Job 33 - 34, Luke 13, Psalm 44 — Legacy Standard Bible

Elihu Asks Job to Hear and Respond

33“However now, Job, please ^ahear my speech,And give ear to all my words.²“Behold now, I open my mouth;My tongue in my ¹mouth speaks.³“My words are from the uprightness of my heart,And my lips speak ^aknowledge sincerely.⁴“The ^aSpirit of God has made me,And the ^bbreath of ¹the Almighty gives me life.⁵“^aRespond to me if you can;Arrange yourselves before me, take your stand.⁶“Behold, I belong to God like you;I too have been ¹formed out of the ^aclay.⁷“Behold, ^ano dread of me should terrify you,Nor should my pressure weigh heavily on you.⁸“Surely you have spoken in my hearing,And I have heard the sound of your speech:⁹‘I am ^apure, ^bwithout transgression;I am innocent, and there ^cis no guilt in me.¹⁰‘Behold, He finds reasons for opposition against me;He ^acounts me as His enemy.¹¹‘He ^aputs my feet in the stocks;He keeps watch over all my paths.’¹²“Behold, let me answer you; ^ayou are not right in this,For God is greater than mortal man.¹³“Why do you ^acontend against Him?For He does not give an answer for all His doings.¹⁴“Indeed ^aGod speaks once,Or twice, yet no one perceives it.¹⁵“In a ^adream, a vision of the night,When deep sleep falls on men,While they slumber in their beds,¹⁶Then ^aHe opens the ears of men,And seals in their discipline,¹⁷That He may turn man aside from his conduct,And ¹keep man from pride;¹⁸He ^aholds back his soul from the pit,And his life from passing over ¹to death ^bby a weapon.¹⁹“¹Man is also reproved with ^apain on his bed,And with unceasing contention in his bones,²⁰So that his life ^aloathes bread,And his soul favorite food.²¹“His ^aflesh wastes away from sight,And his ^bbones which were not seen stick out.²²“Then ^ahis soul draws near to the pit,And his life to those who bring death.²³“If there is an angel as ^amediator for him,One out of a thousand,To declare to a man what is ¹right for him,²⁴Then let him be gracious to him, and say,‘Deliver him from ^agoing down to the pit;I have found ^batonement’;²⁵Let his flesh become fresher than in youth,Let him return to the days of his youthful vigor;²⁶Then he will ^aentreat God, and He will accept him,And ^bhe will see His face with joyful shouts,And He may restore His righteousness to man.²⁷“He will sing to men and say,‘I ^ahave sinned and perverted what is right,But He has not done ^bwhat is due to me.²⁸‘He has redeemed my soul from passing into the pit,And my life shall ^asee the light.’²⁹“Behold, God does ^aall these things twice, three times with men,³⁰To ^abring back his soul from the pit,That he may be enlightened with the light of life.³¹“Pay attention, O Job, listen to me;Keep silent, and I will speak.³²“Then if ¹you have any speech, respond to me;Speak, for I desire to prove you righteous.³³“If not, ^alisten to me;Keep silent, and I will teach you wisdom.”

Elihu Answers That God Will Be Just

34Then Elihu answered and said,

²“Hear my speech, you wise men,And give ear to me, you who know.³“For ^athe ear tests wordsAs the palate tastes food.⁴“Let us choose for ourselves what is just;Let us know among ourselves what is good.⁵“For Job has said, ‘^aI am righteous,But ^bGod has removed my justice;⁶¹Should I lie concerning my justice?My ²^,^awound is incurable, though I am without transgression.’⁷“What man is like Job,Who ^adrinks up mocking like water,⁸But he travels ^ain company with the workers of iniquity,And walks with wicked men?⁹“For he has said, ‘^aIt is of no use to a manWhen he ¹is pleased with God.’¹⁰“Therefore, listen to me, you men with a heart of wisdom.Far be it from God to ^ado injustice,And from the Almighty to do wrong.¹¹“For He pays a man according to ^ahis work,And makes ¹him find it according to his way.¹²“Truly, ^aGod will not act wickedly,And the Almighty will not pervert justice.¹³“Who ^aappointed Him with authority over the earth?And who ^bhas laid on Him the whole world?¹⁴“If He should set His heart on it,If He should ^agather to Himself His spirit and His breath,¹⁵All ^aflesh would breathe its last together,And man would ^breturn to dust.¹⁶“But if you have understanding, hear this;Give ear to the sound of my speech.¹⁷“Shall ^aone who hates justice ¹rule?And ^bwill you condemn the righteous mighty One,¹⁸Who says to a king, ‘Vile one,’To nobles, ‘Wicked ones’;¹⁹Who shows no ^apartiality to princesNor recognizes the rich above the poor,For they all are the ^bwork of His hands?²⁰“In a moment they die, and ^aat midnightPeople are shaken and pass away,And ^bthe mighty are taken away without a hand.²¹“For ^aHis eyes are upon the ways of a man,And He sees all his steps.²²“There is ^ano darkness or shadow of deathWhere the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.²³“¹For He does not ^aneed to consider a man further,That he should go before God in judgment.²⁴“He breaks in pieces ^amighty men without searching anything out,And sets others in their place.²⁵“Therefore He ^arecognizes their labors,And ^bHe overthrows them in the night,And they are crushed.²⁶“He ^astrikes them like the wicked¹In a public place,²⁷Because they ^aturned aside from following Him,And ^bhad no insight from any of His ways;²⁸So that they caused ^athe cry of the poor to come to Him,And that He might ^bhear the cry of the afflicted.²⁹So if He keeps quiet, who then can condemn?So if He hides His face, who then can perceive Him?He is above both nation and man altogether,³⁰So that ^agodless men would not ruleNor be snares of the people.³¹“For has anyone said to God,‘I have borne chastisement;I will not work destructively anymore;³²Instruct me what I do not behold;If I have ^adone injustice,I will not do it again’?³³“Shall He ^arepay on your terms, because you have rejected it?For you must choose, and not I;Therefore say what you know.³⁴“Men with a heart of wisdom will say to me,And a wise man who hears me,³⁵‘Job ^aspeaks without knowledge,And his words are without insight.³⁶‘Job ought to be tested ¹to the limitBecause he answers ^alike wicked men.³⁷‘For he adds ^atransgression to his sin;He ^bstrikes his hands together among us,And multiplies his words against God.’”

Repent or Perish

13Now at that same time there were some present who were reporting to Him about the Galileans whose blood ^aPilate had ¹mixed with their sacrifices. ²And Jesus answered and said to them, “^aDo you think that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered these things? ³“I tell you, no, but unless you ¹repent, you will all likewise perish. ⁴“Or do you think that those eighteen on whom the tower in ^aSiloam fell and killed them were worse ¹^,^boffenders than all the men who live in Jerusalem? ⁵“I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree

⁶And He was telling this parable: “A man had ^aa fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came seeking fruit on it and did not find any. ⁷“And he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘Behold, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree ¹without finding any. ^aCut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?’ ⁸“And he answered and said to him, ‘Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in manure, ⁹and if it bears fruit next year, fine, but if not, cut it down.’”

A Woman Healed on the Sabbath

¹⁰And He was ^ateaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. ¹¹And behold, there was a woman who for eighteen years had ¹^,^aa sickness caused by a spirit, and she was bent double, and could not straighten up at all. ¹²But when Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your sickness.” ¹³And He ^alaid His hands on her, and immediately she was made erect again and began ^bglorifying God. ¹⁴But ^athe synagogue official, indignant because Jesus ^bhealed on the Sabbath, answered and was saying to the crowd, “^cThere are six days in which work should be done; so come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” ¹⁵But ^athe Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites, ^bdoes not each of you on the Sabbath release his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead it away to water it? ¹⁶“And this woman, ^abeing a daughter of Abraham, whom ^bSatan has bound for—behold—eighteen years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?” ¹⁷And as He said this, all His opponents were being put to shame; and ^athe entire crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by Him.

The Parables of the Mustard Seed and the Leaven

¹⁸Therefore, ^aHe was saying, “^bWhat is the kingdom of God like, and to what shall I compare it? ¹⁹“It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and threw into his own garden, and it grew and became a tree, and ^athe birds of the ¹air nested in its branches.”

²⁰And again He said, “^aTo what shall I compare the kingdom of God? ²¹“^aIt is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in ¹^,^bthree sata of flour until it was all leavened.”

The Narrow Door

²²And He was passing through from one city and village to another, teaching, and ^aproceeding on His way to Jerusalem. ²³And someone said to Him, “Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?” And He said to them, ²⁴“^aStrive to enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. ²⁵“Once the head of the house gets up and ^ashuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘^bLord, open up to us!’ then He will answer and say to you, ‘^cI do not know where you are from.’ ²⁶“Then you will ^abegin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’ ²⁷“And He will say, ‘I tell you, ^aI do not know where you are from; ^bdepart from Me, all you workers of unrighteousness.’ ²⁸“^aIn that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being cast out. ²⁹“And they ^awill come from east and west and from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God. ³⁰“And behold, ^asome are last who will be first and some are first who will be last.”

Lament over Jerusalem

³¹Just at that time some Pharisees approached, saying to Him, “Leave and go from here, for ^aHerod wants to kill You.” ³²And He said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I ¹^,^afinish.’ ³³“Nevertheless ^aI must journey on today and tomorrow and the next day, for it is not possible that a ^bprophet would perish outside of Jerusalem. ³⁴“^aO Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, ^bjust as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you did not want it! ³⁵“Behold, your house is left to you desolate, and I say to you, you will not see Me until the time comes when you say, ‘^aBlessed is He who comes in the name of the ¹Lord!’”

Rise Up, Be Our Help

For the choir director. Of the sons of Korah. A ¹Maskil.

O God, we have heard with our ears,Our ^afathers have recounted to usThe ^bwork that You did in their days,In the ^cdays of old.²You with Your own hand ^adispossessed the nations;Then You ^bplanted them;You ^cafflicted the peoples,Then You ^dcast them out.³For by their own sword they ^adid not possess the land,And their own arm did not save them,But Your right hand and Your ^barm and the ^clight of Your presence,For You ^dfavored them.⁴You are ^amy King, O God;^bCommand ¹salvation for Jacob.⁵Through You we will ^apush back our adversaries;Through Your name we will ^btread down those who rise up against us.⁶For I will ^anot trust in my bow,And my sword will not save me.⁷But You ^ahave saved us from our adversaries,And You have ^bput to shame those who hate us.⁸In God we have ^aboasted all day long,And we will ^bgive thanks to Your name forever. ¹ Selah.⁹Yet You ^ahave rejected us and brought us to ^bdishonor,And ^cdo not go out with our armies.¹⁰You cause us to ^aturn back from the adversary;And those who hate us ^bhave plundered us for themselves.¹¹You give us as ^asheep ¹to be eatenAnd have ^bscattered us among the nations.¹²You ^asell Your people ¹for no amount,And You have not ²profited from their price.¹³You make us a ^areproach to our neighbors,A mockery and a ^bderision to those around us.¹⁴You make us ^aa byword among the nations,A ¹^,^blaughingstock among the peoples.¹⁵All day long my dishonor is before meAnd ¹the ^ashame of my face has covered me,¹⁶Because of the voice of him who ^areproaches and reviles,Because of the presence of the ^benemy and the avenger.¹⁷All this has come upon us, but we have ^anot forgotten You,And we have not ^bdealt falsely with Your covenant.¹⁸Our heart has not ^aturned back,Nor have our steps ^bdeviated from Your path,¹⁹Yet You have ^acrushed us in a place of ^bjackalsAnd covered us with ^cthe shadow of death.²⁰If we had ^aforgotten the name of our GodOr spread our ¹hands to ^ba strange god,²¹Would not God ^afind this out?For He knows the secrets of the heart.²²But ^afor Your sake we are killed all day long;We are counted as ^bsheep for the slaughter.²³^aArouse Yourself, why ^bdo You sleep, O Lord?Awake, ^cdo not reject us forever.²⁴Why do You ^ahide Your faceAnd ^bforget our affliction and our oppression?²⁵For our ^asoul has sunk down into the dust;Our ¹body cleaves to the earth.²⁶^aRise up, be our help,And ^bredeem us for the sake of Your lovingkindness.