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Job Replies: There Is No Mediator

9Then Job answered:
² ‘Indeed I know that this is so;
   but how can a mortal be just before God?
³ If one wished to contend with him,
   one could not answer him once in a thousand.
⁴ He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength
—who has resisted him, and succeeded?—
⁵ he who removes mountains, and they do not know it,
   when he overturns them in his anger;
⁶ who shakes the earth out of its place,
   and its pillars tremble;
⁷ who commands the sun, and it does not rise;
   who seals up the stars;
⁸ who alone stretched out the heavens
   and trampled the waves of the Sea;^*
9 who made the Bear and Orion,
   the Pleiades and the chambers of the south;
¹⁰ who does great things beyond understanding,
   and marvellous things without number.
¹¹ Look, he passes by me, and I do not see him;
   he moves on, but I do not perceive him.
¹² He snatches away; who can stop him?
   Who will say to him, “What are you doing?”

¹⁴ How then can I answer him,
   choosing my words with him?
¹⁵ Though I am innocent, I cannot answer him;
   I must appeal for mercy to my accuser.^*
16 If I summoned him and he answered me,
   I do not believe that he would listen to my voice.

Psalm 88

Prayer for Help in Despondency

A Song. A Psalm of the Korahites. To the leader: according to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.
¹ O Lord, God of my salvation,
   when, at night, I cry out in your presence,
¹⁰ Do you work wonders for the dead?
   Do the shades rise up to praise you?
          Selah
¹¹ Is your steadfast love declared in the grave,
   or your faithfulness in Abaddon?
¹² Are your wonders known in the darkness,
   or your saving help in the land of forgetfulness?

¹³ But I, O Lord, cry out to you;
   in the morning my prayer comes before you.
¹⁴ O Lord, why do you cast me off?
   Why do you hide your face from me?
¹⁵ Wretched and close to death from my youth up,
   I suffer your terrors; I am desperate.^*

Would-Be Followers of Jesus

57 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’ ⁵⁸And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’ ⁵⁹To another he said, ‘Follow me.’ But he said, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ ⁶⁰But Jesus^* said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’ ⁶¹Another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.’ ⁶²Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’