Zophar Speaks: You Deserve Worse
1 Then dZophar the Naamathite answered and said:
2 “Should ea multitude of words go unanswered,
and a man full of talk be judged right?
3 Should your babble silence men,
and when you mock, shall no one shame you?
4 For fyou say, ‘My gdoctrine is pure,
and I am clean in God’s1 eyes.’
5 But oh, that God would speak
and open his lips to you,
6 and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom!
For he is manifold in hunderstanding.2
Know then that God iexacts of you less than your guilt deserves.
7 j“Can you find out the deep things of God?
Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?
8 It is khigher than heaven3—what can you do?
Deeper than Sheol—what can you know?
9 Its measure is longer than the earth
and broader than the sea.
10 If he lpasses through and mimprisons
and summons the court, who can nturn him back?
11 For he knows oworthless men;
when he sees iniquity, will he not consider it?
12 But a stupid man will get understanding
13 “If you rprepare your heart,
you will sstretch out your hands toward him.
14 If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away,
and let not injustice dwell in your tents.
15 Surely then you will tlift up your face without ublemish;
you will be secure and will not fear.
16 You will vforget your misery;
you will remember it as waters that have passed away.
17 And your life will be wbrighter than the noonday;
its darkness will be like the morning.
18 And you will feel secure, because there is hope;
you will look around and xtake your rest in security.
19 You will xlie down, and none will make you afraid;
many will ycourt your favor.
20 But zthe eyes of the wicked will fail;
all way of escape will be lost to them,
and their hope is ato breathe their last.”
Job Replies: The Lord Has Done This
1 Then Job answered and said:
2 “No doubt you are the people,
and wisdom will die with you.
3 But I have bunderstanding as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
Who does not know csuch things as these?
4 I am da laughingstock to my friends;
I, who ecalled to God and he answered me,
a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock.
5 In the thought of one who is fat ease there is contempt for misfortune;
it is ready for those whose feet slip.
6 gThe tents of robbers are at peace,
and those who provoke God are secure,
who bring their god in their hand.4
7 “But ask the beasts, and they will teach you;
the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;
8 or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you;5
and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
9 Who among all these does not know
that hthe hand of the Lord has done this?
10 In ihis hand is the life of every living thing
and the breath of all mankind.
11 Does not jthe ear test words
as the palate tastes food?
12 Wisdom is with kthe aged,
and understanding in length of days.
13 l“With God6 are wisdom and might;
he has counsel and understanding.
14 If he tears down, none can rebuild;
if he mshuts a man in, none can open.
15 If he nwithholds the waters, they dry up;
if he osends them out, they overwhelm the land.
16 With him are strength and psound wisdom;
the deceived and the deceiver are his.
17 He leads qcounselors away stripped,
and rjudges he makes fools.
18 He slooses the bonds of kings
and binds a waistcloth on their hips.
19 He leads priests away stripped
and overthrows the mighty.
20 He deprives of speech those who are trusted
tand takes away the discernment of the elders.
21 He upours contempt on princes
and loosens the belt of the strong.
22 He vuncovers the deeps out of darkness
and brings wdeep darkness to light.
23 He xmakes nations great, and he destroys them;
he enlarges nations, and yleads them away.
24 He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth
and zmakes them wander in a trackless waste.
25 They agrope in the dark without light,
and he makes them bstagger like a drunken man.
Zion, the City of Our God
A Song. A Psalm of kthe Sons of Korah.
1 lGreat is the Lord and greatly to be praised
in mthe city of our God!
His nholy mountain, 2 obeautiful in elevation,
is pthe joy of all the earth,
Mount Zion, in the far north,
qthe city of the great King.
3 Within her citadels God
has made himself known as a fortress.
4 For behold, rthe kings assembled;
they came on together.
5 As soon as they saw it, they were astounded;
they were in panic; they took to flight.
6 sTrembling took hold of them there,
anguish tas of a woman in labor.
7 By uthe east wind you vshattered
the ships of wTarshish.
8 As we have heard, so have we seen
in the city of the Lord of hosts,
in mthe city of our God,
which God will xestablish forever. Selah
9 We have thought on your ysteadfast love, O God,
in the midst of your temple.
10 As your zname, O God,
so your praise reaches to athe ends of the earth.
Your right hand is filled with righteousness.
11 Let Mount bZion be glad!
Let bthe daughters of Judah rejoice
because of your judgments!
12 Walk about Zion, go around her,
number her towers,
13 consider well her cramparts,
go through her citadels,
dthat you may tell the next generation
14 that this is God,
our God forever and ever.
Beware of the Leaven of the Pharisees
1 In the meantime, twhen so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, u“Beware of vthe leaven of the Pharisees, wwhich is hypocrisy. 2 xNothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 3 Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in yprivate rooms shall be proclaimed on zthe housetops.
Have No Fear
4 “I tell you, my friends, ado not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. 5 But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him bwho, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell.1 Yes, I tell you, fear him! 6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies?2 And cnot one of them is forgotten before God. 7 Why, deven the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; eyou are of more value than many sparrows.
Acknowledge Christ Before Men
8 “And I tell you, feveryone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge gbefore the angels of God, 9 but hthe one who denies me before men iwill be denied gbefore the angels of God. 10 And jeveryone who speaks a word kagainst the Son of Man lwill be forgiven, but the one who mblasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. 11 nAnd when they obring you before the synagogues and pthe rulers and pthe authorities, qdo not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, 12 rfor the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”
The Parable of the Rich Fool
13 sSomeone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” 14 But he said to him, t“Man, uwho made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” 15 And he said to them, v“Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” 16 And he told them a parable, saying, w“The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, x‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my ybarns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up zfor many years; relax, aeat, drink, be merry.”’ 20 But God said to him, b‘Fool! zThis night cyour soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, dwhose will they be?’ 21 So is the one ewho lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
Do Not Be Anxious
22 And he said to his disciples, f“Therefore I tell you, gdo not be anxious about your life, what you will eat, nor about your body, what you will put on. 23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. 24 hConsider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. iOf how much more value are you than the birds! 25 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his jspan of life?3 26 If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? 27 Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,4 yet I tell you, keven Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 28 But if God so clothes the grass, which is alive in the field today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, lO you of little faith! 29 And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor mbe worried. 30 For nall the nations of the world seek after these things, and nyour Father knows that you need them. 31 Instead, oseek phis5 kingdom, qand these things will be added to you.
32 r“Fear not, little sflock, for tit is your Father’s good pleasure to give you uthe kingdom. 33 vSell your possessions, and wgive to the needy. xProvide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with ya treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. 34 zFor where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
You Must Be Ready
35 a“Stay dressed for action6 and bkeep your lamps burning, 36 and be like men who are cwaiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and dknocks. 37 eBlessed are those servants7 whom the master finds eawake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, fhe will dress himself for service and ghave them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. 38 If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! 39 hBut know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour ithe thief was coming, he8 would not have left his house to be broken into. 40 You also must be jready, for kthe Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
41 Peter said, “Lord, lare you telling this parable for us or for all?” 42 And the Lord said, “Who then is mthe faithful and mwise nmanager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? 43 oBlessed is that servant9 whom his master will find so doing when he comes. 44 Truly, I say to you, phe will set him over all his possessions. 45 But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master qis delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and rget drunk, 46 the master of that servant will come son a day when he does not expect him and sat an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful. 47 tAnd that servant who uknew his master’s will but vdid not get ready uor act according to his will, will receive a wsevere beating. 48 xBut the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, ywill receive a light beating. zEveryone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.
Not Peace, but Division
49 a“I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! 50 bI have a baptism to be baptized with, and how cgreat is my distress until it is accomplished! 51 dDo you think that I have come to give peace on earth? eNo, I tell you, but rather division. 52 For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, ffather against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”
Interpreting the Time
54 He also said to the crowds, g“When you see ha cloud rising in the west, you say at once, ‘A shower is coming.’ And so it happens. 55 And gwhen you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be iscorching heat,’ and it happens. 56 You hypocrites! jYou know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?
Settle with Your Accuser
57 “And why kdo you not judge lfor yourselves what is right? 58 mAs you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer put you in prison. 59 I tell you, nyou will never get out until you have paid the very last openny.”10
