JOB 41

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God’s Power Shown in Creatures41:1 “Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook?

Or press down his tongue with a cord?

2 “Can you put a rope in his nose

Or pierce his jaw with a hook?

3 “Will he make many supplications to you,

Or will he speak to you soft words?

4 “Will he make a covenant with you?

Will you take him for a servant forever?

5 “Will you play with him as with a bird,

Or will you bind him for your maidens?

6 “Will the traders bargain over him?

Will they divide him among the merchants?

7 “Can you fill his skin with harpoons,

Or his head with fishing spears?

8 “Lay your hand on him;

Remember the battle; you will not do it again!

9 “Behold, your expectation is false;

Will you be laid low even at the sight of him?

10 “No one is so fierce that he dares to arouse him;

Who then is he that can stand before Me?

11 “Who has 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 orderly frame.

13 “Who can strip off his outer armor?

Who can come within his double mail?

14 “Who can open the doors of his face?

Around his teeth there is terror.

15 “His strong scales are his pride,

Shut up as with a tight seal.

16 “One is so near to another

That no air can come between them.

17 “They are joined one to another;

They clasp each other and cannot be separated.

18 “His sneezes flash forth light,

And his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.

19 “Out of his mouth go burning torches;

Sparks of fire leap forth.

20 “Out of his nostrils smoke goes forth

As from a boiling pot and burning rushes.

21 “His breath kindles coals,

And a flame goes forth from his mouth.

22 “In his neck lodges strength,

And dismay leaps before him.

23 “The folds of his flesh are joined together,

Firm on him and immovable.

24 “His heart is as hard as a stone,

Even as hard as a lower millstone.

25 “When he raises himself up, the mighty fear;

Because of the crashing they are bewildered.

26 “The sword that reaches him cannot avail,

Nor the spear, the dart or the javelin.

27 “He regards iron as straw,

Bronze as rotten wood.

28 “The arrow cannot make him flee;

Slingstones are turned into stubble for him.

29 “Clubs are regarded as stubble;

He laughs at the rattling of the javelin.

30 “His underparts are like sharp potsherds;

He spreads out like a threshing sledge on the mire.

31 “He makes the depths boil like a pot;

He makes the sea like a jar of ointment.

32 “Behind him he makes a wake to shine;

One would think the deep to be gray-haired.

33 “Nothing on earth is like him,

One made without fear.

34 “He looks on everything that is high;

He is king over all the sons of pride.”

JOB 42

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Job’s Confession  42:1 Then 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 declared that which I did not understand,

Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.”

4 ‘Hear, now, and I will speak;

I will ask You, and You instruct me.’

5 “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear;

But now my eye sees You;

6 Therefore I retract,

And I repent in dust and ashes.”

God Displeased with Job’s Friends    7 It came about after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, that the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends, because you have not spoken of Me what is right as My servant Job has. 8 Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to My servant Job, and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves, and My servant Job will pray for you. For I will accept him so that I may not do with you according to your folly, because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.” 9 So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the LORD told them; and the LORD accepted Job.
God Restores Job’s Fortunes    10 The LORD restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the LORD increased all that Job had twofold. 11 Then all his brothers and all his sisters and all who had known him before came to him, and they ate bread with him in his house; and they consoled him and comforted him for all the adversities that the LORD had brought on him. And each one gave him one piece of money, and each a ring of gold. 12 The LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had 14,000 sheep and 6,000 camels and 1,000 yoke of oxen and 1,000 female donkeys. 13 He had seven sons and three daughters. 14 He named the first Jemimah, and the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. 15 In all the land no women were found so fair as Job’s daughters; and their father gave them inheritance among their brothers. 16 After this, Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons and his grandsons, four generations. 17 And Job died, an old man and full of days.

PROVERBS 23

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On Life and Conduct23:1 When you sit down to dine with a ruler,

Consider carefully what is before you,

2 And put a knife to your throat

If you are a man of great appetite.

3 Do not desire his delicacies,

For it is deceptive food.

4 Do not weary yourself to gain wealth,

Cease from your consideration of it.

5 When you set your eyes on it, it is gone.

For wealth certainly makes itself wings

Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.

6 Do not eat the bread of a selfish man,

Or desire his delicacies;

7 For as he thinks within himself, so he is.

He says to you, “Eat and drink!”

But his heart is not with you.

8 You will vomit up the morsel you have eaten,

And waste your compliments.

9 Do not speak in the hearing of a fool,

For he will despise the wisdom of your words.

10 Do not move the ancient boundary

Or go into the fields of the fatherless,

11 For their Redeemer is strong;

He will plead their case against you.

12 Apply your heart to discipline

And your ears to words of knowledge.

13 Do not hold back discipline from the child,

Although you strike him with the rod, he will not die.

14 You shall strike him with the rod

And rescue his soul from Sheol.

15 My son, if your heart is wise,

My own heart also will be glad;

16 And my inmost being will rejoice

When your lips speak what is right.

17 Do not let your heart envy sinners,

But live in the fear of the LORD always.

18 Surely there is a future,

And your hope will not be cut off.

19 Listen, my son, and be wise,

And direct your heart in the way.

20 Do not be with heavy drinkers of wine,

Or with gluttonous eaters of meat;

21 For the heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty,

And drowsiness will clothe one with rags.

22 Listen to your father who begot you,

And do not despise your mother when she is old.

23 Buy truth, and do not sell it,

Get wisdom and instruction and understanding.

24 The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice,

And he who sires a wise son will be glad in him.

25 Let your father and your mother be glad,

And let her rejoice who gave birth to you.

26 Give me your heart, my son,

And let your eyes delight in my ways.

27 For a harlot is a deep pit

And an adulterous woman is a narrow well.

28 Surely she lurks as a robber,

And increases the faithless among men.

29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow?

Who has contentions? Who has complaining?

Who has wounds without cause?

Who has redness of eyes?

30 Those who linger long over wine,

Those who go to taste mixed wine.

31 Do not look on the wine when it is red,

When it sparkles in the cup,

When it goes down smoothly;

32 At the last it bites like a serpent

And stings like a viper.

33 Your eyes will see strange things

And your mind will utter perverse things.

34 And you will be like one who lies down in the middle of the sea,

Or like one who lies down on the top of a mast.

35 “They struck me, but I did not become ill;

They beat me, but I did not know it.

When shall I awake?

I will seek another drink.”

PSALM 98

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A Call to Praise the LORD for His Righteousness.A Psalm.
98:1 O sing to the LORD a new song,

For He has done wonderful things,

His right hand and His holy arm have gained the victory for Him.

2 The LORD has made known His salvation;

He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations.

3 He has remembered His lovingkindness and His faithfulness to the house of Israel;

All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

4 Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth;

Break forth and sing for joy and sing praises.

5 Sing praises to the LORD with the lyre,

With the lyre and the sound of melody.

6 With trumpets and the sound of the horn

Shout joyfully before the King, the LORD.

7 Let the sea roar and all it contains,

The world and those who dwell in it.

8 Let the rivers clap their hands,

Let the mountains sing together for joy

9 Before the LORD, for He is coming to judge the earth;

He will judge the world with righteousness

And the peoples with equity.

PSALM 99

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Praise to the LORD for His Fidelity to Israel.99:1 The LORD reigns, let the peoples tremble;

He is enthroned above the cherubim, let the earth shake!

2 The LORD is great in Zion,

And He is exalted above all the peoples.

3 Let them praise Your great and awesome name;

Holy is He.

4 The strength of the King loves justice;

You have established equity;

You have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.

5 Exalt the LORD our God

And worship at His footstool;

Holy is He.

6 Moses and Aaron were among His priests,

And Samuel was among those who called on His name;

They called upon the LORD and He answered them.

7 He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud;

They kept His testimonies

And the statute that He gave them.

8 O LORD our God, You answered them;

You were a forgiving God to them,

And yet an avenger of their evil deeds.

9 Exalt the LORD our God

And worship at His holy hill,

For holy is the LORD our God.