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Job 24–28

24:1   “Why are not times of judgment kept by the Almighty,
    and why do those who know him never see his days?
  Some move landmarks;
    they seize flocks and pasture them.
  They drive away the donkey of the fatherless;
    they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
  They thrust the poor off the road;
    the poor of the earth all hide themselves.
  Behold, like wild donkeys in the desert
    the poor go out to their toil, seeking game;
    the wasteland yields food for their children.
  They gather their fodder in the field,
    and they glean the vineyard of the wicked man.
  They lie all night naked, without clothing,
    and have no covering in the cold.
  They are wet with the rain of the mountains
    and cling to the rock for lack of shelter.
  (There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast,
    and they take a pledge against the poor.)
10   They go about naked, without clothing;
    hungry, they carry the sheaves;
11   among the olive rows of the wicked they make oil;
    they tread the winepresses, but suffer thirst.
12   From out of the city the dying groan,
    and the soul of the wounded cries for help;
    yet God charges no one with wrong.
13   “There are those who rebel against the light,
    who are not acquainted with its ways,
    and do not stay in its paths.
14   The murderer rises before it is light,
    that he may kill the poor and needy,
    and in the night he is like a thief.
15   The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight,
    saying, ‘No eye will see me’;
    and he veils his face.
16   In the dark they dig through houses;
    by day they shut themselves up;
    they do not know the light.
17   For deep darkness is morning to all of them;
    for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.
18   “You say, ‘Swift are they on the face of the waters;
    their portion is cursed in the land;
    no treader turns toward their vineyards.
19   Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters;
    so does Sheol those who have sinned.
20   The womb forgets them;
    the worm finds them sweet;
  they are no longer remembered,
    so wickedness is broken like a tree.’
21   “They wrong the barren, childless woman,
    and do no good to the widow.
22   Yet God prolongs the life of the mighty by his power;
    they rise up when they despair of life.
23   He gives them security, and they are supported,
    and his eyes are upon their ways.
24   They are exalted a little while, and then are gone;
    they are brought low and gathered up like all others;
    they are cut off like the heads of grain.
25   If it is not so, who will prove me a liar
    and show that there is nothing in what I say?”

25:1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:

  “Dominion and fear are with God;
    he makes peace in his high heaven.
  Is there any number to his armies?
    Upon whom does his light not arise?
  How then can man be in the right before God?
    How can he who is born of woman be pure?
  Behold, even the moon is not bright,
    and the stars are not pure in his eyes;
  how much less man, who is a maggot,
    and the son of man, who is a worm!”

26:1 Then Job answered and said:

  “How you have helped him who has no power!
    How you have saved the arm that has no strength!
  How you have counseled him who has no wisdom,
    and plentifully declared sound knowledge!
  With whose help have you uttered words,
    and whose breath has come out from you?
  The dead tremble
    under the waters and their inhabitants.
  Sheol is naked before God,
    and Abaddon has no covering.
  He stretches out the north over the void
    and hangs the earth on nothing.
  He binds up the waters in his thick clouds,
    and the cloud is not split open under them.
  He covers the face of the full moon
    and spreads over it his cloud.
10   He has inscribed a circle on the face of the waters
    at the boundary between light and darkness.
11   The pillars of heaven tremble
    and are astounded at his rebuke.
12   By his power he stilled the sea;
    by his understanding he shattered Rahab.
13   By his wind the heavens were made fair;
    his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.
14   Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways,
    and how small a whisper do we hear of him!
    But the thunder of his power who can understand?”

27:1 And Job again took up his discourse, and said:

  “As God lives, who has taken away my right,
    and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter,
  as long as my breath is in me,
    and the spirit of God is in my nostrils,
  my lips will not speak falsehood,
    and my tongue will not utter deceit.
  Far be it from me to say that you are right;
    till I die I will not put away my integrity from me.
  I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go;
    my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.
  “Let my enemy be as the wicked,
    and let him who rises up against me be as the unrighteous.
  For what is the hope of the godless when God cuts him off,
    when God takes away his life?
  Will God hear his cry
    when distress comes upon him?
10   Will he take delight in the Almighty?
    Will he call upon God at all times?
11   I will teach you concerning the hand of God;
    what is with the Almighty I will not conceal.
12   Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves;
    why then have you become altogether vain?
13   “This is the portion of a wicked man with God,
    and the heritage that oppressors receive from the Almighty:
14   If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword,
    and his descendants have not enough bread.
15   Those who survive him the pestilence buries,
    and his widows do not weep.
16   Though he heap up silver like dust,
    and pile up clothing like clay,
17   he may pile it up, but the righteous will wear it,
    and the innocent will divide the silver.
18   He builds his house like a moth’s,
    like a booth that a watchman makes.
19   He goes to bed rich, but will do so no more;
    he opens his eyes, and his wealth is gone.
20   Terrors overtake him like a flood;
    in the night a whirlwind carries him off.
21   The east wind lifts him up and he is gone;
    it sweeps him out of his place.
22   It hurls at him without pity;
    he flees from its power in headlong flight.
23   It claps its hands at him
    and hisses at him from its place.

28:1   “Surely there is a mine for silver,
    and a place for gold that they refine.
  Iron is taken out of the earth,
    and copper is smelted from the ore.
  Man puts an end to darkness
    and searches out to the farthest limit
    the ore in gloom and deep darkness.
  He opens shafts in a valley away from where anyone lives;
    they are forgotten by travelers;
    they hang in the air, far away from mankind; they swing to and fro.
  As for the earth, out of it comes bread,
    but underneath it is turned up as by fire.
  Its stones are the place of sapphires,
    and it has dust of gold.
  “That path no bird of prey knows,
    and the falcon’s eye has not seen it.
  The proud beasts have not trodden it;
    the lion has not passed over it.
  “Man puts his hand to the flinty rock
    and overturns mountains by the roots.
10   He cuts out channels in the rocks,
    and his eye sees every precious thing.
11   He dams up the streams so that they do not trickle,
    and the thing that is hidden he brings out to light.
12   “But where shall wisdom be found?
    And where is the place of understanding?
13   Man does not know its worth,
    and it is not found in the land of the living.
14   The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’
    and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
15   It cannot be bought for gold,
    and silver cannot be weighed as its price.
16   It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
    in precious onyx or sapphire.
17   Gold and glass cannot equal it,
    nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.
18   No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal;
    the price of wisdom is above pearls.
19   The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,
    nor can it be valued in pure gold.
20   “From where, then, does wisdom come?
    And where is the place of understanding?
21   It is hidden from the eyes of all living
    and concealed from the birds of the air.
22   Abaddon and Death say,
    ‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’
23   “God understands the way to it,
    and he knows its place.
24   For he looks to the ends of the earth
    and sees everything under the heavens.
25   When he gave to the wind its weight
    and apportioned the waters by measure,
26   when he made a decree for the rain
    and a way for the lightning of the thunder,
27   then he saw it and declared it;
    he established it, and searched it out.
28   And he said to man,
  ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
    and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”

Luke 2:21–33

21 And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

22 And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) 24 and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.” 25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. 27 And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, 28 he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,

29   “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,
    according to your word;
30   for my eyes have seen your salvation
31     that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
32   a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
    and for glory to your people Israel.”

33 And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him.

Psalm 97

97:1   The LORD reigns, let the earth rejoice;
    let the many coastlands be glad!
  Clouds and thick darkness are all around him;
    righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
  Fire goes before him
    and burns up his adversaries all around.
  His lightnings light up the world;
    the earth sees and trembles.
  The mountains melt like wax before the LORD,
    before the Lord of all the earth.
  The heavens proclaim his righteousness,
    and all the peoples see his glory.
  All worshipers of images are put to shame,
    who make their boast in worthless idols;
    worship him, all you gods!
  Zion hears and is glad,
    and the daughters of Judah rejoice,
    because of your judgments, O LORD.
  For you, O LORD, are most high over all the earth;
    you are exalted far above all gods.
10   O you who love the LORD, hate evil!
    He preserves the lives of his saints;
    he delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
11   Light is sown for the righteous,
    and joy for the upright in heart.
12   Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous,
    and give thanks to his holy name!

Ecclesiastes 10:15–19

15   The toil of a fool wearies him,
    for he does not know the way to the city.
16   Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child,
    and your princes feast in the morning!
17   Happy are you, O land, when your king is the son of the nobility,
    and your princes feast at the proper time,
    for strength, and not for drunkenness!
18   Through sloth the roof sinks in,
    and through indolence the house leaks.
19   Bread is made for laughter,
    and wine gladdens life,
    and money answers everything.


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