Job 29

¹Job continued his discourse:

⁷And Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying: “Balak brought me from Aram, the king of Moab from the mountains of the east. ‘Come,’ he said, ‘put a curse on Jacob for me; come and denounce Israel!’

¹²Your maxims are proverbs of ashes; your defenses are defenses of clay.

¹⁰Have You not placed a hedge on every side around him and his household and all that he owns? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.

²⁸Just as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, to demolish, destroy, and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares the Lord.

¹There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. And this man was blameless and upright, fearing God and shunning evil.

²He had seven sons and three daughters,

³So I am allotted months of futility, and nights of misery are appointed to me.

²⁸For the Lord loves justice and will not forsake His saints. They are preserved forever, but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off.

¹Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, To those who are called, loved by God the Father, and kept in Jesus Christ:

²⁸For You, O Lord, light my lamp; my God lights up my darkness.

¹²Once again, Jesus spoke to the people and said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”

⁶The light in his tent grows dark, and the lamp beside him goes out.

⁸For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light,

⁴⁶I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in Me should remain in darkness.

¹⁷Your life will be brighter than noonday; its darkness will be like the morning.

¹⁴The Lord confides in those who fear Him, and reveals His covenant to them.

³²for the Lord detests the perverse, but He is a friend to the upright.

⁸Do you listen in on the council of God or limit wisdom to yourself?

¹⁰Have You not placed a hedge on every side around him and his household and all that he owns? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.

⁵For in the day of trouble He will hide me in His shelter; He will conceal me under the cover of His tent; He will set me high upon a rock.

¹He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

³Your wife will be like a fruitful vine flourishing within your house, your sons like olive shoots sitting around your table.

³Children are indeed a heritage from the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is His reward.

⁴Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are children born in one’s youth.

²⁷The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He drives out the enemy before you, giving the command, ‘Destroy him!’

²⁸So Israel dwells securely; the fountain of Jacob lives untroubled in a land of grain and new wine, where even the heavens drip with dew.

⁴He has brought me to the house of wine, and his banner over me is love.

⁹Have I not commanded you to be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

¹On my bed at night I sought the one I love; I sought him, but did not find him.

²I will arise now and go about the city, through the streets and squares. I will seek the one I love. So I sought him but did not find him.

¹⁶But I would feed you the finest wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

¹⁷He will not enjoy the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and cream.

¹¹He ties his donkey to the vine, his colt to the choicest branch. He washes his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes.

¹³He made him ride on the heights of the land and fed him the produce of the field. He nourished him with honey from the rock and oil from the flinty crag,

¹⁴with curds from the herd and milk from the flock, with the fat of lambs, with rams from Bashan, and goats, with the choicest grains of wheat. From the juice of the finest grapes you drank the wine.

²⁴And concerning Asher he said: “May Asher be the most blessed of sons; may he be the most favored among his brothers and dip his foot in oil.

¹Meanwhile, Boaz went to the gate and sat down there. Soon the kinsman-redeemer of whom he had spoken came along, and Boaz said, “Come over here, my friend, and sit down.” So he went over and sat down.

²Then Boaz took ten of the elders of the city and said, “Sit here,” and they did so.

¹⁶These are the things you must do: Speak truth to one another, render true and sound judgments in your gates,

¹⁸You are to appoint judges and officials for your tribes in every town that the Lord your God is giving you. They are to judge the people with righteous judgment.

¹¹“We are witnesses,” said the elders and all the people at the gate. “May the Lord make the woman entering your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you be prosperous in Ephrathah and famous in Bethlehem.

²¹if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless because I saw that I had support in the gate,

¹⁹his father and mother are to lay hold of him and bring him to the elders of his city, to the gate of his hometown,

³²You are to rise in the presence of the elderly, honor the aged, and fear your God. I am the Lord.

⁷Pay everyone what you owe him: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.

⁵Young men, in the same way, submit yourselves to your elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

³¹Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is attained along the path of righteousness.

¹Remind the believers to submit to rulers and authorities, to be obedient and ready for every good work,

⁸A king who sits on a throne to judge sifts out all evil with his eyes.

⁵Look at me and be appalled; put your hand over your mouth.

¹⁹When words are many, sin is unavoidable, but he who restrains his lips is wise.

⁴“Behold, I am insignificant. How can I reply to You? I place my hand over my mouth.

¹⁹My beloved brothers, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger,

³²If you have foolishly exalted yourself or if you have plotted evil, put your hand over your mouth.

¹⁹“Be quiet,” they told him. “Put your hand over your mouth and come with us and be a father and a priest to us. Is it better for you to be a priest for the house of one person or a priest for a tribe and family in Israel?”

⁶May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not exalt Jerusalem as my greatest joy!

²⁶I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth, and you will be silent and unable to rebuke them, though they are a rebellious house.

²²All spoke well of Him and marveled at the gracious words that came from His lips. “Isn’t this the son of Joseph?” they asked.

²When the righteous flourish, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan.

²⁰if his heart has not blessed me for warming him with the fleece of my sheep,

²⁷As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said, “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and blessed are the breasts that nursed You!”

¹²For he will deliver the needy who cry out and the afflicted who have no helper.

¹³Whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too shall cry out and receive no answer.

²²You must not mistreat any widow or orphan.

²³If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to Me in distress, I will surely hear their cry.

²⁷Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

¹¹Rescue those being led away to death, and restrain those stumbling toward the slaughter.

¹²If you say, “Behold, we did not know about this,” does not He who weighs hearts consider it? Does not the One who guards your life know? Will He not repay a man according to his deeds?

²“How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah

³Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; uphold the rights of the afflicted and oppressed.

¹⁶May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he has often refreshed me and was unashamed of my chains.

¹⁷Indeed, when he arrived in Rome, he searched diligently until he found me.

⁷I take great joy and encouragement in your love, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the saints.

¹³And in that day a great ram’s horn will sound, and those who were perishing in Assyria will come forth with those who were exiles in Egypt. And they will worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.

⁹You sent widows away empty-handed, and the strength of the fatherless was crushed.

¹⁹if I have seen one perish for lack of clothing, or a needy man without a cloak,

²⁰if his heart has not blessed me for warming him with the fleece of my sheep,

³⁹So Peter got up and went with them. On his arrival, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood around him, weeping and showing him the tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was still with them.

⁴⁰Then Peter sent them all out of the room. He knelt down and prayed, and turning toward her body, he said, “Tabitha, get up!” She opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up.

¹⁰I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom wears a priestly headdress, as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

¹⁷He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on His head; He put on garments of vengeance and wrapped Himself in a cloak of zeal.

⁹May Your priests be clothed with righteousness, and Your saints shout for joy.

¹⁴Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness arrayed,

⁸She was given clothing of fine linen, bright and pure.” For the fine linen she wears is the righteous acts of the saints.

⁶I will cling to my righteousness and never let go. As long as I live, my conscience will not accuse me.

³¹“Please do not leave us,” Moses said, “since you know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you can serve as our eyes.

⁵The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.

¹²The body is a unit, though it is composed of many parts. And although its parts are many, they all form one body. So it is with Christ.

¹³For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, and we were all given one Spirit to drink.

⁷The righteous consider the cause of the poor, but the wicked have no regard for such concerns.

⁵A father of the fatherless and a defender of widows is God in His holy habitation.

⁷And Mordecai had brought up Hadassah (that is, Esther), the daughter of his uncle, because she did not have a father or mother. The young woman was lovely in form and appearance, and when her father and mother had died, Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter.

²It is the glory of God to conceal a matter and the glory of kings to search it out.

⁴They push the needy off the road and force all the poor of the land into hiding.

¹⁸though from my youth I reared him as would a father, and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow—

⁷Arise, O Lord! Save me, O my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked.

¹⁴there is a generation whose teeth are swords and whose jaws are knives, devouring the oppressed from the earth and the needy from among men.

³⁵I went after it, struck it down, and delivered the lamb from its mouth. If it reared up against me, I would grab it by its fur, strike it down, and kill it.

⁶Blessed be the Lord, who has not given us as prey to their teeth.

⁸Like a slug that dissolves in its slime, like a woman’s stillborn child, may they never see the sun.

³when their anger flared against us, then they would have swallowed us alive,

⁶In prosperity I said, “I will never be shaken.”

⁷O Lord, You favored me; You made my mountain stand strong. When You hid Your face, I was dismayed.

⁴Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, even from there I will bring you down,” declares the Lord.

²⁶You will come to the grave in full vigor, like a sheaf of grain gathered in season.

¹⁶The terror you cause and the pride of your heart have deceived you, O dwellers in the clefts of the rocks, O occupiers of the mountain summit. Though you elevate your nest like the eagle, even from there I will bring you down,” declares the Lord.

¹²But You have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper, and I will make your offspring like the sand of the sea, too numerous to count.’”

¹⁶With long life I will satisfy him and show him My salvation.”

⁸He is like a tree planted by the waters that sends out its roots toward the stream. It does not fear when the heat comes, and its leaves are always green. It does not worry in a year of drought, nor does it cease to produce fruit.

³He is like a tree planted by streams of water, yielding its fruit in season, whose leaf does not wither, and who prospers in all he does.

⁵I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like the lily and take root like the cedars of Lebanon.

⁶His shoots will sprout, and his splendor will be like the olive tree, his fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon.

¹⁶The roots beneath him dry up, and the branches above him wither away.

²⁴Yet he steadied his bow, and his strong arms were tempered by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, in the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,

³¹But those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.

¹⁶Therefore we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, yet our inner self is being renewed day by day.

³⁴He trains my hands for battle; my arms can bend a bow of bronze.

⁵who satisfies you with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

¹³Tell my father about all my splendor in Egypt and everything you have seen. And bring my father down here quickly.”

¹¹Indeed, I waited while you spoke; I listened to your reasoning; as you searched for words,

¹²I paid you full attention. But no one proved Job wrong; not one of you rebutted his arguments.

⁹The princes refrained from speaking and covered their mouths with their hands.

¹⁰The voices of the nobles were hushed, and their tongues stuck to the roofs of their mouths.

²Let my teaching fall like rain and my speech settle like dew, like gentle rain on new grass, like showers on tender plants.

¹¹Your lips, my bride, drip sweetness like the honeycomb; honey and milk are under your tongue, and the fragrance of your garments is like the aroma of Lebanon.

⁴⁶“Son of man, set your face toward the south, preach against it, and prophesy against the forest of the Negev.

⁴⁶No one was able to answer a word, and from that day on no one dared to question Him any further.

¹⁵so He will sprinkle many nations. Kings will shut their mouths because of Him. For they will see what they have not been told, and they will understand what they have not heard.

³¹Pay attention, Job, and listen to me; be silent, and I will speak.

³²But if you have something to say, answer me; speak up, for I would like to vindicate you.

³So let us know—let us press on to know the Lord. As surely as the sun rises, He will appear; He will come to us like the rain, like the spring showers that water the earth.

⁶May he be like rain that falls on freshly cut grass, like spring showers that water the earth.

¹Ask the Lord for rain in springtime; the Lord makes the storm clouds, and He will give everyone showers of rain and crops in the field.

¹A song of ascents. When the Lord restored the captives of Zion, we were like dreamers.

⁶Many ask, “Who can show us the good?” Shine the light of Your face upon us, O Lord.

¹⁵Blessed are those who know the joyful sound, who walk, O Lord, in the light of Your presence.

⁴¹While they were still in disbelief because of their joy and amazement, He asked them, “Do you have anything here to eat?”

²⁶“Joseph is still alive,” they said, “and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt!” But Jacob was stunned, for he did not believe them.

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,

⁴who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

³Strengthen the limp hands and steady the feeble knees!

⁴Say to those with anxious hearts: “Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance. With divine retribution He will come to save you.”

¹⁴And when Abram heard that his relative had been captured, he mobilized the 318 trained men born in his household, and they set out in pursuit as far as Dan.

¹⁵During the night, Abram divided his forces and routed Chedorlaomer’s army, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus.

¹The Spirit of the Lord God is on Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners,

²to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of our God’s vengeance, to comfort all who mourn,

²We sent Timothy, our brother and fellow worker for God in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith,

³so that none of you would be shaken by these trials. For you know that we are destined for this.

⁴⁰You shall be in charge of my house, and all my people are to obey your commands. Only with regard to the throne will I be greater than you.”