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JOB 3

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Job Laments His Birth
  3:1 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 And Job said:
3
“Let the day perish on which I was born,
and the night that said,
‘A man is conceived.’
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Let that day be darkness!
May God above not seek it,
nor light shine upon it.
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Let gloom and deep darkness claim it.
Let clouds dwell upon it;
let the blackness of the day terrify it.
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That night—let thick darkness seize it!
Let it not rejoice among the days of the year;
let it not come into the number of the months.
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Behold, let that night be barren;
let no joyful cry enter it.
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Let those curse it who curse the day,
who are ready to rouse up Leviathan.
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Let the stars of its dawn be dark;
let it hope for light, but have none,
nor see the eyelids of the morning,
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because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb,
nor hide trouble from my eyes.

11
“Why did I not die at birth,
come out from the womb and expire?
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Why did the knees receive me?
Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?
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For then I would have lain down and been quiet;
I would have slept; then I would have been at rest,
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with kings and counselors of the earth
who rebuilt ruins for themselves,
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or with princes who had gold,
who filled their houses with silver.
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Or why was I not as a hidden stillborn child,
as infants who never see the light?
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There the wicked cease from troubling,
and there the weary are at rest.
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There the prisoners are at ease together;
they hear not the voice of the taskmaster.
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The small and the great are there,
and the slave is free from his master.

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“Why is light given to him who is in misery,
and life to the bitter in soul,
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who long for death, but it comes not,
and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,
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who rejoice exceedingly
and are glad when they find the grave?
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Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden,
whom God has hedged in?
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For my sighing comes instead of my bread,
and my groanings are poured out like water.
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For the thing that I fear comes upon me,
and what I dread befalls me.
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I am not at ease, nor am I quiet;
I have no rest, but trouble comes.”



JOB 4

« Job 3 | Job 4 | Job 5 »

Eliphaz Speaks: The Innocent Prosper
  4:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
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“If one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient?
Yet who can keep from speaking?
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Behold, you have instructed many,
and you have strengthened the weak hands.
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Your words have upheld him who was stumbling,
and you have made firm the feeble knees.
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But now it has come to you, and you are impatient;
it touches you, and you are dismayed.
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Is not your fear of God your confidence,
and the integrity of your ways your hope?

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“Remember: who that was innocent ever perished?
Or where were the upright cut off?
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As I have seen, those who plow iniquity
and sow trouble reap the same.
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By the breath of God they perish,
and by the blast of his anger they are consumed.
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The roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion,
the teeth of the young lions are broken.
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The strong lion perishes for lack of prey,
and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

12
“Now a word was brought to me stealthily;
my ear received the whisper of it.
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Amid thoughts from visions of the night,
when deep sleep falls on men,
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dread came upon me, and trembling,
which made all my bones shake.
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A spirit glided past my face;
the hair of my flesh stood up.
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It stood still,
but I could not discern its appearance.
A form was before my eyes;
there was silence, then I heard a voice:
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‘Can mortal man be in the right before God?
Can a man be pure before his Maker?
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Even in his servants he puts no trust,
and his angels he charges with error;
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how much more those who dwell in houses of clay,
whose foundation is in the dust,
who are crushed like the moth.
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Between morning and evening they are beaten to pieces;
they perish forever without anyone regarding it.
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Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them,
do they not die, and that without wisdom?’



PROVERBS 7

« Proverbs 6 | Proverbs 7 | Proverbs 8 »

Warning Against the Adulteress
7:1
My son, keep my words
and treasure up my commandments with you;
2
keep my commandments and live;
keep my teaching as the apple of your eye;
3
bind them on your fingers;
write them on the tablet of your heart.
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Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,”
and call insight your intimate friend,
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to keep you from the forbidden woman,
from the adulteress with her smooth words.

6
For at the window of my house
I have looked out through my lattice,
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and I have seen among the simple,
I have perceived among the youths,
a young man lacking sense,
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passing along the street near her corner,
taking the road to her house
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in the twilight, in the evening,
at the time of night and darkness.

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And behold, the woman meets him,
dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart.
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She is loud and wayward;
her feet do not stay at home;
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now in the street, now in the market,
and at every corner she lies in wait.
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She seizes him and kisses him,
and with bold face she says to him,
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“I had to offer sacrifices,
and today I have paid my vows;
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so now I have come out to meet you,
to seek you eagerly, and I have found you.
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I have spread my couch with coverings,
colored linens from Egyptian linen;
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I have perfumed my bed with myrrh,
aloes, and cinnamon.
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Come, let us take our fill of love till morning;
let us delight ourselves with love.
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For my husband is not at home;
he has gone on a long journey;
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he took a bag of money with him;
at full moon he will come home.”

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With much seductive speech she persuades him;
with her smooth talk she compels him.
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All at once he follows her,
as an ox goes to the slaughter,
or as a stag is caught fast
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till an arrow pierces its liver;
as a bird rushes into a snare;
he does not know that it will cost him his life.

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And now, O sons, listen to me,
and be attentive to the words of my mouth.
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Let not your heart turn aside to her ways;
do not stray into her paths,
26
for many a victim has she laid low,
and all her slain are a mighty throng.
27
Her house is the way to Sheol,
going down to the chambers of death.



LUKE 12

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Beware of the Leaven of the Pharisees
  12:1 In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 2 Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 3 Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops. Have No Fear
4 “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. 5 But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. 7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows. Acknowledge Christ Before Men
8 “And I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, 9 but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God. 10 And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. 11 And when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, 12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” The Parable of the Rich Fool
13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” 14 But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” 15 And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” 16 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” Do Not Be Anxious
22 And he said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24 Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! 25 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 26 If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? 27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28 But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! 29 And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. 30 For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31 Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.
    
32 “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. You Must Be Ready
35 “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, 36 and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. 37 Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. 38 If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! 39 But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
    
41 Peter said, “Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all?” 42 And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? 43 Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. 44 Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. 45 But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, 46 the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful. 47 And that servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. 48 But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more. Not Peace, but Division
49 “I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! 50 I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished! 51 Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. 52 For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” Interpreting the Time
54 He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, ‘A shower is coming.’ And so it happens. 55 And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat,’ and it happens. 56 You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time? Settle with Your Accuser
57 “And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? 58 As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer put you in prison. 59 I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny.”

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