Job 39, 40
1 “Do you know the time when the wild rock goats bear young,
And do you mark when the deer gives birth?
2 Do you number the full months of childbearing,
And have you relieved their pangs?
3 Have you reared their young without fear,
And have you sent away their pangs?
4 Their young ones will break forth;
They will be multiplied with offspring;
They depart and do not return.
5 Who set the wild donkey free?
Who loosed his bonds?
6 I made the wilderness his dwelling
And the salt lands his house.
7 He scorns the great multitude of the city;
He does not heed the blame of the tax collector.
8 He will survey the mountains as his pasture,
And he seeks out every green thing.
9 Will the wild ox be willing to serve you?
Will he bed by your manger?
10 Can you bind his yoke with ropes,
Or will he plow furrows for you in the field?
11 Do you trust him because his strength is great?
Or will you commit your works to him?
12 Will you trust him to bring home your seed
And gather it to your threshing floor?
13 The wings of the falcon wave proudly,
But are her wings and pinions like the kindly stork’s?
14 For the falcon leaves her eggs on the ground
And warms them in the dust.
15 She has forgotten that a foot will scatter them,
Or that wild animals will trample them.
16 She hardens herself against her young ones
As though they were not hers.
She labors in vain without concern,
17 Because God deprived her of wisdom
And did not endow her with understanding.
18 When she lifts herself on high,
She scorns the horse and its rider.
19 Have you given the horse strength?
Have you clothed his neck with a mane?
20 Have you put on him a suit of armor
And made his breast glorious with courage?
21 He paws exultingly in the valley
And goes forth with strength into the plain.
22 He mocks at battle when he sees it,
Nor does he turn back from the sword.
23 The bow and the sword resound against him,
And his rage would destroy the earth.
24 He will not believe until the trumpet sounds,
25 For at the blast of the trumpet he says, ‘Good! Well done!’
He smells the battle from afar with its leaping and shouting.
26 Does the hawk remain steady by your understanding,
And spread its rigid wings looking toward the south?
27 Does the eagle mount up at your command,
And the vulture remain sitting over its nest
28 On the crag of a hidden rock?
29 From there it spies out the prey;
Its eyes observe from afar.
30 Its young ones roll themselves in blood;
And where the slain are, immediately they are found.”
1 Moreover the Lord God answered Job and said:
2 “Will anyone pervert judgment with the Mighty One?
He who rebukes God will answer for it.”
Job Responds
3 Then Job answered the Lord and said:
4 “Why am I still judged and admonished,
Even if I rebuke the Lord, hear such things, and am nothing?
But what answer will I give to these things?
I will put my hand over my mouth.
5 I have spoken once.
I will not do so a second time.”
The Lord Calls Job to Account
6 The Lord yet answered Job out of the cloud and said:
7 “No rather, gird up your waist like a man,
For I will question you, and you shall answer Me.
8 “Do you not reject My judgment?
Do you think I have dealt with you in any other way
Than might appear to you to be righteous?
9 Have you an arm like the Lord’s?
Or can you thunder with a voice like His?
10 Assume now majesty and power,
And clothe yourself with glory and honor.
11 Send forth messengers with wrath
And humble every insolent man.
12 Extinguish the arrogant man
And consume at once the ungodly.
13 Hide them together in the earth
And fill their faces with disgrace.
14 Then I will also admit
That your own right hand can save you.
15 “But look now at the wild animals with you.
They eat grass like oxen.
16 Behold now, his strength is in his loins,
And his power is in the center of his stomach.
17 He sets up his tail like a cypress;
His nerves are tightly knit.
18 His ribs are like ribs of bronze,
And his backbone like bars of iron.
19 This is the ruler of the Lord’s creation,
Made to be mocked at by His angels.
20 When he goes up to a rough mountain,
He causes joy to the four-footed animals in Tartarus.
21 He lies under trees of every kind,
Alongside the papyrus, and reed, and bulrush.
22 The great trees shade him with their branches;
So do the branches of the willow.
23 If there should be a flood, he will not notice it;
He is confident, though the Jordan beats against his mouth,
24 Though he takes it in his eyes,
Or one pierces his nose with a snare.
25 Will you catch the serpent with a hook
And put a halter about his nose?
26 Or will you fasten a ring in his nose
Or pierce his lip with a hook?
27 Will he speak to you in prayer,
Softly with the voice of a suppliant?
28 Will he make a covenant with you?
Will you take him as a servant forever?
29 Will you play with him as with a bird,
Or will you cage him as a sparrow for a child?
30 Do the nations feed upon him?
Will they apportion him among the nations of the Phoenicians?
31 All the ships come together would not be able
To bear the mere skin of his tail,
Or carry his head with fishing vessels.
32 Once you lay your hand on him,
Remembering the battle waged by his mouth,
Let it not be done again.
Psalms 44
1 For the End, concerning things that shall be changed; to the sons of Korah for understanding; an ode concerning the Beloved One.
2 My heart overflowed with a good word;
I tell my works to the King;
My tongue is the pen of a swift-writing scribe.
3 You are more beautiful than the sons of men;
Grace was poured out on Your lips;
Therefore God blessed You forever.
4 Gird Your sword upon Your thigh, O Mighty One,
In Your splendor and Your beauty.
5 And stretch Your bow, and grant prosperity, and reign
Because of truth, gentleness, and righteousness,
And Your right hand shall guide You wondrously.
6 Your arrows are sharp, O Mighty One (The peoples shall fall under You),
In the heart of the King’s enemies.
7 Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;
Your royal scepter is a scepter of uprightness.
8 You loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;
Therefore God, Your God, anointed You
With the oil of gladness more than Your companions.
9 Myrrh and stacte and cassia pour forth from Your garments,
From the ivory palaces from which they gladdened You.
10 There are daughters of kings in Your honor;
The queen stood at Your right hand in apparel interwoven with gold,
And adorned and embroidered with various colors.
11 Listen, O daughter, behold and incline your ear,
And forget your people and your father’s house;
12 For the King desired your beauty,
For He is your Lord.
13 And the daughters of Tyre shall worship Him with gifts;
The rich among the people shall entreat your favor.
14 All her glory as the King’s daughter is within,
Adorned and embroidered with golden tassels.
15 The virgins behind her shall be brought to the King;
Her neighbors shall be brought to You;
16 They shall be brought with gladness and rejoicing;
They shall be led into the temple of the King.
17 In place of your fathers, sons shall be born to you;
You shall make them rulers over all the earth.
18 They shall remember your name from generation to generation;
Therefore, peoples shall give thanks to you
Forever and unto ages of ages.
Proverbs 9:7–11
7 He who chastises evil men shall receive dishonor to himself,
And he who reproves the ungodly man shall be blamed himself.
8 Do not reprove evil men, so they may not hate you;
Reprove a wise man, and he will love you.
9 Give the opportunity to a wise man, and he will be wiser;
Instruct a righteous man, and he shall continue to receive it.
10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
And the counsel of saints is understanding;
For to know the law is characteristic of a good mind.
11 For in this manner you will live a long time,
And the years of your life shall be increased.
1 Corinthians 1
1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,
2 To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Spiritual Gifts at Corinth
4 I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus,
5 that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge,
6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you,
7 so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ,
8 who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Sectarianism Is Sin
10 Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
11 For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you.
12 Now I say this, that each of you says, “I am of Paul,” or “I am of Apollos,” or “I am of Cephas,” or “I am of Christ.”
13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,
15 lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my own name.
16 Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Besides, I do not know whether I baptized any other.
17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.
Christ the Power and Wisdom of God
(cf. Is. 29:14)
18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
19 For it is written:
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”
20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom;
23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,
24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
Glory Only in the Lord
26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.
27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;
28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,
29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.
30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—
31 that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”