JOB 15

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Eliphaz Says Job Presumes Much  15:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite responded,

2 “Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge

And fill himself with the east wind?

3 “Should he argue with useless talk,

Or with words which are not profitable?

4 “Indeed, you do away with reverence

And hinder meditation before God.

5 “For your guilt teaches your mouth,

And you choose the language of the crafty.

6 “Your own mouth condemns you, and not I;

And your own lips testify against you.

7 “Were you the first man to be born,

Or were you brought forth before the hills?

8 “Do you hear the secret counsel of God,

And limit wisdom to yourself?

9 “What do you know that we do not know?

What do you understand that we do not?

10 “Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us,

Older than your father.

11 “Are the consolations of God too small for you,

Even the word spoken gently with you?

12 “Why does your heart carry you away?

And why do your eyes flash,

13 That you should turn your spirit against God

And allow such words to go out of your mouth?

14 “What is man, that he should be pure,

Or he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

15 “Behold, He puts no trust in His holy ones,

And the heavens are not pure in His sight;

16 How much less one who is detestable and corrupt,

Man, who drinks iniquity like water!

What Eliphaz Has Seen of Life17 “I will tell you, listen to me;

And what I have seen I will also declare;

18 What wise men have told,

And have not concealed from their fathers,

19 To whom alone the land was given,

And no alien passed among them.

20 “The wicked man writhes in pain all his days,

And numbered are the years stored up for the ruthless.

21 “Sounds of terror are in his ears;

While at peace the destroyer comes upon him.

22 “He does not believe that he will return from darkness,

And he is destined for the sword.

23 “He wanders about for food, saying, ‘Where is it?’

He knows that a day of darkness is at hand.

24 “Distress and anguish terrify him,

They overpower him like a king ready for the attack,

25 Because he has stretched out his hand against God

And conducts himself arrogantly against the Almighty.

26 “He rushes headlong at Him

With his massive shield.

27 “For he has covered his face with his fat

And made his thighs heavy with flesh.

28 “He has lived in desolate cities,

In houses no one would inhabit,

Which are destined to become ruins.

29 “He will not become rich, nor will his wealth endure;

And his grain will not bend down to the ground.

30 “He will not escape from darkness;

The flame will wither his shoots,

And by the breath of His mouth he will go away.

31 “Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself;

For emptiness will be his reward.

32 “It will be accomplished before his time,

And his palm branch will not be green.

33 “He will drop off his unripe grape like the vine,

And will cast off his flower like the olive tree.

34 “For the company of the godless is barren,

And fire consumes the tents of the corrupt.

35 “They conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity,

And their mind prepares deception.”

JOB 16

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Job Says Friends Are Sorry Comforters  16:1 Then Job answered,

2 “I have heard many such things;

Sorry comforters are you all.

3 “Is there no limit to windy words?

Or what plagues you that you answer?

4 “I too could speak like you,

If I were in your place.

I could compose words against you

And shake my head at you.

5 “I could strengthen you with my mouth,

And the solace of my lips could lessen your pain.

Job Says God Shattered Him6 “If I speak, my pain is not lessened,

And if I hold back, what has left me?

7 “But now He has exhausted me;

You have laid waste all my company.

8 “You have shriveled me up,

It has become a witness;

And my leanness rises up against me,

It testifies to my face.

9 “His anger has torn me and hunted me down,

He has gnashed at me with His teeth;

My adversary glares at me.

10 “They have gaped at me with their mouth,

They have slapped me on the cheek with contempt;

They have massed themselves against me.

11 “God hands me over to ruffians

And tosses me into the hands of the wicked.

12 “I was at ease, but He shattered me,

And He has grasped me by the neck and shaken me to pieces;

He has also set me up as His target.

13 “His arrows surround me.

Without mercy He splits my kidneys open;

He pours out my gall on the ground.

14 “He breaks through me with breach after breach;

He runs at me like a warrior.

15 “I have sewed sackcloth over my skin

And thrust my horn in the dust.

16 “My face is flushed from weeping,

And deep darkness is on my eyelids,

17 Although there is no violence in my hands,

And my prayer is pure.

18 “O earth, do not cover my blood,

And let there be no resting place for my cry.

19 “Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven,

And my advocate is on high.

20 “My friends are my scoffers;

My eye weeps to God.

21 “O that a man might plead with God

As a man with his neighbor!

22 “For when a few years are past,

I shall go the way of no return.

PROVERBS 13

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Contrast the Upright and the Wicked13:1 A wise son accepts his father’s discipline,

But a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.

2 From the fruit of a man’s mouth he enjoys good,

But the desire of the treacherous is violence.

3 The one who guards his mouth preserves his life;

The one who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.

4 The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing,

But the soul of the diligent is made fat.

5 A righteous man hates falsehood,

But a wicked man acts disgustingly and shamefully.

6 Righteousness guards the one whose way is blameless,

But wickedness subverts the sinner.

7 There is one who pretends to be rich, but has nothing;

Another pretends to be poor, but has great wealth.

8 The ransom of a man’s life is his wealth,

But the poor hears no rebuke.

9 The light of the righteous rejoices,

But the lamp of the wicked goes out.

10 Through insolence comes nothing but strife,

But wisdom is with those who receive counsel.

11 Wealth obtained by fraud dwindles,

But the one who gathers by labor increases it.

12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

But desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

13 The one who despises the word will be in debt to it,

But the one who fears the commandment will be rewarded.

14 The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life,

To turn aside from the snares of death.

15 Good understanding produces favor,

But the way of the treacherous is hard.

16 Every prudent man acts with knowledge,

But a fool displays folly.

17 A wicked messenger falls into adversity,

But a faithful envoy brings healing.

18 Poverty and shame will come to him who neglects discipline,

But he who regards reproof will be honored.

19 Desire realized is sweet to the soul,

But it is an abomination to fools to turn away from evil.

20 He who walks with wise men will be wise,

But the companion of fools will suffer harm.

21 Adversity pursues sinners,

But the righteous will be rewarded with prosperity.

22 A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children,

And the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.

23 Abundant food is in the fallow ground of the poor,

But it is swept away by injustice.

24 He who withholds his rod hates his son,

But he who loves him disciplines him diligently.

25 The righteous has enough to satisfy his appetite,

But the stomach of the wicked is in need.

LUKE 16

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The Unrighteous Steward  16:1 Now He was also saying to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and this manager was reported to him as squandering his possessions. 2 And he called him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’ 3 The manager said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the management away from me? I am not strong enough to dig; I am ashamed to beg. 4 I know what I shall do, so that when I am removed from the management people will welcome me into their homes.’ 5 And he summoned each one of his master’s debtors, and he began saying to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 And he said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ 7 Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ And he said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ 8 And his master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the sons of this age are more shrewd in relation to their own kind than the sons of light. 9 And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings.
    10 “He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much. 11 Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you? 12 And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? 13 No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
    14 Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things and were scoffing at Him. 15 And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.
    16 “The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John; since that time the gospel of the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it. 17 But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the Law to fail.
    18 “Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery.
The Rich Man and Lazarus    19 “Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day. 20 And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, 21 and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man’s table; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. 22 Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.’ 27 And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father’s house-- 28 for I have five brothers--in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ 29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ 31 But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”