Exodus 11

• 1. Now the LORD had said to Moses, "I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here, and when he does, he will drive you out completely.
• 2. Tell the people that men and women alike are to ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold."
• 3. (The LORD made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and Moses himself was highly regarded in Egypt by Pharaoh's officials and by the people.)
• 4. So Moses said, "This is what the LORD says: 'About midnight I will go throughout Egypt.
• 5. Every firstborn son in Egypt will die, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sits on the throne, to the firstborn son of the slave girl, who is at her hand mill, and all the firstborn of the cattle as well.
• 6. There will be loud wailing throughout Egypt-worse than there has ever been or ever will be again.
• 7. But among the Israelites not a dog will bark at any man or animal.' Then you will know that the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.
• 8. All these officials of yours will come to me, bowing down before me and saying, 'Go, you and all the people who follow you!' After that I will leave." Then Moses, hot with anger, left Pharaoh.
• 9. The LORD had said to Moses, "Pharaoh will refuse to listen to you-so that my wonders may be multiplied in Egypt."
• 10. Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let the Israelites go out of his country.

Luke 15

• 1. Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him.
• 2. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."
• 3. Then Jesus told them this parable:
• 4. "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?
• 5. And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders
• 6. and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.'
• 7. I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
• 8. "Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?
• 9. And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.'
• 10. In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."
• 11. Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons.
• 12. The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them.
• 13. "Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.
• 14. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need.
• 15. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs.
• 16. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
• 17. "When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!
• 18. I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
• 19. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.'
• 20. So he got up and went to his father. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
• 21. "The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. '
• 22. "But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
• 23. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate.
• 24. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.
• 25. "Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing.
• 26. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on.
• 27. 'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.'
• 28. "The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him.
• 29. But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.
• 30. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!'
• 31. "'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.
• 32. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.'"

Job 30

• 1. "But now they mock me, men younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to put with my sheep dogs.
• 2. Of what use was the strength of their hands to me, since their vigor had gone from them?
• 3. Haggard from want and hunger, they roamed the parched land in desolate wastelands at night.
• 4. In the brush they gathered salt herbs, and their food was the root of the broom tree.
• 5. They were banished from their fellow men, shouted at as if they were thieves.
• 6. They were forced to live in the dry stream beds, among the rocks and in holes in the ground.
• 7. They brayed among the bushes and huddled in the undergrowth.
• 8. A base and nameless brood, they were driven out of the land.
• 9. "And now their sons mock me in song; I have become a byword among them.
• 10. They detest me and keep their distance; they do not hesitate to spit in my face.
• 11. Now that God has unstrung my bow and afflicted me, they throw off restraint in my presence.
• 12. On my right the tribe attacks; they lay snares for my feet, they build their siege ramps against me.
• 13. They break up my road; they succeed in destroying me- without anyone's helping them.
• 14. They advance as through a gaping breach; amid the ruins they come rolling in.
• 15. Terrors overwhelm me; my dignity is driven away as by the wind, my safety vanishes like a cloud.
• 16. "And now my life ebbs away; days of suffering grip me.
• 17. Night pierces my bones; my gnawing pains never rest.
• 18. In his great power God becomes like clothing to me; he binds me like the neck of my garment.
• 19. He throws me into the mud, and I am reduced to dust and ashes.
• 20. "I cry out to you, O God, but you do not answer; I stand up, but you merely look at me.
• 21. You turn on me ruthlessly; with the might of your hand you attack me.
• 22. You snatch me up and drive me before the wind; you toss me about in the storm.
• 23. I know you will bring me down to death, to the place appointed for all the living.
• 24. "Surely no one lays a hand on a broken man when he cries for help in his distress.
• 25. Have I not wept for those in trouble? Has not my soul grieved for the poor?
• 26. Yet when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, then came darkness.
• 27. The churning inside me never stops; days of suffering confront me.
• 28. I go about blackened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
• 29. I have become a brother of jackals, a companion of owls.
• 30. My skin grows black and peels; my body burns with fever.
• 31. My harp is tuned to mourning, and my flute to the sound of wailing.

New International Version

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