JOB 22

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Eliphaz Speaks: Job’s Wickedness Is Great  22:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
2

“Can a man be profitable to God?

Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself. 3

Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are in the right,

or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless? 4

Is it for your fear of him that he reproves you

and enters into judgment with you? 5

Is not your evil abundant?

There is no end to your iniquities. 6

For you have exacted pledges of your brothers for nothing

and stripped the naked of their clothing. 7

You have given no water to the weary to drink,

and you have withheld bread from the hungry. 8

The man with power possessed the land,

and the favored man lived in it. 9

You have sent widows away empty,

and the arms of the fatherless were crushed. 10

Therefore snares are all around you,

and sudden terror overwhelms you, 11

or darkness, so that you cannot see,

and a flood of water covers you.
12

“Is not God high in the heavens?

See the highest stars, how lofty they are! 13

But you say, ‘What does God know?

Can he judge through the deep darkness? 14

Thick clouds veil him, so that he does not see,

and he walks on the vault of heaven.’ 15

Will you keep to the old way

that wicked men have trod? 16

They were snatched away before their time;

their foundation was washed away. 17

They said to God, ‘Depart from us,’

and ‘What can the Almighty do to 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 one mocks at them, 20

saying, ‘Surely our adversaries are cut off,

and what they left the fire has consumed.’
21

“Agree with God, and be at peace;

thereby good will come to you. 22

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 remove injustice far from your tents, 24

if you lay gold in the dust,

and gold of Ophir among the stones of the torrent-bed, 25

then the Almighty will be your gold

and your precious silver. 26

For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty

and lift up your face to God. 27

You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you,

and you will pay your vows. 28

You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you,

and light will shine on your ways. 29

For when they are humbled you say, ‘It is because of pride’;

but he saves the lowly. 30

He delivers even the one who is not innocent,

who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”

PSALM 38

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Do Not Forsake Me, O LordA Psalm of David, for the memorial offering.
38:1

O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger,

nor discipline me in your wrath! 2

For your arrows have sunk into me,

and your hand has come down on me.
3

There is no soundness in my flesh

because of your indignation;

there is no health in my bones

because of my sin. 4

For my iniquities have gone over my head;

like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.
5

My wounds stink and fester

because of my foolishness, 6

I am utterly bowed down and prostrate;

all the day I go about mourning. 7

For my sides are filled with burning,

and there is no soundness in my flesh. 8

I am feeble and crushed;

I groan because of the tumult of my heart.
9

O Lord, all my longing is before you;

my sighing is not hidden from you. 10

My heart throbs; my strength fails me,

and the light of my eyes—it also has gone from me. 11

My friends and companions stand aloof from my plague,

and my nearest kin stand far off.
12

Those who seek my life lay their snares;

those who seek my hurt speak of ruin

and meditate treachery all day long.
13

But I am like a deaf man; I do not hear,

like a mute man who does not open his mouth. 14

I have become like a man who does not hear,

and in whose mouth are no rebukes.
15

But for you, O Lord, do I wait;

it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer. 16

For I said, “Only let them not rejoice over me,

who boast against me when my foot slips!”
17

For I am ready to fall,

and my pain is ever before me. 18

I confess my iniquity;

I am sorry for my sin. 19

But my foes are vigorous, they are mighty,

and many are those who hate me wrongfully. 20

Those who render me evil for good

accuse me because I follow after good.
21

Do not forsake me, O Lord!

O my God, be not far from me! 22

Make haste to help me,

O Lord, my salvation!

PSALM 39

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What Is the Measure of My Days?To the choirmaster: to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.
39:1

I said, “I will guard my ways,

that I may not sin with my tongue;

I will guard my mouth with a muzzle,

so long as the wicked are in my presence.” 2

I was mute and silent;

I held my peace to no avail,

and my distress grew worse. 3

My heart became hot within me.

As I mused, the fire burned;

then I spoke with my tongue:
4

“O Lord, make me know my end

and what is the measure of my days;

let me know how fleeting I am! 5

Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths,

and my lifetime is as nothing before you.

Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath! Selah 6

Surely a man goes about as a shadow!

Surely for nothing they are in turmoil;

man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather!
7

“And now, O Lord, for what do I wait?

My hope is in you. 8

Deliver me from all my transgressions.

Do not make me the scorn of the fool! 9

I am mute; I do not open my mouth,

for it is you who have done it. 10

Remove your stroke from me;

I am spent by the hostility of your hand. 11

When you discipline a man

with rebukes for sin,

you consume like a moth what is dear to him;

surely all mankind is a mere breath! Selah
12

“Hear my prayer, O Lord,

and give ear to my cry;

hold not your peace at my tears!

For I am a sojourner with you,

a guest, like all my fathers. 13

Look away from me, that I may smile again,

before I depart and am no more!”

PROVERBS 2

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The Value of Wisdom2:1

My son, if you receive my words

and treasure up my commandments with you, 2

making your ear attentive to wisdom

and inclining your heart to understanding; 3

yes, if you call out for insight

and raise your voice for understanding, 4

if you seek it like silver

and search for it as for hidden treasures, 5

then you will understand the fear of the Lord

and find the knowledge of God. 6

For the Lord gives wisdom;

from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; 7

he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;

he is a shield to those who walk in integrity, 8

guarding the paths of justice

and watching over the way of his saints. 9

Then you will understand righteousness and justice

and equity, every good path; 10

for wisdom will come into your heart,

and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; 11

discretion will watch over you,

understanding will guard you, 12

delivering you from the way of evil,

from men of perverted speech, 13

who forsake the paths of uprightness

to walk in the ways of darkness, 14

who rejoice in doing evil

and delight in the perverseness of evil, 15

men whose paths are crooked,

and who are devious in their ways.
16

So you will be delivered from the forbidden woman,

from the adulteress with her smooth words, 17

who forsakes the companion of her youth

and forgets the covenant of her God; 18

for her house sinks down to death,

and her paths to the departed; 19

none who go to her come back,

nor do they regain the paths of life.
20

So you will walk in the way of the good

and keep to the paths of the righteous. 21

For the upright will inhabit the land,

and those with integrity will remain in it, 22

but the wicked will be cut off from the land,

and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.