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JOB 23

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Job Replies: Where Is God?
  23:1 Then Job answered and said:
2
“Today also my complaint is bitter;
my hand is heavy on account of my groaning.
3
Oh, that I knew where I might find him,
that I might come even to his seat!
4
I would lay my case before him
and fill my mouth with arguments.
5
I would know what he would answer me
and understand what he would say to me.
6
Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power?
No; he would pay attention to me.
7
There an upright man could argue with him,
and I would be acquitted forever by my judge.

8
“Behold, I go forward, but he is not there,
and backward, but I do not perceive him;
9
on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him;
he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him.
10
But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.
11
My foot has held fast to his steps;
I have kept his way and have not turned aside.
12
I have not departed from the commandment of his lips;
I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.
13
But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back?
What he desires, that he does.
14
For he will complete what he appoints for me,
and many such things are in his mind.
15
Therefore I am terrified at his presence;
when I consider, I am in dread of him.
16
God has made my heart faint;
the Almighty has terrified me;
17
yet I am not silenced because of the darkness,
nor because thick darkness covers my face.



JOB 24

« Job 23 | Job 24 | Job 25 »

24:1
“Why are not times of judgment kept by the Almighty,
and why do those who know him never see his days?
2
Some move landmarks;
they seize flocks and pasture them.
3
They drive away the donkey of the fatherless;
they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
4
They thrust the poor off the road;
the poor of the earth all hide themselves.
5
Behold, like wild donkeys in the desert
the poor go out to their toil, seeking game;
the wasteland yields food for their children.
6
They gather their fodder in the field,
and they glean the vineyard of the wicked man.
7
They lie all night naked, without clothing,
and have no covering in the cold.
8
They are wet with the rain of the mountains
and cling to the rock for lack of shelter.
9
(There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast,
and they take a pledge against the poor.)
10
They go about naked, without clothing;
hungry, they carry the sheaves;
11
among the olive rows of the wicked they make oil;
they tread the winepresses, but suffer thirst.
12
From out of the city the dying groan,
and the soul of the wounded cries for help;
yet God charges no one with wrong.

13
“There are those who rebel against the light,
who are not acquainted with its ways,
and do not stay in its paths.
14
The murderer rises before it is light,
that he may kill the poor and needy,
and in the night he is like a thief.
15
The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight,
saying, ‘No eye will see me’;
and he veils his face.
16
In the dark they dig through houses;
by day they shut themselves up;
they do not know the light.
17
For deep darkness is morning to all of them;
for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.

18
“You say, ‘Swift are they on the face of the waters;
their portion is cursed in the land;
no treader turns toward their vineyards.
19
Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters;
so does Sheol those who have sinned.
20
The womb forgets them;
the worm finds them sweet;
they are no longer remembered,
so wickedness is broken like a tree.’

21
“They wrong the barren, childless woman,
and do no good to the widow.
22
Yet God prolongs the life of the mighty by his power;
they rise up when they despair of life.
23
He gives them security, and they are supported,
and his eyes are upon their ways.
24
They are exalted a little while, and then are gone;
they are brought low and gathered up like all others;
they are cut off like the heads of grain.
25
If it is not so, who will prove me a liar
and show that there is nothing in what I say?”



PROVERBS 17

« Proverbs 16 | Proverbs 17 | Proverbs 18 »

17:1
Better is a dry morsel with quiet
than a house full of feasting with strife.
2
A servant who deals wisely will rule over a son who acts shamefully
and will share the inheritance as one of the brothers.
3
The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold,
and the Lord tests hearts.
4
An evildoer listens to wicked lips,
and a liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue.
5
Whoever mocks the poor insults his Maker;
he who is glad at calamity will not go unpunished.
6
Grandchildren are the crown of the aged,
and the glory of children is their fathers.
7
Fine speech is not becoming to a fool;
still less is false speech to a prince.
8
A bribe is like a magic stone in the eyes of the one who gives it;
wherever he turns he prospers.
9
Whoever covers an offense seeks love,
but he who repeats a matter separates close friends.
10
A rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding
than a hundred blows into a fool.
11
An evil man seeks only rebellion,
and a cruel messenger will be sent against him.
12
Let a man meet a she-bear robbed of her cubs
rather than a fool in his folly.
13
If anyone returns evil for good,
evil will not depart from his house.
14
The beginning of strife is like letting out water,
so quit before the quarrel breaks out.
15
He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous
are both alike an abomination to the Lord.
16
Why should a fool have money in his hand to buy wisdom
when he has no sense?
17
A friend loves at all times,
and a brother is born for adversity.
18
One who lacks sense gives a pledge
and puts up security in the presence of his neighbor.
19
Whoever loves transgression loves strife;
he who makes his door high seeks destruction.
20
A man of crooked heart does not discover good,
and one with a dishonest tongue falls into calamity.
21
He who sires a fool gets himself sorrow,
and the father of a fool has no joy.
22
A joyful heart is good medicine,
but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.
23
The wicked accepts a bribe in secret
to pervert the ways of justice.
24
The discerning sets his face toward wisdom,
but the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth.
25
A foolish son is a grief to his father
and bitterness to her who bore him.
26
To impose a fine on a righteous man is not good,
nor to strike the noble for their uprightness.
27
Whoever restrains his words has knowledge,
and he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding.
28
Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise;
when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent.



LUKE 20

« Luke 19 | Luke 20 | Luke 21 »

The Authority of Jesus Challenged
  20:1 One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up 2 and said to him, “Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority.” 3 He answered them, “I also will ask you a question. Now tell me, 4 was the baptism of John from heaven or from man?” 5 And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’ 6 But if we say, ‘From man,’ all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.” 7 So they answered that they did not know where it came from. 8 And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.” The Parable of the Wicked Tenants
9 And he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while. 10 When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11 And he sent another servant. But they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. 12 And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out. 13 Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ 14 But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.’ 15 And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Surely not!” 17 But he looked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written:
“‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone’?
18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” Paying Taxes to Caesar
19 The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people. 20 So they watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor. 21 So they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly, and show no partiality, but truly teach the way of God. 22 Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar, or not?” 23 But he perceived their craftiness, and said to them, 24 “Show me a denarius. Whose likeness and inscription does it have?” They said, “Caesar’s.” 25 He said to them, “Then render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 26 And they were not able in the presence of the people to catch him in what he said, but marveling at his answer they became silent. Sadducees Ask About the Resurrection
27 There came to him some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, 28 and they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 29 Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died without children. 30 And the second 31 and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. 32 Afterward the woman also died. 33 In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife.”
    
34 And Jesus said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage, 35 but those who are considered worthy to attain to that age and to the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, 36 for they cannot die anymore, because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. 37 But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. 38 Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him.” 39 Then some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.” 40 For they no longer dared to ask him any question. Whose Son Is the Christ?
41 But he said to them, “How can they say that the Christ is David’s son? 42 For David himself says in the Book of Psalms,
“‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
43
until I make your enemies your footstool.”’
44 David thus calls him Lord, so how is he his son?” Beware of the Scribes
45 And in the hearing of all the people he said to his disciples, 46 “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, 47 who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

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