Job 26-28
1 But Job answered and said:
2 “To whom are you attached,
Or whom are you going to help?
Is it not He who has great strength
And whose arm is powerful?
3 To whom have you given counsel?
Is it not to Him who has all wisdom?
Or whom will you follow?
Is it not One who has the greatest power?
4 To whom have you spoken words?
Whose breath came forth from you?
5 “Will giants be born under the water
And those inhabiting them?
6 Hades is naked before Him,
And destruction has no covering.
7 He stretches out the north wind upon nothing;
He hangs the earth on nothing.
8 He binds up the water in His clouds,
Yet the cloud is not broken under it.
9 He grasps the face of His throne
And spreads His cloud over it.
10 He encompassed the face of the water by an ordinance
Until the end of light and darkness.
11 The pillars of heaven were spread all over
And stood amazed at His rebuke.
12 He checked the sea with His power,
And by His understanding He wounded the sea-monster.
13 For the bars of heaven fear Him,
Because He put to death the rebellious dragon by a command.
14 Behold, these are parts of His way,
And we will hearken to the least of His words.
But who knows when He will bring about the strength of His thunder?”
Job Will Hold Fast to Righteousness
1 Moreover Job continued his speech and said:
2 “As the Lord lives who thus judges me,
And the Almighty who embittered my soul,
3 Surely as long as my breath is in me
And the divine breath is in my nostrils,
4 My lips will not speak lawless things,
Nor shall my soul practice wrongdoings.
5 May it not be I who set forth the opinion that you are righteous.
Until the day I die, I will not put away my integrity from me.
6 I hold fast to my righteousness and am not letting it go;
For I am not conscious in myself of having done anything wrong.
7 “Surely not, but rather may my enemies
Be as the destruction of the ungodly,
And those who rise up against me
As the destruction of the lawless.
8 For what hope is there for an ungodly man that he holds to it?
Will he trust in the Lord and be saved?
9 Will the Lord hear his prayer
When distress comes upon him?
10 Has he any confidence before Him,
Or will the Lord hear him when he calls on Him?
11 “But indeed, I will tell you what is the hand of the Lord.
I will not lie concerning what is with the Almighty.
12 Behold therefore, all of you know
You are adding vanity to vanity.
13 “This is the portion from the Lord for the ungodly man,
And the possession of oppressors
Shall come upon them from the Almighty.
14 If their children be many, they will be for slaughter;
And if they reach manhood, they will beg.
15 Those who survive him shall be buried in death,
And no one will have pity on their widows.
16 Though he gathers silver like dust
And shall prepare gold like clay,
17 The righteous will acquire these things,
And the true ones will possess his wealth.
18 His house goes away like a moth
And like a spider’s web.
19 The rich man will lie down and not continue;
He opens his eyes, but is no more.
20 Pains happen to him like a flood,
And thick darkness takes him away in the night.
21 A burning wind will take him up, and he will be gone;
And it will scatter him from his place.
22 It will blow against him and not spare;
He will try in vain to flee from its force.
23 It will strike him with its power,
And whistle him from his place.
The Richness of the Earth
1 “Indeed, there is a place for silver, from whence it comes,
And a place for gold, from whence it is refined.
2 Certainly, iron is taken from the earth,
And copper is hewn out like a stone.
3 He set an order to darkness
And examines accurately every limit.
A stone is darkness and the shadow of death.
4 There is a narrow channel of the brook because of dust;
So those who forget the right way
Are weakened because of mortal men.
5 As for the earth, from it will come bread,
But underneath, it is turned up as by fire;
6 Its stones are the source of sapphires,
And its dust contains gold.
7 There is a path no bird knows,
Nor has the eye of a vulture seen it.
8 The sons of the arrogant have not trodden it,
Nor has the lion passed over it.
9 He has stretched forth his hand to quarry stones
And has overturned the mountains by the roots.
10 He has broken asunder the whirlpools of rivers,
And my eye has seen every valued thing.
11 He has uncovered the depths of the rivers
And has brought his power to light.
Where Is Wisdom Found?
12 “But where can wisdom be found?
What is the place of understanding?
13 Mortal man has not known its way,
Nor is it found among men.
14 The deep said, ‘It is not in me’;
And the sea said, ‘It is not with me.’
15 One shall not give massive piles of gold instead of it,
Nor can silver be weighed in exchange for it.
16 It cannot be compared with the gold of Ophir,
With the precious onyx or sapphire.
17 Neither gold nor crystal will equal it,
Nor can it be exchanged for vessels of gold.
18 No mention shall be made of coral and quartz,
But you must hold up wisdom above the most valued things.
19 The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,
Nor can it be compared with pure gold.
20 “From where then is wisdom found,
And what is the place of understanding?
21 It has been hidden from every man
And concealed from the birds of the sky.
22 Destruction and Death said,
‘We have heard about its fame.’
23 God has well established its way,
And He knows its place.
24 For He watches over the whole earth under heaven,
Knowing the things in the earth, all He has made—
25 The weight of the winds and the measures of the water.
26 When He made them, He numbered them
And made a way for the claps of thunder.
27 Then He saw wisdom and declared it;
He prepared it and traced it out.
28 He said to man, ‘behold, the fear of God is wisdom,
And to abstain from evils is understanding.’”
Psalm 37:12–23
12 My friends and neighbors draw near and stand against me,
And my near of kin stand far off;
13 And those who seek my soul use violence,
And those who seek evil for me speak folly;
And they meditate on deceit all the day long.
14 But I like a deaf man do not hear,
And I am like a mute who does not open his mouth.
15 I am like a man who does not hear,
And who has no reproofs in his mouth.
16 For in You, O Lord, I hope;
You will hear, O Lord my God.
17 For I said, “Let not my enemies rejoice over me,
For when my foot was shaken, they boasted against me.”
18 For I am ready for wounds,
And my pain is continually with me.
19 For I will declare my transgression,
And I will be anxious about my sin.
20 But my enemies live, and are become stronger than I;
And those who hate me unjustly are multiplied;
21 Those who repaid me evil for good
Slandered me, because I pursue righteousness;
And they threw away my love as though it were a stinking corpse.
22 Do not forsake me, O Lord;
O my God, do not depart from me;
23 Give heed to help me,
O Lord of my salvation.
Proverbs 8:6–10
6 Obey me, for I speak sacred things,
And from my lips I will bring forth things that are true.
7 For my mouth shall speak the truth,
But false lips are an abomination before me.
8 All the words of my mouth are with righteousness;
There is nothing in them crooked or twisted.
9 All things are evident to those who understand
And true to those who find knowledge.
10 Lay hold of instruction and not silver,
And knowledge rather than tested gold,
And choose perception rather than pure gold.
Romans 11:16–36
16 For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root is holy, so are the branches.
17 And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree,
18 do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.
19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.”
20 Well said. Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear.
21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either.
22 Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.
23 And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.
24 For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?
25 For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:
“The Deliverer will come out of Zion,
And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob;
27 For this is My covenant with them,
When I take away their sins.”
28 Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.
29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
30 For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience,
31 even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy.
32 For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.
33 Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!
34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has become His counselor?”
35 “Or who has first given to Him
And it shall be repaid to him?”
36 For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.