Today's Reading

¹"Why aren't times laid up by the Almighty? Why do not those who know him see his days?

²There are people who remove the landmarks. They violently take away flocks, and feed them.

³They drive away the donkey of the fatherless, and they take the widow's ox for a pledge.

⁴They turn the needy out of the way. The poor of the earth all hide themselves.

⁵Behold, as wild donkeys in the desert, they go forth to their work, seeking diligently for food. The wilderness yields them bread for their children.

⁶They cut their provender in the field. They glean the vineyard of the wicked.

⁷They lie all night naked without clothing, and have no covering in the cold.

⁸They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for lack of a shelter.

⁹There are those who pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor,

¹⁰So that they go around naked without clothing. Being hungry, they carry the sheaves.

¹¹They make oil within the walls of these men. They tread wine presses, and suffer thirst.

¹²From out of the populous city, men groan. The soul of the wounded cries out, yet God doesn't regard the folly.

¹³"These are of those who rebel against the light. They do not know its ways, nor abide in its paths.

¹⁴The murderer rises with the light. He kills the poor and needy. In the night he is like a thief.

¹⁵The eye also of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, 'No eye shall see me.' He disguises his face.

¹⁶In the dark they dig through houses. They shut themselves up in the daytime. They do not know the light.

¹⁷For the morning is to all of them like thick darkness, for they know the terrors of the thick darkness.

¹⁸"They are foam on the surface of the waters. Their portion is cursed in the earth. They do not turn into the way of the vineyards.

¹⁹Drought and heat consume the snow waters, so does Sheol those who have sinned.

²⁰The womb shall forget him. The worm shall feed sweetly on him. He shall be no more remembered. Unrighteousness shall be broken as a tree.

²¹He devours the barren who do not bear. He shows no kindness to the widow.

²²Yet God preserves the mighty by his power. He rises up who has no assurance of life.

²³God gives them security, and they rest in it. His eyes are on their ways.

²⁴They are exalted; yet a little while, and they are gone. Yes, they are brought low, they are taken out of the way as all others, and are cut off as the tops of the ears of grain.

²⁵If it isn't so now, who will prove me a liar, and make my speech worth nothing?"

¹Then Bildad the Shuhite answered,

²"Dominion and fear are with him. He makes peace in his high places.

³Can his armies be counted? On whom does his light not arise?

⁴How then can man be just with God? Or how can he who is born of a woman be clean?

⁵Behold, even the moon has no brightness, and the stars are not pure in his sight;

⁶How much less man, who is a worm, the son of man, who is a worm!"

¹Then Job answered,

²"How have you helped him who is without power! How have you saved the arm that has no strength!

³How have you counseled him who has no wisdom, and plentifully declared sound knowledge!

⁴To whom have you uttered words? Whose spirit came forth from you?

⁵"Those who are deceased tremble, those beneath the waters and all that live in them.

⁶Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering.

⁷He stretches out the north over empty space, and hangs the earth on nothing.

⁸He binds up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not burst under them.

⁹He encloses the face of his throne, and spreads his cloud on it.

¹⁰He has described a boundary on the surface of the waters, and to the confines of light and darkness.

¹¹The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his rebuke.

¹²He stirs up the sea with his power, and by his understanding he strikes through Rahab.

¹³By his Spirit the heavens are garnished. His hand has pierced the swift serpent.

¹⁴Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways. How small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?"

¹For we know that if the earthly house of our tent is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.

²For truly in this we groan, longing to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven;

³if so be that being clothed we will not be found naked.

⁴For indeed we who are in this tent do groan, being burdened; not that we desire to be unclothed, but that we desire to be clothed, that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

⁵Now he who made us for this very thing is God, who also gave to us the down payment of the Spirit.

⁶Therefore, we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord;

⁷for we walk by faith, not by sight.

⁸We are of good courage, I say, and are willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord.

⁹Therefore also we make it our aim, whether at home or absent, to be well pleasing to him.

¹⁰For we must all be revealed before the judgment seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

¹¹Knowing therefore the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are revealed to God; and I hope that we are revealed also in your consciences.

¹²For we are not commending ourselves to you again, but speak as giving you occasion of boasting on our behalf, that you may have something to answer those who boast in appearance, and not in heart.

¹³For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God. Or if we are of sober mind, it is for you.

¹⁴For the love of Christ constrains us; because we judge thus, that one died for all, therefore all died.

¹⁵He died for all, that those who live should no longer live to themselves, but to him who for their sakes died and rose again.

¹⁶Therefore we know no one after the flesh from now on. Even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now we know him so no more.

¹⁷Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, new things have come.

¹⁸But all things are of God, who reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ, and gave to us the ministry of reconciliation;

¹⁹namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not reckoning to them their trespasses, and having committed to us the word of reconciliation.

²⁰We are therefore ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

²¹For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

¹The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, the oracle: the man says to Ithiel, to Ithiel and Ucal:

²"Surely I am the most ignorant man, and do not have a man's understanding.

³I have not learned wisdom, neither do I have the knowledge of the Holy One.

⁴Who has ascended up into heaven, and descended? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has bound the waters in his garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son's name, if you know?

⁵"Every word of God is flawless. He is a shield to those who take refuge in him.

⁶Do not add to his words, lest he reprove you, and you be found a liar.

⁷"Two things I have asked of you; do not deny me before I die:

⁸Remove far from me falsehood and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is needful for me;

⁹lest I be full, deny you, and say, 'Who is the Lord?' or lest I be poor, and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.

¹⁰"Do not slander a servant to his master, lest he curse you, and you be held guilty.

¹¹There is a generation that curses their father, and doesn't bless their mother.

¹²There is a generation that is pure in their own eyes, yet are not washed from their filthiness.

¹³There is a generation, oh how lofty are their eyes! Their eyelids are lifted up.

¹⁴There is a generation whose teeth are like swords, and their jaws like knives, to devour the poor from the earth, and the needy from among men.

¹⁵"The leach has two daughters: 'Give, give.' "There are three things that are never satisfied; four that do not say, 'Enough:'

¹⁶Sheol, the barren womb; the earth that is not satisfied with water; and the fire that doesn't say, 'Enough.'

¹⁷"The eye that mocks at his father, and scorns obedience to his mother: the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, the young eagles shall eat it.

¹⁸"There are three things which are too amazing for me, four which I do not understand:

¹⁹The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent on a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maiden.

²⁰"So is the way of an adulterous woman: she eats and wipes her mouth, and says, 'I have done nothing wrong.'

²¹"For three things the earth tremble, and under four, it can't bear up:

²²For a servant when he is king; a fool when he is filled with food;

²³for an unloved woman when she is married; and a handmaid who is heir to her mistress.

²⁴"There are four things which are little on the earth, but they are exceedingly wise:

²⁵the ants are not a strong people, yet they provide their food in the summer.

²⁶The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks.

²⁷The locusts have no king, yet they advance in ranks.

²⁸You can catch a lizard with your hands, yet it is in kings' palaces.

²⁹"There are three things which are stately in their march, four which are stately in going:

³⁰The lion, which is mightiest among animals, and doesn't turn away for any;

³¹the greyhound, the male goat also; and the king against whom there is no rising up.

³²"If you have done foolishly in lifting up yourself, or if you have thought evil, put your hand over your mouth.

³³For as the churning of milk brings forth butter, and the wringing of the nose brings forth blood; so the forcing of wrath brings forth strife."