Genesis 49

• 1. Then Jacob called for his sons and said: "Gather around so I can tell you what will happen to you in days to come.
• 2. "Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob; listen to your father Israel.
• 3. "Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, the first sign of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power.
• 4. Turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel, for you went up onto your father's bed, onto my couch and defiled it.
• 5. "Simeon and Levi are brothers- their swords are weapons of violence.
• 6. Let me not enter their council, let me not join their assembly, for they have killed men in their anger and hamstrung oxen as they pleased.
• 7. Cursed be their anger, so fierce, and their fury, so cruel! I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel.
• 8. "Judah, your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your father's sons will bow down to you.
• 9. You are a lion's cub, O Judah; you return from the prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness-who dares to rouse him?
• 10. The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his.
• 11. He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch; he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes.
• 12. His eyes will be darker than wine, his teeth whiter than milk.
• 13. "Zebulun will live by the seashore and become a haven for ships; his border will extend toward Sidon.
• 14. "Issachar is a rawboned donkey lying down between two saddlebags.
• 15. When he sees how good is his resting place and how pleasant is his land, he will bend his shoulder to the burden and submit to forced labor.
• 16. "Dan will provide justice for his people as one of the tribes of Israel.
• 17. Dan will be a serpent by the roadside, a viper along the path, that bites the horse's heels so that its rider tumbles backward.
• 18. "I look for your deliverance, O LORD.
• 19. "Gad will be attacked by a band of raiders, but he will attack them at their heels.
• 20. "Asher's food will be rich; he will provide delicacies fit for a king.
• 21. "Naphtali is a doe set free that bears beautiful fawns.
• 22. "Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine near a spring, whose branches climb over a wall.
• 23. With bitterness archers attacked him; they shot at him with hostility.
• 24. But his bow remained steady, his strong arms stayed limber, because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob, because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
• 25. because of your father's God, who helps you, because of the Almighty, who blesses you with blessings of the heavens above, blessings of the deep that lies below, blessings of the breast and womb.
• 26. Your father's blessings are greater than the blessings of the ancient mountains, than the bounty of the age-old hills. Let all these rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince among his brothers.
• 27. "Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning he devours the prey, in the evening he divides the plunder."
• 28. All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them, giving each the blessing appropriate to him.
• 29. Then he gave them these instructions: "I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite,
• 30. the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan, which Abraham bought as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite, along with the field.
• 31. There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried, and there I buried Leah.
• 32. The field and the cave in it were bought from the Hittites. "
• 33. When Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed, breathed his last and was gathered to his people.

Luke 4

• 1. Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert,
• 2. where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.
• 3. The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread."
• 4. Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone.'"
• 5. The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.
• 6. And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to.
• 7. So if you worship me, it will all be yours."
• 8. Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.'"
• 9. The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here.
• 10. For it is written: "'He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully;
• 11. they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'"
• 12. Jesus answered, "It says: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"
• 13. When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.
• 14. Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside.
• 15. He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him.
• 16. He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read.
• 17. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
• 18. "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed,
• 19. to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
• 20. Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him,
• 21. and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."
• 22. All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. "Isn't this Joseph's son?" they asked.
• 23. Jesus said to them, "Surely you will quote this proverb to me: 'Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.'"
• 24. "I tell you the truth," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown.
• 25. I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land.
• 26. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon.
• 27. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed--only Naaman the Syrian."
• 28. All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this.
• 29. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff.
• 30. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.
• 31. Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath began to teach the people.
• 32. They were amazed at his teaching, because his message had authority.
• 33. In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an evil spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice,
• 34. "Ha! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are--the Holy One of God!"
• 35. "Be quiet!" Jesus said sternly. "Come out of him!" Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him.
• 36. All the people were amazed and said to each other, "What is this teaching? With authority and power he gives orders to evil spirits and they come out!"
• 37. And the news about him spread throughout the surrounding area.
• 38. Jesus left the synagogue and went to the home of Simon. Now Simon's mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Jesus to help her.
• 39. So he bent over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up at once and began to wait on them.
• 40. When the sun was setting, the people brought to Jesus all who had various kinds of sickness, and laying his hands on each one, he healed them.
• 41. Moreover, demons came out of many people, shouting, "You are the Son of God!" But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Christ.
• 42. At daybreak Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them.
• 43. But he said, "I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent."
• 44. And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

Job 16

• 1. Then Job replied:
• 2. "I have heard many things like these; miserable comforters are you all!
• 3. Will your long-winded speeches never end? What ails you that you keep on arguing?
• 4. I also could speak like you, if you were in my place; I could make fine speeches against you and shake my head at you.
• 5. But my mouth would encourage you; comfort from my lips would bring you relief.
• 6. "Yet if I speak, my pain is not relieved; and if I refrain, it does not go away.
• 7. Surely, O God, you have worn me out; you have devastated my entire household.
• 8. You have bound me-and it has become a witness; my gauntness rises up and testifies against me.
• 9. God assails me and tears me in his anger and gnashes his teeth at me; my opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes.
• 10. Men open their mouths to jeer at me; they strike my cheek in scorn and unite together against me.
• 11. God has turned me over to evil men and thrown me into the clutches of the wicked.
• 12. All was well with me, but he shattered me; he seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has made me his target;
• 13. his archers surround me. Without pity, he pierces my kidneys and spills my gall on the ground.
• 14. Again and again he bursts upon me; he rushes at me like a warrior.
• 15. "I have sewed sackcloth over my skin and buried my brow in the dust.
• 16. My face is red with weeping, deep shadows ring my eyes;
• 17. yet my hands have been free of violence and my prayer is pure.
• 18. "O earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry never be laid to rest!
• 19. Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high.
• 20. My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God;
• 21. on behalf of a man he pleads with God as a man pleads for his friend.
• 22. "Only a few years will pass before I go on the journey of no return.

Job 17

• 1. My spirit is broken, my days are cut short, the grave awaits me.
• 2. Surely mockers surround me; my eyes must dwell on their hostility.
• 3. "Give me, O God, the pledge you demand. Who else will put up security for me?
• 4. You have closed their minds to understanding; therefore you will not let them triumph.
• 5. If a man denounces his friends for reward, the eyes of his children will fail.
• 6. "God has made me a byword to everyone, a man in whose face people spit.
• 7. My eyes have grown dim with grief; my whole frame is but a shadow.
• 8. Upright men are appalled at this; the innocent are aroused against the ungodly.
• 9. Nevertheless, the righteous will hold to their ways, and those with clean hands will grow stronger.
• 10. "But come on, all of you, try again! I will not find a wise man among you.
• 11. My days have passed, my plans are shattered, and so are the desires of my heart.
• 12. These men turn night into day; in the face of darkness they say, 'Light is near.'
• 13. If the only home I hope for is the grave, if I spread out my bed in darkness,
• 14. if I say to corruption, 'You are my father,' and to the worm, 'My mother' or 'My sister,'
• 15. where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me?
• 16. Will it go down to the gates of death? Will we descend together into the dust?"

New International Version

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