Job Continues: Where Is Wisdom?
1 “Surely there is a mine for silver,
and a place for gold that they refine.
2 Iron is taken out of the earth,
and copper is smelted from the ore.
3 Man puts an end to darkness
and searches out to the farthest limit
the ore in gloom and deep darkness.
4 He opens shafts in a valley away from where anyone lives;
they are forgotten by travelers;
they hang in the air, far away from mankind; they swing to and fro.
5 As for the earth, out of it comes bread,
but underneath it is turned up as by fire.
6 Its stones are the place of sapphires,1
and it has dust of gold.
7 “That path no bird of prey knows,
and the falcon’s eye has not seen it.
8 The proud beasts have not trodden it;
the lion has not passed over it.
9 “Man puts his hand to the flinty rock
and overturns mountains by the roots.
10 He cuts out channels in the rocks,
and his eye sees every precious thing.
11 He dams up the streams so that they do not trickle,
and the thing that is hidden he brings out to light.
12 “But uwhere shall wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
13 Man does not know its worth,
and it is not found in the land of the living.
14 The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’
and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
15 It cannot be bought for vgold,
and silver cannot be weighed as its price.
16 It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
in precious onyx or sapphire.
17 Gold and glass cannot equal it,
nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.
18 No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal;
the price of wisdom is above pearls.
19 The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,
nor can it be valued in pure gold.
20 “From where, then, does wisdom come?
And where is the place of understanding?
21 It is hidden from the eyes of all living
and concealed from the birds of the air.
22 Abaddon and Death say,
‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’
23 w“God understands the way to it,
and he knows its place.
24 For xhe looks to the ends of the earth
and sees everything under the heavens.
25 When yhe gave to the wind its weight
and apportioned the waters by measure,
26 when he made a zdecree for the rain
and a away for the lightning of the thunder,
27 then he saw it and declared it;
he established it, and searched it out.
28 And he said to man,
‘Behold, bthe fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
and to cturn away from evil is understanding.’”
Blessed Are the Forgiven
A sMaskil1 of David.
1 tBlessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is ucovered.
2 Blessed is the man against whom the Lord vcounts no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
3 For when I kept silent, wmy bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up2 as by the heat of summer. Selah
5 I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and you xforgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
6 Therefore let everyone who is godly
offer prayer to you yat a time when you may be found;
surely in the rush of great waters,
they shall not reach him.
7 You are a zhiding place for me;
you preserve me from trouble;
you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah
8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will acounsel you bwith my eye upon you.
9 cBe not like a horse or a mule, without understanding,
which must be curbed with bit and bridle,
or it will not stay near you.
10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked,
but steadfast love surrounds the one who dtrusts in the Lord.
11 Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous,
and shout for joy, all you eupright in heart!
Josiah Keeps the Passover
1 mJosiah nkept a Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem. And they slaughtered the Passover lamb oon the fourteenth day of the first month. 2 He appointed the priests to their offices and encouraged them in the service of the house of the Lord. 3 And he said to the Levites who ptaught all Israel and who were holy to the Lord, q“Put the holy ark in the house that Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built. rYou need not carry it on your shoulders. Now serve the Lord your God and his people Israel. 4 Prepare yourselves according to your fathers’ houses by your sdivisions, as prescribed in the writing of David king of Israel and the document of Solomon his son. 5 And stand in the Holy Place according to the groupings of the fathers’ houses of your brothers the lay people, and according to the division of the Levites by fathers’ household. 6 And slaughter the Passover lamb, and tconsecrate yourselves, and prepare for your brothers, to do according to the word of the Lord by1 Moses.”
7 Then Josiah ucontributed to the lay people, as Passover offerings for all who were present, lambs and young goats from the flock to the number of 30,000, and 3,000 bulls; these were from the king’s possessions. 8 And his officials contributed willingly to the people, to the priests, and to the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the chief officers of the house of God, gave to the priests for the Passover offerings 2,600 Passover lambs and 300 bulls. 9 Conaniah also, and Shemaiah and Nethanel his brothers, and Hashabiah and Jeiel and Jozabad, the chiefs of the Levites, gave to the Levites for the Passover offerings 5,000 lambs and young goats and 500 bulls.
10 When the service had been prepared for, the priests stood in their place, and the Levites in their divisions according to the king’s command. 11 And they slaughtered the Passover lamb, and the priests vthrew the blood that they received from them while the Levites wflayed the sacrifices. 12 And they set aside the burnt offerings that they might distribute them according to the groupings of the fathers’ houses of the lay people, to offer to the Lord, as it is written in the Book of Moses. And so they did with the bulls. 13 And they roasted the Passover lamb with fire xaccording to the rule; and they boiled the holy offerings in pots, in cauldrons, and in pans, and carried them quickly to all the lay people. 14 And afterward they prepared for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the sons of Aaron, were offering the burnt offerings and the fat parts until night; so the Levites prepared for themselves and for the priests, the sons of Aaron. 15 The singers, the ysons of Asaph, were in their place according to the command of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer; and the zgatekeepers were at each gate. They did not need to depart from their service, for their brothers the Levites prepared for them.
16 So all the service of the Lord was prepared that day, to keep the Passover and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the Lord, according to the command of King Josiah. 17 And the people of Israel who were present kept the Passover at that time, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread aseven days. 18 No Passover like it had been kept in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings of Israel had kept such a Passover as was kept by Josiah, and the priests and the Levites, and all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 19 In the beighteenth year of the reign of Josiah this Passover was kept.
Josiah Killed in Battle
20 cAfter all this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, dNeco king of Egypt went up to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to meet him. 21 But he sent envoys to him, saying, “What have we to do with each other, king of Judah? I am not coming against you this day, but against the house with which I am at war. And God has commanded me to hurry. Cease opposing God, who is with me, lest he destroy you.” 22 Nevertheless, Josiah did not turn away from him, but edisguised himself in order to fight with him. He did not listen to the words of Neco from the mouth of God, but came to fight in the plain of Megiddo. 23 And fthe archers shot King Josiah. And the king said to his servants, “Take me away, for I am badly wounded.” 24 So his servants took him out of the chariot and gcarried him in his second chariot and brought him to Jerusalem. And he died and was hburied in the tombs of his fathers. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. 25 Jeremiah also uttered a lament for Josiah; and all the singing men and singing women have spoken of Josiah in their laments to this day. They made these a rule in Israel; behold, they are written in the Laments. 26 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and his good deeds according to what is written in the Law of the Lord, 27 and his acts, first and last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.
1 The word of the Lord that came to aMicah of Moresheth in the days of bJotham, cAhaz, and dHezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
The Coming Destruction
2 eHear, you peoples, all of you;1
fpay attention, O earth, and all that is in it,
and let the Lord God be a witness against you,
the Lord from his gholy temple.
3 hFor behold, the Lord is coming out of his place,
and will come down and itread upon the high places of the earth.
4 And the jmountains will melt under him,
and the valleys will split open,
like wax before the fire,
like waters poured down a steep place.
5 All this is for the transgression of Jacob
and for the sins of the house of Israel.
What is the transgression of Jacob?
Is it not Samaria?
And what is the high place of Judah?
Is it not Jerusalem?
6 Therefore I will make Samaria a heap in the open country,
a place for planting vineyards,
and I will pour down her stones into the valley
and uncover her foundations.
7 All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces,
all her wages shall be burned with fire,
and all her idols I will lay waste,
for from the fee of a prostitute she gathered them,
and to the fee of a prostitute they shall return.
8 For this I will lament and wail;
I will go kstripped and naked;
I will make lamentation like the jackals,
and mourning like the ostriches.
9 For her wound is lincurable,
and it has come to Judah;
it has reached to the gate of my people,
to Jerusalem.
10 mTell it not in Gath;
weep not at all;
in Beth-le-aphrah
nroll yourselves in the dust.
11 Pass on your way,
inhabitants of Shaphir,
in nakedness and shame;
the inhabitants of Zaanan
do not come out;
the lamentation of Beth-ezel
shall take away from you its standing place.
12 For the inhabitants of Maroth
wait anxiously for good,
because disaster has come down from the Lord
to the gate of Jerusalem.
13 Harness the steeds to the chariots,
inhabitants of Lachish;
it was the beginning of sin
to the daughter of Zion,
for in you were found
the transgressions of Israel.
14 Therefore you shall give parting gifts2
to Moresheth-gath;
the houses of Achzib shall be a deceitful thing
to the kings of Israel.
15 I will again bring a conqueror to you,
inhabitants of Mareshah;
the glory of Israel
shall come to Adullam.
16 Make yourselves obald and pcut off your hair,
for the children of your delight;
make yourselves as bald as the eagle,
for they shall go from you into exile.
By Faith
1 Now faith is the assurance of things ohoped for, the conviction of things pnot seen. 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation. 3 By faith we understand that qthe universe was created rby the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
4 By faith sAbel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. 5 By faith tEnoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. 7 By faith uNoah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear vconstructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the wrighteousness that comes by faith.
8 By faith xAbraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith yhe went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the zcity that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. 11 By faith aSarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful bwho had promised. 12 Therefore from one man, and him cas good as dead, were born descendants das many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.
13 These all died in faith, enot having received the things promised, but having fseen them and greeted them from afar, and ghaving acknowledged that they were strangers and hexiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not iashamed to be called jtheir God, for he has prepared for them a city.
17 kBy faith Abraham, lwhen he was tested, moffered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, 18 of whom it was said, n“Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 19 oHe considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. 20 By faith pIsaac invoked future blessings on Jacob qand Esau. 21 By faith rJacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, sbowing in worship over the head of his staff. 22 By faith tJoseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning uhis bones.
23 By faith vMoses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was wbeautiful, and they were not afraid of xthe king’s edict. 24 By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the yson of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He considered the zreproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the areward. 27 By faith bhe left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is cinvisible. 28 By faith dhe kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the eDestroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.
29 By faith fthe people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. 30 By faith gthe walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. 31 hBy faith iRahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.
32 And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of jGideon, kBarak, lSamson, mJephthah, of nDavid and oSamuel and the prophets— 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, pstopped the mouths of lions, 34 qquenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35 rWomen received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. 36 sOthers suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were tstoned, they were sawn in two,1 they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— 38 of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and uin dens and caves of the earth.
39 And all these, though vcommended through their faith, wdid not receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not xbe made perfect.
