Eliphaz Speaks: Job’s Wickedness Is Great
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
2 y“Can a man be profitable to God?
Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.
3 zIs it any pleasure to the Almighty if ayou are in the right,
or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless?
4 Is it for your fear of him that he reproves you
and enters into judgment with you?
5 Is not your evil abundant?
There is no end to your iniquities.
6 For you have exacted pledges of your brothers for nothing
and stripped the naked of their clothing.
7 bYou have given no water to the weary to drink,
and you have withheld bread from the hungry.
8 The man with power possessed the land,
and the favored man lived in it.
9 You have sent cwidows away empty,
and the arms of the fatherless were crushed.
10 Therefore snares are all around you,
and sudden terror overwhelms you,
11 or darkness, so that you cannot see,
and da flood of water covers you.
12 “Is not God ehigh in the heavens?
See the highest stars, how lofty they are!
13 But you say, f‘What does God know?
Can he judge through the gdeep darkness?
14 Thick clouds veil him, so that he does not see,
and he walks on the hvault of heaven.’
15 Will you keep to the old way
that wicked men have trod?
16 They were snatched away ibefore their time;
their foundation was washed away.1
17 jThey said to God, ‘Depart from us,’
and ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’2
18 Yet he filled their houses with good things—
but the kcounsel of the wicked is far from me.
19 lThe righteous see it and are glad;
the innocent one mocks at them,
20 saying, ‘Surely our adversaries are cut off,
and what they left the fire has consumed.’
21 “Agree with God, and be at peace;
thereby good will come to you.
22 Receive instruction from his mouth,
and lay up his words in your heart.
23 mIf you return to the Almighty you will be built up;
if you remove ninjustice far from your tents,
24 if you lay gold in the dust,
and gold of oOphir among the stones of the torrent-bed,
25 then the Almighty will be your gold
and your precious silver.
26 For then you will pdelight yourself in the Almighty
and qlift up your face to God.
27 You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you,
and you will pay your vows.
28 You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you,
and light will shine on your ways.
29 For when they are humbled you say, ‘It is because of pride’;3
but rhe saves the lowly.
30 He delivers even the one who is not innocent,
who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”
I Will Bless the Lord
Of David.
1 oVindicate me, O Lord,
for I have pwalked in my integrity,
and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.
2 qProve me, O Lord, and try me;
test my heart and my mind.1
3 For your steadfast love is before my eyes,
and I walk in your faithfulness.
4 I do not sit with men of falsehood,
nor do I consort with hypocrites.
5 rI hate the assembly of evildoers,
and I will not sit with the wicked.
6 I wash my hands sin innocence
and go around your altar, O Lord,
7 proclaiming thanksgiving aloud,
and telling all your wondrous deeds.
8 O Lord, I love the habitation of your house
and tthe place where your glory dwells.
9 uDo not sweep my soul away with sinners,
nor my life with bloodthirsty men,
10 in whose hands are evil devices,
and whose right hands are full of vbribes.
11 But as for me, I shall walk in my integrity;
redeem me, and be gracious to me.
12 My foot stands on level ground;
in the great assembly I will bless the Lord.
Hezekiah Reigns in Judah
1 yHezekiah began to reign when he was twenty-five years old, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abijah1 the daughter of Zechariah. 2 And he zdid what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done.
Hezekiah Cleanses the Temple
3 In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he aopened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. 4 He brought in the priests and the Levites and assembled them in the square on the east 5 and said to them, “Hear me, Levites! Now bconsecrate yourselves, and consecrate the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and carry out the filth2 from the Holy Place. 6 For our fathers have been unfaithful and have cdone what was evil in the sight of the Lord our God. They have forsaken him and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord and dturned their backs. 7 They also shut the doors of the vestibule and put out the lamps and have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the Holy Place to the God of Israel. 8 Therefore the wrath of the Lord came on Judah and Jerusalem, and he has made them an object of ehorror, of astonishment, and of hissing, as you see with your own eyes. 9 fFor behold, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. 10 Now it is in my heart to gmake a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, in order that his fierce anger may turn away from us. 11 My sons, do not now be negligent, for hthe Lord has chosen you to stand in his presence, to minister to him and to be his ministers and make offerings to him.”
12 Then the Levites arose, Mahath the son of Amasai, and Joel the son of Azariah, of the sons of the Kohathites; and of the sons of Merari, Kish the son of Abdi, and Azariah the son of Jehallelel; and of the Gershonites, Joah the son of Zimmah, and Eden the son of Joah; 13 and of the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeuel; and of the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah; 14 and of the sons of Heman, Jehuel and Shimei; and of the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel. 15 They gathered their brothers and consecrated themselves and went in as the king had commanded, by the words of the Lord, to cleanse the house of the Lord. 16 The priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord to cleanse it, and they brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the Lord into the court of the house of the Lord. And the Levites took it and carried it out to the brook iKidron. 17 They began to consecrate on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they came to the vestibule of the Lord. Then for eight days they consecrated the house of the Lord, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they finished. 18 Then they went in to Hezekiah the king and said, “We have cleansed all the house of the Lord, the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the table for the showbread and all its utensils. 19 All the utensils that King Ahaz jdiscarded in his reign when he was faithless, we have made ready and consecrated, and behold, they are before the altar of the Lord.”
Hezekiah Restores Temple Worship
20 Then Hezekiah the king rose early and gathered the officials of the city and went up to the house of the Lord. 21 And they brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats for a ksin offering for the kingdom and for the sanctuary and for Judah. And he commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the Lord. 22 So they slaughtered the bulls, and the priests received the blood and threw it against the altar. And they slaughtered the rams, and their blood was thrown against the altar. And they slaughtered the lambs, and their blood was thrown against the altar. 23 Then the goats for the sin offering were brought to the king and the assembly, and they llaid their hands on them, 24 and the priests slaughtered them and made a sin offering with their blood on the altar, to make atonement for all Israel. For the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel.
25 And he stationed the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, harps, and lyres, maccording to the commandment of David and of nGad the king’s seer and of oNathan the prophet, for the commandment was from the Lord through his prophets. 26 The Levites stood with the pinstruments of David, and the priests qwith the trumpets. 27 Then Hezekiah commanded that the burnt offering be offered on the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song to the Lord began also, and the trumpets, accompanied by the instruments of David king of Israel. 28 The whole assembly worshiped, and the singers sang, and the trumpeters sounded. All this continued until the burnt offering was finished. 29 When the offering was finished, the king and all who were present with him bowed themselves and worshiped. 30 And Hezekiah the king and the officials commanded the Levites to sing praises to the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed down and worshiped.
31 Then Hezekiah said, “You have now consecrated yourselves to3 the Lord. Come near; bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the house of the Lord.” And the assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and rall who were of a willing heart brought burnt offerings. 32 The number of the burnt offerings that the assembly brought was 70 bulls, 100 rams, and 200 lambs; all these were for a burnt offering to the Lord. 33 And the consecrated offerings were 600 bulls and 3,000 sheep. 34 But the priests were stoo few and could not tflay all the burnt offerings, so until other priests had consecrated themselves, their brothers the Levites helped them, until the work was finished—for the Levites were more upright in heart than the priests in consecrating themselves. 35 Besides the great number of burnt offerings, there was the fat of the peace offerings, and there were the drink offerings for the burnt offerings. Thus the service of the house of the Lord was restored. 36 And Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced because God had provided for the people, for the thing came about suddenly.
The Destruction of Israel
1 I saw the Lord standing beside1 the altar, and he said:
“Strike the capitals until the thresholds shake,
and shatter them on the heads of all the people;2
and those who are left of them I will kill with the sword;
not one of them shall flee away;
not one of them shall escape.
2 h“If they dig into Sheol,
from there shall my hand take them;
iif they climb up to heaven,
from there I will bring them down.
3 If they hide themselves on the top of Carmel,
from there I will search them out and take them;
and if they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea,
there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them.
4 And if they go into captivity before their enemies,
there I will command the sword, and it shall kill them;
and I will fix my eyes upon them
jfor evil and not for good.”
5 The Lord God of hosts,
he who touches the earth and it melts,
and kall who dwell in it mourn,
and all of it rises like the Nile,
and sinks again, like the Nile of Egypt;
6 who builds his upper chambers in the heavens
and founds his vault upon the earth;
lwho calls for the waters of the sea
and pours them out upon the surface of the earth—
the Lord is his name.
7 “Are you not like the Cushites to me,
O people of Israel?” declares the Lord.
“Did I not bring up mIsrael from the land of Egypt,
and the Philistines from nCaphtor and the Syrians from oKir?
8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom,
and I will destroy it from the surface of the ground,
except that pI will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,”
declares the Lord.
9 “For behold, I will command,
and shake the house of Israel among all the nations
as one shakes with a qsieve,
but no pebble shall fall to the earth.
10 All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword,
The Restoration of Israel
11 t“In that day I will raise up
the booth of David that is fallen
and repair its breaches,
and raise up its ruins
and urebuild it as in the days of old,
12 that they may possess the remnant of Edom
and all the nations who are vcalled by my name,”3
declares the Lord who does this.
13 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord,
w“when the plowman shall overtake the reaper
and the treader of grapes him who sows the seed;
xthe mountains shall drip sweet wine,
and all the hills shall flow with it.
14 yI will restore the fortunes of my people Israel,
and they shall rebuild the zruined cities and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and drink their wine,
and they shall make gardens and eat their fruit.
15 aI will plant them on their land,
and they shall never again be uprooted
out of the land that I have given them,”
says the Lord your God.
1 For uevery high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices vfor sins. 2 He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, wsince he himself is beset with xweakness. 3 Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice yfor his own sins just as he does for those of the people. 4 And zno one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was.
5 So also Christ adid not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him,
b“You are my Son,
today I have begotten you”;
6 as he says also in another place,
c“You are a priest forever,
after the order of dMelchizedek.”
7 In the days of his flesh, Jesus1 offered up eprayers and supplications, with floud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. 8 Although he was a gson, he learned hobedience through what he suffered. 9 And ibeing made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, 10 being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.
Warning Against Apostasy
11 About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become jdull of hearing. 12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the kbasic principles of the oracles of God. You need lmilk, not solid food, 13 for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a mchild. 14 But solid food is for the nmature, for those who have their powers of discernment otrained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.
