The Daily Audio Bible
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A Poem About Wisdom[a]
28 Yes, there is a mine for silver
and a place where gold is refined.
2 Iron is taken from the ground,
and copper is smelted out of stone.
3 A miner puts an end to darkness by exploring its farthest limits.
He looks for ore in the gloom and in the deep darkness.[b]
4 He breaks open a mineshaft far from where settlers live,
in places no one has walked before.
Far away from other people, he dangles and sways.
5 The earth’s surface produces food,
but its depths are overturned as if by fire,
6 in places where the stones are sapphires[c]
and the dust is gold.
7 No scavenging bird knows the way there,
and the eyes of vultures[d] have not seen it.
8 The king of beasts has not set foot on it.
The lion has not prowled there.
9 The miner’s hand attacks the hard rock.
He overturns the roots of the mountain.
10 He cuts tunnels into the rocks,
and his eyes see every treasure.
11 He dams up even the trickling water from the rivers,
and he brings light to the earth’s hidden places.
12 But wisdom—where can it be found?
Where is the place for understanding?
13 Mankind does not know where it is kept.
It is not found in the land of the living.
14 The deep ocean says, “It is not in me!”
The sea says, “It is not with me!”
15 It cannot be purchased with the best gold,[e]
and silver cannot be weighed out as its price.
16 It cannot be bought with the gold of Ophir[f]
or with precious onyx or sapphires.
17 Gold and crystal cannot be compared to it.
The finest gold jewelry cannot be substituted for it.
18 Coral and quartz are not worth mentioning,
and the value of wisdom is greater than a bag of rubies.
19 The chrysolite of Cush cannot be compared with it.
It cannot be purchased even with pure gold.
20 But what about wisdom—where does it come from?
And where is the place to find understanding?
21 It is hidden from the eyes of all the living.
It is concealed from the birds of the sky.
22 Destruction and Death[g] say,
“With our ears we have heard only a rumor about it.”
23 God understands the way to it,
and he alone knows its place,
24 because he watches the ends of the earth,
and he sees everything under the heavens.
25 He determines the weight of the wind,
and he measures out the waters by volume.
26 He made a decree for the rain
and established a path for the roaring thunderstorm.
27 He saw wisdom and appraised its value.
He established it and also explored it.
28 Then he said to mankind:
Listen carefully. The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom,
and to turn away from evil is understanding.
Job’s Soliloquy[h]
The Happiness of the Good Old Days
29 Job resumed his discourse. He said:
2 Oh how I wish I could be as I used to be
in the months gone by,
in the days when God used to watch over me,
3 when his lamp was shining over my head,
and I walked through darkness toward[i] his light,
4 when I was in my prime,
and the friendly guidance of God was over my tent,
5 when the Almighty was still with me,
and my children still surrounded me,
6 when my footsteps were washed in cream,
and a rock poured out streams of oil for me,
7 when I went out to the gatehouse[j] of the city,
and I took my customary seat in the public square.
8 The young men saw me and stepped aside.
The elders rose and remained standing in my presence.
9 The officials held back their words.
They placed their hands over their mouths.
10 The voices of the nobles fell silent.
Their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.
11 Every ear that heard what I said called me blessed.
Every eye that saw what I did testified on my behalf.
12 Because I saved the poor when they cried for help
and the fatherless when they had no helper,
13 the blessing of the dying rested upon me,
and I made the heart of the widow happy.
14 I dressed myself with righteousness,
and it clothed me.
My justice clothed me like a robe and a turban.
15 I was eyes for the blind and feet for the lame.
16 I was a father for the needy.
I investigated their cases for people I did not know.
17 I shattered the fangs of the wicked,
and I snatched their prey from their teeth.
18 So I thought: “I will pass away in my own nest,
after multiplying my days like grains of sand.
19 My roots will be soaked with water,
and dew will settle on my branches at night.
20 My honor will always be fresh for me,
and my bow in my hand will never wear out.”
21 People listened to me eagerly.
They kept silent, waiting for my advice.
22 After I spoke, they did not keep speaking.[k]
My words fell on them gently.
23 They waited for me the way people wait for rain.
They opened their mouths the way people wait for spring showers.
24 When I laughed with them, they did not believe it.
In the light from my face, they were never downcast.
25 I chose the way for them,
and I was seated as their head,
like a king among the troops,
like one who comforts mourners.
The Shame of the Present
30 But those far younger than I am now laugh at me—
men whose fathers I would not have allowed
to serve with my sheepdogs.
2 The strength of their hands was useless to me.[l]
Their vigor had failed.
3 Emaciated from famine and hunger,
they gnawed desert plants in the desolate wasteland.
4 They picked marsh plants among the brush,
and their food was the roots of broom bushes.
5 They were driven out of the community.
People shouted at them like thieves.
6 They lived in dry streambeds,
in holes among the dust and the rocks.
7 They brayed between shrubs,
and they huddled under thorn bushes.
8 Sons of fools and nameless nobodies,
they were driven out of the land with whips.
9 But now I am the target of their mocking songs,
and my name has become proverbial as a term of scorn.
10 They despise me and keep their distance.
They do not hesitate to spit in my face.
11 God has unhooked my bowstring,[m]
and he has afflicted me,
so they throw off all restraint in my presence.
12 At my right hand this rabble rises up like a mob.
They trip my feet.
They besiege me with their plans to destroy me.
13 They cut off my path to escape.
They try to benefit from my destruction.
They need no one to help them.
14 They pour through the breach in my wall.
They roll in through the ruins.
15 Terrors are unleashed against me.
My prestige is blown away by the wind.
My security has passed by like a cloud.
16 Now my soul is being poured out within me.
Days of suffering have seized me.
17 Night pierces my bones with pain.
The pain gnawing at me never stops.
18 God tugs violently at my clothing.
He chokes me like the collar of my robe.
19 He has thrown me into the mud,
and I have become like dust and ashes.
20 I cry to you for help, but you do not answer me.
Whenever I stand up, you pay no attention to me.[n]
21 You have become cruel to me.
With a strong hand you assault me.
22 You lift me up with the wind, and it carries me away.
You scatter me in the raging storm.
23 Yes, I know that you are bringing me down to death,
to the home where all the living meet.
24 Will he really stretch out his hand against a pile of ruins,
when the ruined man screams for help?[o]
25 Didn’t I weep for those who live through hard days?
Didn’t my soul grieve for the needy?
26 But when I waited for good, evil came.
When I hoped for light, darkness came.
27 My emotions[p] are boiling over.
They are never quiet.
Days of suffering confront me.
28 I walk around darkened, but not by the sun.
I stand in the assembly and cry for help.
29 I have become a brother to jackals,
a companion for screeching ostriches.
30 My skin turns black and falls off,
and my bones burn with fever.
31 My lyre plays only sad songs.
My flute accompanies only the sound of weeping.
The Fragrance of Christ
12 When I came to Troas to proclaim the gospel of Christ and a door was opened for me by the Lord, 13 I had no rest in my spirit, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said good-bye to them and went on to Macedonia.
14 But thanks be to God, who always causes us to triumph in Christ and reveals the fragrance of his knowledge through us in every place. 15 Yes, we are the fragrance of Christ for God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. 16 To some we are the odor of death that is a prelude to death, to the others the fragrance of life that is a prelude to life. And who is qualified for these things? 17 To be sure, we are not like many who peddle the word of God for profit. Instead, in Christ we speak with sincerity in the sight of God, as men from God.
Book II
Psalms 42–72
Psalms 42 & 43
An Exile’s Prayer: Why Are You Cast Down?[a]
Heading
For the choir director. A maskil[b] by the Sons of Korah.[c]
Longing for the Temple
1 As a doe pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, O God.
2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and appear before God?[d]
3 My tears have been food for me day and night,
while people are saying to me all day,
“Where is your God?”
4 I am overcome by my emotions
whenever I remember these things:
how I used to arrive with the crowd,
as I led the procession to the house of God,
with loud shouts of thanksgiving,
with the crowd celebrating the festival.
Refrain
5 Why are you so depressed,[e] O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Hope in God, for I will again praise him
for salvation from his presence.[f]
Remembrance of the Lord
6 My God, my soul is depressed within me.
Therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan,
from the heights of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
7 Deep calls to deep in the roar of your rapids.
All your breakers and your waves have swept over me.
8 By day the Lord commands his mercy,
and at night his song is with me—a prayer to the God of my life.
9 I say to God my Rock, “Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go around mourning because of oppression by the enemy?”
10 It is like breaking my bones when my foes taunt me.
All day long they say to me, “Where is your God?”
Refrain
11 Why are you so depressed, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Hope in God, for I will again praise him
for my salvation from the face of my God.[g]
7 A rich person rules over poor people,
and a borrower is a slave to a lender.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.