One Story That Leads to Jesus, Day 143
Job 12
12Then Job answered and said:H347H6030H5592"No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you.H551H5971H2451H41913But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these?H1571H3824H5307H36444I am a laughingstock to my friends; I, who called to God and he answered me, a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock.H7814H7453H7121H433H6030H6662H8549H78145In the thought of one who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune; it is ready for those whose feet slip.H3559H4571H7272H3940H937H6248H76006The tents of robbers are at peace, and those who provoke God are secure, who bring their god in their hand.H168H7703H7951H7264H410H987H3027H433H9357"But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;H199H7592H929H3384H5775H8064H50468or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you.H7878H776H3384H1709H3220H56089Who among all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this?H3045H3027H3068H621310In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.H3027H5315H2416H7307H376H132011Does not the ear test words as the palate tastes food?H241H974H4405H2441H2938H40012Wisdom is with the aged, and understanding in length of days.H3453H2451H753H3117H839413"With God are wisdom and might; he has counsel and understanding.H2451H1369H6098H839414If he tears down, none can rebuild; if he shuts a man in, none can open.H2040H1129H5462H376H660515If he withholds the waters, they dry up; if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.H6113H4325H3001H7971H2015H77616With him are strength and sound wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are his.H5797H8454H7683H768617He leads counselors away stripped, and judges he makes fools.H3212H3289H7758H8199H198418He looses the bonds of kings and binds a waistcloth on their hips.H6605H4148H4428H631H4975H23219He leads priests away stripped and overthrows the mighty.H3212H3548H7758H5557H38620He deprives of speech those who are trusted and takes away the discernment of the elders.H5493H8193H539H3947H2940H220521He pours contempt on princes and loosens the belt of the strong.H8210H937H5081H7503H4206H65022He uncovers the deeps out of darkness and brings deep darkness to light.H1540H6013H2822H3318H216H675723He makes nations great, and he destroys them; he enlarges nations, and leads them away.H7679H1471H6H7849H1471H514824He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth and makes them wander in a pathless waste.H5493H3820H7218H5971H776H8582H8414H187025They grope in the dark without light, and he makes them stagger like a drunken man.H4959H2822H216H8582H7910
Job 13
13"Behold, my eye has seen all this, my ear has heard and understood it.H5869H7200H241H8085H9952What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you.H1847H3045H53073But I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to argue my case with God.H199H1696H7706H2654H3198H4104As for you, you whitewash with lies; worthless physicians are you all.H199H2950H8267H7495H4575Oh that you would keep silent, and it would be your wisdom!H5414H2790H2790H24516Hear now my argument and listen to the pleadings of my lips.H8085H8433H7181H7379H81937Will you speak falsely for God and speak deceitfully for him?H1696H5766H410H1696H74238Will you show partiality toward him? Will you plead the case for God?H5375H6440H7378H4109Will it be well with you when he searches you out? Or can you deceive him, as one deceives a man?H2895H2713H582H2048H204810He will surely rebuke you if in secret you show partiality.H3198H3198H5643H5375H644011Will not his majesty terrify you, and the dread of him fall upon you?H7613H1204H6343H530712Your maxims are proverbs of ashes; your defenses are defenses of clay.H2146H4912H665H1354H1354H256313"Let me have silence, and I will speak, and let come on me what may.H2790H1696H567414Why should I take my flesh in my teeth and put my life in my hand?H5375H1320H8127H7760H5315H370915Though he slay me, I will hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to his face.H2005H6991H3176H3198H1870H644016This will be my salvation, that the godless shall not come before him.H3444H2611H935H644017Keep listening to my words, and let my declaration be in your ears.H8085H8085H4405H262H24118Behold, I have prepared my case; I know that I shall be in the right.H6186H4941H3045H666319Who is there who will contend with me? For then I would be silent and die.H7378H2790H147820Only grant me two things, then I will not hide myself from your face:H6213H8147H5641H644021withdraw your hand far from me, and let not dread of you terrify me.H7368H3709H7368H367H120422Then call, and I will answer; or let me speak, and you reply to me.H7121H6030H1696H772523How many are my iniquities and my sins? Make me know my transgression and my sin.H5771H2403H3045H6588H240324Why do you hide your face and count me as your enemy?H5641H6440H2803H34125Will you frighten a driven leaf and pursue dry chaff?H6206H5929H5086H7291H3002H717926For you write bitter things against me and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth.H3789H4846H3423H5771H527127You put my feet in the stocks and watch all my paths; you set a limit for the soles of my feet.H7760H7272H5465H8104H734H2707H8328H727228Man wastes away like a rotten thing, like a garment that is moth-eaten.H7538H1086H899H6211H398
Job 14
14"Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble.H120H3205H802H7116H3117H7649H72672He comes out like a flower and withers; he flees like a shadow and continues not.H3318H6731H5243H1272H6738H59753And do you open your eyes on such a one and bring me into judgment with you?H6491H5869H2088H935H49414Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one.H5414H2889H2931H2595Since his days are determined, and the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass,H518H3117H2782H4557H2320H6213H2706H56746look away from him and leave him alone, that he may enjoy, like a hired hand, his day.H8159H2308H7521H7916H31177"For there is hope for a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its shoots will not cease.H3426H8615H6086H3772H2498H3127H23088Though its root grow old in the earth, and its stump die in the soil,H8328H2204H776H1503H4191H60839yet at the scent of water it will bud and put out branches like a young plant.H7381H4325H6524H6213H7105H519410But a man dies and is laid low; man breathes his last, and where is he?H1397H4191H2522H120H147811As waters fail from a lake and a river wastes away and dries up,H4325H235H3220H5104H2717H300112so a man lies down and rises not again; till the heavens are no more he will not awake or be roused out of his sleep.H376H7901H6965H8064H1115H6974H5782H814213Oh that you would hide me in Sheol, that you would conceal me until your wrath be past, that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!H5414H6845H7585H5641H639H7725H7896H2706H214214If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my service I would wait, till my renewal should come.H1397H4191H2421H3117H6635H3176H2487H93515You would call, and I would answer you; you would long for the work of your hands.H7121H6030H3700H4639H302716For then you would number my steps; you would not keep watch over my sin;H5608H6806H8104H240317my transgression would be sealed up in a bag, and you would cover over my iniquity.H6588H2856H6872H2950H577118"But the mountain falls and crumbles away, and the rock is removed from its place;H199H2022H5307H5034H6697H6275H472519the waters wear away the stones; the torrents wash away the soil of the earth; so you destroy the hope of man.H4325H7833H68H7857H5599H6083H776H6H8615H58220You prevail forever against him, and he passes; you change his countenance, and send him away.H8630H5331H1980H8138H6440H797121His sons come to honor, and he does not know it; they are brought low, and he perceives it not.H1121H3513H3045H6819H99522He feels only the pain of his own body, and he mourns only for himself."H1320H3510H5315H56
Job 15
15Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:H6030H464H8489H5592"Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind?H2450H6030H7307H1847H4390H990H69213Should he argue in unprofitable talk, or in words with which he can do no good?H3198H5532H1697H4405H32764But you are doing away with the fear of God and hindering meditation before God.H6565H3374H1639H7881H6440H4105For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the tongue of the crafty.H6310H502H5771H977H3956H61756Your own mouth condemns you, and not I; your own lips testify against you.H6310H7561H8193H60307"Are you the first man who was born? Or were you brought forth before the hills?H7223H7223H120H3205H2342H6440H13898Have you listened in the council of God? And do you limit wisdom to yourself?H8085H5475H433H1639H24519What do you know that we do not know? What do you understand that is not clear to us?H3045H3045H99510Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us, older than your father.H7867H3453H3524H3117H111Are the comforts of God too small for you, or the word that deals gently with you?H8575H410H4592H328H169712Why does your heart carry you away, and why do your eyes flash,H3820H3947H5869H733513that you turn your spirit against God and bring such words out of your mouth?H7725H7307H410H4405H3318H631014What is man, that he can be pure? Or he who is born of a woman, that he can be righteous?H582H2135H3205H802H666315Behold, God puts no trust in his holy ones, and the heavens are not pure in his sight;H539H6918H8064H2141H586916how much less one who is abominable and corrupt, a man who drinks injustice like water!H8581H444H376H8354H5766H5766H432517"I will show you; hear me, and what I have seen I will declareH2331H8085H2372H560818(what wise men have told, without hiding it from their fathers,H2450H5046H1H358219to whom alone the land was given, and no stranger passed among them).H776H5414H2114H5674H843220The wicked man writhes in pain all his days, through all the years that are laid up for the ruthless.H7563H2342H3117H4557H8141H6845H618421Dreadful sounds are in his ears; in prosperity the destroyer will come upon him.H6343H6963H241H7965H7703H93522He does not believe that he will return out of darkness, and he is marked for the sword.H539H7725H2822H6822H271923He wanders abroad for bread, saying, 'Where is it?' He knows that a day of darkness is ready at his hand;H5074H3899H3045H3117H2822H3559H302724distress and anguish terrify him; they prevail against him, like a king ready for battle.H6862H4691H1204H8630H4428H6264H359325Because he has stretched out his hand against God and defies the Almighty,H5186H3027H410H1396H770626running stubbornly against him with a thickly bossed shield;H7323H6677H5672H1354H404327because he has covered his face with his fat and gathered fat upon his waistH3680H6440H2459H6213H6371H368928and has lived in desolate cities, in houses that none should inhabit, which were ready to become heaps of ruins;H7931H3582H5892H1004H3427H6257H153029he will not be rich, and his wealth will not endure, nor will his possessions spread over the earth;H6238H2428H6965H5186H4512H77630he will not depart from darkness; the flame will dry up his shoots, and by the breath of his mouth he will depart.H5493H2822H7957H3001H3127H7307H6310H549331Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself, for emptiness will be his payment.H8582H539H7723H7723H854532It will be paid in full before his time, and his branch will not be green.H4390H3808H3117H3712H748833He will shake off his unripe grape like the vine, and cast off his blossom like the olive tree.H2554H1154H1612H7993H5328H213234For the company of the godless is barren, and fire consumes the tents of bribery.H5712H2611H1565H784H398H168H781035They conceive trouble and give birth to evil, and their womb prepares deceit."H2029H5999H3205H205H990H3559H4820
Psalm 138
138[Of David.] I give you thanks, O LORD, with my whole heart; before the gods I sing your praise;H1732H3034H3820H430H21672I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.H7812H6944H1964H3034H8034H2617H571H1431H565H80343On the day I called, you answered me; my strength of soul you increased.H3117H7121H6030H7292H5797H53154All the kings of the earth shall give you thanks, O LORD, for they have heard the words of your mouth,H4428H776H3034H3068H8085H561H63105and they shall sing of the ways of the LORD, for great is the glory of the LORD.H7891H1870H3068H1419H3519H30686For though the LORD is high, he regards the lowly, but the haughty he knows from afar.H3068H7311H7200H8217H1364H3045H48017Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and your right hand delivers me.H3212H7130H6869H2421H7971H3027H639H341H3225H34678The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.H3068H1584H2617H3068H5769H7503H4639H3027
Columbus, OH
