Job 8 Cross References - BSB

¹ Then Bildad the Shuhite replied: ² “How long will you go on saying such things? The words of your mouth are a blustering wind. ³ Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right? ⁴ When your children sinned against Him, He gave them over to their rebellion. ⁵ But if you would earnestly seek God and ask the Almighty for mercy, ⁶ if you are pure and upright, even now He will rouse Himself on your behalf and restore your righteous estate. ⁷ Though your beginnings were modest, your latter days will flourish. ⁸ Please inquire of past generations and consider the discoveries of their fathers. ⁹ For we were born yesterday and know nothing; our days on earth are but a shadow. ¹⁰ Will they not teach you and tell you, and speak from their understanding? ¹¹ Does papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Do reeds flourish without water? ¹² While the shoots are still uncut, they dry up quicker than grass. ¹³ Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so the hope of the godless will perish. 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. ¹⁶ He is a well-watered plant in the sunshine, spreading its shoots over the garden. ¹⁷ His roots wrap around the rock heap; he looks for a home among the stones. ¹⁸ If he is uprooted from his place, it will disown him, saying, ‘I never saw you.’ ¹⁹ Surely this is the joy of his way; yet others will spring from the dust. ²⁰ Behold, God does not reject the blameless, nor will He strengthen the hand of evildoers. ²¹ He will yet fill your mouth with laughter, and your lips with a shout of joy. ²² Your enemies will be clothed in shame, and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”

¹¹ Now when Job’s three friends—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite—heard about all this adversity that had come upon him, each of them came from his home, and they met together to go and sympathize with Job and comfort him.

³ So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and told him, “This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, so that they may worship Me.

⁷ Pharaoh’s officials asked him, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the people go, so that they may worship the LORD their God. Do you not yet realize that Egypt is in ruins?”

¹¹ Then the LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD. Behold, the LORD is about to pass by.” And a great and mighty wind tore into the mountains and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake.

⁹ that God would be willing to crush me, to unleash His hand and cut me off!

²⁶ Do you intend to correct my words, and treat as wind my cry of despair?

¹¹ Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

² “Should this stream of words go unanswered and such a speaker be vindicated? ³ Should your babbling put others to silence? Will you scoff without rebuke?

² “Does a wise man answer with empty counsel or fill his belly with the hot east wind?

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

² “How long until you end these speeches? Show some sense, and then we can talk.

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.

²² “How long, O simple ones, will you love your simple ways? How long will scoffers delight in their scorn and fools hate knowledge?

²⁵ Far be it from You to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Will not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?”

⁴ He is the Rock, His work is perfect; all His ways are just. A God of faithfulness without injustice, righteous and upright is He.

⁷ And now, may the fear of the LORD be upon you. Be careful what you do, for with the LORD our God there is no injustice or partiality or bribery.”

¹⁷ ‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God, or a man more pure than his Maker?

² “Yes, I know that it is so, but how can a mortal be righteous before God?

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

⁷ Though I cry out, ‘Violence!’ I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice.

¹⁵ Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him, and what would we gain if we pray to Him?’

²⁰ Let his eyes see his own destruction; let him drink for himself the wrath of the Almighty.

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

¹⁰ Therefore listen to me, O men of understanding. Far be it from God to do wrong, and from the Almighty to act unjustly. ¹¹ For according to a man’s deeds He repays him; according to a man’s ways He brings consequences. ¹² Indeed, it is true that God does not act wickedly, and the Almighty does not pervert justice.

¹⁷ Could one who hates justice govern? Will you condemn the just and mighty One, ¹⁸ who says to kings, ‘You are worthless!’ and to nobles, ‘You are wicked,’ ¹⁹ who is not partial to princes and does not favor rich over poor? For they are all the work of His hands.

¹³ Surely God does not listen to empty pleas, and the Almighty does not take note of it.

² “Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let him who argues with God give an answer.”

⁸ Would you really annul My justice? Would you condemn Me to justify yourself?

¹⁴ Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; loving devotion and faithfulness go before You.

⁴ The mighty King loves justice. You have established equity; You have exercised justice and righteousness in Jacob.

²⁵ Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear now, O house of Israel: Is it My way that is unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust?

¹⁷ Yet your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ But it is their way that is not just.

²⁰ Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ But I will judge each of you according to his ways, O house of Israel.”

¹⁴ Therefore the LORD has kept the calamity in store and brought it upon us. For the LORD our God is righteous in all He does; yet we have not obeyed His voice.

⁵ But because of your hard and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.

⁴ Certainly not! Let God be true and every man a liar. As it is written: “So that You may be proved right when You speak and victorious when You judge.” ⁵ But if our unrighteousness highlights the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unjust to inflict His wrath on us? I am speaking in human terms. ⁶ Certainly not! In that case, how could God judge the world?

³ and they sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb: “Great and wonderful are Your works, O Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the nations!

⁷ And I heard the altar reply: “Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are Your judgments.”

¹³ But the men of Sodom were wicked, sinning greatly against the LORD.

¹³ because we are about to destroy this place. For the outcry to the LORD against its people is so great that He has sent us to destroy it.” ¹⁴ So Lot went out and spoke to the sons-in-law who were pledged in marriage to his daughters. “Get up,” he said. “Get out of this place, for the LORD is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking. ¹⁵ At daybreak the angels hurried Lot along, saying, “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.” ¹⁶ But when Lot hesitated, the men grabbed his hand and the hands of his wife and his two daughters. And they led them safely out of the city, because of the LORD’s compassion for them. ¹⁷ As soon as the men had brought them out, one of them said, “Run for your lives! Do not look back, and do not stop anywhere on the plain! Flee to the mountains, or you will be swept away!” ¹⁸ But Lot replied, “No, my lords, please! ¹⁹ Your servant has indeed found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness by sparing my life. But I cannot run to the mountains; the disaster will overtake me, and I will die. ²⁰ Look, there is a town nearby where I can flee, and it is a small place. Please let me flee there—is it not a small place? Then my life will be saved.” ²¹ “Very well,” he answered, “I will grant this request as well, and will not demolish the town you indicate. ²² Hurry! Run there quickly, for I cannot do anything until you reach it.” That is why the town was called Zoar. ²³ And by the time the sun had risen over the land, Lot had reached Zoar. ²⁴ Then the LORD rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens. ²⁵ Thus He destroyed these cities and the entire plain, including all the inhabitants of the cities and everything that grew on the ground.

⁵ And when the days of feasting were over, Job would send for his children to purify them, rising early in the morning to offer burnt offerings for all of them. For Job thought, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular practice.

¹⁸ While he was still speaking, another messenger came and reported: “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, ¹⁹ when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on the young people and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”

⁴ His sons are far from safety, crushed in court without a defender.

¹⁶ The roots beneath him dry up, and the branches above him wither away. ¹⁷ The memory of him perishes from the earth, and he has no name in the land. ¹⁸ He is driven from light into darkness and is chased from the inhabited world. ¹⁹ He has no offspring or posterity among his people, no survivor where he once lived.

¹² And in his distress, Manasseh sought the favor of the LORD his God and earnestly humbled himself before the God of his fathers. ¹³ And when he prayed to Him, the LORD received his plea and heard his petition; so He brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD is God.

⁸ However, if I were you, I would appeal to God and lay my cause before Him—

¹³ As for you, if you direct your heart and lift up your hands to Him,

²¹ Reconcile now and be at peace with Him; thereby good will come to you. ²² Receive instruction from His mouth, and lay up His words in your heart. ²³ If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored. If you remove injustice from your tents ²⁴ and consign your gold to the dust and the gold of Ophir to the stones of the ravines, ²⁵ then the Almighty will be your gold and the finest silver for you. 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. ²⁸ Your decisions will be carried out, and light will shine on your ways. ²⁹ When men are brought low and you say, ‘Lift them up!’ then He will save the lowly. ³⁰ He will deliver even one who is not innocent, rescuing him through the cleanness of your hands.”

⁶ Seek the LORD while He may be found; call on Him while He is near. ⁷ Let the wicked man forsake his own way and the unrighteous man his own thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.

⁷ Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

⁷ Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear His voice, ⁸ do not harden your hearts, as you did in the rebellion, in the day of testing in the wilderness,

⁷ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸ Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹ Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter to mourning, and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰ Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.

⁸ 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.”

⁶ Is your reverence not your confidence, and the uprightness of your ways your hope? ⁷ Consider now, I plead: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Or where have the upright been destroyed?

²⁴ You will know that your tent is secure, and find nothing amiss when inspecting your home.

¹⁷ yet my hands are free of violence and my prayer is pure.

¹⁴ Yet they say to God: ‘Leave us alone! For we have no desire to know Your ways. ¹⁵ Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him, and what would we gain if we pray to Him?’

⁶ Arise, O LORD, in Your anger; rise up against the fury of my enemies. Awake, my God, and ordain judgment.

⁵ I hate the mob of evildoers, and refuse to sit with the wicked. ⁶ I wash my hands in innocence that I may go about Your altar, O LORD,

²³ Wake up, O Lord! Why are You sleeping? Arise! Do not reject us forever.

⁴ For no fault of my own, they move swiftly to attack me. Arise to help me, and take notice. ⁵ O LORD God of Hosts, the God of Israel, rouse Yourself to punish all the nations; show no mercy to the wicked traitors. Selah

⁸ The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is His delight.

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.

¹⁰ Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their labor.

⁹ Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD. Wake up as in days past, as in generations of old. Was it not You who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced through the dragon?

⁸ Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands, without anger or dissension.

¹⁹ And by this we will know that we belong to the truth, and will assure our hearts in His presence: 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, ²² and we will receive from Him whatever we ask, because we keep His commandments and do what is pleasing in His sight.

¹⁶ He fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers had not known, in order to humble you and test you, so that in the end He might cause you to prosper.

¹² So the LORD blessed Job’s latter days more than his first. He owned 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. ¹³ And he also had seven sons and three daughters.

¹⁸ The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining brighter and brighter until midday.

²⁰ Listen to counsel and accept discipline, that you may be wise the rest of your days.

¹⁰ For who has despised the day of small things? But these seven eyes of the LORD, which scan the whole earth, will rejoice when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.”

⁷ It will be a day known only to the LORD, without day or night; but when evening comes, there will be light.

¹² Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.

³¹ He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man planted in his field. ³² Although it is the smallest of all seeds, yet it grows into the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”

²⁰ If indeed they have escaped the corruption of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, only to be entangled and overcome by it again, their final condition is worse than it was at first.

³² Indeed, ask now from one end of the heavens to the other about the days that long preceded you, from the day that God created man on earth: Has anything as great as this ever happened or been reported?

⁷ Remember the days of old; consider the years long past. Ask your father, and he will tell you, your elders, and they will inform you.

¹² Wisdom is found with the elderly, and understanding comes with long life.

¹⁰ Both the gray-haired and the aged are on our side—men much older than your father.

¹⁸ what was declared by wise men and was not concealed from their fathers,

⁶ So Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite declared: “I am young in years, while you are old; that is why I was timid and afraid to tell you what I know. ⁷ I thought that age should speak, and many years should teach wisdom.

¹ For the choirmaster. A Maskil of the sons of Korah. We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us the work You did in their days, in the days of old.

³ that we have heard and known and our fathers have relayed to us. ⁴ We will not hide them from their children, but will declare to the next generation the praises of the LORD and His might, and the wonders He has performed.

¹⁹ The living, only the living, can thank You, as I do today; fathers will tell their children about Your faithfulness.

⁴ For everything that was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures, we might have hope.

¹¹ Now these things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.

⁹ “My travels have lasted 130 years,” Jacob replied. “My years have been few and hard, and they have not matched the years of the travels of my fathers.”

¹⁵ For we are foreigners and strangers in Your presence, as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.

⁶ My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle; they come to an end without hope.

² Like a flower, he comes forth, then withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.

⁵ You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath. Selah

⁴ For in Your sight a thousand years are but a day that passes, or a watch of the night.

¹¹ My days are like lengthening shadows, and I wither away like grass.

⁴ Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.

⁷ And you shall teach them diligently to your children and speak of them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

¹⁹ Teach them to your children, speaking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

⁷ But ask the animals, and they will instruct you; ask the birds of the air, and they will tell you. ⁸ Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; let the fish of the sea inform you.

⁷ I thought that age should speak, and many years should teach wisdom.

⁴ One generation will commend Your works to the next, and will proclaim Your mighty acts—

²³ The heart of the wise man instructs his mouth and adds persuasiveness to his lips.

¹⁵ The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks it out.

³⁵ The good man brings good things out of his good store of treasure, and the evil man brings evil things out of his evil store of treasure.

⁴ By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous when God gave approval to his gifts. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.

¹ Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set out for us.

³ But when she could no longer hide him, she got him a papyrus basket and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in the basket and set it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.

⁵ The waters of the Nile will dry up, and the riverbed will be parched and empty. ⁶ The canals will stink; the streams of Egypt will trickle and dry up; the reeds and rushes will wither. ⁷ The bulrushes by the Nile, by the mouth of the river, and all the fields sown along the Nile, will wither, blow away, and be no more.

⁶ May they be like grass on the rooftops, which withers before it can grow, ⁷ unable to fill the hands of the reaper, or the arms of the binder of sheaves.

⁶ He will be like a shrub in the desert; he will not see when prosperity comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.

²⁰ The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and at once receives it with joy.

¹⁰ But the one who is rich should exult in his low position, because he will pass away like a flower of the field. ¹¹ For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its flower falls and its beauty is lost. So too, the rich man will fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

²⁴ For, “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,

¹² be careful not to forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

¹¹ Be careful not to forget the LORD your God by failing to keep His commandments and ordinances and statutes, which I am giving you this day.

¹⁴ then your heart will become proud, and you will forget the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

¹⁹ If you ever forget the LORD your God and go after other gods to worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely 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.

¹⁴ He is torn from the shelter of his tent and is marched off to the king of terrors.

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

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?

¹³ The godless in heart harbor resentment; even when He binds them, they do not cry for help.

¹⁷ The wicked will return to Sheol—all the nations who forget God.

⁴ In his pride the wicked man does not seek Him; in all his schemes there is no God.

²² Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you:

²⁸ The hope of the righteous is joy, but the expectations of the wicked will perish.

⁷ The wicked are overthrown and perish, but the house of the righteous will stand.

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?”

¹³ But you have forgotten the LORD, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth. You live in terror all day long because of the fury of the oppressor who is bent on destruction. But where is the fury of the oppressor?

¹⁸ So I say, “My strength has perished, along with my hope from the LORD.”

⁵¹ Then he will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

¹ In the meantime, a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling one another. Jesus began to speak first to His disciples: “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. ² There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, and nothing hidden that will not be made known.

⁵ They hatch the eggs of vipers and weave a spider’s web. Whoever eats their eggs will die; crack one open, and a viper is hatched. ⁶ Their cobwebs cannot be made into clothing, and they cannot cover themselves with their works. Their deeds are sinful deeds, and acts of violence are in their hands.

¹⁸ The house he built is like a moth’s cocoon, like a hut set up by a watchman.

¹¹ Their graves are their eternal homes—their dwellings for endless generations—even though their lands were their namesakes.

⁵ Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin; He will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent; He will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah ⁶ The righteous will see and fear; they will mock the evildoer, saying, ⁷ “Look at the man who did not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his wealth and strengthened himself by destruction.”

¹⁰ The wicked man will see and be grieved; he will gnash his teeth and waste away; the desires of the wicked will perish.

²⁴ Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵ The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because its foundation was on the rock. ²⁶ But everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷ The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its collapse!”

⁴⁷ I will show you what he is like who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them: ⁴⁸ He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid his foundation on the rock. When the flood came, the torrent crashed against that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. ⁴⁹ But the one who hears My words and does not act on them is like a man who built his house on ground without a foundation. The torrent crashed against that house, and immediately it fell—and great was its destruction!”

³ I have seen a fool taking root, but suddenly his house was cursed.

⁷ Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power? ⁸ Their descendants are established around them, and their offspring before their eyes. ⁹ Their homes are safe from fear; no rod of punishment from God is upon them. ¹⁰ Their bulls breed without fail; their cows bear calves and do not miscarry. 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 They spend their days in prosperity and go down to Sheol in peace.

³⁵ I have seen a wicked, ruthless man flourishing like a well-rooted native tree, ³⁶ yet he passed away and was no more; though I searched, he could not be found.

³ For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. ⁴ They have no struggle in their death; their bodies are well-fed. ⁵ They are free of the burdens others carry; they are not afflicted like other men. ⁶ Therefore pride is their necklace; a garment of violence covers them. ⁷ From their prosperity proceeds iniquity; the imaginations of their hearts run wild. ⁸ They mock and speak with malice; with arrogance they threaten oppression. ⁹ They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongues strut across the earth. ¹⁰ So their people return to this place and drink up waters in abundance. ¹¹ The wicked say, “How can God know? Does the Most High have knowledge?” ¹² Behold, these are the wicked—always carefree as they increase their wealth.

¹¹ It sent out its branches to the Sea, and its shoots toward the River.

¹⁶ The LORD once called you a flourishing olive tree, beautiful with well-formed fruit. But with a mighty roar He will set it on fire, and its branches will be consumed.

¹⁶ The roots beneath him dry up, and the branches above him wither away.

¹⁹ My roots will spread out to the waters, and the dew will rest nightly on my branches.

²⁴ Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes the straw, and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will decay and their blossoms will blow away like dust; for they have rejected the instruction of the LORD of Hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

²⁴ No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, no sooner have their stems taken root in the ground, than He blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweeps them away like stubble.

¹ Righteous are You, O LORD, when I plead before You. Yet about Your judgments I wish to contend with You: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease? ² You planted them, and they have taken root. They have grown and produced fruit. You are ever on their lips, but far from their hearts.

²⁰ As they were walking back in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from its roots.

¹² These men are hidden reefs in your love feasts, shamelessly feasting with you but shepherding only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried along by the wind; fruitless trees in autumn, twice dead after being uprooted.

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

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

⁹ The eye that saw him will see him no more, and his place will no longer behold him.

¹⁰ Yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found.

³⁶ yet he passed away and was no more; though I searched, he could not be found.

¹⁸ Surely You set them on slick ground; You cast them down into ruin. ¹⁹ How suddenly they are laid waste, completely swept away by terrors!

⁷ that though the wicked sprout like grass, and all evildoers flourish, they will be forever destroyed.

⁸ He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap. He seats them among princes and bestows on them a throne of honor. For the foundations of the earth are the LORD’s, and upon them He has set the world.

⁷ but it is God who judges; He brings down one and exalts another.

⁷ He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the dump

²⁴ Then all the trees of the field will know that I am the LORD. I bring the tall tree down and make the low tree tall. I dry up the green tree and make the withered tree flourish. I, the LORD, have spoken, and I have done it.’”

⁹ And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.

²⁰ The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 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.

⁷ Consider now, I plead: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Or where have the upright been destroyed?

²² It is all the same, and so I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’

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

²⁴ Though he falls, he will not be overwhelmed, for the LORD is holding his hand.

³⁷ Consider the blameless and observe the upright, for posterity awaits the man of peace.

¹⁴ For the LORD will not forsake His people; He will never abandon His heritage.

¹ This is what the LORD says to Cyrus His anointed, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him, to disarm kings, to open the doors before him, so that the gates will not be shut:

⁶ Then Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears of this will laugh with me.”

¹¹ And they sang responsively with praise and thanksgiving to the LORD: “For He is good; for His loving devotion to Israel endures forever.” Then all the people gave a great shout of praise to the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD had been laid. ¹² But many of the older priests, Levites, and family heads who had seen the first temple wept loudly when they saw the foundation of this temple. Still, many others shouted joyfully. ¹³ The people could not distinguish the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people were making so much noise. And the sound was heard from afar.

⁴³ On that day they offered great sacrifices, rejoicing because God had given them great joy. The women and children also rejoiced, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard from afar.

²² You will laugh at destruction and famine, and need not fear the beasts of the earth.

¹¹ Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, O righteous ones; shout for joy, all you upright in heart.

⁴ Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth; break forth—let your cry ring out, and sing praises!

¹ A Psalm of thanksgiving. Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth.

² Then our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with shouts of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.”

⁶ He who goes out weeping, bearing a trail of seed, will surely return with shouts of joy, carrying sheaves of grain.

¹³ Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: “My servants will eat, but you will go hungry; My servants will drink, but you will go thirsty; My servants will rejoice, but you will be put to shame. ¹⁴ My servants will shout for joy with a glad heart, but you will cry out with a heavy heart and wail with a broken spirit.

²¹ Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.

²¹ Why do You not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For soon I will lie down in the dust; You will seek me, but I will be no more.”

¹⁸ If he is uprooted from his place, it will disown him, saying, ‘I never saw you.’

²⁶ May those who gloat in my distress be ashamed and confounded; may those who exalt themselves over me be clothed in shame and reproach.

²⁹ May my accusers be clothed with disgrace; may they wear their shame like a robe.

¹⁸ I will clothe his enemies with shame, but the crown upon him will gleam.”

⁵ Young men, in the same way, submit yourselves to your elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”