Friday in Season after Pentecost

1Verse 1. Then Bildad the Shuhite replied: 2Verse 2. “How long until you end these speeches? Show some sense, and then we can talk. 3Verse 3. Why are we regarded as cattle, as stupid in your sight? 4Verse 4. You who tear yourself in anger— should the earth be forsaken on your account, or the rocks be moved from their place? 5Verse 5. Indeed, the lamp of the wicked is extinguished; the flame of his fire does not glow. 6Verse 6. The light in his tent grows dark, and the lamp beside him goes out. 7Verse 7. His vigorous stride is shortened, and his own schemes trip him up. 8Verse 8. For his own feet lead him into a net, and he wanders into its mesh. 9Verse 9. A trap seizes his heel; a snare grips him. 10Verse 10. A noose is hidden in the ground, and a trap lies in his path. 11Verse 11. Terrors frighten him on every side and harass his every step. 12Verse 12. His strength is depleted, and calamity is ready at his side. 13Verse 13. It devours patches of his skin; the firstborn of death devours his limbs. 14Verse 14. He is torn from the shelter of his tent and is marched off to the king of terrors. 15Verse 15. Fire resides in his tent; burning sulfur rains down on his dwelling. 16Verse 16. The roots beneath him dry up, and the branches above him wither away. 17Verse 17. The memory of him perishes from the earth, and he has no name in the land. 18Verse 18. He is driven from light into darkness and is chased from the inhabited world. 19Verse 19. He has no offspring or posterity among his people, no survivor where he once lived. 20Verse 20. Those in the west are appalled at his fate, while those in the east tremble in horror. 21Verse 21. Surely such is the dwelling of the wicked and the place of one who does not know God.”

22Verse 22. The LORD spoke these commandments in a loud voice to your whole assembly out of the fire, the cloud, and the deep darkness on the mountain; He added nothing more. And He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. 23Verse 23. And when you heard the voice out of the darkness while the mountain was blazing with fire, all the heads of your tribes and your elders approached me, 24Verse 24. and you said, “Behold, the LORD our God has shown us His glory and greatness, and we have heard His voice out of the fire. Today we have seen that a man can live even if God speaks with him. 25Verse 25. But now, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us, and we will die, if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any longer. 26Verse 26. For who of all flesh has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the fire, as we have, and survived? 27Verse 27. Go near and listen to all that the LORD our God says. Then you can tell us everything the LORD our God tells you; we will listen and obey.” 28Verse 28. And the LORD heard the words you spoke to me, and He said to me, “I have heard the words that these people have spoken to you. They have done well in all that they have spoken. 29Verse 29. If only they had such a heart to fear Me and keep all My commandments always, so that it might be well with them and with their children forever. 30Verse 30. Go and tell them: ‘Return to your tents.’ 31Verse 31. But you stand here with Me, that I may speak to you all the commandments and statutes and ordinances you are to teach them to follow in the land that I am giving them to possess.” 32Verse 32. So be careful to do as the LORD your God has commanded you; you are not to turn aside to the right or to the left. 33Verse 33. You must walk in all the ways that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.