, such as has not happened since there were men on the earth, so great an earthquake, and so mighty. ¹⁹ The great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of God, to give to her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. ²⁰ Every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.

⁸ He raises up the poor out of the dust. He lifts up the needy from the dunghill to make them sit with princes and inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth are Yahweh’s. He has set the world on them.

¹¹ The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his rebuke.

⁴ “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have understanding. ⁵ Who determined its measures, if you know? Or who stretched the line on it? ⁶ What were its foundations fastened on? Or who laid its cornerstone, ⁷ when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

³ The earth and all its inhabitants quake. I firmly hold its pillars. Selah.

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

¹⁹ Men shall go into the caves of the rocks, and into the holes of the earth, from before the terror of Yahweh, and from the glory of his majesty, when he arises to shake the earth mightily.

²¹ to go into the caverns of the rocks, and into the clefts of the ragged rocks, from before the terror of Yahweh, and from the glory of his majesty, when he arises to shake the earth mightily.

¹³ Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place in Yahweh of Armies’ wrath, and in the day of his fierce anger. ¹⁴ It will happen that like a hunted gazelle, and like sheep that no one gathers, they will each turn to their own people, and will each flee to their own land.

¹ Behold, Yahweh makes the earth empty, makes it waste, turns it upside down, and scatters its inhabitants.

¹⁹ The earth is utterly broken. The earth is torn apart. The earth is shaken violently. ²⁰ The earth will stagger like a drunken man, and will sway back and forth like a hammock. Its disobedience will be heavy on it, and it will fall and not rise again.

²⁴ I saw the mountains, and behold, they trembled, and all the hills moved back and forth.

¹⁰ The earth quakes before them. The heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.

⁶ For this is what Yahweh of Armies says: ‘Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the dry land;

²¹ “Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, ‘I will shake the heavens and the earth.

²⁶ whose voice shook the earth then, but now he has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens.”

¹¹ I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. There was found no place for them.

²¹ Yahweh said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.” ²² Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days.

¹² Then Joshua spoke to Yahweh in the day when Yahweh delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel. He said in the sight of Israel, “Sun, stand still on Gibeon! You, moon, stop in the valley of Aijalon!”

⁷ He seals up the hand of every man, that all men whom he has made may know it.

¹² “Have you commanded the morning in your days, and caused the dawn to know its place, ¹³ that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and shake the wicked out of it? ¹⁴ It is changed as clay under the seal, and presented as a garment. ¹⁵ From the wicked, their light is withheld. The high arm is broken.

¹⁹ “What is the way to the dwelling of light? As for darkness, where is its place, ²⁰ that you should take it to its bound, that you should discern the paths to its house?

¹⁰ For the stars of the sky and its constellations will not give their light. The sun will be darkened in its going out, and the moon will not cause its light to shine.

⁷ When I extinguish you, I will cover the heavens and make its stars dark. I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon won’t give its light. ⁸ I will make all the bright lights of the sky dark over you, and set darkness on your land,” says the Lord Yahweh.

³⁵ All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and he does according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and no one can stop his hand, or ask him, “What are you doing?”

¹³ For, behold, he who forms the mountains, and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought; who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the high places of the earth: Yahweh, the God of Armies, is his name.”

⁹ It will happen in that day,” says the Lord Yahweh, “that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day.

²⁹ But immediately after the suffering of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken;

²⁵ There will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars; and on the earth anxiety of nations, in perplexity for the roaring of the sea and the waves; ²⁶ men fainting for fear, and for expectation of the things which are coming on the world: for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

⁶ God said, “Let there be an expanse in the middle of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” ⁷ God made the expanse, and divided the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse; and it was so.

¹⁸ Can you, with him, spread out the sky, which is strong as a cast metal mirror?

¹¹ and said, ‘You may come here, but no further. Your proud waves shall be stopped here’?

¹⁶ “Have you entered into the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in the recesses of the deep?

⁶ By Yahweh’s word, the heavens were made: all their army by the breath of his mouth.

¹⁹ Your way was through the sea; your paths through the great waters. Your footsteps were not known.

³ The floods have lifted up, Yahweh, the floods have lifted up their voice. The floods lift up their waves. ⁴ Above the voices of many waters, the mighty breakers of the sea, Yahweh on high is mighty.

² He covers himself with light as with a garment. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain. ³ He lays the beams of his rooms in the waters. He makes the clouds his chariot. He walks on the wings of the wind.

²² It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in,

⁵ God Yahweh, he who created the heavens and stretched them out, he who spread out the earth and that which comes out of it, he who gives breath to its people and spirit to those who walk in it, says:

²⁴ Yahweh, your Redeemer, and he who formed you from the womb says: “I am Yahweh, who makes all things; who alone stretches out the heavens; who spreads out the earth by myself;

¹¹ “You shall say this to them: ‘The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth, and from under the heavens.’”

¹ A revelation, Yahweh’s word concerning Israel. Yahweh, who stretches out the heavens, and lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him says:

²⁵ In the fourth watch of the night, Jesus came to them, walking on the sea. ²⁶ When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It’s a ghost!” and they cried out for fear. ²⁷ But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Cheer up! It is I! Don’t be afraid.” ²⁸ Peter answered him and said, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the waters.” ²⁹ He said, “Come!” Peter stepped down from the boat, and walked on the waters to come to Jesus. ³⁰ But when he saw that the wind was strong, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”

¹⁹ When therefore they had rowed about twenty-five or thirty stadia, they saw Jesus walking on the sea, and drawing near to the boat; and they were afraid.

¹⁶ God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He also made the stars.

⁹ Out of its room comes the storm, and cold out of the north.

³¹ “Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, or loosen the cords of Orion? ³² Can you lead the constellations out in their season? Or can you guide the Bear with her cubs? ³³ Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you establish its dominion over the earth? ³⁴ “Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, That abundance of waters may cover you? ³⁵ Can you send out lightnings, that they may go? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’? ³⁶ Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who has given understanding to the mind? ³⁷ Who can count the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the containers of the sky, ³⁸ when the dust runs into a mass, and the clods of earth stick together? ³⁹ “Can you hunt the prey for the lioness, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, ⁴⁰ when they crouch in their dens, and lie in wait in the thicket? ⁴¹ Who provides for the raven his prey, when his young ones cry to God, and wander for lack of food?

³ He lays the beams of his rooms in the waters. He makes the clouds his chariot. He walks on the wings of the wind.

¹³ He waters the mountains from his rooms. The earth is filled with the fruit of your works.

⁴ He counts the number of the stars. He calls them all by their names.

⁸ seek him who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night; who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth, Yahweh is his name,

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

¹¹ Who is like you, Yahweh, among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?

⁹ who does great things that can’t be fathomed, marvelous things without number;

¹² He stirs up the sea with his power, and by his understanding he strikes through Rahab. ¹³ By his Spirit the heavens are garnished. His hand has pierced the swift serpent. ¹⁴ Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways. How small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?”

²³ We can’t reach the Almighty. He is exalted in power. In justice and great righteousness, he will not oppress.

¹⁵ My mouth will tell about your righteousness, and of your salvation all day, though I don’t know its full measure.

¹⁸ Praise be to Yahweh God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds.

⁴ to him who alone does great wonders; for his loving kindness endures forever:

¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in their hearts, yet so that man can’t find out the work that God has done from the beginning even to the end.

²⁶ Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these, who brings out their army by number. He calls them all by name. by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power, not one is lacking. ²⁷ Why do you say, Jacob, and speak, Israel, “My way is hidden from Yahweh, and the justice due me is disregarded by my God?” ²⁸ Haven’t you known? Haven’t you heard? The everlasting God, Yahweh, the Creator of the ends of the earth, doesn’t faint. He isn’t weary. His understanding is unsearchable.

² It has seemed good to me to show the signs and wonders that the Most High God has worked toward me. ³ How great are his signs! How mighty are his wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. His dominion is from generation to generation.

⁸ “If I go east, he is not there; if west, I can’t find him; ⁹ He works to the north, but I can’t see him. He turns south, but I can’t catch a glimpse of him.

¹⁴ How much less when you say you don’t see him. The cause is before him, and you wait for him!

¹⁶ He alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and eternal power. Amen.

¹⁰ If he passes by, or confines, or convenes a court, then who can oppose him?

¹³ But he stands alone, and who can oppose him? What his soul desires, even that he does.

²⁹ When he gives quietness, who then can condemn? When he hides his face, who then can see him? He is over a nation or a man alike,

⁹ Woe to him who strives with his Maker— a clay pot among the clay pots of the earth! Shall the clay ask him who fashions it, ‘What are you making?’ or your work, ‘He has no hands?’

⁶ “House of Israel, can’t I do with you as this potter?” says Yahweh. “Behold, as the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, house of Israel.

²⁶ Yes, Father, for so it was well-pleasing in your sight.

¹⁵ Isn’t it lawful for me to do what I want to with what I own? Or is your eye evil, because I am good?’

¹⁸ So then, he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires. ¹⁹ You will say then to me, “Why does he still find fault? For who withstands his will?” ²⁰ But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed ask him who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?”

³⁴ “For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?”

¹¹ We were also assigned an inheritance in him, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who does all things after the counsel of his will,

¹² He stirs up the sea with his power, and by his understanding he strikes through Rahab.

⁹ Or do you have an arm like God? Can you thunder with a voice like him? ¹⁰ “Now deck yourself with excellency and dignity. Array yourself with honor and majesty. ¹¹ Pour out the fury of your anger. Look at everyone who is proud, and bring him low.

¹⁰ You have broken Rahab in pieces, like one of the slain. You have scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.

⁷ For Egypt helps in vain, and to no purpose; therefore I have called her Rahab who sits still.

² Yet he also is wise, and will bring disaster, and will not call back his words, but will arise against the house of the evildoers, and against the help of those who work iniquity. ³ Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When Yahweh stretches out his hand, both he who helps shall stumble, and he who is helped shall fall, and they all shall be consumed together.

⁹ Awake, awake, put on strength, arm of Yahweh! Awake, as in the days of old, the generations of ancient times. Isn’t it you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the monster?

⁶ But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” ⁷ Be subject therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

²⁷ But will God in very deed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens can’t contain you; how much less this house that I have built!

¹⁹ How much more, those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed before the moth!

³ If he is pleased to contend with him, he can’t answer him one time in a thousand.

⁴ For you say, ‘My doctrine is pure. I am clean in your eyes.’ ⁵ But oh that God would speak, and open his lips against you,

⁴ I would set my cause in order before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.

⁷ There the upright might reason with him, so I should be delivered forever from my judge.

⁶ How much less man, who is a worm, the son of man, who is a worm!”

⁵ If you can, answer me. Set your words in order before me, and stand up.

³⁸ whatever prayer and supplication is made by any man, or by all your people Israel, who shall each know the plague of his own heart, and spread out his hands toward this house, ³⁹ then hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and forgive, and act, and give to every man according to all his ways, whose heart you know (for you, even you only, know the hearts of all the children of men);

¹³ He prayed to him; and he was entreated by him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that Yahweh was God.

⁸ “But as for me, I would seek God. I would commit my cause to God,

⁵ If you want to seek God diligently, make your supplication to the Almighty.

¹⁵ If I am wicked, woe to me. If I am righteous, I still will not lift up my head, being filled with disgrace, and conscious of my affliction.

²⁷ You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you. You will pay your vows.

³¹ “For has any said to God, ‘I am guilty, but I will not offend any more. ³² Teach me that which I don’t see. If I have done iniquity, I will do it no more’?

⁹ They will come with weeping. I will lead them with petitions. I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they won’t stumble; for I am a father to Israel. Ephraim is my firstborn.

³ I set my face to the Lord God, to seek by prayer and petitions, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

¹⁸ My God, turn your ear, and hear. Open your eyes, and see our desolations, and the city which is called by your name; for we do not present our petitions before you for our righteousness, but for your great mercies’ sake.

⁴ For I know nothing against myself. Yet I am not justified by this, but he who judges me is the Lord.

²³ When he was cursed, he didn’t curse back. When he suffered, he didn’t threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously.

⁹ Moses spoke so to the children of Israel, but they didn’t listen to Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage.

¹³ Gideon said to him, “Oh, my lord, if Yahweh is with us, why then has all this happened to us? Where are all his wondrous works which our fathers told us of, saying, ‘Didn’t Yahweh bring us up from Egypt?’ But now Yahweh has cast us off, and delivered us into the hand of Midian.”

²⁴ I smiled on them when they had no confidence. They didn’t reject the light of my face.

⁶ In my distress I called on Yahweh, and cried to my God. He heard my voice out of his temple. My cry before him came into his ears.

¹⁸ If I cherished sin in my heart, the Lord wouldn’t have listened. ¹⁹ But most certainly, God has listened. He has heard the voice of my prayer. ²⁰ Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer, nor his loving kindness from me.

¹ I love Yahweh, because he listens to my voice, and my cries for mercy. ² Because he has turned his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.

¹ A Song of Ascents. When Yahweh brought back those who returned to Zion, we were like those who dream.

⁴¹ While they still didn’t believe for joy, and wondered, he said to them, “Do you have anything here to eat?”

¹⁴ When she recognized Peter’s voice, she didn’t open the gate for joy, but ran in, and reported that Peter was standing in front of the gate. ¹⁵ They said to her, “You are crazy!” But she insisted that it was so. They said, “It is his angel.” ¹⁶ But Peter continued knocking. When they had opened, they saw him, and were amazed.

¹⁴ that a messenger came to Job, and said, “The oxen were plowing, and the donkeys feeding beside them, ¹⁵ and the Sabeans attacked, and took them away. Yes, they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” ¹⁶ While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “The fire of God has fallen from the sky, and has burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” ¹⁷ While he was still speaking, there came also another, and said, “The Chaldeans made three bands, and swept down on the camels, and have taken them away, yes, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you.” ¹⁸ While he was still speaking, there came also another, and said, “Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, ¹⁹ and behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young men, and they are dead. I alone have escaped to tell you.”

³ Yahweh said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil. He still maintains his integrity, although you incited me against him, to ruin him without cause.”

⁷ So Satan went out from the presence of Yahweh, and struck Job with painful sores from the sole of his foot to his head.

¹³ So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.

¹² I was at ease, and he broke me apart. Yes, he has taken me by the neck, and dashed me to pieces. He has also set me up for his target.

¹⁴ He breaks me with breach on breach. He runs at me like a giant.

¹⁷ although there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure.

²² You lift me up to the wind, and drive me with it. You dissolve me in the storm.

⁶ Notwithstanding my right I am considered a liar. My wound is incurable, though I am without disobedience.’

³ Yes, no one who waits for you will be shamed. They will be shamed who deal treacherously without cause.

⁵ Yahweh’s voice breaks the cedars. Yes, Yahweh breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.

⁷ Deep calls to deep at the noise of your waterfalls. All your waves and your billows have swept over me.

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

¹⁷ I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plumb line. The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding place.

¹⁹ Behold, Yahweh’s storm, his wrath, has gone out. Yes, a whirling storm: It will burst on the head of the wicked.

¹³ “‘Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: “I will even tear it with a stormy wind in my wrath. There will be an overflowing shower in my anger, and great hailstones in wrath to consume it.

²⁷ The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”

²⁰ He won’t break a bruised reed. He won’t quench a smoking flax, until he leads justice to victory.

³ Jesus answered, “This man didn’t sin, nor did his parents; but, that the works of God might be revealed in him.

²⁵ But this happened so that the word may be fulfilled which was written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’

²⁰ “Why is light given to him who is in misery, life to the bitter in soul,

¹⁹ How long will you not look away from me, nor leave me alone until I swallow down my spittle?

² “As God lives, who has taken away my right, the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter

¹³ Oh spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go away and exist no more.”

⁷ Your wrath lies heavily on me. You have afflicted me with all your waves. Selah.

¹⁵ I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up. While I suffer your terrors, I am distracted. ¹⁶ Your fierce wrath has gone over me. Your terrors have cut me off. ¹⁷ They came around me like water all day long. They completely engulfed me. ¹⁸ You have put lover and friend far from me, and my friends into darkness.

³ Surely he turns his hand against me again and again all day long.

¹⁵ He has filled me with bitterness. He has stuffed me with wormwood.

¹⁸ I said, “My strength has perished, along with my expectation from Yahweh.” ¹⁹ Remember my affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the bitterness.

¹¹ All chastening seems for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

⁴ God is wise in heart, and mighty in strength. Who has hardened himself against him and prospered?

³⁵ oh that I had one to hear me! Behold, here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me! Let the accuser write my indictment!

⁵ If you can, answer me. Set your words in order before me, and stand up. ⁶ Behold, I am toward God even as you are. I am also formed out of the clay. ⁷ Behold, my terror will not make you afraid, neither will my pressure be heavy on you.

¹⁷ “But you are full of the judgment of the wicked. Judgment and justice take hold of you. ¹⁸ Don’t let riches entice you to wrath, neither let the great size of a bribe turn you aside. ¹⁹ Would your wealth sustain you in distress, or all the might of your strength?

⁹ Or do you have an arm like God? Can you thunder with a voice like him? ¹⁰ “Now deck yourself with excellency and dignity. Array yourself with honor and majesty.

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

¹³ Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.’

²⁵ because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

¹ There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God, and turned away from evil.

² “Truly I know that it is so, but how can man be just with God?

⁵ For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the language of the crafty. ⁶ Your own mouth condemns you, and not I. Yes, your own lips testify against you.

¹ So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. ² Then the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel, the Buzite, of the family of Ram, was kindled against Job. His wrath was kindled because he justified himself rather than God.

⁸ “Surely you have spoken in my hearing, I have heard the voice of your words, saying, ⁹ ‘I am clean, without disobedience. I am innocent, neither is there iniquity in me. ¹⁰ Behold, he finds occasions against me. He counts me for his enemy. ¹¹ He puts my feet in the stocks. He marks all my paths.’ ¹² “Behold, I will answer you. In this you are not just, for God is greater than man. ¹³ Why do you strive against him, because he doesn’t give account of any of his matters?

³⁵ ‘Job speaks without knowledge. His words are without wisdom.’

¹⁶ therefore Job opens his mouth with empty talk, and he multiplies words without knowledge.”

¹⁹ In the multitude of words there is no lack of disobedience, but he who restrains his lips does wisely.

²⁰ One who has a perverse heart doesn’t find prosperity, and one who has a deceitful tongue falls into trouble.

⁵ Then I said, “Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of Armies!”

³⁶ I tell you that every idle word that men speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. ³⁷ For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

²⁹ But he, desiring to justify himself, asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?”

¹⁵ He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts. For that which is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

¹² Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect; but I press on, that I may take hold of that for which also I was taken hold of by Christ Jesus. ¹³ Brothers, I don’t regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do: forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵ Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, think this way. If in anything you think otherwise, God will also reveal that to you.

⁵ constant friction of people of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. Withdraw yourself from such.

² For we all stumble in many things. Anyone who doesn’t stumble in word is a perfect person, able to bridle the whole body also.

¹⁵ so that my soul chooses strangling, death rather than my bones. ¹⁶ I loathe my life. I don’t want to live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.

²¹ Why do you not pardon my disobedience, and take away my iniquity? For now will I lie down in the dust. You will seek me diligently, but I will not be.”

²³ Search me, God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts. ²⁴ See if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.

²⁶ One who trusts in himself is a fool; but one who walks in wisdom is kept safe.

⁹ The heart is deceitful above all things and it is exceedingly corrupt. Who can know it? ¹⁰ “I, Yahweh, search the mind. I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.”

⁸ “‘Your hands have framed me and fashioned me altogether, yet you destroy me.

¹ For all this I laid to my heart, even to explore all this: that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God; whether it is love or hatred, man doesn’t know it; all is before them. ² All things come alike to all. There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good, to the clean, to the unclean, to him who sacrifices, and to him who doesn’t sacrifice. As is the good, so is the sinner; he who takes an oath, as he who fears an oath. ³ This is an evil in all that is done under the sun, that there is one event to all: yes also, the heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live, and after that they go to the dead.

³ Tell the land of Israel, ‘Yahweh says: “Behold, I am against you, and will draw my sword out of its sheath, and will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked. ⁴ Seeing then that I will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked, therefore my sword will go out of its sheath against all flesh from the south to the north.

² Jesus answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered such things? ³ I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way. ⁴ Or those eighteen, on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them; do you think that they were worse offenders than all the men who dwell in Jerusalem?

¹⁵ Now therefore seeing that I have come to speak this word to my lord the king, it is because the people have made me afraid. Your servant said, ‘I will now speak to the king; it may be that the king will perform the request of his servant.’

¹⁷ Then your servant said, ‘Please let the word of my lord the king bring rest; for as an angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern good and bad. May Yahweh, your God, be with you.’”

¹³ It fell on a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,

⁷ “Remember, now, whoever perished, being innocent? Or where were the upright cut off?

²⁰ “Behold, God will not cast away a blameless man, neither will he uphold the evildoers.

¹² From out of the populous city, men groan. The soul of the wounded cries out, yet God doesn’t regard the folly.

²² Yes, for your sake we are killed all day long. We are regarded as sheep for the slaughter.

¹⁹ “Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my wrath on it in blood, to cut off from it man and animal; ²⁰ though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “they would deliver neither son nor daughter; they would deliver only their own souls by their righteousness.” ²¹ For the Lord Yahweh says: “How much more when I send my four severe judgments on Jerusalem, the sword, the famine, the evil animals, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and animal!

¹³ “For there is a trial. What if even the rod that condemns will be no more?” says the Lord Yahweh.

³⁶ Others were tried by mocking and scourging, yes, moreover by bonds and imprisonment. ³⁷ They were stoned. They were sawn apart. They were tempted. They were slain with the sword. They went around in sheep skins and in goat skins; being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated—

³⁰ David went up by the ascent of the Mount of Olives, and wept as he went up; and he had his head covered, and went barefoot. All the people who were with him each covered his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up.

⁴ The king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, “My son Absalom, Absalom, my son, my son!”

¹² Mordecai came back to the king’s gate, but Haman hurried to his house, mourning and having his head covered.

⁸ Then the king returned out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine; and Haman had fallen on the couch where Esther was. Then the king said, “Will he even assault the queen in front of me in the house?” As the word went out of the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.

³ Is it good to you that you should oppress, that you should despise the work of your hands, and smile on the counsel of the wicked?

⁶ The tents of robbers prosper. Those who provoke God are secure, who carry their god in their hands. ⁷ “But ask the animals, now, and they will teach you; the birds of the sky, and they will tell you. ⁸ Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you. The fish of the sea will declare to you. ⁹ Who doesn’t know that in all these, Yahweh’s hand has done this, ¹⁰ in whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind?

¹⁷ He leads counselors away stripped. He makes judges fools.

¹¹ God delivers me to the ungodly, and casts me into the hands of the wicked.

⁷ “Why do the wicked live, become old, yes, and grow mighty in power? ⁸ Their child is established with them in their sight, their offspring before their eyes. ⁹ Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them. ¹⁰ Their bulls breed without fail. Their cows calve, and don’t miscarry. ¹¹ They send out their little ones like a flock. Their children dance. ¹² They sing to the tambourine and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the pipe. ¹³ They spend their days in prosperity. In an instant they go down to Sheol. ¹⁴ They tell God, ‘Depart from us, for we don’t want to know about your ways. ¹⁵ What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What profit should we have, if we pray to him?’

²⁵ If it isn’t so now, who will prove me a liar, and make my speech worth nothing?”

¹⁴ from men by your hand, Yahweh, from men of the world, whose portion is in this life. You fill the belly of your cherished ones. Your sons have plenty, and they store up wealth for their children.

³ For I was envious of the arrogant, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. ⁴ For there are no struggles in their death, but their strength is firm. ⁵ They are free from burdens of men, neither are they plagued like other men. ⁶ Therefore pride is like a chain around their neck. Violence covers them like a garment. ⁷ Their eyes bulge with fat. Their minds pass the limits of conceit.

¹ You are righteous, Yahweh, when I contend with you; yet I would like to reason the cause with you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are they all at ease who deal very treacherously? ² You have planted them. Yes, they have taken root. They grow. Yes, they produce fruit. You are near in their mouth, and far from their heart.

⁴ Because of the ground which is cracked, because no rain has been in the land, the plowmen are disappointed. They cover their heads.

¹⁷ “‘The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones; to the intent that the living may know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever he will, and sets up over it the lowest of men.’

¹⁸ “To you, king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father the kingdom, and greatness, and glory, and majesty. ¹⁹ Because of the greatness that he gave him, all the peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. He killed whom he wanted to, and he kept alive whom he wanted to. He raised up whom he wanted to, and he put down whom he wanted to. ²⁰ But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him. ²¹ He was driven from the sons of men, and his heart was made like the animals’, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. He was fed with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of the sky; until he knew that the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men, and that he sets up over it whomever he will.

⁷ “After this I saw in the night visions, and, behold, there was a fourth animal, awesome and powerful, and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth. It devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet. It was different from all the animals that were before it. It had ten horns. ⁸ “I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots: and behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things. ⁹ “I watched until thrones were placed, and one who was ancient of days sat. His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool. His throne was fiery flames, and its wheels burning fire. ¹⁰ A fiery stream issued and came out from before him. Thousands of thousands ministered to him. Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The judgment was set. The books were opened. ¹¹ “I watched at that time because of the voice of the great words which the horn spoke. I watched even until the animal was slain, and its body destroyed, and it was given to be burned with fire. ¹² As for the rest of the animals, their dominion was taken away; yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. ¹³ “I saw in the night visions, and behold, there came with the clouds of the sky one like a son of man, and he came even to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. ¹⁴ Dominion was given him, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which will not pass away, and his kingdom that which will not be destroyed. ¹⁵ “As for me, Daniel, my spirit was grieved within my body, and the visions of my head troubled me. ¹⁶ I came near to one of those who stood by, and asked him the truth concerning all this. “So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things. ¹⁷ ‘These great animals, which are four, are four kings, who will arise out of the earth. ¹⁸ But the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.’ ¹⁹ “Then I desired to know the truth concerning the fourth animal, which was different from all of them, exceedingly terrible, whose teeth were of iron, and its nails of bronze; which devoured, broke in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet; ²⁰ and concerning the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn which came up, and before which three fell, even that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spoke great things, whose look was more stout than its fellows. ²¹ I saw, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them, ²² until the ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High, and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom. ²³ “Thus he said, ‘The fourth animal will be a fourth kingdom on earth, which will be different from all the kingdoms, and will devour the whole earth, and will tread it down, and break it in pieces. ²⁴ As for the ten horns, ten kings will arise out of this kingdom. Another will arise after them; and he will be different from the former, and he will put down three kings. ²⁵ He will speak words against the Most High, and will wear out the saints of the Most High. He will plan to change the times and the law; and they will be given into his hand until a time and times and half a time. ²⁶ “‘But the judgment will be set, and they will take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it to the end. ²⁷ The kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole sky, will be given to the people of the saints of the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions will serve and obey him.’ ²⁸ “Here is the end of the matter. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts much troubled me, and my face was changed in me; but I kept the matter in my heart.”

¹⁴ and make men like the fish of the sea, like the creeping things, that have no ruler over them? ¹⁵ He takes up all of them with the hook. He catches them in his net, and gathers them in his dragnet. Therefore he rejoices and is glad. ¹⁶ Therefore he sacrifices to his net, and burns incense to his dragnet, because by them his life is luxurious, and his food is good. ¹⁷ Will he therefore continually empty his net, and kill the nations without mercy?

¹⁴ So the couriers who rode on royal horses went out, hastened and pressed on by the king’s commandment. The decree was given out in the citadel of Susa.

⁶ My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope. ⁷ Oh remember that my life is a breath. My eye will no more see good.

⁵ Behold, you have made my days hand widths. My lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely every man stands as a breath.” Selah.

¹¹ When you rebuke and correct man for iniquity, you consume his wealth like a moth. Surely every man is but a breath.” Selah.

⁴⁷ Remember how short my time is, for what vanity you have created all the children of men!

⁹ For all our days have passed away in your wrath. We bring our years to an end as a sigh. ¹⁰ The days of our years are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty years; yet their pride is but labor and sorrow, for it passes quickly, and we fly away.

¹⁴ Whereas you don’t know what your life will be like tomorrow. For what is your life? For you are a vapor that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.

²³ Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives. In their death, they were not divided. They were swifter than eagles. They were stronger than lions.

²⁷ Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up, and makes his nest on high? ²⁸ On the cliff he dwells, and makes his home, on the point of the cliff, and the stronghold. ²⁹ From there he spies out the prey. His eyes see it afar off. ³⁰ His young ones also suck up blood. Where the slain are, there he is.”

⁵ Why do you set your eyes on that which is not? For it certainly sprouts wings like an eagle and flies in the sky.

² that sends ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of papyrus on the waters, saying, “Go, you swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth, to a people awesome from their beginning onward, a nation that measures out and treads down, whose land the rivers divide!”

¹³ Behold, he will come up as clouds, and his chariots will be as the whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! For we are ruined.

¹⁹ Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the sky. They chased us on the mountains. They set an ambush for us in the wilderness.

⁸ Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves. Their horsemen press proudly on. Yes, their horsemen come from afar. They fly as an eagle that hurries to devour.

¹¹ “Therefore I will not keep silent. I will speak in the anguish of my spirit. I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

¹³ When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me. My couch will ease my complaint;’

² In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord. My hand was stretched out in the night, and didn’t get tired. My soul refused to be comforted. ³ I remember God, and I groan. I complain, and my spirit is overwhelmed. Selah.

¹⁸ Oh that I could comfort myself against sorrow! My heart is faint within me.

⁷ “You shall not misuse the name of Yahweh your God, for Yahweh will not hold him guiltless who misuses his name.

²⁵ For the thing which I fear comes on me, That which I am afraid of comes to me.

²⁰ Though I am righteous, my own mouth will condemn me. Though I am blameless, it will prove me perverse. ²¹ I am blameless. I don’t respect myself. I despise my life.

¹⁴ if I sin, then you mark me. You will not acquit me from my iniquity.

¹⁶ But now you count my steps. Don’t you watch over my sin?

⁶ When I remember, I am troubled. Horror takes hold of my flesh.

¹⁵ I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up. While I suffer your terrors, I am distracted. ¹⁶ Your fierce wrath has gone over me. Your terrors have cut me off.

¹²⁰ My flesh trembles for fear of you. I am afraid of your judgments.

²² “It is all the same. Therefore I say he destroys the blameless and the wicked.

⁷ Although you know that I am not wicked, there is no one who can deliver out of your hand.

¹⁴ if I sin, then you mark me. You will not acquit me from my iniquity. ¹⁵ If I am wicked, woe to me. If I am righteous, I still will not lift up my head, being filled with disgrace, and conscious of my affliction. ¹⁶ If my head is held high, you hunt me like a lion. Again you show yourself powerful to me. ¹⁷ You renew your witnesses against me, and increase your indignation on me. Changes and warfare are with me.

¹⁶ Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand. The counsel of the wicked is far from me. ¹⁷ “How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out, that their calamity comes on them, that God distributes sorrows in his anger?

²⁷ “Behold, I know your thoughts, the plans with which you would wrong me.

⁵ Isn’t your wickedness great? Neither is there any end to your iniquities. ⁶ For you have taken pledges from your brother for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing. ⁷ You haven’t given water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry. ⁸ But as for the mighty man, he had the earth. The honorable man, he lived in it. ⁹ You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken. ¹⁰ Therefore snares are around you. Sudden fear troubles you, ¹¹ or darkness, so that you can not see, and floods of waters cover you. ¹² “Isn’t God in the heights of heaven? See the height of the stars, how high they are! ¹³ You say, ‘What does God know? Can he judge through the thick darkness? ¹⁴ Thick clouds are a covering to him, so that he doesn’t see. He walks on the vault of the sky.’ ¹⁵ Will you keep the old way, which wicked men have trodden, ¹⁶ who were snatched away before their time, whose foundation was poured out as a stream, ¹⁷ who said to God, ‘Depart from us;’ and, ‘What can the Almighty do for us?’ ¹⁸ Yet he filled their houses with good things, but the counsel of the wicked is far from me. ¹⁹ The righteous see it, and are glad. The innocent ridicule them, ²⁰ saying, ‘Surely those who rose up against us are cut off. The fire has consumed their remnant.’ ²¹ “Acquaint yourself with him, now, and be at peace. By it, good will come to you. ²² Please receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart. ²³ If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up, if you put away unrighteousness far from your tents. ²⁴ Lay your treasure in the dust, the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks. ²⁵ The Almighty will be your treasure, and precious silver to you. ²⁶ For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty, and will lift up your face to God. ²⁷ You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you. You will pay your vows. ²⁸ You will also decree a thing, and it will be established to you. Light will shine on your ways. ²⁹ When they cast down, you will say, ‘be lifted up.’ He will save the humble person. ³⁰ He will even deliver him who is not innocent. Yes, he will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”

³³ Yahweh will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is judged.

¹³ Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence,

³⁵ “Yet you said, ‘I am innocent. Surely his anger has turned away from me.’ “Behold, I will judge you, because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’

⁷ if my step has turned out of the way, if my heart walked after my eyes, if any defilement has stuck to my hands,

⁶ I will wash my hands in innocence, so I will go about your altar, Yahweh,

¹³ He who conceals his sins doesn’t prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.

¹⁶ Wash yourselves. Make yourself clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil. ¹⁷ Learn to do well. Seek justice. Relieve the oppressed. Defend the fatherless. Plead for the widow.” ¹⁸ “Come now, and let’s reason together,” says Yahweh: “Though your sins are as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

²² For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, yet your iniquity is marked before me,” says the Lord Yahweh.

¹⁴ Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long will your evil thoughts lodge within you?

³ For being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they didn’t subject themselves to the righteousness of God.

⁶ Your own mouth condemns you, and not I. Yes, your own lips testify against you.

⁶ Their webs won’t become garments. They won’t cover themselves with their works. Their works are works of iniquity, and acts of violence are in their hands.

⁶ For we have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteousness is like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

⁸ Yes most certainly, and I count all things to be a loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them nothing but refuse, that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith,

¹⁹ God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should repent. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not make it good?

⁷ But Yahweh said to Samuel, “Don’t look on his face, or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for I don’t see as man sees. For man looks at the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks at the heart.”

¹⁸ See now, I have set my cause in order. I know that I am righteous. ¹⁹ Who is he who will contend with me? For then would I hold my peace and give up the spirit. ²⁰ “Only don’t do two things to me, then I will not hide myself from your face: ²¹ withdraw your hand far from me, and don’t let your terror make me afraid. ²² Then call, and I will answer, or let me speak, and you answer me. ²³ How many are my iniquities and sins? Make me know my disobedience and my sin.

¹² “Behold, I will answer you. In this you are not just, for God is greater than man.

⁵ Look to the skies, and see. See the skies, which are higher than you. ⁶ If you have sinned, what effect do you have against him? If your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him? ⁷ If you are righteous, what do you give him? Or what does he receive from your hand?

¹⁰ Whatever has been, its name was given long ago; and it is known what man is; neither can he contend with him who is mightier than he.

¹⁹ “Behold, he will come up like a lion from the pride of the Jordan against the strong habitation: for I will suddenly make them run away from it; and whoever is chosen, I will appoint him over it. For who is like me? Who will appoint me a time? Who is the shepherd who will stand before me?”

²⁵ If one man sins against another, God will judge him; but if a man sins against Yahweh, who will intercede for him?” Notwithstanding, they didn’t listen to the voice of their father, because Yahweh intended to kill them.

¹⁶ Then two women who were prostitutes came to the king, and stood before him. ¹⁷ The one woman said, “Oh, my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house. I delivered a child with her in the house. ¹⁸ The third day after I delivered, this woman delivered also. We were together. There was no stranger with us in the house, just us two in the house. ¹⁹ This woman’s child died in the night, because she lay on it. ²⁰ She arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while your servant slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. ²¹ When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, it was dead; but when I had looked at it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, whom I bore.” ²² The other woman said, “No; but the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son.” The first one said, “No; but the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son.” They argued like this before the king. ²³ Then the king said, “One says, ‘This is my son who lives, and your son is the dead;’ and the other says, ‘No; but your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.’” ²⁴ The king said, “Get me a sword.” So they brought a sword before the king. ²⁵ The king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.” ²⁶ Then the woman whose the living child was spoke to the king, for her heart yearned over her son, and she said, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and in no way kill him!” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours. Divide him.” ²⁷ Then the king answered, “Give her the living child, and definitely do not kill him. She is his mother.” ²⁸ All Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king; for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do justice.

²³ Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had Moses, his chosen, not stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, so that he wouldn’t destroy them.

¹ My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. If anyone sins, we have a Counselor with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. ² And he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.

¹¹ Shall not his majesty make you afraid, and his dread fall on you?

²⁰ “Only don’t do two things to me, then I will not hide myself from your face: ²¹ withdraw your hand far from me, and don’t let your terror make me afraid. ²² Then call, and I will answer, or let me speak, and you answer me.

¹⁵ Therefore I am terrified at his presence. When I consider, I am afraid of him.

² “Oh that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me; ³ when his lamp shone on my head, and by his light I walked through darkness, ⁴ as I was in my prime, when the friendship of God was in my tent, ⁵ when the Almighty was yet with me, and my children were around me, ⁶ when my steps were washed with butter, and the rock poured out streams of oil for me, ⁷ when I went out to the city gate, when I prepared my seat in the street. ⁸ The young men saw me and hid themselves. The aged rose up and stood. ⁹ The princes refrained from talking, and laid their hand on their mouth. ¹⁰ The voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth. ¹¹ For when the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it commended me: ¹² Because I delivered the poor who cried, and the fatherless also, who had no one to help him, ¹³ the blessing of him who was ready to perish came on me, and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy. ¹⁴ I put on righteousness, and it clothed me. My justice was as a robe and a diadem. ¹⁵ I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame. ¹⁶ I was a father to the needy. I researched the cause of him whom I didn’t know. ¹⁷ I broke the jaws of the unrighteous and plucked the prey out of his teeth. ¹⁸ Then I said, ‘I will die in my own house, I will count my days as the sand. ¹⁹ My root is spread out to the waters. The dew lies all night on my branch. ²⁰ My glory is fresh in me. My bow is renewed in my hand.’ ²¹ “Men listened to me, waited, and kept silence for my counsel. ²² After my words they didn’t speak again. My speech fell on them. ²³ They waited for me as for the rain. Their mouths drank as with the spring rain. ²⁴ I smiled on them when they had no confidence. They didn’t reject the light of my face. ²⁵ I chose out their way, and sat as chief. I lived as a king in the army, as one who comforts the mourners.

²³ For calamity from God is a terror to me. Because of his majesty, I can do nothing.

⁷ Behold, my terror will not make you afraid, neither will my pressure be heavy on you.

¹ “Yes, at this my heart trembles, and is moved out of its place.

¹⁰ Remove your scourge away from me. I am overcome by the blow of your hand.

¹¹ Who knows the power of your anger, your wrath according to the fear that is due to you?