Job 25 - 26, Luke 9, Psalm 39 — Legacy Standard Bible

Bildad Asks, Can Man Be Right with God?

25Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said,

²“^aRule and dread ¹belong to HimWho makes peace in ^bHis heights.³“Is there any number to ^aHis troops?And upon whom does His light not rise?⁴“How then can mortal man be ^aright with God?Or how can he be ^bpure who is born of woman?⁵“Behold even ^athe moon has no brightness,And the ^bstars are not pure in His sight;⁶How much less ^amortal man, that ^bmaggot,And the son of man, that worm!”

Who Can Understand God?

26Then Job answered and said,

²“What a help you are to ^athe one without power!How you have saved the arm ^bwithout strength!³“What counsel you have given to one without wisdom!What sound wisdom you have abundantly made known!⁴“To whom have you declared words?And whose breath comes out from you?⁵“The ¹^,^adeparted spirits trembleUnder the waters and their inhabitants.⁶“Naked is ^aSheol before Him,And ¹^,^bAbaddon has no covering.⁷“He ^astretches out the north over what is formlessAnd hangs the earth on nothing.⁸“He ^awraps up the waters in His clouds,And the cloud does not break out under them.⁹“He ¹^,^aobscures the face of His ²throneAnd spreads His cloud over it.¹⁰“He has marked a ^acircle on the surface of the watersAt the ^bboundary of light and darkness.¹¹“The pillars of heaven trembleAnd are astonished at His rebuke.¹²“He ^aquieted the sea with His power,And by His ^bunderstanding He crushed ^cRahab.¹³“By His breath the ^aheavens are made beautiful;His hand has pierced ^bthe fleeing serpent.¹⁴“Behold, these are the fringes of His ways;And how only with a whisper of ^aa word do we hear of Him!But His mighty ^bthunder, who can understand?”

The Twelve Disciples Sent Out

9^aAnd calling the twelve together, He gave them power and authority over all the demons and to heal diseases. ²And He sent them out to ^apreach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. ³And He said to them, “^aTake nothing for your journey, ^bneither a staff, nor a ¹bag, nor bread, nor money; nor have two ²tunics apiece. ⁴“And whatever house you enter, stay there ¹until you leave that city. ⁵“And as for those who do not receive you, as you go out from that city, ^ashake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” ⁶And departing, they were going ¹throughout the villages, ^aproclaiming the gospel and healing everywhere.

⁷^aNow ^bHerod the tetrarch heard of all that was happening, and he was greatly perplexed, because it was said by some that ^cJohn had risen from the dead, ⁸and by some that ^aElijah had appeared, and by others that one of the prophets of old had risen again. ⁹And Herod said, “I myself had John beheaded, but who is this man about whom I hear such things?” And ^ahe kept trying to see Him.

¹⁰^aAnd when the apostles returned, they recounted to Him all that they had done. ^bTaking them with Him, He slipped away by Himself to a city called ^cBethsaida. ¹¹But when the crowds became aware of this, they followed Him; and welcoming them, He began speaking to them about the kingdom of God and curing those who had need of healing.

Jesus Feeds Five Thousand

¹²Now the day ¹was ending, and the twelve came and said to Him, “Send the crowd away, that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside and obtain lodging and find provisions, for here we are in a desolate place.” ¹³But He said to them, “You give them something to eat!” And they said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless perhaps we go and buy food for all these people.” ¹⁴(For there were about five thousand men.) And He said to His disciples, “Have them ¹sit down ^ain groups of about fifty each.” ¹⁵And they did so, and had them all ¹sit down. ¹⁶Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed them. And He broke them and kept giving them to the disciples to set before the crowd. ¹⁷And they all ate and were satisfied; and ¹the broken pieces which they had left over were picked up, twelve ^abaskets full.

Peter Confesses Jesus Is the Christ

¹⁸^aAnd it happened that while He was ^bpraying alone, the disciples were with Him, and He questioned them, saying, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” ¹⁹And they answered and said, “John the Baptist, and others say Elijah, but others, that one of the prophets of old has risen again.” ²⁰And He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered and said, “^aThe ¹Christ of God.” ²¹But He ¹^,^awarned them and directed them not to tell this to anyone, ²²^asaying, “^bThe Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day.”

Take Up Your Cross

²³And He was saying to them all, “^aIf anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. ²⁴“For ^awhoever wishes to save his ¹life will lose it, but whoever loses his ²life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. ²⁵“For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and ^aloses or forfeits himself? ²⁶“^aFor whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. ²⁷“But I say to you truthfully, ^athere are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”

The Transfiguration

²⁸^aNow it happened some eight days after these words, that taking along ^bPeter and John and James, He ^cwent up on the mountain ^dto pray. ²⁹And it happened that while He was ^apraying, the appearance of His face ^bbecame different, and His clothing became white and ¹gleaming. ³⁰And behold, two men were talking with Him, and they were Moses and Elijah, ³¹who, appearing in ¹glory, were speaking of His ²^,^adeparture which He was about to fulfill at Jerusalem. ³²Now Peter and his companions ^ahad been overcome with sleep, but when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men standing with Him. ³³And it happened that as they were leaving Him, Peter said to Jesus, “^aMaster, it is good for us to be here; ^blet us make three ¹booths: one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—^cnot realizing what he was saying. ³⁴While he was saying this, a cloud ¹formed and began to overshadow them; and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. ³⁵Then ^aa voice came out of the cloud, saying, “^bThis is My Son, My Chosen One; listen to Him!” ³⁶And when the voice ¹had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And ^athey kept silent, and reported to no one in those days any of the things which they had seen.

Jesus Casts Out a Demon

³⁷^aNow it happened on the next day, that when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met Him. ³⁸And behold, a man from the crowd shouted, saying, “Teacher, I beg You to look at my son, for he is my ¹only one, ³⁹and behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly screams, and it throws him into a convulsion with foaming at the mouth, and only with difficulty does it leave him, mauling him as it leaves. ⁴⁰“And I begged Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not.” ⁴¹And Jesus answered and said, “You unbelieving and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.” ⁴²Now while he was still approaching, the demon ¹slammed him to the ground and threw him into a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy and gave him back to his father. ⁴³And they were all astonished at the ^amajesty of God. Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection ^bBut while everyone was marveling at all that He was doing, He said to His disciples, ⁴⁴“Put these words into your ears; ^afor the Son of Man is going to be ¹delivered into the hands of men.” ⁴⁵But ^athey ¹did not understand this statement, and it was concealed from them so that they would not perceive it, and they were afraid to ask Him about this statement.

Who Is the Greatest?

⁴⁶^aNow an argument ¹started among them as to which of them might be the greatest. ⁴⁷But Jesus, ^aknowing ¹what they were thinking in their heart, took a child and stood him by His side, ⁴⁸and said to them, “^aWhoever receives this child in My name receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me; ^bfor the one who is least among all of you, this is the one who is great.”

⁴⁹^aAnd John answered and said, “^bMaster, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we tried to hinder him because he does not follow along with us.” ⁵⁰But Jesus said to him, “Do not hinder him, ^afor he who is not against you is ¹for you.”

⁵¹Now it happened that when the days for ^aHim to be taken up were soon to be fulfilled, He set His face ^bto go to Jerusalem; ⁵²and He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went and entered a village of the ^aSamaritans to ¹make arrangements for Him. ⁵³But they did not receive Him, ^abecause ¹He was journeying with His face toward Jerusalem. ⁵⁴And when His disciples ^aJames and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to ^bcommand fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” ⁵⁵But He turned and rebuked them, ¹[and said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of, ⁵⁶for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”] And they went on to another village.

The Cost of Following Jesus

⁵⁷^aAnd as they were going along the road, ^bsomeone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.” ⁵⁸And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the ¹air have ²nests, but ^athe Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” ⁵⁹And He said to another, “^aFollow Me.” But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” ⁶⁰But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and ^aproclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.” ⁶¹Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord, but ^afirst permit me to say farewell to those at home.” ⁶²But Jesus said to him, “^aNo one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Yahweh, Make Me Know My End

For the choir director. For ¹Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.

I said, “I will ^akeep watch over my waysThat I ^bmay not sin with my tongue;I will keep watch over ^cmy mouth as with a muzzleWhile the wicked are in my presence.”²I was ^amute with silence,I even kept silent from speaking good,And my anguish grew worse.³My ^aheart was hot within me,While I meditated the fire was burning;Then I spoke with my tongue:⁴“Yahweh, cause me to know ^amy endAnd what is the extent of my days;Let me know how ^btransient I am.⁵“Behold, You have made ^amy days as ¹handbreadths,And my ^blifetime as nothing before You;Surely every man, even standing firm, is ²altogether ^cvanity. ³ Selah.⁶“Surely every man ^awalks about as ¹a shadow;Surely they make an ^buproar in vain;He ^cpiles up riches and does not know who will gather them.⁷“And now, Lord, what do I hope in?My ^aexpectation is in You.⁸“^aDeliver me from all my transgressions;Make me not the ^breproach of the wicked fool.⁹“I have become ^amute, I do not open my mouth,Because it is ^bYou who have done it.¹⁰“^aRemove Your plague from me;Because of ^bthe opposition of Your hand I am wasting away.¹¹“With ^areproofs You chasten a man for iniquity;You ^bconsume as a moth what is precious to him;Surely ^cevery man is vanity. Selah.¹²“^aHear my prayer, O Yahweh, and give ear to my cry for help;Do not be silent ^bat my tears;For I am ^ca sojourner with You,A ^dforeign resident like all my fathers.¹³“^aTurn Your gaze away from me, that I may ¹smile againBefore I go and am no more.”