Today's Reading

¹King Ahasuerus laid a tribute on the land, and on the islands of the sea.

²All the acts of his power and of his might, and the full account of the greatness of Mordecai, to which the king advanced him, aren't they written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia?

³For Mordecai the Jew was next to King Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews, and accepted by the multitude of his brothers, seeking the good of his people, and speaking peace to all his descendants.

¹There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God, and turned away from evil.

²There were born to him seven sons and three daughters.

³His possessions also were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the children of the east.

⁴His sons went and held a feast in the house of each one on his birthday; and they sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.

⁵It was so, when the days of their feasting had run their course, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, "It may be that my sons have sinned, and renounced God in their hearts." Job did so continually.

⁶Now it happened on the day when the God's sons came to present themselves before the Lord, that Satan also came among them.

⁷The Lord said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, "From going back and forth in the earth, and from walking up and down in it."

⁸The Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant, Job? For there is none like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil."

⁹Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, "Does Job fear God for nothing?

¹⁰Haven't you made a hedge around him, and around his house, and around all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.

¹¹But put forth your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will renounce you to your face."

¹²The Lord said to Satan, "Behold, all that he has is in your power. Only on himself do not put forth your hand." So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord.

¹³It fell on a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house,

¹⁴that there came a messenger to Job, and said, "The oxen were plowing, and the donkeys feeding beside them,

¹⁵and the Sabeans attacked, and took them away. Yes, they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you."

¹⁶While he was still speaking, there also came another, and said, "The fire of God has fallen from the sky, and has burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you."

¹⁷While he was still speaking, there came also another, and said, "The Chaldeans made three bands, and swept down on the camels, and have taken them away, yes, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; and I alone have escaped to tell you."

¹⁸While he was still speaking, there came also another, and said, "Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house,

¹⁹and behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young men, and they are dead. I alone have escaped to tell you."

²⁰Then Job arose, and tore his robe, and shaved his head, and fell down on the ground, and worshiped.

²¹He said, "Naked I came out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord."

²²In all this, Job did not sin, nor charge God with wrongdoing.

¹Again it happened on the day when the God's sons came to present themselves before the Lord, that Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord.

²The Lord said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan answered the Lord, and said, "From going back and forth in the earth, and from walking up and down in it."

³The Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? For there is none like him in the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil. He still maintains his integrity, although you incited me against him, to ruin him without cause."

⁴Satan answered the Lord, and said, "Skin for skin. Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life.

⁵But put forth your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will renounce you to your face."

⁶The Lord said to Satan, "Behold, he is in your hand. Only spare his life."

⁷So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord, and struck Job with painful sores from the sole of his foot to his head.

⁸He took for himself a potsherd to scrape himself with, and he sat among the ashes.

⁹Then his wife said to him, "Do you still maintain your integrity? Renounce God, and die."

¹⁰But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

¹¹Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come on him, they each came from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, and they made an appointment together to come to sympathize with him and to comfort him.

¹²When they lifted up their eyes from a distance, and did not recognize him, they raised their voices, and wept; and they each tore his robe, and sprinkled dust on their heads toward the sky.

¹³So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.

¹If I speak with the languages of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal.

²If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

³If I dole out all my goods to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

⁴Love is patient and is kind; love does not envy. Love does not brag, is not proud,

⁵doesn't behave itself inappropriately, does not seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil;

⁶doesn't rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;

⁷bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will be done away with. Where there are various languages, they will cease. Where there is knowledge, it will be done away with.

⁹For we know in part, and we prophesy in part;

¹⁰but when that which is complete has come, then that which is partial will be done away with.

¹¹When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child. Now that I have become a man, I have put away childish things.

¹²For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I was also fully known.

¹³But now faith, hope, and love remain-these three. The greatest of these is love.

¹Praise Yah! Praise the Lord, my soul.

²While I live, I will praise the Lord. I will sing praises to my God as long as I exist.

³Do not put your trust in princes, each a son of man in whom there is no help.

⁴His spirit departs, and he returns to the earth. In that very day, his thoughts perish.

⁵Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord, his God:

⁶who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps truth forever;

⁷who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The Lord frees the prisoners.

⁸The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord raises up those who are bowed down. The Lord loves the righteous.

⁹The Lord preserves the foreigners. He upholds the fatherless and widow, but the way of the wicked he turns upside down.

¹⁰The Lord will reign forever; your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise Yah!

¹A good name is more desirable than great riches, and loving favor is better than silver and gold.

²The rich and the poor have this in common: The Lord is the maker of them all.

³A prudent man sees danger, and hides himself; but the simple pass on, and suffer for it.

⁴The result of humility and the fear of the Lord is wealth, honor, and life.

⁵Thorns and snares are in the path of the wicked: whoever guards his soul stays from them.

⁶Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.

⁷The rich rule over the poor. The borrower is servant to the lender.

⁸He who sows wickedness reaps trouble, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed.

⁹He who has a generous eye will be blessed; for he shares his food with the poor.

¹⁰Drive out the mocker, and strife will go out; yes, quarrels and insults will stop.

¹¹He who loves purity of heart and speaks gracefully is the king's friend.

¹²The eyes of the Lord watch over knowledge; but he frustrates the words of the unfaithful.

¹³The sluggard says, "There is a lion outside! I will be killed in the streets!"

¹⁴The mouth of an adulteress is a deep pit: he who is under the Lord's wrath will fall into it.

¹⁵Folly is bound up in the heart of a child: the rod of discipline drives it far from him.

¹⁶Whoever oppresses the poor for his own increase and whoever gives to the rich, both come to poverty.

¹⁷Turn your ear, and listen to the words of the wise. Apply your heart to my teaching.

¹⁸For it is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you, if all of them are ready on your lips.

¹⁹That your trust may be in the Lord, I teach you today, even you.

²⁰Haven't I written to you thirty excellent things of counsel and knowledge,

²¹To teach you truth, reliable words, to give sound answers to the ones who sent you?

²²Do not exploit the poor, because he is poor; and do not crush the needy in court;

²³for the Lord will plead their case, and plunder the life of those who plunder them.

²⁴Do not befriend a hot-tempered man, and do not associate with one who harbors anger:

²⁵lest you learn his ways, and ensnare your soul.

²⁶Do not be one of those who strike hands, of those who are collateral for debts.

²⁷If you do not have means to pay, why should he take away your bed from under you?

²⁸Do not move the ancient boundary stone, which your fathers have set up.

²⁹Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will serve kings. He won't serve obscure men.