Job 39–42
39:1“Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?Do you observe the calving of the does?2Can you number the months that they fulfill,and do you know the time when they give birth,3when they crouch, bring forth their offspring,and are delivered of their young?4Their young ones become strong; they grow up in the open;they go out and do not return to them. 5“Who has let the wild donkey go free?Who has loosed the bonds of the swift donkey,6to whom I have given the arid plain for his homeand the salt land for his dwelling place?7He scorns the tumult of the city;he hears not the shouts of the driver.8He ranges the mountains as his pasture,and he searches after every green thing. 9“Is the wild ox willing to serve you?Will he spend the night at your manger?10Can you bind him in the furrow with ropes,or will he harrow the valleys after you?11Will you depend on him because his strength is great,and will you leave to him your labor?12Do you have faith in him that he will return your grainand gather it to your threshing floor? 13“The wings of the ostrich wave proudly,but are they the pinions and plumage of love?14For she leaves her eggs to the earthand lets them be warmed on the ground,15forgetting that a foot may crush themand that the wild beast may trample them.16She deals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers;though her labor be in vain, yet she has no fear,17because God has made her forget wisdomand given her no share in understanding.18When she rouses herself to flee,she laughs at the horse and his rider. 19“Do you give the horse his might?Do you clothe his neck with a mane?20Do you make him leap like the locust?His majestic snorting is terrifying.21He paws in the valley and exults in his strength;he goes out to meet the weapons.22He laughs at fear and is not dismayed;he does not turn back from the sword.23Upon him rattle the quiver,the flashing spear, and the javelin.24With fierceness and rage he swallows the ground;he cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet.25When the trumpet sounds, he says ‘Aha!’He smells the battle from afar,the thunder of the captains, and the shouting. 26“Is it by your understanding that the hawk soarsand spreads his wings toward the south?27Is it at your command that the eagle mounts upand makes his nest on high?28On the rock he dwells and makes his home,on the rocky crag and stronghold.29From there he spies out the prey;his eyes behold it from far away.30His young ones suck up blood,and where the slain are, there is he.”
40:1And the LORD said to Job:
2“Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty?He who argues with God, let him answer it.”
3Then Job answered the LORD and said:
4“Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you?I lay my hand on my mouth.5I have spoken once, and I will not answer;twice, but I will proceed no further.”
6Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
7“Dress for action like a man;I will question you, and you make it known to me.8Will you even put me in the wrong?Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?9Have you an arm like God,and can you thunder with a voice like his? 10“Adorn yourself with majesty and dignity;clothe yourself with glory and splendor.11Pour out the overflowings of your anger,and look on everyone who is proud and abase him.12Look on everyone who is proud and bring him lowand tread down the wicked where they stand.13Hide them all in the dust together;bind their faces in the world below.14Then will I also acknowledge to youthat your own right hand can save you. 15“Behold, Behemoth,which I made as I made you;he eats grass like an ox.16Behold, his strength in his loins,and his power in the muscles of his belly.17He makes his tail stiff like a cedar;the sinews of his thighs are knit together.18His bones are tubes of bronze,his limbs like bars of iron. 19“He is the first of the works of God;let him who made him bring near his sword!20For the mountains yield food for himwhere all the wild beasts play.21Under the lotus plants he lies,in the shelter of the reeds and in the marsh.22For his shade the lotus trees cover him;the willows of the brook surround him.23Behold, if the river is turbulent he is not frightened;he is confident though Jordan rushes against his mouth.24Can one take him by his eyes,or pierce his nose with a snare? 41:1“Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhookor press down his tongue with a cord?2Can you put a rope in his noseor pierce his jaw with a hook?3Will he make many pleas to you?Will he speak to you soft words?4Will he make a covenant with youto take him for your servant forever?5Will you play with him as with a bird,or will you put him on a leash for your girls?6Will traders bargain over him?Will they divide him up among the merchants?7Can you fill his skin with harpoonsor his head with fishing spears?8Lay your hands on him;remember the battle—you will not do it again!9Behold, the hope of a man is false;he is laid low even at the sight of him.10No one is so fierce that he dares to stir him up.Who then is he who can stand before me?11Who has first given to me, that I should repay him?Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine. 12“I will not keep silence concerning his limbs,or his mighty strength, or his goodly frame.13Who can strip off his outer garment?Who would come near him with a bridle?14Who can open the doors of his face?Around his teeth is terror.15His back is made of rows of shields,shut up closely as with a seal.16One is so near to anotherthat no air can come between them.17They are joined one to another;they clasp each other and cannot be separated.18His sneezings flash forth light,and his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.19Out of his mouth go flaming torches;sparks of fire leap forth.20Out of his nostrils comes forth smoke,as from a boiling pot and burning rushes.21His breath kindles coals,and a flame comes forth from his mouth.22In his neck abides strength,and terror dances before him.23The folds of his flesh stick together,firmly cast on him and immovable.24His heart is hard as a stone,hard as the lower millstone.25When he raises himself up, the mighty are afraid;at the crashing they are beside themselves.26Though the sword reaches him, it does not avail,nor the spear, the dart, or the javelin.27He counts iron as straw,and bronze as rotten wood.28The arrow cannot make him flee;for him, sling stones are turned to stubble.29Clubs are counted as stubble;he laughs at the rattle of javelins.30His underparts are like sharp potsherds;he spreads himself like a threshing sledge on the mire.31He makes the deep boil like a pot;he makes the sea like a pot of ointment.32Behind him he leaves a shining wake;one would think the deep to be white-haired.33On earth there is not his like,a creature without fear.34He sees everything that is high;he is king over all the sons of pride.”
42:1Then Job answered the LORD and said:
2“I know that you can do all things,and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.3‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.4‘Hear, and I will speak;I will question you, and you make it known to me.’5I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,but now my eye sees you;6therefore I despise myself,and repent in dust and ashes.”
7After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. 8Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.” 9So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the LORD had told them, and the LORD accepted Job’s prayer.
10And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before. 11Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house. And they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him. And each of them gave him a piece of money and a ring of gold.
12And the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning. And he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. 13He had also seven sons and three daughters. 14And he called the name of the first daughter Jemimah, and the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-happuch. 15And in all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job’s daughters. And their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. 16And after this Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, four generations. 17And Job died, an old man, and full of days.
Luke 2:51–52
51And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart.
52And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.
Psalm 139:13–24
13For you formed my inward parts;you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.14I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.Wonderful are your works;my soul knows it very well.15My frame was not hidden from you,when I was being made in secret,intricately woven in the depths of the earth.16Your eyes saw my unformed substance;in your book were written, every one of them,the days that were formed for me,when as yet there was none of them. 17How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!How vast is the sum of them!18If I would count them, they are more than the sand.I awake, and I am still with you. 19Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God!O men of blood, depart from me!20They speak against you with malicious intent;your enemies take your name in vain.21Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD?And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?22I hate them with complete hatred;I count them my enemies. 23Search me, O God, and know my heart!Try me and know my thoughts!24And see if there be any grievous way in me,and lead me in the way everlasting!
Ecclesiastes 11:7–10
7Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes to see the sun.
8So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity.
9Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.
10Remove vexation from your heart, and put away pain from your body, for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.
