Job 27 Cross References - BSB

¹ Job continued his discourse: ² “As surely as God lives, who has deprived me of justice—the Almighty, who has embittered my soul— ³ as long as my breath is still within me and the breath of God remains in my nostrils, ⁴ my lips will not speak wickedness, and my tongue will not utter deceit. ⁵ I will never say that you are right; I will maintain my integrity until I die. ⁶ I will cling to my righteousness and never let go. As long as I live, my conscience will not accuse me. ⁷ May my enemy be like the wicked and my opponent like the unjust. ⁸ For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off, when God takes away his life? ⁹ Will God hear his cry when distress comes upon him? ¹⁰ Will he delight in the Almighty? Will he call upon God at all times? ¹¹ I will instruct you in the power of God. I will not conceal the ways of the Almighty. ¹² Surely all of you have seen it for yourselves. Why then do you keep up this empty talk? ¹³ This is the wicked man’s portion from God—the heritage the ruthless receive from the Almighty. ¹⁴ Though his sons are many, they are destined for the sword; and his offspring will never have enough food. ¹⁵ His survivors will be buried by the plague, and their widows will not weep for them. ¹⁶ Though he heaps up silver like dust and piles up a wardrobe like clay, ¹⁷ what he lays up, the righteous will wear, and his silver will be divided by the innocent. ¹⁸ The house he built is like a moth’s cocoon, like a hut set up by a watchman. ¹⁹ He lies down wealthy, but will do so no more; when he opens his eyes, all is gone. ²⁰ Terrors overtake him like a flood; a tempest sweeps him away in the night. ²¹ The east wind carries him away, and he is gone; it sweeps him out of his place. ²² It hurls itself against him without mercy as he flees headlong from its power. ²³ It claps its hands at him and hisses him out of his place.

⁷ And Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying: “Balak brought me from Aram, the king of Moab from the mountains of the east. ‘Come,’ he said, ‘put a curse on Jacob for me; come and denounce Israel!’

³ and he lifted up an oracle, saying: “This is the prophecy of Balaam son of Beor, the prophecy of a man whose eyes are open,

¹⁵ Then Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying, “This is the prophecy of Balaam son of Beor, the prophecy of a man whose eyes are open,

¹ And Job continued his discourse:

⁴ I will incline my ear to a proverb; I will express my riddle with the harp:

² I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the beginning,

⁷ Like lame legs hanging limp is a proverb in the mouth of a fool.

²¹ “Yet as surely as I live and as surely as the whole earth is filled with the glory of the LORD,

²⁰ “Do not call me Naomi,” she replied. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has dealt quite bitterly with me. ²¹ I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? After all, the LORD has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me.”

¹³ Stay here tonight, and in the morning, if he wants to redeem you, good. Let him redeem you. But if he does not want to redeem you, as surely as the LORD lives, I will. Now lie here until morning.”

³⁹ As surely as the LORD who saves Israel lives, even if it is my son Jonathan, he must die!” But not one of the troops said a word.

⁴⁵ But the people said to Saul, “Must Jonathan die—he who accomplished such a great deliverance for Israel? Never! As surely as the LORD lives, not a hair of his head will fall to the ground, for with God’s help he has accomplished this today.” So the people rescued Jonathan, and he did not die.

²¹ Then I will send a boy and say, ‘Go, find the arrows!’ Now, if I expressly say to him, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; bring them,’ then come, because as surely as the LORD lives, it is safe for you and there is no danger.

²⁶ Now, my lord, as surely as the LORD lives and you yourself live, the LORD has held you back from coming to bloodshed and avenging yourself with your own hand. May your enemies and those who seek harm for my lord be like Nabal.

³⁴ Otherwise, as surely as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who has restrained me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, then surely no male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by morning light.”

²⁷ “As surely as God lives,” Joab replied, “if you had not spoken up, the troops would have continued pursuing their brothers until morning.”

¹ Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was among the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As surely as the LORD lives—the God of Israel before whom I stand—there will be neither dew nor rain in these years except at my word!”

¹⁵ Then Elijah said, “As surely as the LORD of Hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will present myself to Ahab today.”

²⁷ When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she clung to his feet. Gehazi came over to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone, for her soul is in deep distress, and the LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me.”

¹⁸ He does not let me catch my breath, but overwhelms me with bitterness.

³ Does it please You to oppress me, to reject the work of Your hands and favor the schemes of the wicked?

⁵ For Job has declared, ‘I am righteous, yet God has deprived me of justice.

²⁷ Why do you say, O Jacob, and why do you assert, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my claim is ignored by my God”?

² and if you can swear, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’ in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then the nations will be blessed by Him, and in Him they will glory.”

² Although they say, ‘As surely as the LORD lives,’ they are swearing falsely.”

¹⁶ And if they will diligently learn the ways of My people and swear by My name, saying, ‘As surely as the LORD lives’—just as they once taught My people to swear by Baal—then they will be established among My people.

¹¹ Say to them: ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’

⁷ Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.

⁸ But there is a spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding.

⁴ The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

²² Put no more trust in man, who has only the breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?

²⁵ Nor is He served by human hands, as if He needed anything, because He Himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.

²⁸ But now, please look at me. Would I lie to your face?

⁷ Will you speak wickedly on God’s behalf or speak deceitfully for Him?

⁶ Would I lie about my case? My wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.’

⁵⁵ You do not know Him, but I know Him. If I said I did not know Him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know Him, and I keep His word.

¹⁰ As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia.

¹ If there is a dispute between men, they are to go to court to be judged, so that the innocent may be acquitted and the guilty condemned.

⁹ Then Job’s wife said to him, “Do you still retain your integrity? Curse God and die!”

¹⁵ Though He slay me, I will hope in Him. I will still defend my ways to His face.

¹⁴ I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; justice was my robe and my turban.

³ and he burned with anger against Job’s three friends because they had failed to refute Job, and yet had condemned him.

⁷ After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has.

¹⁵ Acquitting the guilty and condemning the righteous—both are detestable to the LORD.

¹² And this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in relation to you, in the holiness and sincerity that are from God—not in worldly wisdom, but in the grace of God.

¹¹ When Cephas came to Antioch, however, I opposed him to his face, because he stood to be condemned.

³ Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one on earth like him, a man who is blameless and upright, who fears God and shuns evil. He still retains his integrity, even though you incited Me against him to ruin him without cause.”

²⁰ The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness; He has repaid me according to the cleanness of my hands. ²¹ For I have kept the ways of the LORD and have not wickedly departed from my God. ²² For all His ordinances are before me; I have not disregarded His statutes. ²³ And I have been blameless before Him and kept myself from iniquity.

¹³ Hold on to instruction; do not let go. Guard it, for it is your life.

¹⁶ In this hope, I strive always to maintain a clear conscience before God and man.

¹¹ I have become a fool, but you drove me to it. In fact, you should have commended me, since I am in no way inferior to those “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing.

²⁰ Even if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and He knows all things. ²¹ Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God,

³² The king asked the Cushite, “Is the young man Absalom all right?” And the Cushite replied, “May what has become of the young man happen to the enemies of my lord the king and to all who rise up against you to harm you.”

¹⁹ For a time, Daniel, who was also known as Belteshazzar, was perplexed, and his thoughts alarmed him. So the king said, “Belteshazzar, do not let the dream or its interpretation alarm you.” “My lord,” replied Belteshazzar, “may the dream apply to those who hate you, and its interpretation to your enemies!

¹³ Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so the hope of the godless will perish.

²⁰ But the eyes of the wicked will fail, and escape will elude them; they will hope for their last breath.”

¹⁶ Moreover, this will be my salvation, for no godless man can appear before Him.

³⁴ For the company of the godless will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of bribery.

⁵ the triumph of the wicked has been brief and the joy of the godless momentary?

³ Does not disaster come to the unjust and calamity to the workers of iniquity?

¹⁴ The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling grips the ungodly: “Who of us can dwell with a consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting flames?” ¹⁵ He who walks righteously and speaks with sincerity, who refuses gain from extortion, whose hand never takes a bribe, who stops his ears against murderous plots and shuts his eyes tightly against evil—

²⁶ What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

¹³ Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let in those who wish to enter.

³⁶ What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? ³⁷ Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

²⁵ What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet lose or forfeit his very self?

²⁰ But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?’ ²¹ This is how it will be for anyone who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich toward God.”

⁹ Those who want to be rich, however, fall into temptation and become ensnared by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. ¹⁰ For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. By craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.

¹ Come now, you who are rich, weep and wail over the misery to come upon you. ² Your riches have rotted and moths have eaten your clothes. ³ Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and consume your flesh like fire. You have hoarded treasure in the last days.

¹² There they cry out, but He does not answer, because of the pride of evil men. ¹³ Surely God does not listen to empty pleas, and the Almighty does not take note of it.

⁴¹ They cried for help, but there was no one to save them—to the LORD, but He did not answer.

¹⁸ If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.

⁷ When he is tried, let him be found guilty, and may his prayer be regarded as sin.

²⁸ Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will earnestly seek me, but will not find me.

⁹ Whoever turns his ear away from hearing the law, even his prayer is detestable.

¹⁵ When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you multiply your prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.

¹¹ Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘I am about to bring upon them a disaster that they cannot escape. They will cry out to Me, but I will not listen to them.

¹² Although they may fast, I will not listen to their cry; although they may offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Instead, I will finish them off by sword and famine and plague.”

¹⁸ Therefore I will respond with wrath. I will not look on them with pity, nor will I spare them. Although they shout loudly in My ears, I will not listen to them.”

¹⁴ They do not cry out to Me from their hearts when they wail upon their beds. They slash themselves for grain and new wine, but turn away from Me.

⁴ Then they will cry out to the LORD, but He will not answer them. At that time He will hide His face from them because of the evil they have done.

¹³ And just as I had called and they would not listen, so when they called I would not listen, says the LORD of Hosts.

²⁵ After the master of the house gets up and shuts the door, you will stand outside knocking and saying, ‘Lord, open the door for us.’ But he will reply, ‘I do not know where you are from.’

³¹ We know that God does not listen to sinners, but He does listen to the one who worships Him and does His will.

³ And when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may squander it on your pleasures.

²⁶ Surely then you will delight in the Almighty and lift up your face to God. ²⁷ You will pray to Him, and He will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows.

⁴ Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart.

⁴ Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my greatest joy. I will praise You with the harp, O God, my God.

³⁴ When He slew them, they would seek Him; they repented and searched for God. ³⁵ And they remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer. ³⁶ But they deceived Him with their mouths, and lied to Him with their tongues.

¹⁸ yet I will exult in the LORD; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation!

²¹ But since he has no root, he remains for only a season. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.

¹ Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray at all times and not lose heart:

² He and all his household were devout and God-fearing. He gave generously to the people and prayed to God regularly.

¹⁸ Pray in the Spirit at all times, with every kind of prayer and petition. To this end, stay alert with all perseverance in your prayers for all the saints.

¹⁷ Pray without ceasing.

⁵ See, I have taught you statutes and ordinances just as the LORD my God has commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land that you are about to enter and possess.

³ Surely you have instructed many, and have strengthened their feeble hands. ⁴ Your words have steadied those who stumbled; you have braced the knees that were buckling.

¹⁰ It still brings me comfort, and joy through unrelenting pain, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

⁸ But there is a spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding. ⁹ It is not only the old who are wise, or the elderly who understand justice. ¹⁰ Therefore I say, ‘Listen to me; I too will declare what I know.’

¹⁷ O God, You have taught me from my youth, and to this day I proclaim Your marvelous deeds.

¹¹ For this is what the LORD has spoken to me with a strong hand, instructing me not to walk in the way of this people:

²⁰ I did not shrink back from declaring anything that was helpful to you as I taught you publicly and from house to house,

²⁵ How painful are honest words! But what does your argument prove? ²⁶ Do you intend to correct my words, and treat as wind my cry of despair? ²⁷ You would even cast lots for an orphan and barter away your friend. ²⁸ But now, please look at me. Would I lie to your face? ²⁹ Reconsider; do not be unjust. Reconsider, for my righteousness is at stake.

⁴ You, however, smear with lies; you are all worthless physicians. ⁵ If only you would remain silent; for that would be your wisdom! ⁶ Hear now my argument, and listen to the plea of my lips. ⁷ Will you speak wickedly on God’s behalf or speak deceitfully for Him? ⁸ Would you show Him partiality or argue in His defense? ⁹ Would it be well when He examined you? Could you deceive Him like a man?

³ Is there no end to your long-winded speeches? What provokes you to continue testifying?

² Surely mockers surround me, and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion.

² “How long will you torment me and crush me with your words? ³ Ten times now you have reproached me; you shamelessly mistreat me.

³ Bear with me while I speak; then, after I have spoken, you may go on mocking.

²⁸ For you say, ‘Where now is the nobleman’s house, and where are the tents in which the wicked dwell?’ ²⁹ Have you never asked those who travel the roads? Do you not accept their reports? ³⁰ Indeed, the evil man is spared from the day of calamity, delivered from the day of wrath.

² “How you have helped the powerless and saved the arm that is feeble! ³ How you have counseled the unwise and provided fully sound insight! ⁴ To whom have you uttered these words? And whose spirit spoke through you?

¹⁴ There is a futility that is done on the earth: There are righteous men who get what the actions of the wicked deserve, and there are wicked men who get what the actions of the righteous deserve. I say that this too is futile.

¹ So I took all this to heart and concluded that the righteous and the wise, as well as their deeds, are in God’s hands. Man does not know what lies ahead, whether love or hate. ² It is the same for all: There is a common fate for the righteous and the wicked, for the good and the bad, for the clean and the unclean, for the one who sacrifices and the one who does not. As it is for the good, so it is for the sinner; as it is for the one who makes a vow, so it is for the one who refuses to take a vow. ³ This is an evil in everything that is done under the sun: There is one fate for everyone. Furthermore, the hearts of men are full of evil and madness while they are alive, and afterward they join the dead.

²⁰ A wicked man writhes in pain all his days; only a few years are reserved for the ruthless. ²¹ Sounds of terror fill his ears; in his prosperity the destroyer attacks him. ²² He despairs of his return from darkness; he is marked for the sword. ²³ He wanders about as food for vultures; he knows the day of darkness is at hand. ²⁴ Distress and anguish terrify him, overwhelming him like a king poised to attack. ²⁵ For he has stretched out his hand against God and has vaunted himself against the Almighty, ²⁶ rushing headlong at Him with a thick, studded shield. ²⁷ Though his face is covered with fat and his waistline bulges with flesh, ²⁸ he will dwell in ruined cities, in abandoned houses destined to become rubble. ²⁹ He will no longer be rich; his wealth will not endure. His possessions will not overspread the land. ³⁰ He will not escape from the darkness; the flame will wither his shoots, and the breath of God’s mouth will carry him away. ³¹ Let him not deceive himself with trust in emptiness, for emptiness will be his reward. ³² It will be paid in full before his time, and his branch will not flourish. ³³ He will be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes, like an olive tree that sheds its blossoms. ³⁴ For the company of the godless will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of bribery. ³⁵ They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb is pregnant with deceit.”

¹⁹ For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor; he has seized houses he did not build. ²⁰ Because his appetite is never satisfied, he cannot escape with his treasure. ²¹ Nothing is left for him to consume; thus his prosperity will not endure. ²² In the midst of his plenty, he will be distressed; the full force of misery will come upon him. ²³ When he has filled his stomach, God will vent His fury upon him, raining it down on him as he eats. ²⁴ Though he flees from an iron weapon, a bronze-tipped arrow will pierce him. ²⁵ It is drawn out of his back, the gleaming point from his liver. Terrors come over him. ²⁶ Total darkness is reserved for his treasures. A fire unfanned will consume him and devour what is left in his tent. ²⁷ The heavens will expose his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him. ²⁸ The possessions of his house will be removed, flowing away on the day of God’s wrath. ²⁹ This is the wicked man’s portion from God, the inheritance God has appointed him.”

⁶ On the wicked He will rain down fiery coals and sulfur; a scorching wind will be their portion.

⁵ “For the cause of the oppressed and for the groaning of the needy, I will now arise,” says the LORD. “I will bring safety to him who yearns.”

²² Do not rob a poor man because he is poor, and do not crush the afflicted at the gate, ²³ for the LORD will take up their case and will plunder those who rob them.

¹³ Yet because the wicked do not fear God, it will not go well with them, and their days will not lengthen like a shadow.

¹¹ Woe to the wicked; disaster is upon them! For they will be repaid with what their hands have done.

⁵ “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the LORD of Hosts.

⁴ Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts. ⁵ You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter. ⁶ You have condemned and murdered the righteous, who did not resist you.

⁹ if all this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.

³² Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation, while your eyes grow weary looking for them day after day, with no power in your hand.

⁴¹ You will father sons and daughters, but they will not remain yours, because they will go into captivity.

⁵ The well-fed hire themselves out for food, but the starving hunger no more. The barren woman gives birth to seven, but she who has many sons pines away.

⁷ And you are to strike down the house of your master Ahab, so that I may avenge the blood of My servants the prophets and the blood of all the servants of the LORD shed by the hand of Jezebel. ⁸ The whole house of Ahab will perish, and I will cut off from Ahab every male, both slave and free, in Israel.

⁶ Then Jehu wrote them a second letter and said: “If you are on my side, and if you will obey me, then bring the heads of your master’s sons to me at Jezreel by this time tomorrow.” Now the sons of the king, seventy in all, were being brought up by the leading men of the city. ⁷ And when the letter arrived, they took the sons of the king and slaughtered all seventy of them. They put their heads in baskets and sent them to Jehu at Jezreel. ⁸ When the messenger arrived, he told Jehu, “They have brought the heads of the sons of the king.” And Jehu ordered, “Pile them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until morning.” ⁹ The next morning, Jehu went out and stood before all the people and said, “You are innocent. It was I who conspired against my master and killed him. But who killed all these? ¹⁰ Know, then, that not a word the LORD has spoken against the house of Ahab will fail, for the LORD has done what He promised through His servant Elijah.”

¹¹ Haman recounted to them his glorious wealth, his many sons, and all the ways the king had honored and promoted him over the other officials and servants.

⁵ The Jews put all their enemies to the sword, killing and destroying them, and they did as they pleased to those who hated them. ⁶ In the citadel of Susa, the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men, ⁷ including Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha, ⁸ Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha, ⁹ Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizatha. ¹⁰ They killed these ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews, but they did not lay a hand on the plunder.

²² He despairs of his return from darkness; he is marked for the sword.

¹⁰ His sons will seek the favor of the poor, for his own hands must return his wealth.

¹¹ They send forth their little ones like a flock; their children skip about, ¹² singing to the tambourine and lyre and making merry at the sound of the flute.

¹³ May his descendants be cut off; may their name be blotted out from the next generation.

¹³ I have seen Ephraim, like Tyre, planted in a meadow. But Ephraim will bring out his children for slaughter. ¹⁴ Give them, O LORD—what will You give? Give them wombs that miscarry and breasts that dry up!

²⁹ Look, the days are coming when people will say, ‘Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never bore, and breasts that never nursed!’

¹⁰ Because of all this, behold, I am bringing disaster on the house of Jeroboam: I will cut off from Jeroboam every male, both slave and free, in Israel; I will burn up the house of Jeroboam as one burns up dung until it is gone! ¹¹ Anyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city will be eaten by dogs, and anyone who dies in the field will be eaten by the birds of the air.’ For the LORD has spoken.

³ So now I will consume Baasha and his house, and I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat: ⁴ Anyone belonging to Baasha who dies in the city will be eaten by dogs, and anyone who dies in the field will be eaten by the birds of the air.”

²¹ This is what the LORD says: ‘I will bring calamity on you and consume your descendants; I will cut off from Ahab every male in Israel, both slave and free. ²² I will make your house like that of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like that of Baasha son of Ahijah, because you have provoked My anger and caused Israel to sin.’ ²³ And the LORD also speaks concerning Jezebel: ‘The dogs will devour Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.’ ²⁴ Anyone belonging to Ahab who dies in the city will be eaten by dogs, and anyone who dies in the field will be eaten by the birds of the air.”

⁶⁴ His priests fell by the sword, but their widows could not lament.

¹⁸ Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: “They will not mourn for him: ‘Alas, my brother! Alas, my sister!’ They will not mourn for him: ‘Alas, my master! Alas, his splendor!’

²⁷ The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar as abundant as sycamore in the foothills.

²⁴ and consign your gold to the dust and the gold of Ophir to the stones of the ravines,

⁶ Will not all of these take up a taunt against him, speaking with mockery and derision: ‘Woe to him who amasses what is not his and makes himself rich with many loans! How long will this go on?’

³ Tyre has built herself a fortress; she has heaped up silver like dust, and gold like the dirt of the streets.

¹⁹ Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.

² Your riches have rotted and moths have eaten your clothes.

²² A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is passed to the righteous.

⁸ He who increases his wealth by interest and usury lays it up for one who is kind to the poor.

²⁶ To the man who is pleasing in His sight, He gives wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner He assigns the task of gathering and accumulating that which he will hand over to one who pleases God. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.

¹⁴ His confidence is fragile; his security is in a spider’s web. ¹⁵ He leans on his web, but it gives way; he holds fast, but it does not endure.

⁸ And the Daughter of Zion is abandoned like a shelter in a vineyard, like a shack in a cucumber field, like a city besieged.

¹² My dwelling has been picked up and removed from me like a shepherd’s tent. I have rolled up my life like a weaver; He cuts me off from the loom; from day until night You make an end of me.

⁸ For the moth will devour them like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool. But My righteousness will last forever, My salvation through all generations.”

⁶ He has laid waste His tabernacle like a garden booth; He has destroyed His place of meeting. The LORD has made Zion forget her appointed feasts and Sabbaths. In His fierce anger He has despised both king and priest.

¹⁰ The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes and the allegiance of the nations is his.

⁸ The eye that beholds me will no longer see me. You will look for me, but I will be no more.

²² Your enemies will be clothed in shame, and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”

¹⁰ But a man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last, and where is he?

¹² so a man lies down and does not rise. Until the heavens are no more, he will not be awakened or roused from sleep. ¹³ If only You would hide me in Sheol and conceal me until Your anger has passed! If only You would appoint a time for me and then remember me! ¹⁴ When a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, until my renewal comes. ¹⁵ You will call, and I will answer; You will desire the work of Your hands.

⁷ he will perish forever, like his own dung; those who had seen him will ask, ‘Where is he?’ ⁸ He will fly away like a dream, never to be found; he will be chased away like a vision in the night. ⁹ The eye that saw him will see him no more, and his place will no longer behold him.

²³ One man dies full of vigor, completely secure and at ease. ²⁴ His body is well nourished, and his bones are rich with marrow. ²⁵ Yet another man dies in the bitterness of his soul, having never tasted prosperity. ²⁶ But together they lie down in the dust, and worms cover them both.

³⁰ Indeed, the evil man is spared from the day of calamity, delivered from the day of wrath.

²⁴ They are exalted for a moment, then they are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are cut off like heads of grain.

²³ Yes, I know that You will bring me down to death, to the place appointed for all the living.

⁹ Before your pots can feel the burning thorns—whether green or dry—He will sweep them away.

¹⁹ How suddenly they are laid waste, completely swept away by terrors! ²⁰ Like one waking from a dream, so You, O Lord, awaken and despise their form.

² They will be exposed to the sun and moon, and to all the host of heaven which they have loved, served, followed, consulted, and worshiped. Their bones will not be gathered up or buried, but will become like dung lying on the ground.

¹² His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

³⁷ O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling!

²⁹ Now at midnight the LORD struck down every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner in the dungeon, as well as all the firstborn among the livestock.

³⁵ And that very night the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies!

²¹ Sounds of terror fill his ears; in his prosperity the destroyer attacks him.

¹¹ Terrors frighten him on every side and harass his every step.

⁸ He will fly away like a dream, never to be found; he will be chased away like a vision in the night.

²³ When he has filled his stomach, God will vent His fury upon him, raining it down on him as he eats.

¹⁸ Are they like straw before the wind, like chaff swept away by a storm?

¹⁶ They were snatched away before their time, and their foundations were swept away by a flood.

²⁰ They die in an instant, in the middle of the night. The people convulse and pass away; the mighty are removed without human hand.

⁴ The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of chaos overwhelmed me.

⁷ Deep calls to deep in the roar of Your waterfalls; all Your breakers and waves have rolled over me.

¹⁴ Rescue me from the mire and do not let me sink; deliver me from my foes and out of the deep waters. ¹⁵ Do not let the floods engulf me or the depths swallow me up; let not the Pit close its mouth over me.

³⁰ That very night Belshazzar king of the Chaldeans was slain,

³ For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the current swirled about me; all Your breakers and waves swept over me.

²³ So Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and lightning struck the earth. So the LORD rained down hail upon the land of Egypt. ²⁴ The hail fell and the lightning continued flashing through it. The hail was so severe that nothing like it had ever been seen in all the land of Egypt from the time it became a nation. ²⁵ Throughout the land of Egypt, the hail struck down everything in the field, both man and beast; it beat down every plant of the field and stripped every tree.

¹⁰ He never returns to his house; his place remembers him no more.

¹⁵ so pursue them with Your tempest, and terrify them with Your storm.

¹⁷ I will scatter them before the enemy like the east wind. I will show them My back and not My face in the day of their calamity.”

¹⁵ Although he flourishes among his brothers, an east wind will come—a wind from the LORD rising up from the desert. His fountain will fail, and his spring will run dry. The wind will plunder his treasury of every precious article.

³ The LORD is slow to anger and great in power; the LORD will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. His path is in the whirlwind and storm, and clouds are the dust beneath His feet. ⁴ He rebukes the sea and dries it up; He makes all the rivers run dry. Bashan and Carmel wither, and the flower of Lebanon wilts. ⁵ The mountains quake before Him, and the hills melt away; the earth trembles at His presence—the world and all its dwellers. ⁶ Who can withstand His indignation? Who can endure His burning anger? His wrath is poured out like fire; even rocks are shattered before Him. ⁷ The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of distress; He cares for those who trust in Him. ⁸ But with an overwhelming flood He will make an end of Nineveh and pursue His enemies into darkness.

²⁷ The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its collapse!”

¹⁴ Otherwise, I will send all My plagues against you and your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like Me in all the earth.

²⁵ He caused their chariot wheels to wobble, so that they had difficulty driving. “Let us flee from the Israelites,” said the Egyptians, “for the LORD is fighting for them against Egypt!” ²⁶ Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.” ²⁷ So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea returned to its normal state. As the Egyptians were retreating, the LORD swept them into the sea. ²⁸ The waters flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had chased the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.

²⁰ The LORD will never be willing to forgive him. Instead, His anger and jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse written in this book will fall upon him. The LORD will blot out his name from under heaven

²³ I will heap disasters upon them; I will spend My arrows against them.

¹¹ As they fled before Israel along the descent from Beth-horon to Azekah, the LORD cast down on them large hailstones from the sky, and more of them were killed by the hailstones than by the swords of the Israelites.

¹⁷ Meanwhile, Sisera had fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. ¹⁸ Jael went out to greet Sisera and said to him, “Come in, my lord. Come in with me. Do not be afraid.” So he entered her tent, and she covered him with a blanket. ¹⁹ Sisera said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a container of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him again. ²⁰ “Stand at the entrance to the tent,” he said, “and if anyone comes and asks you, ‘Is there a man here?’ say, ‘No.’” ²¹ But as he lay sleeping from exhaustion, Heber’s wife Jael took a tent peg, grabbed a hammer, and went silently to Sisera. She drove the peg through his temple and into the ground, and he died.

²⁴ Though he flees from an iron weapon, a bronze-tipped arrow will pierce him.

³ What will you do on the day of reckoning when devastation comes from afar? To whom will you flee for help? Where will you leave your wealth?

¹⁴ I will smash them against one another, fathers and sons alike, declares the LORD. I will allow no mercy or pity or compassion to keep Me from destroying them.’”

¹¹ Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable idols and abominations, I Myself will withdraw My favor; I will not look upon you with pity, nor will I spare you.

⁵ And as I listened, He said to the others, “Follow him through the city and start killing; do not show pity or spare anyone! ⁶ Slaughter the old men, the young men and maidens, the women and children; but do not go near anyone who has the mark. Now begin at My sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were before the temple.

¹⁴ I, the LORD, have spoken; the time is coming, and I will act. I will not refrain or show pity, nor will I relent. I will judge you according to your ways and deeds,’ declares the Lord GOD.”

¹⁴ Escape will fail the swift, the strong will not prevail by his strength, and the mighty will not save his life.

¹ I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and He said: “Strike the tops of the pillars so that the thresholds shake. Topple them on the heads of all the people, and I will kill the rest with the sword. None of those who flee will get away; none of the fugitives will escape. ² Though they dig down to Sheol, from there My hand will take them; and though they climb up to heaven, from there I will pull them down. ³ Though they hide themselves atop Carmel, there I will track them and seize them; and though they hide from Me at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent to bite them.

³² He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, freely give us all things?

⁴ For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them deep into hell, placing them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment; ⁵ if He did not spare the ancient world when He brought the flood on its ungodly people, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, among the eight;

⁸ And when this temple has become a heap of rubble, all who pass by it will be appalled and will hiss and say, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’

²² as the days on which the Jews gained rest from their enemies and the month in which their sorrow turned to joy and their mourning into a holiday. He wrote that these were to be days of feasting and joy, of sending gifts to one another and to the poor. ²³ So the Jews agreed to continue the custom they had started, as Mordecai had written to them. ²⁴ For Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them and had cast the Pur (that is, the lot) to crush and destroy them. ²⁵ But when it came before the king, he commanded by letter that the wicked scheme which Haman had devised against the Jews should come back upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.

¹⁸ He is driven from light into darkness and is chased from the inhabited world.

¹⁰ When the righteous thrive, the city rejoices, and when the wicked perish, there are shouts of joy.

⁸ I will make this city a desolation and an object of scorn. All who pass by will be appalled and will scoff at all her wounds.

¹⁵ All who pass by clap their hands at you in scorn. They hiss and shake their heads at the Daughter of Jerusalem: “Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?”

¹⁶ You have kept the statutes of Omri and all the practices of Ahab’s house; you have followed their counsel. Therefore I will make you a desolation, and your inhabitants an object of contempt; you will bear the scorn of the nations.”

¹⁵ This carefree city that dwells securely, that thinks to herself: “I am it, and there is none besides me,” what a ruin she has become, a resting place for beasts. Everyone who passes by her hisses and shakes his fist.

²⁰ Rejoice over her, O heaven, O saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced for you His judgment against her.