Job 8
Bildad: The Ungodly Will Perish
1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:†
2 “How long will you speak these things, And the breath of your mouth be filled with words?
3 Will the Lord do wrong when He judges, Or will He who made all things trouble righteousness?
4 If your sons sinned against Him, He sent them away because of their lawlessness.
5 But come early in the morning And make your supplication to the Lord Almighty.
6 If you are pure and true, He will hear your supplication And restore to you the dwelling of the righteous.
7 Though your beginning shall be small, Your latter end will be abundantly great.
8 For inquire about the former generation And search among the race of our fathers;
9 For we are of yesterday and know nothing, Because our life on earth is a shadow.
10 Will they not teach you and proclaim to you, And bring forth words from their heart?
11 “Can the papyrus bloom without water, Or can the reeds flourish without moisture?†
12 While it is still on the root and not yet harvested, Does not any vegetation wither before it receives moisture?
13 So shall be the end of all who forget the Lord, For the hope of the ungodly shall perish.
14 For his house shall be without inhabitants, And his tent shall turn out to be a spider’s web.
15 If he props up his house, it will not stand, And when he takes hold of it, it will not endure.
16 For it is moist under the sun, And his branch shall come forth out of his rottenness.
17 He shall lie down upon a pile of rocks And shall live in the midst of flints.
18 If he is swallowed up, his place shall deny him. You have not seen such things,
19 “That such is the destruction of the ungodly, And out of the earth another will grow up again.
20 For the Lord will not cast off the innocent, Nor will He accept any gift of an ungodly man.
21 He will fill the mouth of the true with laughter And their lips with thanksgiving.
22 But their enemies will be clothed with shame, And the dwelling of an ungodly man will be no more.”
Psalms 101
1 A prayer by a poor man, when he was depressed and poured out his supplication before the Lord. †
2 Hear my prayer, O Lord, And let my cry come to You.
3 Do not turn Your face from me; In the day when I am afflicted, incline Your ear to me; In the day when I call upon You, hear me quickly.
4 For my days vanished like smoke, And my bones burned up like firewood.
5 I was cut down like grass, and my heart became withered, For I forgot to eat my bread.
6 Because of the sound of my groaning, My bones cleaved to my flesh.
7 I have become like a pelican in a desert; I have become like an owl in a ruined house;
8 I kept watch, and have become Like a sparrow alone on a housetop.
9 My enemies reproached me all day long, And those who praised me swore against me.
10 For I ate ashes like bread, And mixed my drink with weeping
11 Because of the wrath of Your countenance and Your anger; For You lifted me up and broke me down.
12 My days were far spent like a shadow, And I am withered like grass.
13 But You, O Lord, remain forever, And Your remembrance is from generation to generation.
14 When You rise up, You shall have compassion on Zion, For it is time to have compassion on her, because the time is come;
15 For Your servants took pleasure in her stones, And they shall have compassion for her dust.
Proverbs of Solomon 21
16 A man in need loves merriment, Loving wine and oil as wealth.
17 A lawless man is the outcast of a righteous man.
18 It is better to live in a desert Than with a contentious, talkative, and quick-tempered woman.
19 A treasury of desire will rest upon the mouth of a wise man, But men without discernment shall swallow it.
20 The way of righteousness and mercy shall find life and glory.
Luke 20
What Is Jesus’ Authority?
1 Now it happened on one of those days, as He taught the people in the temple and preached the gospel, that the chief priests and the scribes, together with the elders, confronted Him
2 and spoke to Him, saying, “Tell us, by what authority are You doing these things? Or who is he who gave You this authority?”†
3 But He answered and said to them, “I also will ask you one thing, and answer Me:
4 The baptism of John—was it from heaven or from men?”
5 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’
6 But if we say, ‘From men,’ all the people will stone us, for they are persuaded that John was a prophet.”
7 So they answered that they did not know where it was from.
8 And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
The Wicked Vineyard Tenants
9 Then He began to tell the people this parable: “A certain man planted a vineyard, leased it to vinedressers, and went into a far country for a long time.†
10 Now at vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that they might give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the vinedressers beat him and sent him away empty-handed.
11 Again he sent another servant; and they beat him also, treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed.
12 And again he sent a third; and they wounded him also and cast him out.
13 “Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son. Probably they will respect him when they see him.’
14 But when the vinedressers saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.’
15 So they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do to them?
16 He will come and destroy those vinedressers and give the vineyard to others.” And when they heard it they said, “Certainly not!”
17 Then He looked at them and said, “What then is this that is written: ‘The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone’ ?†
18 Whoever falls on that stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.”
19 And the chief priests and the scribes that very hour sought to lay hands on Him, but they feared the people
Do We Pay Taxes to Caesar?
20 So they watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, that they might seize on His words, in order to deliver Him to the power and the authority of the governor.†
21 Then they asked Him, saying, “Teacher, we know that You say and teach rightly, and You do not show personal favoritism, but teach the way of God in truth:
22 Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
23 But He perceived their craftiness, and said to them, “Why do you test Me?
24 Show Me a denarius. Whose image and inscription does it have?” They answered and said, “Caesar’s.”
25 And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
26 But they could not catch Him in His words in the presence of the people. And they marveled at His answer and kept silent.