Job’s Summary Defense
1 And Job again ztook up his discourse, and said:
2 “Oh, that I were as in the months of old,
as in the days when God watched over me,
3 when his alamp shone upon my head,
and by his light I walked through darkness,
4 as I was in my prime,1
when the bfriendship of God was upon my tent,
5 when the Almighty was yet with me,
when my cchildren were all around me,
6 when my steps were dwashed with ebutter,
and fthe rock poured out for me streams of goil!
7 When I went out to hthe gate of the city,
when I prepared my seat in the square,
8 the young men saw me and withdrew,
and the aged rose and stood;
9 the princes refrained from talking
and ilaid their hand on their mouth;
10 the voice of the nobles was hushed,
and their jtongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
11 When the ear heard, it called me blessed,
and when the eye saw, it approved,
12 because I kdelivered the poor who cried for help,
and the fatherless who had none to help him.
13 lThe blessing of him who was mabout to perish came upon me,
and I caused nthe widow’s heart to sing for joy.
14 I oput on righteousness, and it clothed me;
my justice was like a robe and pa turban.
15 I was qeyes to the blind
and feet to the lame.
16 I was a father to the needy,
and I searched out rthe cause of him whom I did not know.
17 I sbroke tthe fangs of the unrighteous
and made him drop his prey from his teeth.
18 uThen I thought, ‘I shall die in my vnest,
and I shall multiply my days as wthe sand,
19 my xroots spread out to ythe waters,
with the dew all night on my zbranches,
20 my glory fresh with me,
21 “Men listened to me and waited
and kept silence for my counsel.
22 After I spoke they did not speak again,
and my word cdropped upon them.
23 They waited for me as for the rain,
and they dopened their mouths as for the espring rain.
24 I smiled on them when they had no confidence,
and fthe light of my gface they did not cast down.
25 I chose their way and sat as chief,
and I lived like ha king among his troops,
like one who comforts mourners.
1 “But now they ilaugh at me,
men who are jyounger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
to set with the dogs of my flock.
2 What could I gain from the strength of their hands,
3 Through want and hard hunger
they mgnaw nthe dry ground by night in owaste and desolation;
4 they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes,
and the roots of the broom tree for their food.2
5 pThey are driven out from human company;
they shout after them as after a thief.
6 In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell,
in holes of the earth and of qthe rocks.
7 Among the bushes they rbray;
under sthe nettles they huddle together.
8 A senseless, a nameless brood,
they have been whipped out of the land.
9 “And now I have become their tsong;
I am ua byword to them.
10 They vabhor me; they keep aloof from me;
they do not hesitate to wspit at the sight of me.
11 Because God has loosed my cord and humbled me,
they have cast off restraint3 in my presence.
12 On my xright hand the rabble rise;
they push away my feet;
they ycast up against me their ways of destruction.
13 They break up my path;
they promote my zcalamity;
they need no one to help them.
14 As through a wide abreach they come;
amid the crash they roll on.
15 bTerrors are turned upon me;
my honor is pursued as by the wind,
and my prosperity has passed away like ca cloud.
16 “And now my soul is dpoured out within me;
days of affliction have taken hold of me.
17 eThe night fracks my bones,
and the pain that ggnaws me takes no rest.
18 With great force my garment is hdisfigured;
it binds me about like the collar of my tunic.
19 God4 has cast me into the mire,
and I have become like idust and ashes.
20 I cry to you for help and you do not answer me;
I stand, and you only look at me.
21 You have jturned cruel to me;
with the might of your hand you kpersecute me.
22 lYou lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it,
and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.
23 mFor I know that you will bring me to death
and to the house appointed for nall living.
24 “Yet does not one in a oheap of ruins stretch out his hand,
and in his disaster cry for help?5
25 Did not I pweep for him whose day was hard?
Was not my soul grieved for the needy?
26 But qwhen I hoped for good, evil came,
and when I waited for light, rdarkness came.
27 My inward parts are in turmoil and never still;
days of affliction scome to meet me.
28 I tgo about darkened, but not by the sun;
I stand up in uthe assembly and cry for help.
29 I am a brother of vjackals
and a companion of wostriches.
30 My xskin turns black and falls from me,
and my ybones burn with heat.
31 My zlyre is aturned to mourning,
and my zpipe to the voice of those who weep.
In God I Trust
To the choirmaster: according to The Dove on Far-off Terebinths. A pMiktam1 of David, when the qPhilistines seized him in Gath.
1 rBe gracious to me, O God, for man stramples on me;
all day long an attacker oppresses me;
2 my enemies trample on me all day long,
for many attack me proudly.
3 When I am afraid,
I tput my trust in you.
4 In God, whose word I praise,
in God I trust; uI shall not be afraid.
What can flesh do to me?
5 All day long they injure my cause;2
all their thoughts are against me for evil.
6 They vstir up strife, they wlurk;
they xwatch my steps,
as they have waited for my life.
7 For their crime will they escape?
8 You have kept count of my tossings;3
aput my tears in your bottle.
bAre they not in your book?
9 Then my enemies will turn back
cin the day when I call.
This I know, that4 dGod is for me.
10 In God, whose word I praise,
in the Lord, whose word I praise,
11 in God I trust; uI shall not be afraid.
What can man do to me?
12 I must perform my evows to you, O God;
I will erender thank offerings to you.
13 fFor you have delivered my soul from death,
yes, my feet from falling,
gthat I may walk before God
hin the light of life.
The Authority of Jesus Challenged
1 hOne day, ias Jesus1 was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, jthe chief priests and the scribes with the elders came up 2 and said to him, “Tell us kby what authority you do these things, or who it is that gave you this authority.” 3 He answered them, “I also will ask you a question. Now tell me, 4 was the baptism of John lfrom heaven or from man?” 5 And they discussed it with one another, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, m‘Why did you not believe him?’ 6 But if we say, ‘From man,’ all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was na prophet.” 7 So they answered that they did not know where it came from. 8 And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
The Parable of the Wicked Tenants
9 oAnd he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted pa vineyard and qlet it out to tenants and rwent into another country for a long while. 10 When the time came, he sent a servant2 to the tenants, so that qthey would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. sBut the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11 tAnd she sent another servant. But they also beat and utreated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. 12 sAnd he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out. 13 Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my vbeloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ 14 But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, w‘This is the heir. xLet us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.’ 15 And they ythrew him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 zHe will acome and destroy those tenants and bgive the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Surely not!” 17 But he clooked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written:
d“‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone’?3
18 eEveryone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls fon anyone, it will crush him.”
Paying Taxes to Caesar
19 hThe scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people. 20 iSo they jwatched him and sent spies, who kpretended to be sincere, that they might lcatch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of mthe governor. 21 So they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly, and oshow no partiality,4 but truly teach pthe way of God. 22 Is it lawful for us to give qtribute to rCaesar, or not?” 23 But he perceived their scraftiness, and said to them, 24 “Show me ta denarius.5 Whose likeness and inscription does it have?” They said, “Caesar’s.” 25 He said to them, “Then urender to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 26 And they were not able in the presence of the people vto catch him in what he said, but marveling at his answer they became silent.
Sadducees Ask About the Resurrection
27 There came to him wsome Sadducees, xthose who deny that there is a resurrection, 28 and they asked him a question, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us ythat if a man’s brother dies, having a wife but no children, the man6 must take the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. 29 Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife, and died without children. 30 And the second 31 and the third took her, and likewise all seven left no children and died. 32 Afterward the woman also died. 33 In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had her as wife.”
34 And Jesus said to them, z“The sons of this age amarry and aare given in marriage, 35 but those who are bconsidered worthy to attain to cthat age and to the resurrection from the dead dneither marry dnor are given in marriage, 36 for ethey cannot die anymore, because they are fequal to angels and gare hsons of God, being isons7 of the resurrection. 37 But that the dead are raised, jeven Moses showed, in kthe passage about the bush, where he calls lthe Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. 38 Now he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all mlive to him.” 39 Then some of the scribes nanswered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.” 40 For othey no longer dared to ask him any question.
Whose Son Is the Christ?
41 pBut he said to them, “How can they say that qthe Christ is qDavid’s son? 42 For David himself says in the Book of Psalms,
r“‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
43 until I make your enemies syour footstool.”’
44 David thus calls him Lord, so thow is he his son?”
Beware of the Scribes
45 uAnd in the hearing of all the people he said to his disciples, 46 “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and vthe places of honor at feasts, 47 wwho devour widows’ houses and xfor a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”
