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⁸⁹ The Lord exists for ever;
   your word is firmly fixed in heaven.
⁹⁰ Your faithfulness endures to all generations;
   you have established the earth, and it stands fast.
⁹¹ By your appointment they stand today,
   for all things are your servants.
⁹² If your law had not been my delight,
   I would have perished in my misery.
⁹³ I will never forget your precepts,
   for by them you have given me life.
⁹⁴ I am yours; save me,
   for I have sought your precepts.
⁹⁵ The wicked lie in wait to destroy me,
   but I consider your decrees.
⁹⁶ I have seen a limit to all perfection,
   but your commandment is exceedingly broad.

⁹⁷ Oh, how I love your law!
   It is my meditation all day long.
⁹⁸ Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies,
   for it is always with me.
⁹⁹ I have more understanding than all my teachers,
   for your decrees are my meditation.
¹⁰⁰ I understand more than the aged,
   for I keep your precepts.
¹⁰¹ I hold back my feet from every evil way,
   in order to keep your word.
¹⁰² I do not turn away from your ordinances,
   for you have taught me.
¹⁰³ How sweet are your words to my taste,
   sweeter than honey to my mouth!
¹⁰⁴ Through your precepts I get understanding;
   therefore I hate every false way.

The Budding of Aaron’s Rod

17^*The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ²Speak to the Israelites, and get twelve staffs from them, one for each ancestral house, from all the leaders of their ancestral houses. Write each man’s name on his staff, ³and write Aaron’s name on the staff of Levi. For there shall be one staff for the head of each ancestral house. ⁴Place them in the tent of meeting before the covenant,^* where I meet with you. ⁵And the staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout; thus I will put a stop to the complaints of the Israelites that they continually make against you. ⁶Moses spoke to the Israelites; and all their leaders gave him staffs, one for each leader, according to their ancestral houses, twelve staffs; and the staff of Aaron was among theirs. ⁷So Moses placed the staffs before the Lord in the tent of the covenant.^*

8 When Moses went into the tent of the covenant^* on the next day, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted. It put forth buds, produced blossoms, and bore ripe almonds. ⁹Then Moses brought out all the staffs from before the Lord to all the Israelites; and they looked, and each man took his staff. ¹⁰And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Put back the staff of Aaron before the covenant,^* to be kept as a warning to rebels, so that you may make an end of their complaints against me, or else they will die.’ ¹¹Moses did so; just as the Lord commanded him, so he did.

12 The Israelites said to Moses, ‘We are perishing; we are lost, all of us are lost! ¹³Everyone who approaches the tabernacle of the Lord will die. Are we all to perish?’

The Desolating Sacrilege

14 ‘But when you see the desolating sacrilege set up where it ought not to be (let the reader understand), then those in Judea must flee to the mountains; ¹⁵someone on the housetop must not go down or enter the house to take anything away; ¹⁶someone in the field must not turn back to get a coat. ¹⁷Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days! ¹⁸Pray that it may not be in winter. ¹⁹For in those days there will be suffering, such as has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, no, and never will be. ²⁰And if the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would be saved; but for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he has cut short those days. ²¹And if anyone says to you at that time, “Look! Here is the Messiah!”^* or “Look! There he is!”—do not believe it. ²²False messiahs^* and false prophets will appear and produce signs and omens, to lead astray, if possible, the elect. ²³But be alert; I have already told you everything.

The Coming of the Son of Man

24 ‘But in those days, after that suffering,
the sun will be darkened,
   and the moon will not give its light,
²⁵ and the stars will be falling from heaven,
   and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
²⁶Then they will see “the Son of Man coming in clouds” with great power and glory. ²⁷Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

The Lesson of the Fig Tree

28 ‘From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. ²⁹So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he^* is near, at the very gates. ³⁰Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. ³¹Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

The Necessity for Watchfulness

32 ‘But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. ³³Beware, keep alert;^* for you do not know when the time will come. ³⁴It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. ³⁵Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, ³⁶or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. ³⁷And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.’

¹⁰⁵ Your word is a lamp to my feet
   and a light to my path.
¹⁰⁶ I have sworn an oath and confirmed it,
   to observe your righteous ordinances.
¹⁰⁷ I am severely afflicted;
   give me life, O Lord, according to your word.
¹⁰⁸ Accept my offerings of praise, O Lord,
   and teach me your ordinances.
¹⁰⁹ I hold my life in my hand continually,
   but I do not forget your law.
¹¹⁰ The wicked have laid a snare for me,
   but I do not stray from your precepts.
¹¹¹ Your decrees are my heritage for ever;
   they are the joy of my heart.
¹¹² I incline my heart to perform your statutes
   for ever, to the end.

¹¹³ I hate the double-minded,
   but I love your law.
¹¹⁴ You are my hiding-place and my shield;
   I hope in your word.
¹¹⁵ Go away from me, you evildoers,
   that I may keep the commandments of my God.
¹¹⁶ Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live,
   and let me not be put to shame in my hope.
¹¹⁷ Hold me up, that I may be safe
   and have regard for your statutes continually.
¹¹⁸ You spurn all who go astray from your statutes;
   for their cunning is in vain.
¹¹⁹ All the wicked of the earth you count as dross;
   therefore I love your decrees.
¹²⁰ My flesh trembles for fear of you,
   and I am afraid of your judgements.

¹²¹ I have done what is just and right;
   do not leave me to my oppressors.
¹²² Guarantee your servant’s well-being;
   do not let the godless oppress me.
¹²³ My eyes fail from watching for your salvation,
   and for the fulfilment of your righteous promise.
¹²⁴ Deal with your servant according to your steadfast love,
   and teach me your statutes.
¹²⁵ I am your servant; give me understanding,
   so that I may know your decrees.
¹²⁶ It is time for the Lord to act,
   for your law has been broken.
¹²⁷ Truly I love your commandments
   more than gold, more than fine gold.
¹²⁸ Truly I direct my steps by all your precepts;^*
   I hate every false way.

Job Replies: I Know That My Redeemer Lives

19Then Job answered:
² ‘How long will you torment me,
   and break me in pieces with words?
³ These ten times you have cast reproach upon me;
   are you not ashamed to wrong me?
⁴ And even if it is true that I have erred,
   my error remains with me.
⁵ If indeed you magnify yourselves against me,
   and make my humiliation an argument against me,
⁶ know then that God has put me in the wrong,
   and closed his net around me.
⁷ Even when I cry out, “Violence!” I am not answered;
   I call aloud, but there is no justice.
⁸ He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass,
   and he has set darkness upon my paths.
⁹ He has stripped my glory from me,
   and taken the crown from my head.
¹⁰ He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone,
   he has uprooted my hope like a tree.
¹¹ He has kindled his wrath against me,
   and counts me as his adversary.
¹² His troops come on together;
   they have thrown up siege-works^* against me,
   and encamp around my tent.

¹³ ‘He has put my family far from me,
   and my acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.
¹⁴ My relatives and my close friends have failed me;
¹⁵   the guests in my house have forgotten me;
my serving-girls count me as a stranger;
   I have become an alien in their eyes.
¹⁶ I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer;
   I must myself plead with him.
¹⁷ My breath is repulsive to my wife;
   I am loathsome to my own family.
¹⁸ Even young children despise me;
   when I rise, they talk against me.
¹⁹ All my intimate friends abhor me,
   and those whom I loved have turned against me.
²⁰ My bones cling to my skin and to my flesh,
   and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
²¹ Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends,
   for the hand of God has touched me!
²² Why do you, like God, pursue me,
   never satisfied with my flesh?

²³ ‘O that my words were written down!
   O that they were inscribed in a book!
²⁴ O that with an iron pen and with lead
   they were engraved on a rock for ever!
²⁵ For I know that my Redeemer^* lives,
   and that at the last he^* will stand upon the earth;^*
26 and after my skin has been thus destroyed,
   then in^* my flesh I shall see God,^*
27 whom I shall see on my side,^*
   and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
   My heart faints within me!
²⁸ If you say, “How we will persecute him!”
   and, “The root of the matter is found in him”;
²⁹ be afraid of the sword,
   for wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
   so that you may know there is a judgement.’

Christ’s Sacrifice Once for All

10Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the true form of these realities, it^* can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered year after year, make perfect those who approach. ²Otherwise, would they not have ceased being offered, since the worshippers, cleansed once for all, would no longer have any consciousness of sin? ³But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sin year after year. ⁴For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. ⁵Consequently, when Christ^* came into the world, he said,
‘Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired,
   but a body you have prepared for me;
⁶ in burnt-offerings and sin-offerings
   you have taken no pleasure.
⁷ Then I said, “See, God, I have come to do your will, O God”
   (in the scroll of the book^* it is written of me).’
⁸When he said above, ‘You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt-offerings and sin-offerings’ (these are offered according to the law), ⁹then he added, ‘See, I have come to do your will.’ He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. ¹⁰And it is by God’s will^* that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

11 And every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins. ¹²But when Christ^* had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, ‘he sat down at the right hand of God’, ¹³and since then has been waiting ‘until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet.’ ¹⁴For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. ¹⁵And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying,
¹⁶ ‘This is the covenant that I will make with them
   after those days, says the Lord:
I will put my laws in their hearts,
   and I will write them on their minds’,
¹⁷he also adds,
‘I will remember^* their sins and their lawless deeds no more.’
¹⁸Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.