JOB 17

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Job Says He Has Become a Byword17:1 “My spirit is broken, my days are extinguished,

The grave is ready for me.

2 “Surely mockers are with me,

And my eye gazes on their provocation.

3 “Lay down, now, a pledge for me with Yourself;

Who is there that will be my guarantor?

4 “For You have kept their heart from understanding,

Therefore You will not exalt them.

5 “He who informs against friends for a share of the spoil,

The eyes of his children also will languish.

6 “But He has made me a byword of the people,

And I am one at whom men spit.

7 “My eye has also grown dim because of grief,

And all my members are as a shadow.

8 “The upright will be appalled at this,

And the innocent will stir up himself against the godless.

9 “Nevertheless the righteous will hold to his way,

And he who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.

10 “But come again all of you now,

For I do not find a wise man among you.

11 “My days are past, my plans are torn apart,

Even the wishes of my heart.

12 “They make night into day, saying,

‘The light is near,’ in the presence of darkness.

13 “If I look for Sheol as my home,

I make my bed in the darkness;

14 If I call to the pit, ‘You are my father’;

To the worm, ‘my mother and my sister’;

15 Where now is my hope?

And who regards my hope?

16 “Will it go down with me to Sheol?

Shall we together go down into the dust?”

JOB 18

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Bildad Speaks of the Wicked  18:1 Then Bildad the Shuhite responded,

2 “How long will you hunt for words?

Show understanding and then we can talk.

3 “Why are we regarded as beasts,

As stupid in your eyes?

4 “O you who tear yourself in your anger--

For your sake is the earth to be abandoned,

Or the rock to be moved from its place?

5 “Indeed, the light of the wicked goes out,

And the flame of his fire gives no light.

6 “The light in his tent is darkened,

And his lamp goes out above him.

7 “His vigorous stride is shortened,

And his own scheme brings him down.

8 “For he is thrown into the net by his own feet,

And he steps on the webbing.

9 “A snare seizes him by the heel,

And a trap snaps shut on him.

10 “A noose for him is hidden in the ground,

And a trap for him on the path.

11 “All around terrors frighten him,

And harry him at every step.

12 “His strength is famished,

And calamity is ready at his side.

13 “His skin is devoured by disease,

The firstborn of death devours his limbs.

14 “He is torn from the security of his tent,

And they march him before the king of terrors.

15 “There dwells in his tent nothing of his;

Brimstone is scattered on his habitation.

16 “His roots are dried below,

And his branch is cut off above.

17 “Memory of him perishes from the earth,

And he has no name abroad.

18 “He is driven from light into darkness,

And chased from the inhabited world.

19 “He has no offspring or posterity among his people,

Nor any survivor where he sojourned.

20 “Those in the west are appalled at his fate,

And those in the east are seized with horror.

21 “Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked,

And this is the place of him who does not know God.”

PROVERBS 14

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Contrast the Upright and the Wicked14:1 The wise woman builds her house,

But the foolish tears it down with her own hands.

2 He who walks in his uprightness fears the LORD,

But he who is devious in his ways despises Him.

3 In the mouth of the foolish is a rod for his back,

But the lips of the wise will protect them.

4 Where no oxen are, the manger is clean,

But much revenue comes by the strength of the ox.

5 A trustworthy witness will not lie,

But a false witness utters lies.

6 A scoffer seeks wisdom and finds none,

But knowledge is easy to one who has understanding.

7 Leave the presence of a fool,

Or you will not discern words of knowledge.

8 The wisdom of the sensible is to understand his way,

But the foolishness of fools is deceit.

9 Fools mock at sin,

But among the upright there is good will.

10 The heart knows its own bitterness,

And a stranger does not share its joy.

11 The house of the wicked will be destroyed,

But the tent of the upright will flourish.

12 There is a way which seems right to a man,

But its end is the way of death.

13 Even in laughter the heart may be in pain,

And the end of joy may be grief.

14 The backslider in heart will have his fill of his own ways,

But a good man will be satisfied with his.

15 The naive believes everything,

But the sensible man considers his steps.

16 A wise man is cautious and turns away from evil,

But a fool is arrogant and careless.

17 A quick-tempered man acts foolishly,

And a man of evil devices is hated.

18 The naive inherit foolishness,

But the sensible are crowned with knowledge.

19 The evil will bow down before the good,

And the wicked at the gates of the righteous.

20 The poor is hated even by his neighbor,

But those who love the rich are many.

21 He who despises his neighbor sins,

But happy is he who is gracious to the poor.

22 Will they not go astray who devise evil?

But kindness and truth will be to those who devise good.

23 In all labor there is profit,

But mere talk leads only to poverty.

24 The crown of the wise is their riches,

But the folly of fools is foolishness.

25 A truthful witness saves lives,

But he who utters lies is treacherous.

26 In the fear of the LORD there is strong confidence,

And his children will have refuge.

27 The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life,

That one may avoid the snares of death.

28 In a multitude of people is a king’s glory,

But in the dearth of people is a prince’s ruin.

29 He who is slow to anger has great understanding,

But he who is quick-tempered exalts folly.

30 A tranquil heart is life to the body,

But passion is rottenness to the bones.

31 He who oppresses the poor taunts his Maker,

But he who is gracious to the needy honors Him.

32 The wicked is thrust down by his wrongdoing,

But the righteous has a refuge when he dies.

33 Wisdom rests in the heart of one who has understanding,

But in the hearts of fools it is made known.

34 Righteousness exalts a nation,

But sin is a disgrace to any people.

35 The king’s favor is toward a servant who acts wisely,

But his anger is toward him who acts shamefully.

LUKE 17

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Instructions  17:1 He said to His disciples, “It is inevitable that stumbling blocks come, but woe to him through whom they come! 2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea, than that he would cause one of these little ones to stumble. 3 Be on your guard! If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. 4 And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”
    5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 6 And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea’; and it would obey you.
    7 “Which of you, having a slave plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come immediately and sit down to eat’? 8 But will he not say to him, ‘Prepare something for me to eat, and properly clothe yourself and serve me while I eat and drink; and afterward you may eat and drink’? 9 He does not thank the slave because he did the things which were commanded, does he? 10 So you too, when you do all the things which are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done.’”
Ten Lepers Cleansed    11 While He was on the way to Jerusalem, He was passing between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As He entered a village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him; 13 and they raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” 14 When He saw them, He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they were going, they were cleansed. 15 Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, 16 and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan. 17 Then Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine--where are they? 18 Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?” 19 And He said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has made you well.”
    20 Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed; 21 nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.”
Second Coming Foretold    22 And He said to the disciples, “The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23 They will say to you, ‘Look there! Look here!’ Do not go away, and do not run after them. 24 For just like the lightning, when it flashes out of one part of the sky, shines to the other part of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in His day. 25 But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. 26 And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: 27 they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28 It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; 29 but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On that day, the one who is on the housetop and whose goods are in the house must not go down to take them out; and likewise the one who is in the field must not turn back. 32 Remember Lot’s wife. 33 Whoever seeks to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. 34 I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other will be left. 35 There will be two women grinding at the same place; one will be taken and the other will be left. 36 [Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other will be left.”] 37 And answering they said to Him, “Where, Lord?” And He said to them, “Where the body is, there also the vultures will be gathered.”