Job 9
Job Has No Mediator
1 Then Job answered and said:
2 “I know that is true, But how can a mortal man be righteous before the Lord?†
3 If he should wish to enter into judgment with Him, The Lord would not listen to him, For he could not answer to one out of a thousand of His charges.
4 He is wise in mind and mighty and great. Who has hardened himself against Him and endured?
5 He who makes the mountains old, and men do not know it; He who overturns them in His wrath;†
6 He who shakes the earth under heaven from its foundations, And its pillars tremble;
7 He who commands the sun, and it does not rise; He who seals off the stars;
8 He who alone stretches out heaven; He who walks on the sea as on firm ground;†
9 He who makes Pleiades, Hesperus, and Arcturus, And the chambers of the south;†
10 He who does great and unsearchable things, Glorious and marvelous things without number.
11 If He goes beyond me, I do not see Him; If He passes by me, I do not perceive Him;
12 If He takes away, who can turn Him back? Who can say to Him, ‘What have You done?’
13 For if He turns away His wrath, The great sea creatures under heaven lie prostrate beneath Him.
14 “Would then that He would hear me, or judge my words.
15 For though I be righteous, He will not listen to me. I will entreat His judgment.†
16 If I should call, and He hears me, I would not believe He is listening to me.
17 Let Him not destroy me with darkness, But He has caused my great destruction to no purpose.
18 For He will not allow me to draw breath, But has filled me with bitterness.
19 For if He is strong in power, Who then can resist His judgment?
20 For though I were righteous, my mouth will be impious; And though I were blameless, I will be perverse.
21 “If I am ungodly, I do not know it in my soul, But my life is taken away.
22 Therefore I said, ‘Wrath destroys the great and the mighty.’
23 The wrongdoers die violently, But the righteous are laughed to scorn.
24 For they are delivered into the hands of the ungodly man. He covers the faces of the judges of the earth. If it is not He, who else could it be?
25 “Now my life passes swifter than a runner; My days have fled away, and they do not see it.
26 Do the ships leave a mark of their path? Or does a flying eagle leave a trace of its soaring as it seeks its prey?
27 If I say, ‘I will forget to speak,’ I will bow down my face and groan.
28 I shake with fear in all my limbs; I know You will not leave me as innocent.
29 But since I am ungodly, why have I not died?
30 If I should wash myself with snow And cleanse myself with pure hands,
31 You have fully immersed me in filth, And my garment detests me.
32 “For You are not a man, as I am, With whom I could contend, That we should go to judgment together.
33 Would that we had a mediator who would cross-examine And hear the case between us.
34 Let Him remove the rod from me, And do not let the fear of Him distress me.
35 Then I will not be afraid, but will speak, For I am not conscious of any guilt.
Psalms 101
16 And the Gentiles shall fear the name of the Lord, And all the kings of the earth Your glory;
17 For the Lord shall build Zion, And He shall be seen in His glory.
18 He regarded the prayer of the humble, And He did not despise their supplication.
19 Let this be written for another generation, And the people who are created shall praise the Lord;
20 For He looked down from the height of His holy place; The Lord looked upon the earth from heaven,
21 To hear the groaning of those bound, To set free the sons of the slain,
22 To declare the Lord’s name in Zion, And His praise in Jerusalem,
23 When the peoples and the kingdoms Are gathered together to serve the Lord.
24 He replied to Him in the way of strength, “Declare to me the fewness of my days;
25 Take me not away in the midst of my days; Your years are throughout all generations.
26 In the beginning, O Lord, You founded the earth, And the heavens are the works of Your hands.
27 They shall perish, but You shall remain, And all things shall grow old like a garment, And like a cloak You shall change them, And they shall be changed;
28 But You are the same, and Your years shall not fail.
29 The children of Your servants shall dwell there, And their seed shall be led to prosperity forever.”
Proverbs of Solomon 21
21 A wise man assaults fortified cities And pulls down the stronghold the ungodly trust.†
22 He who guards his mouth and tongue Keeps his soul from tribulation.
23 A troublemaker is called rash, arrogant, and boastful, And he who bears malice is called lawless.
24 Desires kill a slothful man, For his hands choose not to do anything.†
25 The ungodly man desires evil all day long, But the righteous man shows mercy and compassion unsparingly.
Luke 20
The Mystery of Resurrection
27 Then some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came to Him and asked Him,†
28 saying: “Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man’s brother dies, having a wife, and he dies without children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.
29 Now there were seven brothers. And the first took a wife, and died without children.
30 And the second took her as wife, and he died childless.
31 Then the third took her, and in like manner the seven also; and they left no children, and died.
32 Last of all the woman died also.
33 Therefore, in the resurrection, whose wife does she become? For all seven had her as wife.”
34 Jesus answered and said to them, “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage.
35 But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage;
36 nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.
37 But even Moses showed in the burning bush passage that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’
38 For He is not the God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him.”
39 Then some of the scribes answered and said, “Teacher, You have spoken well.”
40 But after that they dared not question Him anymore.
Son of David, Son of God
41 And He said to them, “How can they say that the Christ is the Son of David?†
42 Now David himself said in the Book of Psalms: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand,
43 Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” ’
44 Therefore David calls Him ‘Lord’; how is He then his Son?”
Beware of the Scribes
45 Then, in the hearing of all the people, He said to His disciples,†
46 “Beware of the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes, love greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and the best places at feasts,
47 who devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.”