Job, chapter 28. Job continues, Where is wisdom? Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place for gold that they refine. Iron is taken out of the earth, and copper is smelted from the ore. Man puts an end to darkness, and searches out to the farthest limit the ore in gloom and deep darkness. 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 As for the earth, out of it comes bread But underneath it is turned up as by fire Its stones are the place of sapphires And it has dust of gold That path no bird of prey knows and the falcon's eye has not seen it. The proud beasts have not trodden it. The lion has not passed over it. Man puts his hand to the flinty rock and overturns mountains by the roots. He cuts out channels in the rocks, and his eye sees every precious thing. He dams up the streams so that they do not trickle, and the thing that is hidden he brings out to light. But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? Man does not know its worth, and it is not found in the land of the living. The deep says, It is not in me, and the sea says, It is not with me. It cannot be bought for gold, and silver cannot be weighed as its price. It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, in precious onyx or sapphire. Gold and glass cannot equal it, nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold. No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal. The price of wisdom is above pearls. The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it, nor can it be valued in pure gold. From where then does wisdom come? And where is the place of understanding? It is hidden from the eyes of all living and concealed from the birds of the air. Abaddon and death say we have heard a rumor of it with our ears. God understands the way to it, and he knows its place. For he looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens. When he gave to the wind its weight and apportioned the waters by measure, when he made a decree for the rain and a way for the lightning of the thunder, then he saw it and declared it. he established it and searched it out, and he said to man, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding. Job chapter 29. Job's Summary Defense. And Job again took up his discourse and said, O that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me, when his lamp shone upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness, as I was in my prime, when the friendship of God was upon my tent, when the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were all around me, when my steps were washed with butter, and the rock poured out for me streams of oil. When I went out to the gate of the city, when I prepared my seat in the square, the young men saw me and withdrew, and the aged rose and stood. The princes refrained from talking and laid their hand on their mouth The voice of the nobles was hushed and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth When the ear heard it called me blessed and when the eye saw it approved, because I delivered the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to help him. The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me. My justice was like a robe and a turban. I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame. I was a father to the needy, and I searched out the cause of him who I did not know. I broke the fangs of the unrighteous and made him drop his prey from his teeth. Then I thought, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand, my roots spread out to the waters, with the dew all night on my branches, my glory fresh with me, and my bow ever new in my hand. Men listened to me and waited, and kept silence for my counsel. After I spoke, they did not speak again, and my word dropped upon them. They waited for me as for the rain, and they opened their mouths as for the spring rain. I smiled on them when they had no confidence, and the light of my face they did not cast down. I chose their way and sat as chief, and I lived like a king among his troops, like one who comforts mourners. Job, chapter 30. their food. They are driven out from human company. They shout after them as after a thief. In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell, in holes of the earth and of the rocks. Among the bushes they bray. Under the nettles they huddle together. A senseless, a nameless brood, they have been whipped out of the land. And now I have become their song. I am a byword to them. They abhor me. they keep aloof from me. They do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me, because God has loosed my cord and humbled me. They have cast off restraint in my presence. On my right hand, the rabble rise, they push away my feet. They cast up against me their ways of destruction. They break up my path. They promote my calamity. They need no one to help them. As through a wide breach they come Amid the crash they roll on Terrors are turned upon me My honor is pursued as by the wind And my prosperity has passed away like a cloud And now my soul is poured out within me Days of affliction have taken hold of me The night racks my bones And the pain that gnaws me takes no rest With great force my garment is disfigured It binds me about like the collar of my tunic God has cast me into the mire And I have become like dust and ashes I cry to you for help And you do not answer me, I stand And you only look at me You have turned cruel to me With the might of your hand, you persecute me You lift me up on the wind You make me ride on it and you toss me about in the roar of the storm for I know that you will bring me to death and to the house appointed for all living Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand, and in his disaster cry for help? Did not I weep for him, whose day was hard? Was not my soul grieved for the needy? But when I hoped for good, evil came, and when I waited for light, darkness came. My inward parts are in turmoil and never still. Days of affliction come to meet me. I go about darkened, but not by the sun. I stand up in the assembly and cry for help. I am a brother of jackals and a companion of ostriches. My skin turns black and falls from me, and my bones burn with heat. My lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe to the voice of those who weep. Matthew chapter 22, the parable of the wedding feast. And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast. But they would not come. Again he sent other servants, saying, Tell those who are invited, See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast. But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them. The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast, as many as you find. And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, for many are called, but few are chosen. Paying taxes to Caesar Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle him in his words, and they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, Teacher, we know that you are true, and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. Tell us then what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax. And they brought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, Whose likeness and inscription is this? They said, Caesar's. Then he said to them, Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's. When they heard it, they marveled, and they left him and went away Sadducees ask about the resurrection The same day Sadducees came to him who say that there is no resurrection and they asked him a question saying Teacher, Moses said if a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother. Now there were seven brothers among us The first married and died And having no offspring left his wife to his brother So too the second and third down to the seventh After them all the woman died In the resurrection therefore of the seven Whose wife will she be? For they all had her But Jesus answered them You are wrong, because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God? I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. He is not God of the dead, but of the living. And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching. The Great Commandment But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him, Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law? And he said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment, and a second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets. Whose son is the Christ? Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, What do you think about the Christ, whose son is he? They said to him the son of David. He said to them how is it then that David in the spirit calls him Lord saying the Lord said to my Lord sit at my right hand until I put your enemies under your feet. If then David calls him Lord how is he his son? And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions. Psalm chapter 22 verses 1 through 11. Why have you forsaken me? My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me from the words of my groaning? O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest. Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted, they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried and were rescued. In you they trusted and were not put to shame. But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people. All who see me mock me They make mouths at me They wag their heads He trusts in the Lord Let him deliver him Let him rescue him For he delights in him Yet you are he who took me from the womb You made me trust you at my mother's breasts On you was I cast from my birth And from my mother's womb You have been my God Be not far from me For trouble is near and there is none to help.
