Job 29

English Standard Version

Job's Summary Defense

29 And Job again ^(A)took up his discourse, and said:

²“Oh, that I were as in the months of old,
    as in the days when God watched over me,
³when his ^(B)lamp shone upon my head,
    and by his light I walked through darkness,
⁴as I was in my prime,^[a]
    when the ^(C)friendship of God was upon my tent,
⁵when the Almighty was yet with me,
    when my ^(D)children were all around me,
⁶when my steps were ^(E)washed with ^(F)butter,
    and ^(G)the rock poured out for me streams of ^(H)oil!
⁷When I went out to ^(I)the gate of the city,
    when I prepared my seat in the square,
⁸the young men saw me and withdrew,
    and the aged rose and stood;
⁹the princes refrained from talking
    and ^(J)laid their hand on their mouth;
¹⁰the voice of the nobles was hushed,
    and their ^(K)tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
¹¹When the ear heard, it called me blessed,
    and when the eye saw, it approved,
¹²because I ^(L)delivered the poor who cried for help,
    and the fatherless who had none to help him.
¹³^(M)The blessing of him who was ^(N)about to perish came upon me,
    and I caused ^(O)the widow's heart to sing for joy.
¹⁴I ^(P)put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
    my justice was like a robe and ^(Q)a turban.
¹⁵I was ^(R)eyes to the blind
    and feet to the lame.
¹⁶I was a father to the needy,
    and I searched out ^(S)the cause of him whom I did not know.
¹⁷I ^(T)broke ^(U)the fangs of the unrighteous
    and made him drop his prey from his teeth.
¹⁸^(V)Then I thought, ‘I shall die in my ^(W)nest,
    and I shall multiply my days as ^(X)the sand,
¹⁹my ^(Y)roots spread out to ^(Z)the waters,
    with the dew all night on my ^(AA)branches,
²⁰my glory fresh with me,
    and my ^(AB)bow ever ^(AC)new in my hand.’

²¹“Men listened to me and waited
    and kept silence for my counsel.
²²After I spoke they did not speak again,
    and my word ^(AD)dropped upon them.
²³They waited for me as for the rain,
    and they ^(AE)opened their mouths as for the ^(AF)spring rain.
²⁴I smiled on them when they had no confidence,
    and ^(AG)the light of my ^(AH)face they did not cast down.
²⁵I chose their way and sat as chief,
    and I lived like ^(AI)a king among his troops,
    like one who comforts mourners.

Footnotes

Job 29:4 Hebrew my autumn days

Psalm 65

English Standard Version

O God of Our Salvation

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A Song.

65 Praise ^(A)is due to you,^[a] O God, in Zion,
    and to you shall ^(B)vows be performed.
²O you who ^(C)hear prayer,
    to you ^(D)shall all flesh come.
³When ^(E)iniquities prevail against me,
    you ^(F)atone for our transgressions.
⁴^(G)Blessed is the one you choose and bring near,
    to ^(H)dwell in your courts!
We shall be ^(I)satisfied with the goodness of your house,
    the holiness of your temple!

⁵By ^(J)awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness,
    O God of our salvation,
the hope of all ^(K)the ends of the earth
    and of the farthest seas;
⁶the one who by his strength established the mountains,
    being ^(L)girded with might;
⁷who ^(M)stills the roaring of the seas,
    the roaring of their waves,
    ^(N)the tumult of the peoples,
⁸so that those who dwell at the ends of the earth are in awe at your signs.
You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy.

⁹You visit the earth and ^(O)water it;^[b]
    you greatly enrich it;
^(P)the river of God is full of water;
    ^(Q)you provide their grain,
    for so you have prepared it.
¹⁰You water its furrows abundantly,
    settling its ridges,
softening it with ^(R)showers,
    and blessing its growth.
¹¹You crown the year with your bounty;
    your wagon tracks ^(S)overflow with abundance.
¹²^(T)The pastures of the wilderness overflow,
    the hills ^(U)gird themselves with joy,
¹³^(V)the meadows clothe themselves with flocks,
    the valleys deck themselves with grain,
    they ^(W)shout and sing together for joy.

Footnotes

Psalm 65:1 Or Praise waits for you in silence
Psalm 65:9 Or and make it overflow

2 Chronicles 36

English Standard Version

Judah's Decline

36 ^(A)The people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and made him king in his father's place in Jerusalem. ²Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. ³Then the king of Egypt deposed him in Jerusalem and ^(B)laid on the land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent^[a] of gold. ⁴And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But Neco took Jehoahaz his brother and carried him to Egypt.

⁵^(C)Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God. ⁶^(D)Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon ^(E)and bound him in chains ^(F)to take him to Babylon. ⁷^(G)Nebuchadnezzar also carried part of the vessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon and put them in his palace in Babylon. ⁸^(H)Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and the abominations that he did, and what was found against him, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. And Jehoiachin his son reigned in his place.

⁹^(I)Jehoiachin was eighteen^[b] years old when he became king, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. ¹⁰In ^(J)the spring of the year King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon, ^(K)with the precious vessels of the house of the Lord, and made his brother ^(L)Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem.

¹¹^(M)Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. ¹²He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God. He did not humble himself before ^(N)Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the mouth of the Lord. ¹³^(O)He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. ^(P)He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the Lord, the God of Israel. ¹⁴All the officers of the priests and the people likewise were exceedingly unfaithful, following all the abominations of the nations. And they polluted the house of the Lord that he had made holy in Jerusalem.

¹⁵The Lord, the God of their fathers, ^(Q)sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. ¹⁶^(R)But they kept mocking the messengers of God, ^(S)despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, ^(T)until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, until there was no remedy.

Jerusalem Captured and Burned

¹⁷^(U)Therefore he brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or aged. He gave them all into his hand. ¹⁸^(V)And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king and of his princes, all these he brought to Babylon. ¹⁹^(W)And they burned the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem and burned all its palaces with fire and destroyed all its precious vessels. ²⁰He ^(X)took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, ^(Y)and they became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia, ²¹to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had ^(Z)enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate ^(AA)it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.

The Proclamation of Cyrus

²²^(AB)Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, ^(AC)that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, ^(AD)the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing: ²³“Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may the Lord his God be with him. Let him go up.’”