Matthew 2; Job 31-32 (New International Version)

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Matthew 2

New International Version (NIV)

The Magi Visit the Messiah

2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi^[a] from the east came to Jerusalem ²and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him."

³When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁴When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. ⁵"In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written:

⁶"’But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’^[b]"

⁷Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. ⁸He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."

⁹After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. ¹¹On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. ¹²And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

The Escape to Egypt

¹³When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him."

¹⁴So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, ¹⁵where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son."^[c]

¹⁶When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. ¹⁷Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

¹⁸"A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more."^[d]

The Return to Nazareth

¹⁹After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt ²⁰and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead."

²¹So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. ²²But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, ²³and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.

Footnotes:

Matthew 2:1 Traditionally wise men
Matthew 2:6 Micah 5:2,4
Matthew 2:15 Hosea 11:1
Matthew 2:18 Jer. 31:15

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Job 31-32

New International Version (NIV)

31 "I made a covenant with my eyes
not to look lustfully at a young woman.
²For what is our lot from God above,
our heritage from the Almighty on high?
³Is it not ruin for the wicked,
disaster for those who do wrong?
⁴Does he not see my ways
and count my every step?

⁵"If I have walked with falsehood
or my foot has hurried after deceit −
⁶let God weigh me in honest scales
and he will know that I am blameless −
⁷if my steps have turned from the path,
if my heart has been led by my eyes,
or if my hands have been defiled,
⁸then may others eat what I have sown,
and may my crops be uprooted.

⁹"If my heart has been enticed by a woman,
or if I have lurked at my neighbor’s door,
¹⁰then may my wife grind another man’s grain,
and may other men sleep with her.
¹¹For that would have been wicked,
a sin to be judged.
¹²It is a fire that burns to Destruction^[a];
it would have uprooted my harvest.

¹³"If I have denied justice to any of my servants,
whether male or female,
when they had a grievance against me,
¹⁴what will I do when God confronts me?
What will I answer when called to account?
¹⁵Did not he who made me in the womb make them?
Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?

¹⁶"If I have denied the desires of the poor
or let the eyes of the widow grow weary,
¹⁷if I have kept my bread to myself,
not sharing it with the fatherless −
¹⁸but from my youth I reared them as a father would,
and from my birth I guided the widow −
¹⁹if I have seen anyone perishing for lack of clothing,
or the needy without garments,
²⁰and their hearts did not bless me
for warming them with the fleece from my sheep,
²¹if I have raised my hand against the fatherless,
knowing that I had influence in court,
²²then let my arm fall from the shoulder,
let it be broken off at the joint.
²³For I dreaded destruction from God,
and for fear of his splendor I could not do such things.

²⁴"If I have put my trust in gold
or said to pure gold, ’You are my security,’
²⁵if I have rejoiced over my great wealth,
the fortune my hands had gained,
²⁶if I have regarded the sun in its radiance
or the moon moving in splendor,
²⁷so that my heart was secretly enticed
and my hand offered them a kiss of homage,
²⁸then these also would be sins to be judged,
for I would have been unfaithful to God on high.

²⁹"If I have rejoiced at my enemy’s misfortune
or gloated over the trouble that came to him −
³⁰I have not allowed my mouth to sin
by invoking a curse against their life −
³¹if those of my household have never said,
’Who has not been filled with Job’s meat?’ −
³²but no stranger had to spend the night in the street,
for my door was always open to the traveler −
³³if I have concealed my sin as people do,^[b]
by hiding my guilt in my heart
³⁴because I so feared the crowd
and so dreaded the contempt of the clans
that I kept silent and would not go outside−

³⁵("Oh, that I had someone to hear me!
I sign now my defense−let the Almighty answer me;
let my accuser put his indictment in writing.
³⁶Surely I would wear it on my shoulder,
I would put it on like a crown.
³⁷I would give him an account of my every step;
I would present it to him as to a ruler. )−

³⁸"if my land cries out against me
and all its furrows are wet with tears,
³⁹if I have devoured its yield without payment
or broken the spirit of its tenants,
⁴⁰then let briers come up instead of wheat
and stinkweed instead of barley."

The words of Job are ended.

Elihu

32 So these three men stopped answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. ²But Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became very angry with Job for justifying himself rather than God. ³He was also angry with the three friends, because they had found no way to refute Job, and yet had condemned him.^[c] ⁴Now Elihu had waited before speaking to Job because they were older than he. ⁵But when he saw that the three men had nothing more to say, his anger was aroused.

⁶So Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite said:

"I am young in years,
and you are old;
that is why I was fearful,
not daring to tell you what I know.
⁷I thought, ’Age should speak;
advanced years should teach wisdom.’
⁸But it is the spirit^[d] in a person,
the breath of the Almighty, that gives them understanding.
⁹It is not only the old^[e] who are wise,
not only the aged who understand what is right.

¹⁰"Therefore I say: Listen to me;
I too will tell you what I know.
¹¹I waited while you spoke,
I listened to your reasoning;
while you were searching for words,
¹² I gave you my full attention.
But not one of you has proved Job wrong;
none of you has answered his arguments.
¹³Do not say, ’We have found wisdom;
let God, not a man, refute him.’
¹⁴But Job has not marshaled his words against me,
and I will not answer him with your arguments.

¹⁵"They are dismayed and have no more to say;
words have failed them.
¹⁶Must I wait, now that they are silent,
now that they stand there with no reply?
¹⁷I too will have my say;
I too will tell what I know.
¹⁸For I am full of words,
and the spirit within me compels me;
¹⁹inside I am like bottled-up wine,
like new wineskins ready to burst.
²⁰I must speak and find relief;
I must open my lips and reply.
²¹I will show no partiality,
nor will I flatter anyone;
²²for if I were skilled in flattery,
my Maker would soon take me away.