Job 29:1-30
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Job Finishes His Defense
29 Job again took up his discourse and said:(A)
2 “O that I were as in the months of old,
as in the days when God watched over me,(B)
3 when his lamp shone over my head,
and by his light I walked through darkness,(C)
4 when I was in my prime,
when the friendship of God was upon my tent,(D)
5 when the Almighty[a] was still with me,
when my children were around me,
6 when my steps were washed with milk
and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!(E)
7 When I went out to the gate of the city,
when I took my seat in the square,
8 the young men saw me and withdrew,
and the aged rose up and stood;
9 the nobles refrained from talking
and laid their hands on their mouths;(F)
10 the voices of princes were hushed,
and their tongues stuck to the roofs of their mouths.(G)
11 When the ear heard, it commended me,
and when the eye saw, it approved,
12 because I delivered the poor who cried
and the orphan who had no helper.(H)
13 The blessing of the wretched came upon me,
and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.(I)
14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
my justice was like a robe and a turban.(J)
15 I was eyes to the blind
and feet to the lame.
16 I was a father to the needy,
and I championed the cause of the stranger.(K)
17 I broke the fangs of the unrighteous
and made them drop their prey from their teeth.(L)
18 Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my nest,
and I shall multiply my days like the phoenix;[b](M)
19 my roots spread out to the waters,
with the dew all night on my branches;(N)
20 my glory was fresh with me
and my bow ever new in my hand.’(O)
21 “They listened to me and waited
and kept silence for my counsel.(P)
22 After I spoke they did not speak again,
and my word dropped upon them like dew.[c](Q)
23 They waited for me as for the rain;
they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.
24 I smiled on them when they had no confidence,
and the light of my countenance they did not extinguish.[d]
25 I chose what they should do and sat as chief,
and I lived like a king among his troops,
like one who comforts mourners.(R)
30 “But now they make sport of me,
those who are younger than I,
whose fathers I would have disdained
to set with the dogs of my flock.(S)
2 Peter 2
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
False Prophets and Their Punishment
2 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive opinions. They will even deny the Master who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves.(A) 2 Even so, many will follow their debaucheries, and because of these teachers[a] the way of truth will be maligned. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words. Their condemnation, pronounced against them long ago, has not been idle, and their destruction is not asleep.(B)
4 For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned but cast them into hell and committed them to chains[b] of deepest darkness to be kept until the judgment;(C) 5 and if he did not spare the ancient world, even though he saved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood on the world of the ungodly;(D) 6 and if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to destruction[c] and made them an example of what is coming to the ungodly;[d] 7 and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man greatly distressed by the debauchery of the lawless(E) 8 (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by their lawless deeds that he saw and heard), 9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial and to keep the unrighteous until the day of judgment, when they will be punished(F) 10 —especially those who indulge their flesh in depraved lust and who despise authority.
Bold and willful, they are not afraid to slander the glorious ones,[e](G) 11 whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not bring against them a slanderous judgment.[f] 12 These people, however, are like irrational animals, mere creatures of instinct, born to be caught and killed. They slander what they do not understand, and as those creatures are destroyed,[g] they also will be destroyed, 13 suffering[h] the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures[i] while they feast with you.(H) 14 They have eyes full of adultery,[j] insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! 15 They have left the straight road and have gone astray, following the road of Balaam son of Bosor,[k] who loved the wages of doing wrong(I) 16 but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.
17 These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm; for them the deepest darkness has been reserved.(J) 18 For they speak bombastic nonsense, and with debased[l] desires of the flesh they entice people who have just[m] escaped from those who live in error. 19 They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption, for people are slaves to whatever masters them.(K) 20 For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the[n] Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overpowered, the last state has become worse for them than the first.(L) 21 For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment that was handed on to them.(M) 22 It has happened to them according to the true proverb,
“The dog turns back to its own vomit,”
and,
“The sow is washed only to wallow in the mud.”(N)
Footnotes
- 2.2 Gk because of them
- 2.4 Other ancient authorities read pits
- 2.6 Other ancient authorities lack to destruction
- 2.6 Other ancient authorities read an example to those who were to be ungodly
- 2.10 Or angels; Gk glories
- 2.11 Other ancient authorities add from the Lord or before the Lord
- 2.12 Gk in their destruction
- 2.13 Other ancient authorities read receiving
- 2.13 Other ancient authorities read love feasts
- 2.14 Gk adulteress; or longing for an adulteress
- 2.15 Other ancient authorities read Beor
- 2.18 Or debauched
- 2.18 Other ancient authorities read actually
- 2.20 Other ancient authorities read our
Job 31:13-40
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
13 “If I have rejected the cause of my male or female slaves,
when they brought a complaint against me,(A)
14 what then shall I do when God rises up?
When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him?
15 Did not he who made me in the womb make them?
And did not one fashion us in the womb?(B)
16 “If I have withheld anything that the poor desired
or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail(C)
17 or have eaten my morsel alone
and the orphan has not eaten from it—(D)
18 for from my youth I reared the orphan[a] like a father,
and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow[b]—
19 if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing
or a poor person without covering,
20 whose loins have not blessed me,
and who was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;(E)
21 if I have raised my hand against the orphan
because I saw I had supporters at the gate;(F)
22 then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder,
and let my arm be broken from its socket.(G)
23 For I was in terror of calamity from God,
and I could not have faced his majesty.(H)
24 “If I have made gold my trust
or called fine gold my confidence,(I)
25 if I have rejoiced because my wealth was great
or because my hand had gotten much,(J)
26 if I have looked at the sun[c] when it shone
or the moon moving in splendor,(K)
27 and my heart has been secretly enticed,
and my mouth has kissed my hand,
28 this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges,
for I should have been false to God above.(L)
29 “If I have rejoiced at the ruin of those who hated me
or exulted when evil overtook them—(M)
30 I have not let my mouth sin
by asking for their lives with a curse—(N)
31 if those of my tent ever said,
‘O that we might be sated with his flesh!’[d]—(O)
32 the stranger has not lodged in the street;
I have opened my doors to the traveler—(P)
33 if I have concealed my transgressions as others do,[e]
by hiding my iniquity in my bosom,(Q)
34 because I stood in great fear of the multitude,
and the contempt of families terrified me,
so that I kept silence and did not go out of doors—(R)
35 O that I had one to hear me!
(Here is my signature! Let the Almighty[f] answer me!)
O that I had the indictment written by my adversary!(S)
36 Surely I would carry it on my shoulder;
I would bind it on me like a crown;
37 I would give him an account of all my steps;
like a prince I would approach him.(T)
38 “If my land has cried out against me
and its furrows have wept together,(U)
39 if I have eaten its yield without payment
and caused the death of its owners,(V)
40 let thorns grow instead of wheat
and foul weeds instead of barley.”
The words of Job are ended.(W)
Mark 9:2-29
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Transfiguration
2 Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them,(A) 3 and his clothes became dazzling bright, such as no one[a] on earth could brighten them.(B) 4 And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. 5 Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us set up three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”(C) 6 He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 7 Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved;[b] listen to him!”(D) 8 Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.
The Coming of Elijah
9 As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10 So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead could mean. 11 Then they asked him, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” 12 He said to them, “Elijah is indeed coming first to restore all things. How then is it written about the Son of Man, that he is to go through many sufferings and be treated with contempt? 13 But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written about him.”
The Healing of a Boy with a Spirit
14 When they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them and some scribes arguing with them. 15 When the whole crowd saw him, they were immediately overcome with awe, and they ran forward to greet him. 16 He asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” 17 Someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought you my son; he has a spirit that makes him unable to speak, 18 and whenever it seizes him, it dashes him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid, and I asked your disciples to cast it out, but they could not do so.” 19 He answered them, “You faithless generation, how much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him to me.” 20 And they brought the boy[c] to him. When the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy,[d] and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. 21 Jesus[e] asked the father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 It has often cast him into the fire and into the water, to destroy him; but if you are able to do anything, help us! Have compassion on us!” 23 Jesus said to him, “If you are able! All things can be done for the one who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out,[f] “I believe; help my unbelief!” 25 When Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You spirit that keeps this boy from speaking and hearing, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again!” 26 After crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” 27 But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he was able to stand. 28 When he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?”(E) 29 He said to them, “This kind can come out only through prayer.”[g]
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