1 But Baldad the Suhite, responding, said:
2 How long will you speak this way, so that the words of your mouth are like a changeable wind?
3 Does God supplant judgment, or does the Almighty subvert that which is just?
4 And if now your children have sinned against him, and he has dismissed them into the power of their iniquity,
5 even so, you should arise early to God, so as to beseech the Almighty.
6 If you approach with purity and honesty, he will quickly be attentive to you, and a peaceful life will repay your righteousness,
7 so much so that, if your former things were small, your latter things would be multiplied greatly.
8 For inquire of the earliest generation, and investigate diligently the history of the fathers,
9 (of course, we are but of yesterday and are ignorant that our days on earth are like a shadow,)
10 and they will teach you; they will speak with you and will offer you the eloquence of their hearts.
11 Can the marsh plant live without moisture? Or can sedges grow without water?
12 When it is still in flower, and has not been pulled up by hand, it withers before all other plants.
13 Just so are the ways of all who forget God, and the hope of the hypocrite will perish.
14 His frenzy will not please him, and his faith will be like a spider’s web.
15 He will lean on his house, and it will not stand; he will prop it up, but it will not rise.
16 He seems to have moisture before the sun arrives; and at sunrise, his sprout shoots forth.
17 His roots will crowd together over a heap of stones, and among the stones he will remain.
18 If someone is devoured right beside him, he will deny him and will say: “I do not know you.”
19 For this is the benefit of his way, that others in turn may spring up from the earth.
20 God will not discard the simple, nor will he extend his hand to the spiteful,
21 even until your mouth is filled with laughter and your lips with rejoicing.
22 Those who hate you, will be clothed with confusion, and the tabernacle of the impious will not continue.
1 And Job, responding, said:
2 Truly, I know that it is so, and that man cannot be justified compared with God.
3 If he chooses to contend with him, he is not able to respond to him once out of a thousand times.
4 He is understanding in heart and mighty in strength; who has resisted him and yet had peace?
5 He has moved mountains, and those whom he overthrew in his fury did not know it.
6 He shakes the earth out of its place and its pillars tremble.
7 He commands the sun and it does not rise, and he closes the stars as if under a seal.
8 He alone extends the heavens, and he walks upon the waves of the sea.
9 He fashions Arcturus, and Orion, and Hyades, and the interior of the south.
10 He accomplishes great and incomprehensible and miraculous things, which cannot be numbered.
11 If he approaches me, I will not see him; if he departs, I will not understand.
12 If he suddenly should question, who will answer him? Or who can say, “Why did you do so?”
13 God, whose wrath no one is able to resist, and under whom they bend who carry the world,
14 what am I then, that I should answer him and exchange words with him?
15 And if I now have any justice, I will not respond, but will beseech my judge.
16 And if he should listen to me when I call, I would not believe that he had heard my voice.
17 For he will crush me in a whirlwind and multiply my wounds, even without cause.
18 He does not permit my spirit to rest, and he fills me with bitterness.
19 If strength is sought, he is most strong; if equity in judgment, no one would dare to give testimony for me.
20 If I wanted to justify myself, my own mouth will condemn me; if I would reveal my innocence, he would prove me depraved.
21 And if I now became simple, my soul would be ignorant even of this, and my life would weary me.
22 There is one thing that I have said: both the innocent and the impious he consumes.
23 If he scourges, let him kill all at once, and not laugh at the punishment of the innocent.
24 Since the earth has been given into the hand of the impious, he covers the face of its judges; for if it is not him, then who is it?
25 My days have been swifter than a messenger; they have fled and have not seen goodness.
26 They have passed by like ships carrying fruits, just like an eagle flying to food.
27 If I say: “By no means will I speak this way.” I change my face and I am tortured with sorrow.
28 I have dreaded all my works, knowing that you did not spare the offender.
29 Yet, if I am also just as impious, why have I labored in vain?
30 If I had been washed with snow-like waters, and my hands were shining like the cleanest thing,
31 yet you would plunge me in filth, and my own garments would abhor me.
32 For even I would not answer a man who were like myself, nor one who could be heard with me equally in judgment.
33 There is no one who could both prevail in argument and in placing his hand between the two.
34 Let him take his staff away from me, and let not the fear of him terrify me.
35 I will speak and I will not fear him, for in fearfulness I am not able to respond.
&
1 And the word of the Lord of hosts came, saying:
2 Thus says the Lord of hosts: I have been zealous for Zion with a great zeal, and with a great indignation have I been zealous for her.
3 Thus says the Lord of hosts: I have been turned back towards Zion, and I will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And Jerusalem will be called: “The City of Truth,” and “The Mountain of the Lord of Hosts, the Sanctified Mountain.”
4 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Then elderly men and elderly women will dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man will be with his walking stick in his hand, because of the multitude of days.
5 And the streets of the city will be filled with toddlers and children, playing in its streets.
6 Thus says the Lord of hosts: If it seems difficult in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days, could it indeed be difficult in my eyes, says the Lord of hosts?
7 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will save my people from the land of the East, and from the land of the setting of the sun.
8 And I will lead them, and they will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And they will be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in justice.
9 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Let your hands be strengthened, you who, in those days, are listening to these words by the mouth of the prophets, in the day that the house of the Lord of hosts has been founded, so that the temple may be built.
10 Indeed, before those days, there was no pay for men, nor was there pay for beasts of burden, and neither was there peace for those entering, nor for those exiting, because of the tribulation. And I had dismissed all men, each one against his neighbor.
11 But now, I will not act towards the remnant of this people according to the former days, says the Lord of hosts.
12 But there will be a seed of peace: the vine will give her fruit, and the earth will give her seedlings, and the heavens will give their dew. And I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things.
13 And this shall be: just as you were a curse among the Gentiles, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you, and you will be a blessing. Do not be afraid. Let your hands be strengthened.
14 For thus says the Lord of hosts: Just as I intended to afflict you, when your fathers had provoked me to wrath, says the Lord,
15 and I did not show mercy, so have I turned back, thinking in these days to do good to the house of Judah and to Jerusalem. Do not be afraid.
16 Therefore, these are the words that you shall do: Speak the truth, each one to his neighbor. With truth and a judgment of peace, judge at your gates.
17 And let not anyone think up evil against his friend in your hearts. And do not choose to swear falsely. For all these are things that I hate, says the Lord.
18 And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying:
19 Thus says the Lord of hosts: The fast of the fourth, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth will be for the house of Judah in joy and gladness and with bright solemnities. So then, love truth and peace.
20 Thus says the Lord of hosts, then the people may arrive and dwell in many cities,
21 and the inhabitants may hurry, one saying to another: “Let us go and entreat the face of the Lord, and let us seek the Lord of hosts. I will go also.”
22 And many peoples and strong nations will approach, seeking the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to entreat the face of the Lord.
23 Thus says the Lord of hosts: In those days, then, ten men from every language of the Gentiles will grasp and cling to the hem of one man of Judea, saying: “We will go with you. For we have heard that God is with you.”
15 Blessed be you of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
16 The heaven of heaven is the Lord’s: but the earth he has given to the children of men.
17 The dead shall not praise thee, O Lord: nor any of them that go down to hell.
18 But we that live bless the Lord: from this time now and for ever.
1 Therefore, as most beloved sons, be imitators of God.
2 And walk in love, just as Christ also loved us and delivered himself for us, as an oblation and a sacrifice to God, with a fragrance of sweetness.
3 But let not any kind of fornication, or impurity, or rapacity so much as be named among you, just as is worthy of the saints,
4 nor any indecent, or foolish, or abusive talk, for this is without purpose; but instead, give thanks.
5 For know and understand this: no one who is a fornicator, or lustful, or rapacious (for these are a kind of service to idols) holds an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
6 Let no one seduce you with empty words. For because of these things, the wrath of God was sent upon the sons of unbelief.
7 Therefore, do not choose to become participants with them.
8 For you were darkness, in times past, but now you are light, in the Lord. So then, walk as sons of the light.
9 For the fruit of the light is in all goodness and justice and truth,
10 affirming what is well-pleasing to God.
11 And so, have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead, refute them.
12 For the things that are done by them in secret are shameful, even to mention.
13 But all things that are disputed are made manifest by the light. For all that is made manifest is light.
14 Because of this, it is said: “You who are sleeping: awaken, and rise up from the dead, and so shall the Christ enlighten you.”
15 And so, brothers, see to it that you walk cautiously, not like the foolish,
16 but like the wise: atoning for this age, because this is an evil time.
17 For this reason, do not choose to be imprudent. Instead, understand what is the will of God.
18 And do not choose to be inebriated by wine, for this is self-indulgence. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit,
19 speaking among yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual canticles, singing and reciting psalms to the Lord in your hearts,
20 giving thanks always for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God the Father.
21 Be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.
22 Wives should be submissive to their husbands, as to the Lord.
23 For the husband is the head of the wife, just as Christ is the head of the Church. He is the Savior of his body.
24 Therefore, just as the Church is subject to Christ, so also should wives be subject to their husbands in all things.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the Church and handed himself over for her,
26 so that he might sanctify her, washing her clean by water and the Word of life,
27 so that he might offer her to himself as a glorious Church, not having any spot or wrinkle or any such thing, so that she would be holy and immaculate.
28 So, too, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.
29 For no man has ever hated his own flesh, but instead he nourishes and cherishes it, as Christ also does to the Church.
30 For we are a part of his body, of his flesh and of his bones.
31 For this reason, a man shall leave behind his father and mother, and he shall cling to his wife; and the two shall be as one flesh.
32 This is a great Sacrament. And I am speaking in Christ and in the Church.
33 Yet truly, each and every one of you should love his wife as himself. And a wife should fear her husband.
