You Can Trust God

²¹ My son, do not let wisdom and understanding out of your sight,
   preserve sound judgment and discretion;
²² they will be life for you,
   an ornament to grace your neck.
²³ Then you will go on your way in safety,
   and your foot will not stumble.
²⁴ When you lie down, you will not be afraid;
   when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.
²⁵ Have no fear of sudden disaster
   or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked,
²⁶ for the Lord will be at your side
   and will keep your foot from being snared.

²⁷ Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due,
   when it is in your power to act.
²⁸ Do not say to your neighbour,
   “Come back tomorrow and I’ll give it to you”—
   when you already have it with you.
²⁹ Do not plot harm against your neighbour,
   who lives trustfully near you.
³⁰ Do not accuse anyone for no reason—
   when they have done you no harm.

³¹ Do not envy the violent
   or choose any of their ways.

³² For the Lord detests the perverse
   but takes the upright into his confidence.
³³ The Lord’s curse is on the house of the wicked,
   but he blesses the home of the righteous.
³⁴ He mocks proud mockers
   but shows favour to the humble and oppressed.
³⁵ The wise inherit honour,
   but fools get only shame.

Jesus Curses a Fig Tree

¹⁸ Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. ¹⁹ Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered.

²⁰ When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” they asked.

²¹ Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. ²² If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

The Authority of Jesus Questioned

²³ Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?”

²⁴ Jesus replied, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. ²⁵ John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?”

They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ ²⁶ But if we say, ‘Of human origin’—we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.”

²⁷ So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”

Then he said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

The Parable of the Two Sons

²⁸ “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’

²⁹ “‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.

³⁰ “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.

³¹ “Which of the two did what his father wanted?”

“The first,” they answered.

Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. ³² For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.

Eliphaz

22 Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

² “Can a man be of benefit to God?
   Can even a wise person benefit him?
³ What pleasure would it give the Almighty if you were righteous?
   What would he gain if your ways were blameless?

⁴ “Is it for your piety that he rebukes you
   and brings charges against you?
⁵ Is not your wickedness great?
   Are not your sins endless?
⁶ You demanded security from your relatives for no reason;
   you stripped people of their clothing, leaving them naked.
⁷ You gave no water to the weary
   and you withheld food from the hungry,
⁸ though you were a powerful man, owning land —
   an honoured man, living on it.
⁹ And you sent widows away empty-handed
   and broke the strength of the fatherless.
¹⁰ That is why snares are all around you,
   why sudden peril terrifies you,
¹¹ why it is so dark you cannot see,
   and why a flood of water covers you.

¹² “Is not God in the heights of heaven?
   And see how lofty are the highest stars!
¹³ Yet you say, ‘What does God know?
   Does he judge through such darkness?
¹⁴ Thick clouds veil him, so he does not see us
   as he goes about in the vaulted heavens.’
¹⁵ Will you keep to the old path
   that the wicked have trod?
¹⁶ They were carried off before their time,
   their foundations washed away by a flood.
¹⁷ They said to God, ‘Leave us alone!
   What can the Almighty do to us?’
¹⁸ Yet it was he who filled their houses with good things,
   so I stand aloof from the plans of the wicked.
¹⁹ The righteous see their ruin and rejoice;
   the innocent mock them, saying,
²⁰ ‘Surely our foes are destroyed,
   and fire devours their wealth.’

²¹ “Submit to God and be at peace with him;
   in this way prosperity will come to you.
²² Accept instruction from his mouth
   and lay up his words in your heart.
²³ If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored:
   If you remove wickedness far from your tent
²⁴ and assign your nuggets to the dust,
   your gold of Ophir to the rocks in the ravines,
²⁵ then the Almighty will be your gold,
   the choicest silver for you.
²⁶ Surely then you will find delight in the Almighty
   and will lift up your face to God.
²⁷ You will pray to him, and he will hear you,
   and you will fulfill your vows.
²⁸ What you decide on will be done,
   and light will shine on your ways.
²⁹ When people are brought low and you say, ‘Lift them up!’
   then he will save the downcast.
³⁰ He will deliver even one who is not innocent,
   who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”

23 Then Job replied:

² “Even today my complaint is bitter;
   his hand is heavy in spite of my groaning.
³ If only I knew where to find him;
   if only I could go to his dwelling!
⁴ I would state my case before him
   and fill my mouth with arguments.
⁵ I would find out what he would answer me,
   and consider what he would say to me.
⁶ Would he vigorously oppose me?
   No, he would not press charges against me.
⁷ There the upright can establish their innocence before him,
   and there I would be delivered forever from my judge.

⁸ “But if I go to the east, he is not there;
   if I go to the west, I do not find him.
⁹ When he is at work in the north, I do not see him;
   when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him.
¹⁰ But he knows the way that I take;
   when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.
¹¹ My feet have closely followed his steps;
   I have kept to his way without turning aside.
¹² I have not departed from the commands of his lips;
   I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.

¹³ “But he stands alone, and who can oppose him?
   He does whatever he pleases.
¹⁴ He carries out his decree against me,
   and many such plans he still has in store.
¹⁵ That is why I am terrified before him;
   when I think of all this, I fear him.
¹⁶ God has made my heart faint;
   the Almighty has terrified me.
¹⁷ Yet I am not silenced by the darkness,
   by the thick darkness that covers my face.

24 “Why does the Almighty not set times for judgment?
   Why must those who know him look in vain for such days?
² There are those who move boundary stones;
   they pasture flocks they have stolen.
³ They drive away the orphan’s donkey
   and take the widow’s ox in pledge.
⁴ They thrust the needy from the path
   and force all the poor of the land into hiding.
⁵ Like wild donkeys in the desert,
   the poor go about their labour of foraging food;
   the wasteland provides food for their children.
⁶ They gather fodder in the fields
   and glean in the vineyards of the wicked.
⁷ Lacking clothes, they spend the night naked;
   they have nothing to cover themselves in the cold.
⁸ They are drenched by mountain rains
   and hug the rocks for lack of shelter.
⁹ The fatherless child is snatched from the breast;
   the infant of the poor is seized for a debt.
¹⁰ Lacking clothes, they go about naked;
   they carry the sheaves, but still go hungry.
¹¹ They crush olives among the terraces;
   they tread the winepresses, yet suffer thirst.
¹² The groans of the dying rise from the city,
   and the souls of the wounded cry out for help.
   But God charges no one with wrongdoing.

¹³ “There are those who rebel against the light,
   who do not know its ways
   or stay in its paths.
¹⁴ When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up,
   kills the poor and needy,
   and in the night steals forth like a thief.
¹⁵ The eye of the adulterer watches for dusk;
   he thinks, ‘No eye will see me,’
   and he keeps his face concealed.
¹⁶ In the dark, thieves break into houses,
   but by day they shut themselves in;
   they want nothing to do with the light.
¹⁷ For all of them, midnight is their morning;
   they make friends with the terrors of darkness.

¹⁸ “Yet they are foam on the surface of the water;
   their portion of the land is cursed,
   so that no one goes to the vineyards.
¹⁹ As heat and drought snatch away the melted snow,
   so the grave snatches away those who have sinned.
²⁰ The womb forgets them,
   the worm feasts on them;
   the wicked are no longer remembered
   but are broken like a tree.
²¹ They prey on the barren and childless woman,
   and to the widow they show no kindness.
²² But God drags away the mighty by his power;
   though they become established, they have no assurance of life.
²³ He may let them rest in a feeling of security,
   but his eyes are on their ways.
²⁴ For a little while they are exalted, and then they are gone;
   they are brought low and gathered up like all others;
   they are cut off like ears of corn.

²⁵ “If this is not so, who can prove me false
   and reduce my words to nothing?”