Job 35-37 New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)
Elihu Condemns Self-Righteousness
35 Elihu continued and said:
2
“Do you think this to be just?
You say, ‘I am in the right before God.’
3
If you ask, ‘What advantage have I?
How am I better off than if I had sinned?’
4
I will answer you
and your friends with you.
5
Look at the heavens and see;
observe the clouds, which are higher than you.
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If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against him?
And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him?
7
If you are righteous, what do you give to him;
or what does he receive from your hand?
8
Your wickedness affects others like you,
and your righteousness, other human beings.
9
“Because of the multitude of oppressions people cry out;
they call for help because of the arm of the mighty.
10
But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker,
who gives strength in the night,
11
who teaches us more than the animals of the earth,
and makes us wiser than the birds of the air?’
12
There they cry out, but he does not answer,
because of the pride of evildoers.
13
Surely God does not hear an empty cry,
nor does the Almighty[a] regard it.
14
How much less when you say that you do not see him,
that the case is before him, and you are waiting for him!
15
And now, because his anger does not punish,
and he does not greatly heed transgression,[b]
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Job opens his mouth in empty talk,
he multiplies words without knowledge.”
Elihu Exalts God’s Goodness
36 Elihu continued and said:
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“Bear with me a little, and I will show you,
for I have yet something to say on God’s behalf.
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I will bring my knowledge from far away,
and ascribe righteousness to my Maker.
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For truly my words are not false;
one who is perfect in knowledge is with you.
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“Surely God is mighty and does not despise any;
he is mighty in strength of understanding.
6
He does not keep the wicked alive,
but gives the afflicted their right.
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He does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous,
but with kings on the throne
he sets them forever, and they are exalted.
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And if they are bound in fetters
and caught in the cords of affliction,
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then he declares to them their work
and their transgressions, that they are behaving arrogantly.
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He opens their ears to instruction,
and commands that they return from iniquity.
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If they listen, and serve him,
they complete their days in prosperity,
and their years in pleasantness.
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But if they do not listen, they shall perish by the sword,
and die without knowledge.
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“The godless in heart cherish anger;
they do not cry for help when he binds them.
14
They die in their youth,
and their life ends in shame.[c]
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He delivers the afflicted by their affliction,
and opens their ear by adversity.
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He also allured you out of distress
into a broad place where there was no constraint,
and what was set on your table was full of fatness.
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“But you are obsessed with the case of the wicked;
judgment and justice seize you.
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Beware that wrath does not entice you into scoffing,
and do not let the greatness of the ransom turn you aside.
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Will your cry avail to keep you from distress,
or will all the force of your strength?
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Do not long for the night,
when peoples are cut off in their place.
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Beware! Do not turn to iniquity;
because of that you have been tried by affliction.
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See, God is exalted in his power;
who is a teacher like him?
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Who has prescribed for him his way,
or who can say, ‘You have done wrong’?
Elihu Proclaims God’s Majesty
24
“Remember to extol his work,
of which mortals have sung.
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All people have looked on it;
everyone watches it from far away.
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Surely God is great, and we do not know him;
the number of his years is unsearchable.
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For he draws up the drops of water;
he distills[d] his mist in rain,
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which the skies pour down
and drop upon mortals abundantly.
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Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds,
the thunderings of his pavilion?
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See, he scatters his lightning around him
and covers the roots of the sea.
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For by these he governs peoples;
he gives food in abundance.
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He covers his hands with the lightning,
and commands it to strike the mark.
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Its crashing[e] tells about him;
he is jealous[f] with anger against iniquity.
37 “At this also my heart trembles,
and leaps out of its place.
2
Listen, listen to the thunder of his voice
and the rumbling that comes from his mouth.
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Under the whole heaven he lets it loose,
and his lightning to the corners of the earth.
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After it his voice roars;
he thunders with his majestic voice
and he does not restrain the lightnings[g] when his voice is heard.
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God thunders wondrously with his voice;
he does great things that we cannot comprehend.
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For to the snow he says, ‘Fall on the earth’;
and the shower of rain, his heavy shower of rain,
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serves as a sign on everyone’s hand,
so that all whom he has made may know it.[h]
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Then the animals go into their lairs
and remain in their dens.
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From its chamber comes the whirlwind,
and cold from the scattering winds.
10
By the breath of God ice is given,
and the broad waters are frozen fast.
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He loads the thick cloud with moisture;
the clouds scatter his lightning.
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They turn round and round by his guidance,
to accomplish all that he commands them
on the face of the habitable world.
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Whether for correction, or for his land,
or for love, he causes it to happen.
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“Hear this, O Job;
stop and consider the wondrous works of God.
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Do you know how God lays his command upon them,
and causes the lightning of his cloud to shine?
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Do you know the balancings of the clouds,
the wondrous works of the one whose knowledge is perfect,
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you whose garments are hot
when the earth is still because of the south wind?
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Can you, like him, spread out the skies,
hard as a molten mirror?
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Teach us what we shall say to him;
we cannot draw up our case because of darkness.
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Should he be told that I want to speak?
Did anyone ever wish to be swallowed up?
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Now, no one can look on the light
when it is bright in the skies,
when the wind has passed and cleared them.
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Out of the north comes golden splendor;
around God is awesome majesty.
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The Almighty[i]—we cannot find him;
he is great in power and justice,
and abundant righteousness he will not violate.
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Therefore mortals fear him;
he does not regard any who are wise in their own conceit.”
Wisdom 11:15-26 New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)
Punishment of the Wicked
15
In return for their foolish and wicked thoughts,
which led them astray to worship irrational serpents and worthless animals,
you sent upon them a multitude of irrational creatures to punish them,
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so that they might learn that one is punished by the very things by which one sins.
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For your all-powerful hand,
which created the world out of formless matter,
did not lack the means to send upon them a multitude of bears, or bold lions,
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or newly-created unknown beasts full of rage,
or such as breathe out fiery breath,
or belch forth a thick pall of smoke,
or flash terrible sparks from their eyes;
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not only could the harm they did destroy people,[a]
but the mere sight of them could kill by fright.
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Even apart from these, people[b] could fall at a single breath
when pursued by justice
and scattered by the breath of your power.
But you have arranged all things by measure and number and weight.
God Is Powerful and Merciful
21
For it is always in your power to show great strength,
and who can withstand the might of your arm?
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Because the whole world before you is like a speck that tips the scales,
and like a drop of morning dew that falls on the ground.
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But you are merciful to all, for you can do all things,
and you overlook people’s sins, so that they may repent.
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For you love all things that exist,
and detest none of the things that you have made,
for you would not have made anything if you had hated it.
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How would anything have endured if you had not willed it?
Or how would anything not called forth by you have been preserved?
26
You spare all things, for they are yours, O Lord, you who love the living.
Luke 23:26-56 New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)
The Crucifixion of Jesus
26 As they led him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming from the country, and they laid the cross on him, and made him carry it behind Jesus. 27 A great number of the people followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him. 28 But Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 For the days are surely coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’ 30 Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us’; and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ 31 For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
32 Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. 33 When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus[a] there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. [[34 Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”]][b] And they cast lots to divide his clothing. 35 And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah[c] of God, his chosen one!” 36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, 37 and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” 38 There was also an inscription over him,[d] “This is the King of the Jews.”
39 One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding[e] him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah?[f] Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into[g] your kingdom.” 43 He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
The Death of Jesus
44 It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land[h] until three in the afternoon, 45 while the sun’s light failed;[i] and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Having said this, he breathed his last. 47 When the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God and said, “Certainly this man was innocent.”[j] 48 And when all the crowds who had gathered there for this spectacle saw what had taken place, they returned home, beating their breasts. 49 But all his acquaintances, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.
The Burial of Jesus
50 Now there was a good and righteous man named Joseph, who, though a member of the council, 51 had not agreed to their plan and action. He came from the Jewish town of Arimathea, and he was waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God. 52 This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. 53 Then he took it down, wrapped it in a linen cloth, and laid it in a rock-hewn tomb where no one had ever been laid. 54 It was the day of Preparation, and the sabbath was beginning.[k] 55 The women who had come with him from Galilee followed, and they saw the tomb and how his body was laid. 56 Then they returned, and prepared spices and ointments.
On the sabbath they rested according to the commandment.