Job 29-30

Psalm 86

A Prayer of David.

Bow down thine ear, O LORD, hear me: for I am poor and needy. Preserve my soul; for I am holy: O thou my God, save thy servant that trusts in thee. Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry unto thee daily. Rejoice the soul of thy servant: for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. Give ear, O LORD, unto my prayer; and attend to the voice of my supplications. In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me.

Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto thy works. All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name. For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone.

Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name. I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore. For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell. O God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent men have sought after my soul; and have not set thee before them. But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth. O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me; give thy strength unto thy servant, and save the son of thy handmaid. Show me a token for good; that they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed: because thou, LORD, hast helped me, and comforted me.

Psalm 87

A Psalm or Song for the sons of Korah.

His foundation is in the holy mountains. The LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Selah.

I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there. And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her: and the highest himself shall establish her. The LORD shall count, when he writes up the people, that this man was born there. Selah. As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there: all my springs are in thee.

Job 29-30

Moreover Job continued his parable, and said,

Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me; When his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness; As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle; When the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were about me; When I washed my steps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil; When I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the street! The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and the aged arose, and stood up. The princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth. The nobles held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth. When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me: Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him. The blessing of him that was ready 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 judgment was as a robe and a diadem. I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame. I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out. And I brake the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth. Then I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand. My root was spread out by the waters, and the dew lay all night upon my branch. My glory was fresh in me, and my bow was renewed in my hand. Unto me men gave ear, and waited, and kept silence at my counsel. After my words they spake not again; and my speech dropped upon them. And they waited for me as for the rain; and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain. If I laughed on them, they believed it not; and the light of my countenance they cast not down. I chose out their way, and sat chief, and dwelt as a king in the army, as one that comforteth the mourners.

But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock. Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished? For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste. Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat. They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief;) To dwell in the clifts of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks. Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together. They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.

And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword. They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face. Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me. Upon my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction. They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper. They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me.

Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud. And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me. My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest. By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat. He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.

I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not. Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me. Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance. For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living. Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.

Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor? When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness. My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me. I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation. I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls. My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat. My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.

Proverbs 19

Better is the poor that walks in his integrity, than he that is perverse in his lips, and is a fool.

Also, that the soul be without knowledge, it is not good; and he that hastens with his feet sins.

The foolishness of man perverts his way: and his heart frets against the LORD.

Wealth makes many friends; but the poor is separated from his neighbor.

A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaks lies shall not escape.

Many will intreat the favor of the prince: and every man is a friend to him that gives gifts.

All the brethren of the poor do hate him: how much more do his friends go far from him? He pursues them with words, yet they are wanting to him.

He that gets wisdom loves his own soul: he that keeps understanding shall find good.

A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaks lies shall perish.

Delight is not seemly for a fool; much less for a servant to have rule over princes.

The discretion of a man defers his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression.

The king’s wrath is as the roaring of a lion; but his favor is as dew upon the grass.

A foolish son is the calamity of his father: and the contentions of a wife are a continual dropping.

House and riches are the inheritance of fathers: and a prudent wife is from the LORD.

Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger.

He that keeps the commandment keeps his own soul; but he that despises his ways shall die.

He that has pity upon the poor lends unto the LORD; and that which he has given will he pay him again.

Chasten thy son while there is hope, and let not thy soul spare for his crying.

A man of great wrath shall suffer punishment: for if thou deliver him, yet thou must do it again.

Hear counsel, and receive instruction, that thou mayest be wise in thy latter end.

There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall stand.

The desire of a man is his kindness: and a poor man is better than a liar.

The fear of the LORD tends to life: and he that has it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil.

A slothful man hides his hand in his bosom, and will not so much as bring it to his mouth again.

Smite a scorner, and the simple will beware: and reprove one that has understanding, and he will understand knowledge.

He that wastes his father, and chases away his mother, is a son that causes shame, and brings reproach.

Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causes to err from the words of knowledge.

An ungodly witness scorns judgment: and the mouth of the wicked devours iniquity.

Judgments are prepared for scorners, and stripes for the back of fools.