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Job

Job 37

1 “At this my heart pounds

and leaps from its place.

2 Listen! Listen to the roar of his voice,

to the rumbling that comes from his mouth.

3 He unleashes his lightning beneath the whole heaven

and sends it to the ends of the earth.

4 After that comes the sound of his roar;

he thunders with his majestic voice.

When his voice resounds,

he holds nothing back.

5 God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways;

he does great things beyond our understanding.

6 He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’

and to the rain shower, ‘Be a mighty downpour.’

7 So that everyone he has made may know his work,

he stops all people from their labor.

8 The animals take cover;

they remain in their dens.

9 The tempest comes out from its chamber,

the cold from the driving winds.

10 The breath of God produces ice,

and the broad waters become frozen.

11 He loads the clouds with moisture;

he scatters his lightning through them.

12 At his direction they swirl around

over the face of the whole earth

to do whatever he commands them.

13 He brings the clouds to punish people,

or to water his earth and show his love.

14 “Listen to this, Job;

stop and consider God’s wonders.

15 Do you know how God controls the clouds

and makes his lightning flash?

16 Do you know how the clouds hang poised,

those wonders of him who has perfect knowledge?

17 You who swelter in your clothes

when the land lies hushed under the south wind,

18 can you join him in spreading out the skies,

hard as a mirror of cast bronze?

19 “Tell us what we should say to him;

we cannot draw up our case because of our darkness.

20 Should he be told that I want to speak?

Would anyone ask to be swallowed up?

21 Now no one can look at the sun,

bright as it is in the skies

after the wind has swept them clean.

22 Out of the north he comes in golden splendor;

God comes in awesome majesty.

23 The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power;

in his justice and great righteousness, he does not oppress.

24 Therefore, people revere him,

for does he not have regard for all the wise in heart?”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/JOB/37-0fd627e970eef663e977c66ae22d0897.mp3?version_id=111—

Categories
Job

Job 38

The Lord Speaks

1 Then theLordspoke to Job out of the storm. He said:

2 “Who is this that obscures my plans

with words without knowledge?

3 Brace yourself like a man;

I will question you,

and you shall answer me.

4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?

Tell me, if you understand.

5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!

Who stretched a measuring line across it?

6 On what were its footings set,

or who laid its cornerstone—

7 while the morning stars sang together

and all the angelsshouted for joy?

8 “Who shut up the sea behind doors

when it burst forth from the womb,

9 when I made the clouds its garment

and wrapped it in thick darkness,

10 when I fixed limits for it

and set its doors and bars in place,

11 when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther;

here is where your proud waves halt’?

12 “Have you ever given orders to the morning,

or shown the dawn its place,

13 that it might take the earth by the edges

and shake the wicked out of it?

14 The earth takes shape like clay under a seal;

its features stand out like those of a garment.

15 The wicked are denied their light,

and their upraised arm is broken.

16 “Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea

or walked in the recesses of the deep?

17 Have the gates of death been shown to you?

Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?

18 Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth?

Tell me, if you know all this.

19 “What is the way to the abode of light?

And where does darkness reside?

20 Can you take them to their places?

Do you know the paths to their dwellings?

21 Surely you know, for you were already born!

You have lived so many years!

22 “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow

or seen the storehouses of the hail,

23 which I reserve for times of trouble,

for days of war and battle?

24 What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed,

or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth?

25 Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain,

and a path for the thunderstorm,

26 to water a land where no one lives,

an uninhabited desert,

27 to satisfy a desolate wasteland

and make it sprout with grass?

28 Does the rain have a father?

Who fathers the drops of dew?

29 From whose womb comes the ice?

Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens

30 when the waters become hard as stone,

when the surface of the deep is frozen?

31 “Can you bind the chainsof the Pleiades?

Can you loosen Orion’s belt?

32 Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons

or lead out the Bearwith its cubs?

33 Do you know the laws of the heavens?

Can you set up God’sdominion over the earth?

34 “Can you raise your voice to the clouds

and cover yourself with a flood of water?

35 Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?

Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?

36 Who gives the ibis wisdom

or gives the rooster understanding?

37 Who has the wisdom to count the clouds?

Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens

38 when the dust becomes hard

and the clods of earth stick together?

39 “Do you hunt the prey for the lioness

and satisfy the hunger of the lions

40 when they crouch in their dens

or lie in wait in a thicket?

41 Who provides food for the raven

when its young cry out to God

and wander about for lack of food?

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/JOB/38-ecb9f57152422ef562700c3862efb92d.mp3?version_id=111—

Categories
Job

Job 39

1 “Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?

Do you watch when the doe bears her fawn?

2 Do you count the months till they bear?

Do you know the time they give birth?

3 They crouch down and bring forth their young;

their labor pains are ended.

4 Their young thrive and grow strong in the wilds;

they leave and do not return.

5 “Who let the wild donkey go free?

Who untied its ropes?

6 I gave it the wasteland as its home,

the salt flats as its habitat.

7 It laughs at the commotion in the town;

it does not hear a driver’s shout.

8 It ranges the hills for its pasture

and searches for any green thing.

9 “Will the wild ox consent to serve you?

Will it stay by your manger at night?

10 Can you hold it to the furrow with a harness?

Will it till the valleys behind you?

11 Will you rely on it for its great strength?

Will you leave your heavy work to it?

12 Can you trust it to haul in your grain

and bring it to your threshing floor?

13 “The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully,

though they cannot compare

with the wings and feathers of the stork.

14 She lays her eggs on the ground

and lets them warm in the sand,

15 unmindful that a foot may crush them,

that some wild animal may trample them.

16 She treats her young harshly, as if they were not hers;

she cares not that her labor was in vain,

17 for God did not endow her with wisdom

or give her a share of good sense.

18 Yet when she spreads her feathers to run,

she laughs at horse and rider.

19 “Do you give the horse its strength

or clothe its neck with a flowing mane?

20 Do you make it leap like a locust,

striking terror with its proud snorting?

21 It paws fiercely, rejoicing in its strength,

and charges into the fray.

22 It laughs at fear, afraid of nothing;

it does not shy away from the sword.

23 The quiver rattles against its side,

along with the flashing spear and lance.

24 In frenzied excitement it eats up the ground;

it cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds.

25 At the blast of the trumpet it snorts, ‘Aha!’

It catches the scent of battle from afar,

the shout of commanders and the battle cry.

26 “Does the hawk take flight by your wisdom

and spread its wings toward the south?

27 Does the eagle soar at your command

and build its nest on high?

28 It dwells on a cliff and stays there at night;

a rocky crag is its stronghold.

29 From there it looks for food;

its eyes detect it from afar.

30 Its young ones feast on blood,

and where the slain are, there it is.”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/JOB/39-712de61922d15db3d757bf208f8f6b5f.mp3?version_id=111—

Categories
Job

Job 40

1 TheLordsaid to Job:

2 “Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him?

Let him who accuses God answer him!”

3 Then Job answered theLord:

4 “I am unworthy—how can I reply to you?

I put my hand over my mouth.

5 I spoke once, but I have no answer—

twice, but I will say no more.”

6 Then theLordspoke to Job out of the storm:

7 “Brace yourself like a man;

I will question you,

and you shall answer me.

8 “Would you discredit my justice?

Would you condemn me to justify yourself?

9 Do you have an arm like God’s,

and can your voice thunder like his?

10 Then adorn yourself with glory and splendor,

and clothe yourself in honor and majesty.

11 Unleash the fury of your wrath,

look at all who are proud and bring them low,

12 look at all who are proud and humble them,

crush the wicked where they stand.

13 Bury them all in the dust together;

shroud their faces in the grave.

14 Then I myself will admit to you

that your own right hand can save you.

15 “Look at Behemoth,

which I made along with you

and which feeds on grass like an ox.

16 What strength it has in its loins,

what power in the muscles of its belly!

17 Its tail sways like a cedar;

the sinews of its thighs are close-knit.

18 Its bones are tubes of bronze,

its limbs like rods of iron.

19 It ranks first among the works of God,

yet its Maker can approach it with his sword.

20 The hills bring it their produce,

and all the wild animals play nearby.

21 Under the lotus plants it lies,

hidden among the reeds in the marsh.

22 The lotuses conceal it in their shadow;

the poplars by the stream surround it.

23 A raging river does not alarm it;

it is secure, though the Jordan should surge against its mouth.

24 Can anyone capture it by the eyes,

or trap it and pierce its nose?

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/JOB/40-b43f74481bfaac5349d18b9fbb98b270.mp3?version_id=111—

Categories
Job

Job 41

1 “Can you pull in Leviathan with a fishhook

or tie down its tongue with a rope?

2 Can you put a cord through its nose

or pierce its jaw with a hook?

3 Will it keep begging you for mercy?

Will it speak to you with gentle words?

4 Will it make an agreement with you

for you to take it as your slave for life?

5 Can you make a pet of it like a bird

or put it on a leash for the young women in your house?

6 Will traders barter for it?

Will they divide it up among the merchants?

7 Can you fill its hide with harpoons

or its head with fishing spears?

8 If you lay a hand on it,

you will remember the struggle and never do it again!

9 Any hope of subduing it is false;

the mere sight of it is overpowering.

10 No one is fierce enough to rouse it.

Who then is able to stand against me?

11 Who has a claim against me that I must pay?

Everything under heaven belongs to me.

12 “I will not fail to speak of Leviathan’s limbs,

its strength and its graceful form.

13 Who can strip off its outer coat?

Who can penetrate its double coat of armor?

14 Who dares open the doors of its mouth,

ringed about with fearsome teeth?

15 Its back hasrows of shields

tightly sealed together;

16 each is so close to the next

that no air can pass between.

17 They are joined fast to one another;

they cling together and cannot be parted.

18 Its snorting throws out flashes of light;

its eyes are like the rays of dawn.

19 Flames stream from its mouth;

sparks of fire shoot out.

20 Smoke pours from its nostrils

as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.

21 Its breath sets coals ablaze,

and flames dart from its mouth.

22 Strength resides in its neck;

dismay goes before it.

23 The folds of its flesh are tightly joined;

they are firm and immovable.

24 Its chest is hard as rock,

hard as a lower millstone.

25 When it rises up, the mighty are terrified;

they retreat before its thrashing.

26 The sword that reaches it has no effect,

nor does the spear or the dart or the javelin.

27 Iron it treats like straw

and bronze like rotten wood.

28 Arrows do not make it flee;

slingstones are like chaff to it.

29 A club seems to it but a piece of straw;

it laughs at the rattling of the lance.

30 Its undersides are jagged potsherds,

leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge.

31 It makes the depths churn like a boiling caldron

and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment.

32 It leaves a glistening wake behind it;

one would think the deep had white hair.

33 Nothing on earth is its equal—

a creature without fear.

34 It looks down on all that are haughty;

it is king over all that are proud.”

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/JOB/41-d22cc1e100232b457c28ce9b501b3532.mp3?version_id=111—

Categories
Job

Job 42

Job

1 Then Job replied to theLord:

2 “I know that you can do all things;

no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

3 You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’

Surely I spoke of things I did not understand,

things too wonderful for me to know.

4 “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak;

I will question you,

and you shall answer me.’

5 My ears had heard of you

but now my eyes have seen you.

6 Therefore I despise myself

and repent in dust and ashes.”

Epilogue

7 After theLordhad said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.

8 So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. You have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.”

9 So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite did what theLordtold them; and theLordaccepted Job’s prayer.

10 After Job had prayed for his friends, theLordrestored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before.

11 All his brothers and sisters and everyone who had known him before came and ate with him in his house. They comforted and consoled him over all the trouble theLordhad brought on him, and each one gave him a piece of silverand a gold ring.

12 TheLordblessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the former part. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys.

13 And he also had seven sons and three daughters.

14 The first daughter he named Jemimah, the second Keziah and the third Keren-Happuch.

15 Nowhere in all the land were there found women as beautiful as Job’s daughters, and their father granted them an inheritance along with their brothers.

16 After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation.

17 And so Job died, an old man and full of years.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/JOB/42-fbe8f8ba297d6af82d5c94e3fe146dcf.mp3?version_id=111—

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Psalms

Psalms Intro

The book of Psalms is a collection of song lyrics. Like many songs, they were first written in response to events in the lives of their authors. Later, the whole community used them in worship. When Israel returned from exile in Babylon many of the songs from over the centuries were collected in the book of Psalms.

The book is structured into five parts marked off by the phrase,

Praise be to theLord… Amen and Amen!

These five “books” remind the reader of the five books of Moses. Like the law, these song lyrics can be read and studied for instruction. Psalm 1 emphasizes such meditation and seems to have been placed first to make this point.

The five books also tell a three-part story of Israel’s redemption: monarchy, exile and return. The psalms of King David dominate books one and two. The beginning and ending of book three highlight Israel’s exile. The fourth book ends with a plea that God bring the exiled people home. The fifth book declares that God has done just that. Now the reason for the group of praise psalms at the end of the book is apparent: God has been faithful, judging Israel in exile but then bringing the nation home again.

The book of Psalms thus operates at two levels: individually the songs explore a wide variety of honest spiritual responses to God, while the overall collection tells, and celebrates, the work of God in history to save his people.

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Psalms

Psalms 1

1 Blessed is the one

who does not walk in step with the wicked

or stand in the way that sinners take

or sit in the company of mockers,

2 but whose delight is in the law of theLord,

and who meditates on his law day and night.

3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,

which yields its fruit in season

and whose leaf does not wither—

whatever they do prospers.

4 Not so the wicked!

They are like chaff

that the wind blows away.

5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,

nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.

6 For theLordwatches over the way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/PSA/1-11a71eb0b1f244ad0c3a9e3cd4f56733.mp3?version_id=111—

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Psalms

Psalms 2

1 Why do the nations conspire

and the peoples plot in vain?

2 The kings of the earth rise up

and the rulers band together

against theLordand against his anointed, saying,

3 “Let us break their chains

and throw off their shackles.”

4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs;

the Lord scoffs at them.

5 He rebukes them in his anger

and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,

6 “I have installed my king

on Zion, my holy mountain.”

7 I will proclaim theLord’s decree:

He said to me, “You are my son;

today I have become your father.

8 Ask me,

and I will make the nations your inheritance,

the ends of the earth your possession.

9 You will break them with a rod of iron;

you will dash them to pieces like pottery.”

10 Therefore, you kings, be wise;

be warned, you rulers of the earth.

11 Serve theLordwith fear

and celebrate his rule with trembling.

12 Kiss his son, or he will be angry

and your way will lead to your destruction,

for his wrath can flare up in a moment.

Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/PSA/2-3b31c1bdbb3150fd4e9e1732044389f1.mp3?version_id=111—

Categories
Psalms

Psalms 3

A psalm of David. When he fled from his son Absalom.

1 Lord, how many are my foes!

How many rise up against me!

2 Many are saying of me,

“God will not deliver him.”

3 But you,Lord, are a shield around me,

my glory, the One who lifts my head high.

4 I call out to theLord,

and he answers me from his holy mountain.

5 I lie down and sleep;

I wake again, because theLordsustains me.

6 I will not fear though tens of thousands

assail me on every side.

7 Arise,Lord!

Deliver me, my God!

Strike all my enemies on the jaw;

break the teeth of the wicked.

8 From theLordcomes deliverance.

May your blessing be on your people.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/3/32k/PSA/3-478778f6d854a5e46341a1cff0ecbb5c.mp3?version_id=111—