December 23
Job 4 & Revelation 17
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Job 4

Chapter 4

4:1Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
2Should anyone try to speak with you
when you are exhausted?
Yet who can keep from speaking?
3Indeed, you have instructed many
and have strengthened weak hands.
4Your words have steadied the one who was stumbling
and braced the knees that were buckling.
5But now that this has happened to you,
you have become exhausted.
It strikes you, and you are dismayed.
6Isn't your piety your confidence,
and the integrity of your life your hope?
7Consider: who has perished when he was innocent?
Where have the honest been destroyed?
8In my experience, those who plow injustice
and those who sow trouble reap the same.
9They perish at a single blast from God
and come to an end by the breath of His nostrils.
10The lion may roar and the fierce lion growl,
but the fangs of young lions are broken.
11The strong lion dies if it catches no prey,
and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.
12A word was brought to me in secret;
my ears caught a whisper of it.
13Among unsettling thoughts from visions in the night,
when deep sleep descends on men,
14fear and trembling came over me
and made all my bones shake.
15A wind passed by me,
and I shuddered with fear.
16A figure stood there,
but I could not recognize its appearance;
a form loomed before my eyes.
I heard a quiet voice:
17"Can a person be more righteous than God,
or a man more pure than his Maker?"
18If God puts no trust in His servants
and He charges His angels with foolishness,
19how much more those who dwell in clay houses,
whose foundation is in the dust,
who are crushed like a moth!
20They are smashed to pieces from dawn to dusk;
they perish forever while no one notices.
21Are their tent cords not pulled up?
They die without wisdom.

Revelation 17

Chapter 17

17:1Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me: "Come, I will show you the judgment of the notorious prostitute who sits on many waters. 2The kings of the earth committed sexual immorality with her, and those who live on the earth became drunk on the wine of her sexual immorality." 3So he carried me away in the Spirit to a desert. I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and 10 horns. 4The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls. She had a gold cup in her hand filled with everything vile and with the impurities of her prostitution. 5On her forehead a cryptic name was written:

BABYLON THE GREAT

THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES

AND OF THE VILE THINGS OF THE EARTH.
6Then I saw that the woman was drunk on the blood of the saints and on the blood of the witnesses to Jesus. When I saw her, I was greatly astonished.
7Then the angel said to me, "Why are you astonished? I will tell you the secret meaning of the woman and of the beast, with the seven heads and the 10 horns, that carries her. 8The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up from the abyss and go to destruction. Those who live on the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast that was, and is not, and will be present again.
9"Here is the mind with wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated. 10They are also seven kings: Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he comes, he must remain for a little while. 11The beast that was and is not, is himself an eighth king, yet he belongs to the seven and is going to destruction. 12The 10 horns you saw are 10 kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they will receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. 13These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast. 14These will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will conquer them because He is Lord of lords and King of kings. Those with Him are called, chosen, and faithful."
15He also said to me, "The waters you saw, where the prostitute was seated, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages. 16The 10 horns you saw, and the beast, will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked, devour her flesh, and burn her up with fire. 17For God has put it into their hearts to carry out His plan by having one purpose and to give their kingdom to the beast until God's words are accomplished. 18And the woman you saw is the great city that has an empire over the kings of the earth."

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