From: "FamilyNet Direct" 

Bible Reading for January 24

Job 28
[1] Surely there is a vein for the silver, and a place for gold where they fine it.
[2] Iron is taken out of the earth, and brass is molten out of the stone.
[3] He setteth an end to darkness, and searcheth out all perfection: the
stones of darkness, and the shadow of death. [4] The flood breaketh out
from the inhabitant; even the waters forgotten of the foot: they are dried
up, they are gone away from men. [5] As for the earth, out of it cometh
bread: and under it is turned up as it were fire.
[6] The stones of it are the place of sapphires: and it hath dust of gold.
[7] There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture's eye hath
not seen:
[8] The lion's whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by
it. [9] He putteth forth his hand upon the rock; he overturneth the
mountains by the roots.
[10] He cutteth out rivers among the rocks; and his eye seeth every precious thing.
[11] He bindeth the floods from overflowing; and the thing that is hid
bringeth he forth to light.
[12] But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding?
[13] Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of
the living.
[14] The depth saith, It is not in me: and the sea saith, It is not with
me. [15] It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for
the price thereof.
[16] It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or
the sapphire.
[17] The gold and the crystal cannot equal it: and the exchange of it shall
not be for jewels of fine gold.
[18] No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls: for the price of
wisdom is above rubies.
[19] The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued
with pure gold.
[20] Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding?
[21] Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the
fowls of the air.
[22] Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame thereof with our ears.
[23] God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof.
[24] For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole
heaven;
[25] To make the weight for the winds; and he weigheth the waters by measure.
[26] When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder:
[27] Then did he see it, and declare it; he prepared it, yea, and searched it out.
[28] And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;
and to depart from evil is understanding.

Job 29
[1] Moreover Job continued his parable, and said, [2] Oh that I were as in
months past, as in the days when God preserved me; [3] When his candle
shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness;
[4] As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle;
[5] When the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were about me; [6]
When I washed my steps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of
oil;
[7] When I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat
in the street!
[8] The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and the aged arose, and stood up.
[9] The princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth. [10]
The nobles held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their
mouth.
[11] When the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw me, it
gave witness to me:
[12] Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him
that had none to help him.
[13] The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I
caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.
[14] I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe
and a diadem.
[15] I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame. [16] I was a
father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out.
[17] And I brake the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth.
[18] Then I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand.
[19] My root was spread out by the waters, and the dew lay all night upon my branch.
[20] My glory was fresh in me, and my bow was renewed in my hand. [21] Unto
me men gave ear, and waited, and kept silence at my counsel. [22] After my
words they spake not again; and my speech dropped upon them. [23] And they
waited for me as for the rain; and they opened their mouth wide as for the
latter rain.
[24] If I laughed on them, they believed it not; and the light of my
countenance they cast not down.
[25] I chose out their way, and sat chief, and dwelt as a king in the army,
as one that comforteth the mourners.

Job 30
[1] 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. [2] Yea,
whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was
perished?
[3] For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in
former time desolate and waste.
[4] Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat. [5]
They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a
thief;)
[6] To dwell in the clifts of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks.
[7] Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together.
[8] They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler
than the earth.
[9] And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword. [10] They abhor me,
they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face. [11] Because he
hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle
before me.
[12] Upon my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they
raise up against me the ways of their destruction. [13] They mar my path,
they set forward my calamity, they have no helper. [14] They came upon me
as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves
upon me.
[15] Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my
welfare passeth away as a cloud.
[16] And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have
taken hold upon me.
[17] My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.
[18] By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me
about as the collar of my coat.
[19] He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.
[20] I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou
regardest me not.
[21] Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest
thyself against me.
[22] Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and
dissolvest my substance.
[23] For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house
appointed for all living.
[24] Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry
in his destruction.
[25] Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved
for the poor?
[26] When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for
light, there came darkness.
[27] My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me.
[28] I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the
congregation.
[29] I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls. [30] My skin is
black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat. [31] My harp also is
turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.

Job 31
[1] I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?
[2] For what portion of God is there from above? and what inheritance of
the Almighty from on high?
[3] Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the
workers of iniquity?
[4] Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps? [5] If I have walked
with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit; [6] Let me be weighed in
an even balance, that God may know mine integrity. [7] If my step hath
turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any
blot hath cleaved to mine hands; [8] Then let me sow, and let another eat;
yea, let my offspring be rooted out.
[9] If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at
my neighbour's door;
[10] Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.
[11] For this is an heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by
the judges.
[12] For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all
mine increase.
[13] If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when
they contended with me;
[14] What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what
shall I answer him?
[15] Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion
us in the womb?
[16] If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes
of the widow to fail;
[17] Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof;
[18] (For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, and I
have guided her from my mother's womb;) [19] If I have seen any perish for
want of clothing, or any poor without covering;
[20] If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the
fleece of my sheep;
[21] If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help
in the gate:
[22] Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken
from the bone.
[23] For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his
highness I could not endure.
[24] If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art
my confidence;
[25] If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had
gotten much;
[26] If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness;
[27] And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my
hand:
[28] This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should
have denied the God that is above.
[29] If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up
myself when evil found him:
[30] Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his
soul. [31] If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his
flesh! we cannot be satisfied.
[32] The stranger did not lodge in the street: but I opened my doors to the
traveller.
[33] If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom:
[34] Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify
me, that I kept silence, and went not out of the door? [35] Oh that one
would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and
that mine adversary had written a book. [36] Surely I would take it upon my
shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me. [37] I would declare unto him the
number of my steps; as a prince would I go near unto him.
[38] If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain;
[39] If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused the
owners thereof to lose their life:
[40] Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The
words of Job are ended.

-+-

http://www.baptistbarter.com - Free Baptist Bartering Exchange

http://www.baptist-ministries.org - Independent Baptist Web Portal

http://www.christian-wellness.com - dedicated to your physical, spiritual,
and financial well being (Online Mall).

--- BBBS/NT v4.01 Flag-5