Day 153: Job 15 - 20

Chapter 15



1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
2 "Should the wise answer with windy knowledge, and fill themselves with the east wind?
3 Should they argue in unprofitable talk, or in words with which they can do no good?
4 But you are doing away with the fear of God, and hindering meditation before God.
5 For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the tongue of the crafty.
6 Your own mouth condemns you,
and not I; your own lips testify against you.
7 "Are you the firstborn of the human race? Were you brought forth before the hills?
8 Have you listened in the council of God? And do you limit wisdom to yourself?
9 What do you know that we do not know? What do you understand that is not clear to us?
10 The gray-haired and the aged are on our side, those older than your father.
11 Are the consolations of God too small for you, or the word that deals gently with you?
12 Why does your heart carry you away, and why do your eyes flash,
13 so that you turn your spirit against God, and let such words go out of your mouth?
14 What are mortals, that they can be clean? Or those born of woman,
that they can be righteous?
15 God puts no trust even in his holy ones, and the heavens are not clean in his sight;
16 how much less one who is abominable and corrupt, one who drinks iniquity like water!
17 "I will show you; listen to me;
what I have seen I will declare -
18 what sages have told, and their ancestors have not hidden,
19 to whom alone the land was given, and no stranger passed among them.
20 The wicked writhe in pain all their days, through all the years that are laid up for the ruthless.
21 Terrifying sounds are in their ears; in prosperity the destroyer will come upon them.
22 They despair of returning from darkness, and they are destined for the sword.
23 They wander abroad for bread,
saying, 'Where is it?' They know that a day of darkness is ready at hand;
24 distress and anguish terrify them;
they prevail against them, like a king prepared for battle.
25 Because they stretched out their hands against God, and bid defiance to the Almighty,
26 running stubbornly against him with a thick-bossed shield;
27 because they have covered their faces with their fat, and gathered fat upon their loins,
28 they will live in desolate cities,
in houses that no one should inhabit, houses destined to become heaps of ruins;
29 they will not be rich, and their wealth will not endure, nor will they strike root in the earth;
30 they will not escape from darkness; the flame will dry up their shoots, and their blossom will be swept away by the wind.
31 Let them not trust in emptiness,
deceiving themselves; for emptiness will be their recompense.
32 It will be paid in full before their time, and their branch will not be green.
33 They will shake off their unripe grape, like the vine, and cast off their blossoms, like the olive tree.
34 For the company of the godless is barren, and fire consumes the tents of bribery.
3 They conceive mischief and bring forth evil and their heart prepares deceit."

Chapter 16



1 Then Job answered:
2 "I have heard many such things;
miserable comforters are you all.
3 Have windy words no limit? Or what provokes you that you keep on talking?
4 I also could talk as you do, if you were in my place; I could join words together against you, and shake my head at you.
5 I could encourage you with my mouth, and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain.
6 "If I speak, my pain is not assuaged, and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me?
7 Surely now God has worn me out;
he has made desolate all my company.
8 And he has shriveled me up,
which is a witness against me;
my leanness has risen up against me, and it testifies to my face.
9 He has torn me in his wrath,
and hated me; he has gnashed his teeth at me; my adversary sharpens his eyes against me.
10 They have gaped at me with their mouths; they have struck me insolently on the cheek; they mass themselves together against me.
11 God gives me up to the ungodly,
and casts me into the hands of the wicked.
12 I was at ease, and he broke me in two; he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces; he set me up as his target;
13 his archers surround me. He slashes open my kidneys, and shows no mercy; he pours out my gall on the ground.
14 He bursts upon me again and again; he rushes at me like a warrior.
15 I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and have laid my strength in the dust.
16 My face is red with weeping,
and deep darkness is on my eyelids,
17 though there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure.
18 "O earth, do not cover my blood;
let my outcry find no resting place.
19 Even now, in fact, my witness is in heaven, and he that vouches for me is on high.
20 My friends scorn me; my eye pours out tears to God,
21 that he would maintain the right of a mortal with God, as one does for a neighbour.
22 For when a few years have come, I shall go the way from which I shall not return.

Chapter 17



1 My spirit is broken, my days are extinct, the grave is ready for me.
2 Surely there are mockers around me, and my eye dwells on their provocation.
3 "Lay down a pledge for me with yourself; who is there that will give surety for me?
4 Since you have closed their minds to understanding, therefore you will not let them triumph.
5 Those who denounce friends for reward - the eyes of their children will fail.
6 "He has made me a byword of the peoples, and I am one before whom people spit.
7 My eye has grown dim from grief,
and all my members are like a shadow.
8 The upright are appalled at this,
and the innocent stir themselves up against the godless.
9 Yet the righteous hold to their way,
and they that have clean hands grow stronger and stronger.
10 But you, come back now,
all of you, and I shall not find a sensible person among you.
11 My days are past, my plans are broken off, the desires of my heart.
12 They make night into day; 'The light,' they say, 'is near to the darkness.'
13 If I look for Sheol as my house, if I spread my couch in darkness,
14 if I say to the Pit, 'You are my father,' and to the worm, 'My mother,' or 'My sister,'
15 where then is my hope? Who will see my hope?
16 Will it go down to the bars of Sheol? Shall we descend together into the dust?"

Chapter 18



1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:
2 "How long will you hunt for words? Consider, and then we shall speak.
3 Why are we counted as cattle?
Why are we stupid in your sight?
4 You who tear yourself in your anger - shall the earth be forsaken because of you, or the rock be removed out of its place?
5 "Surely the light of the wicked is put out, and the flame of their fire does not shine.
6 The light is dark in their tent,
and the lamp above them is put out.
7 Their strong steps are shortened,
and their own schemes throw them down.
8 For they are thrust into a net by their own feet, and they walk into a pitfall.
9 A trap seizes them by the heel; a snare lays hold of them.
10 A rope is hid for them in the ground, a trap for them in the path.
11 Terrors frighten them on every side, and chase them at their heels.
12 Their strength is consumed by hunger, and calamity is ready for their stumbling.
13 By disease their skin is consumed, the firstborn of Death consumes their limbs.
14 They are torn from the tent in which they trusted, and are brought to the king of terrors.
15 In their tents nothing remains;
sulfur is scattered upon their habitations.
16 Their roots dry up beneath,
and their branches wither above.
17 Their memory perishes from the earth, and they have no name in the street.
18 They are thrust from light into darkness, and driven out of the world.
19 They have no offspring or descendant among their people,
and no survivor where they used to live.
20 They of the west are appalled at their fate, and horror seizes those of the east.
21 Surely such are the dwellings of the ungodly,
such is the place of those who do not know God."

Chapter 19



1 Then 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 siegeworks 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 forever!
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 judgment."

Chapter 20



1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered:
2 "Pay attention! My thoughts urge me to answer, because of the agitation within me.
3 I hear censure that insults me,
and a spirit beyond my understanding answers me.
4 Do you not know this from of old,
ever since mortals were placed on earth,
5 that the exulting of the wicked is short, and the joy of the godless is but for a moment?
6 Even though they mount up high as the heavens, and their head reaches to the clouds,
7 they will perish forever like their own dung; those who have seen them will say, 'Where are they?'
8 They will fly away like a dream,
and not be found; they will be chased away like a vision of the night.
9 The eye that saw them will see them no more, nor will their place behold them any longer.
10 Their children will seek the favor of the poor, and their hands will give back their wealth.
11 Their bodies, once full of youth,
will lie down in the dust with them.
12 "Though wickedness is sweet in their mouth, though they hide it under their tongues,
13 though they are loath to let it go,
and hold it in their mouths,
14 yet their food is turned in their stomachs; it is the venom of asps within them.
15 They swallow down riches and vomit them up again; God casts them out of their bellies.
16 They will suck the poison of asps;
the tongue of a viper will kill them.
17 They will not look on the rivers,
the streams flowing with honey and curds.
18 They will give back the fruit of their toil, and will not swallow it down; from the profit of their trading they will get no enjoyment.
19 For they have crushed and abandoned the poor, they have seized a house that they did not build.
20 "They knew no quiet in their bellies; in their greed they let nothing escape.
21 There was nothing left after they had eaten; therefore their prosperity will not endure.
22 In full sufficiency they will be in distress; all the force of misery will come upon them.
23 To fill their belly to the full God will send his fierce anger into them,
and rain it upon them as their food.
24 They will flee from an iron weapon; a bronze arrow will strike them through.
25 It is drawn forth and comes out of their body, and the glittering point comes out of their gall; terrors come upon them.
26 Utter darkness is laid up for their treasures; a fire fanned by no one will devour them; what is left in their tent will be consumed.
27 The heavens will reveal their iniquity, and the earth will rise up against them.
28 The possessions of their house will be carried away, dragged off in the day of God's wrath.
29 This is the portion of the wicked from God, the heritage decreed for them by God."

Day 152: Job 10 - 14

Chapter 10



1 "I loathe my life; I will give free utterance to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2 I will say to God, Do not condemn me; let me know why you contend against me.
3 Does it seem good to you to oppress, to despise the work of your hands and favor the schemes of the wicked?
4 Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see as humans see?
5 Are your days like the days of mortals, or your years like human years,
6 that you seek out my iniquity and search for my sin,
7 although you know that I am not guilty, and there is no one to deliver out of your hand?
8 Your hands fashioned and made me; and now you turn and destroy me.
9 Remember that you fashioned me like clay; and will you turn me to dust again?
10 Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese?
11 You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.
12 You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit.
13 Yet these things you had in your heart; I know that this was your purpose.
14 If I sin, you watch me, and do not acquit me of my iniquity.
15 If I am wicked, woe to me! If I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head,
for I am filled with disgrace and look upon my affliction.
16 Bold as a lion you hunt me;
you repeat your exploits against me.
17 You renew your witnesses against me, and increase your vexation toward me; you bring fresh troops against me.
18 "Why did you bring me forth from the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me,
19 and were as though I had not been, carried from the womb to the grave.
20 Are not the days of my life few?
Let me alone, that I may find a little comfort
21 before I go, never to return, to the land of gloom and deep darkness,
22 the land of gloom and chaos,
where light is like darkness."

Chapter 11



1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered:
2 "Should a multitude of words go unanswered, and should one full of talk be vindicated?
3 Should your babble put others to silence, and when you mock, shall no one shame you?
4 For you say, 'My conduct is pure,
and I am clean in God's sight.'
5 But oh, that God would speak, and open his lips to you,
6 and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom! For wisdom is many-sided. Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves.
7 "Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?
8 It is higher than heaven - what can you do? Deeper than Sheol - what can you know?
9 Its measure is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.
10 If he passes through, and imprisons, and assembles for judgment, who can hinder him?
11 For he knows those who are worthless; when he sees iniquity,
will he not consider it?
12 But a stupid person will get understanding, when a wild ass is born human.
13 "If you direct your heart rightly,
you will stretch out your hands toward him.
14 If iniquity is in your hand,
put it far away, and do not let wickedness reside in your tents.
15 Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish; you will be secure, and will not fear.
16 You will forget your misery; you will remember it as waters that have passed away.
17 And your life will be brighter than the noonday; its darkness will be like the morning.
18 And you will have confidence,
because there is hope; you will be protected and take your rest in safety.
19 You will lie down, and no one will make you afraid; many will entreat your favor.
20 But the eyes of the wicked will fail; all way of escape will be lost to them, and their hope is to breathe their last."

Chapter 12



1 Then Job answered:
2 "No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you.
3 But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these?
4 I am a laughingstock to my friends; I, who called upon God and he answered me, a just and blameless man, I am a laughingstock.
5 Those at ease have contempt for misfortune, but it is ready for those whose feet are unstable.
6 The tents of robbers are at peace,
and those who provoke God are secure, who bring their god in their hands.
7 "But ask the animals, and they will teach you; the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
8 ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
9 Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?
10 In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of every human being.
11 Does not the ear test words as the palate tastes food?
12 Is wisdom with the aged, and understanding in length of days?
13 "With God are wisdom and strength; he has counsel and understanding.
14 If he tears down, no one can rebuild; if he shuts someone in, no one can open up.
15 If he withholds the waters,
they dry up; if he sends them out,
they overwhelm the land.
16 With him are strength and wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are his.
17 He leads counselors away stripped, and makes fools of judges.
18 He looses the sash of kings,
and binds a waistcloth on their loins.
19 He leads priests away stripped,
and overthrows the mighty.
20 He deprives of speech those who are trusted, and takes away the discernment of the elders.
21 He pours contempt on princes,
and looses the belt of the strong.
22 He uncovers the deeps out of darkness, and brings deep darkness to light.
23 He makes nations great, then destroys them; he enlarges nations,
then leads them away.
24 He strips understanding from the leaders of the earth, and makes them wander in a pathless waste.
25 They grope in the dark without light; he makes them stagger like a drunkard.

Chapter 13



1 "Look, my eye has seen all this,
my ear has heard and understood it.
2 What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you.
3 But I would speak to the Almighty,
and I desire to argue my case with God.
4 As for you, you whitewash with lies; all of you are worthless physicians.
5 If you would only keep silent, that would be your wisdom!
6 Hear now my reasoning, and listen to the pleadings of my lips.
7 Will you speak falsely for God, and speak deceitfully for him?
8 Will you show partiality toward him, will you plead the case for God?
9 Will it be well with you when he searches you out? Or can you deceive him, as one person deceives another?
10 He will surely rebuke you if in secret you show partiality.
11 Will not his majesty terrify you,
and the dread of him fall upon you?
12 Your maxims are proverbs of ashes, your defenses are defenses of clay.
13 "Let me have silence, and I will speak, and let come on me what may.
14 I will take my flesh in my teeth,
and put my life in my hand.
15 See, he will kill me; I have no hope; but I will defend my ways to his face.
16 This will be my salvation, that the godless shall not come before him.
17 Listen carefully to my words,
and let my declaration be in your ears.
18 I have indeed prepared my case;
I know that I shall be vindicated.
19 Who is there that will contend with me?
For then I would be silent and die.
20 Only grant two things to me,
then I will not hide myself from your face:
21 withdraw your hand far from me,
and do not let dread of you terrify me.
22 Then call, and I will answer; or let me speak, and you reply to me.
23 How many are my iniquities and my sins? Make me know my transgression and my sin.
24 Why do you hide your face, and count me as your enemy?
25 Will you frighten a windblown leaf and pursue dry chaff?
26 For you write bitter things against me, and make me reap the iniquities of my youth.
27 You put my feet in the stocks,
and watch all my paths; you seta bound to the soles of my feet.
28 One wastes away like a rotten thing, like a garment that is moth-eaten.

Chapter 14



1 "A mortal, born of woman, few of days and full of trouble,
2 comes up like a flower and withers,flees like a shadow and does not last.
3 Do you fix your eyes on such a one? Do you bring me into judgment with you?
4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one can.
5 Since their days are determined,
and the number of their months is known to you, and you have appointed the bounds that they cannot pass,
6 look away from them, and desist,
that they may enjoy, like laborers,
their days.
7 "For there is hope for a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again,
and that its shoots will not cease.
8 Though its root grows old in the earth, and its stump dies in the ground,
9 yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth branches like a young plant.
10 But mortals die, and are laid low;
humans expire, and where are they?
11 As waters fail from a lake, and a river wastes away and dries up,
12 so mortals lie down and do not rise again; until the heavens are no more, they will not awake or be roused out of their sleep.
13 Oh that you would hide me in Sheol, that you would conceal me until your wrath is past, that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
14 If mortals die, will they live again? All the days of my service I would wait until my release should come.
15 You would call, and I would answer you; you would long for the work of your hands.
16 For then you would not number my steps, you would not keep watch over my sin;
17 my transgression would be sealed up in a bag, and you would cover over my iniquity.
18 "But the mountain falls and crumbles away, and the rock is removed from its place;
19 the waters wear away the stones;
the torrents wash away the soil of the earth; so you destroy the hope of mortals.
20 You prevail forever against them,
and they pass away; you change their countenance, and send them away.
21 Their children come to honor,
and they do not know it; they are brought low, and it goes unnoticed
22 They feel only the pain of their own bodies, and mourn only for themselves."

Day 151: Job 6 - 9

Chapter 6



1 Then Job answered:
2 "O that my vexation were weighed,
and all my calamity laid in the balances!
3 For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea; therefore my words have been rash.
4 For the arrows of the Almighty are in me; my spirit drinks their poison;
the terrors of God are arrayed against me.
5 Does the wild ass bray over its grass, or the ox low over its fodder?
6 Can that which is tasteless be eaten without salt, or is there any flavor in the juice of mallows?
7 My appetite refuses to touch them;
they are like food that is loathsome to me.
8 "O that I might have my request,
and that God would grant my desire;
9 that it would please God to crush me, that he would let loose his hand and cut me off!
10 This would be my consolation;
I would even exult in unrelenting pain; for I have not denied the words of the Holy One.
11 What is my strength, that I should wait? And what is my end, that I should be patient?
12 Is my strength the strength of stones, or is my flesh bronze?
13 In truth I have no help in me,
and any resource is driven from me.
14 "Those who withhold kindness from a friend forsake the fear of the Almighty.
15 My companions are treacherous like a torrent-bed, like freshets that pass away,
16 that run dark with ice, turbid with melting snow.
17 In time of heat they disappear;
when it is hot, they vanish from their place.
18 The caravans turn aside from their course; they go up into the waste, and perish.
19 The caravans of Tema look, the travelers of Sheba hope.
20 They are disappointed because they were confident; they come there and are confounded.
21 Such you have now become to me; you see my calamity, and are afraid.
22 Have I said, 'Make me a gift'? Or, 'From your wealth offer a bribe for me'?
23 Or, 'Save me from an opponent's hand'? Or, 'Ransom me from the hand of oppressors'?
24 "Teach me, and I will be silent; make me understand how I have gone wrong.
25 How forceful are honest words! But your reproof, what does it reprove?
26 Do you think that you can reprove words, as if the speech of the desperate were wind?
27 You would even cast lots over the orphan, and bargain over your friend.
28 "But now, be pleased to look at me; for I will not lie to your face.
29 Turn, I pray, let no wrong be done.
Turn now, my vindication is at stake.
30 Is there any wrong on my tongue?
Cannot my taste discern calamity?

Chapter 7



1 "Do not human beings have a hard service on earth, and are not their days like the days of a laborer?
2 Like a slave who longs for the shadow, and like laborers who look for their wages,
3 so I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned to me.
4 When I lie down I say, 'When shall I rise?' But the night is long, and I am full of tossing until dawn.
5 My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt; my skin hardens, then breaks out again.
6 My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and come to their end without hope.
7 "Remember that my life is a breath;
my eye will never again see good.
8 The eye that beholds me will see me no more; while your eyes are upon me, I shall be gone.
9 As the cloud fades and vanishes,
so those who go down to Sheol do not come up;
10 they return no more to their houses, nor do their places know them any more.
11 "Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
12 Am I the Sea, or the Dragon, that you set a guard over me?
13 When I say, 'My bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint,'
14 then you scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions,
15 so that I would choose strangling and death rather than this body.
16 I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Let me alone, for my days are a breath.
17 What are human beings, that you make so much of them, that you set your mind on them,
18 visit them every morning, test them every moment?
19 Will you not look away from me for a while, let me alone until I swallow my spittle?
20 If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of humanity? Why have you made me your target? Why have I become a burden to you?
21 Why do you not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity?
For now I shall lie in the earth; you will seek me, but I shall not be."

Chapter 8



1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:
2 "How long will you say these things, and the words of your mouth be a great wind?
3 Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert the right?
4 If your children sinned against him,
he delivered them into the power of their transgression.
5 If you will seek God and make supplication to the Almighty,
6 if you are pure and upright, surely then he will rouse himself for you and restore to you your rightful place.
7 Though your beginning was small,
your latter days will be very great.
8 "For inquire now of bygone generations, and consider what their ancestors have found;
9 for we are but of yesterday, and we know nothing, for our days on earth are but a shadow.
10 Will they not teach you and tell you and utter words out of their understanding?
11 "Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Can reeds flourish where there is no water?
12 While yet in flower and not cut down, they wither before any other plant.
13 Such are the paths of all who forget God; the hope of the godless shall perish.
14 Their confidence is gossamer,
a spider's house their trust.
15 If one leans against its house,
it will not stand; if one lays hold of it, it will not endure.
16 The wicked thrive before the sun,
and their shoots spread over the garden.
17 Their roots twine around the stoneheap; they live among the rocks.
18 If they are destroyed from their place, then it will deny them, saying, 'I have never seen you.'
19 See, these are their happy ways,
and out of the earth still others will spring.
20 "See, God will not reject a blameless person, nor take the hand of evildoers.
21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughter, and your lips with shouts of joy.
22 Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked will be no more."

Chapter 9



1 Then Job answered:
2 "Indeed I know that this is so;
but how can a mortal be just before God?
3 If one wished to contend with him,
one could not answer him once in a thousand.
4 He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength - who has resisted him, and succeeded? -
5 he who removes mountains,
and they do not know it, when he overturns them in his anger;
6 who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble;
7 who commands the sun, and it does not rise; who seals up the stars;
8 who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the Sea;
9 who made the Bear and Orion,
the Pleiades and the chambers of the south;
10 who does great things beyond understanding, and marvelous things without number.
11 Look, he passes by me, and I do not see him; he moves on, but I do not perceive him.
12 He snatches away; who can stop him? Who will say to him, 'What are you doing?'
13 "God will not turn back his anger;
the helpers of Rahab bowed beneath him.
14 How then can I answer him, choosing my words with him?
15 Though I am innocent, I cannot answer him; I must appeal for mercy to my accuser.
16 If I summoned him and he answered me, I do not believe that he would listen to my voice.
17 For he crushes me with a tempest, and multiplies my wounds without cause;
18 he will not let me get my breath,
but fills me with bitterness.
19 If it is a contest of strength, he is the strong one! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?
20 Though I am innocent, my own mouth would condemn me; though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.
21 I am blameless; I do not know myself; I loathe my life.
22 It is all one; therefore I say,
he destroys both the blameless and the wicked.
23 When disaster brings sudden death, he mocks at the calamity of the innocent.
24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; he covers the eyes of its judges - if it is not he, who then is it?
25 "My days are swifter than a runner; they flee away, they see no good.
26 They go by like skiffs of reed,
like an eagle swooping on the prey.
27 If I say, 'I will forget my complaint; I will put off my sad countenance and be of good cheer,'
28 I become afraid of all my suffering, for I know you will not hold me innocent.
29 I shall be condemned; why then do I labor in vain?
30 If I wash myself with soap and cleanse my hands with lye,
31 yet you will plunge me into filth,
and my own clothes will abhor me.
32 For he is not a mortal, as I am, that I might answer him,
that we should come to trial together.
33 There is no umpire between us,
who might lay his hand on us both.
34 If he would take his rod away from me, and not let dread of him terrify me,
35 then I would speak without fear of him, for I know I am not what I am thought to be.

Day 150: Job 1 - 5

Chapter 1



1 There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.
2 There were born to him seven sons and three daughters.
3 He had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred donkeys, and very many servants; so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east.
4 His sons used to go and hold feasts in one another's houses in turn; and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.
5 And when the feast days had run their course, Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, "It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts." This is what Job always did.
6 One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them.
7 The Lord said to Satan, "Where have you come from? Satan answered the Lord, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it."
8 The Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil."
9 Then Satan answered the Lord, "Does Job fear God for nothing?
10 Have you not put a fence around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.
11 But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face."
12 The Lord said to Satan, "Very well, all that he has is in your power; only do not stretch out your hand against him!" So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.


Job's Patience is tested
13 One day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in the eldest brother's house,
14 a messenger came to Job and said, "The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were feeding beside them,
15 and the Sabeans fell on them and carried them off, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; I alone have escaped to tell you."
16 While he was still speaking, another came and said, "The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them; I alone have escaped to tell you."
17 While he was still speaking, another came and said, "The Chaldeans formed three columns, made a raid on the camels and carried them off, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; I alone have escaped to tell you."
18 While he was still speaking, another came and said, "Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house,
19 and suddenly a great wind came across the desert, struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they are dead; I alone have escaped to tell you."
20 Then Job arose, tore his robe, shaved his head, and fell on the ground and worshiped.
21 He said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return there; the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord."
22 In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong-doing.

Chapter 2



1 One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord.
2 The Lord said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan answered the Lord, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it."
3 The Lord said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil. He still persists in his integrity, although you incited me against him, to destroy him for no reason."
4 Then Satan answered the Lord, "Skin for skin! All that people have they will give to save their lives.
5 but stretch out your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face."
6 The Lord said to Satan, "Very well, he is in your power; only spare his life."
7 So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and inflicted loathsome sores on Job from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.
8 Job took a potsherd with which to scrape himself, and sat among the ashes.
9 Then his wife said to him, "Do you still persist in your integrity? Curse God, and die."
10 But he said to her, "You speak as any foolish woman would speak. Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
11 Now when Job's three friends heard of all these troubles that had come upon him, each of them set out from his home - Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They met together to go and console and comfort him.
12 When they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him, and they raised their voices and wept aloud; they tore their robes and threw dust in the air upon their heads.
13 They sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.

Chapter 3



1 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.
2 Job said:
3 "Let the day perish, in which I was born, and the night that said, 'A man-child is conceived.'
4 Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, or light shine on it.
5 Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds settle upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.
6 That night - let thick darkness seize it! let it not rejoice among the days of the year;
let it not come into the number of the months.
7 Yes, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry be heard in it.
8 Let those curse it who curse the Sea, those who are skilled to rouse up Leviathan.
9 Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none; may it not see the eyelids of the morning -
10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb, and hide trouble from my eyes.
11 "Why did I not die at birth, come forth from the womb and expire?
12 Why were there knees to receive me,or breasts for me to suck?
13 Now I would be lying down and quiet; I would be asleep; then I would be at rest
14 with kings and counselors of the earth, who rebuild ruins for themselves,
15 or with princes who have gold, who fill their houses with silver.
16 Or why was I not buried like a stillborn child, like an infant that never sees the light?
17 There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest.
18 There the prisoners are at ease together; they do not hear the voice of the taskmaster.
19 The small and the great are there, and the slaves are free from their masters.
20 "Why is light given to one in misery, and life to the bitter in soul,
21 who long for death, but it does not come, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures;
22 who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad when they find the grave?
23 Why is light given to one who cannot see the way, whom God has fenced in?
24 For my sighing comes like my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water.
25 Truly the thing that I ear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me.
26 I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest; but trouble comes."

Chapter 4



1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
2 "If one ventures a word with you, will you be offended? But who can keep from speaking?
3 See, you have instructed many; you have strengthened the weak hands.
4 Your words have supported those who were stumbling, and you have made firm the feeble knees.
5 But now it has come to you, and you are impatient; it touches you, and you are dismayed.
6 Is not your fear of God your confidence and the integrity of your ways your hope?
7 "Think now, who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off?
8 As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.
9 By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his anger they are consumed.
10 The roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions are broken.
11 The strong lion perishes for lack of prey, and the whelps of the lioness are scattered.
12 "Now a word came stealing to me, my ear received the whisper of it.
13 Amid thought from visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on mortals,
14 dread came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake.
15 A spirit glided past my face; the hair of my flesh bristled.
16 It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes;
there was silence, then I heard a voice:
17 'Can mortals be righteous before God? Can human beings be pure before their Maker?
18 Even in his servants he puts no trust, and his angels he charges with error;
19 how much more those who live in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust,
who are crushed like a moth.
20 Between morning and evening they are destroyed; they perish forever without any regarding it. 

21 Their tent-cord is plucked up within them, and they die devoid of wisdom.'

Chapter 5



1 "Call now; is there anyone who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn?
2 Surely vexation kills the fool,
and jealousy slays the simple.
3 I have seen fools taking root,
but suddenly I cursed their dwelling.
4 Their children are far from safety,
they are crushed in the gate,
and there is no one to deliver them.
5 The hungry eat their harvest,
and they take it even out of the thorns; and the thirsty pant after their wealth.
6 For misery does not come from the earth, nor does trouble sprout from the ground;
7 but human beings are born to trouble just as sparks fly upward.
8 "As for me, I would seek God,
and to God I would commit my cause.
9 He does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number.
10 He gives rain on the earth and sends waters on the fields;
11 he sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn are lifted to safety.
12 He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success.
13 He takes the wise in their own craftiness; and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end.
14 They meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope at noonday as in the night.
15 But he saves the needy from the sword of their mouth, from the hand of the mighty.
16 So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts its mouth.
17 "How happy is the one whom God reproves; therefore do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.
18 For he wounds, but he binds up;
he strikes, but his hands heal.
19 He will deliver you from six troubles; in seven no harm shall touch you.
20 In famine he will redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword.
21 You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, and shall not fear destruction when it comes.
22 At destruction and famine you shall laugh, and shall not fear the wild animals of the earth.
23 For you shall be in league with the stones of the field, and the wild animals shall be at peace with you.
24 You shall know that your tent is safe, you shall inspect your fold and miss nothing.
25 You shall know that your descendants will be many, and your offspring like the grass of the earth.
26 You shall come to your grave in ripe old age, as a shock of grain comes up to the threshing floor in its season.
27 See, we have searched this out;
it is true. Hear, and know it for yourself."

Day 149:2 Maccabaeus 13 - 15

Chapter 13



Execution of Menelaus
1: In the one hundred forty-ninth year word came to Judas and his men that Antiochus Eupator was coming with a great army against Judea,
2 and with him Lysias, his guardian, who had charge of the government. Each of them had a Greek force of one hundred ten thousand infantry, five thousand three hundred cavalry, twenty-two elephants, and three hundred chariots armed with scythes.
3 Menelaus also joined them and with utter hypocrisy urged Antiochus on, not for the sake of his country's welfare, but because he thought that he would be established in office.
4 But the King of kings aroused the anger of Antiochus against the scoundrel; and when Lysias informed him that this man was to blame for all the trouble, he ordered them to take him to Beroea and to put him to death by the method that is customary in that place.
5 For there is a tower there, fifty cubits high, full of ashes, and it has a rim running around it that on all sides inclines precipitously into the ashes.
6 There they all push to destruction anyone guilty of sacrilege or notorious for other crimes.
7 By such a fate it came about that Menelaus the lawbreaker died, without even burial in the earth.
8 And this was eminently just; because he had committed many sins against the altar whose fire and ashes were holy, he met his death in ashes.


A Battle near Modein
9 The king with barbarous arrogance was coming to show the Jews things far worse than those that had been done in his father's time.
10 But when Judas heard of this, he ordered the people to call upon the Lord day and night, now if ever to help those who were on the point of being deprived of the law and their country and the holy temple,
11 and not to let the people who had just begun to revive fall into the hands of the blasphemous Gentiles.
12 When they had all joined in the same petition and had implored the merciful Lord with weeping and fasting and lying prostrate for three days without ceasing, Judas exhorted them and ordered them to stand ready.
13 After consulting privately with the elders, he determined to march out and decide the matter by the help of God before the king's army could enter Judea and get possession of the city.
14 So, committing the decision to the Creator of the world and exhorting his troops to fight bravely to the death for the laws, temple, city, country, and commonwealth, he pitched his camp near Modein.
15 He gave his troops the watchword, "God's victory," and with a picked force of the bravest young men, he attacked the king's pavilion at night and killed as many as two thousand men in the camp. He stabbed the leading elephant and its rider.
16 In the end they filled the camp with terror and confusion and withdrew in triumph.
17 This happened, just as day was dawning, because the Lord's help protected him.


Antiochus makes a treaty with the Jews
18 The king, having had a taste of the daring of the Jews, tried strategy in attacking their positions.
19 He advanced against Beth-zur, a strong fortress of the Jews, was turned back, attacked again, and was defeated.
20 Judas sent in to the garrison whatever was necessary.
21 But Rhodocus, a man from the ranks of the Jews, gave secret information to the enemy; he was sought for, caught, and put in prison.
22 The king negotiated a second time with the people in Beth-zur, gave pledges, received theirs, withdrew, attacked Judas and his men, was defeated;
23 he got word that Philip, who had been left in charge of the government, had revolted in Antioch; he was dismayed, called in the Jews, yielded and swore to observe all their rights, settled with them and offered sacrifice, honored the sanctuary and showed generosity to the holy place.
24 He received Maccabeus, left Hegemonides as governor from Ptolemais to Gerar,
25 and went to Ptolemais. The people of Ptolemais were indignant over the treaty; in fact they were so angry that they wanted to annul its terms.
26 Lysias took the public platform, made the best possible defense, convinced them, appeased them, gained their goodwill, and set out for Antioch. This is how the king's attack and withdrawal turned out.

Chapter 14



Alcimus speaks against Judas
1 Three years later, word came to Judas and his men that Demetrius son of Seleucus had sailed into the harbor of Tripolis with a strong army and a fleet,
2 and had taken possession of the country, having made away with Antiochus and his guardian Lysias.
3 Now a certain Alcimus, who had formerly been high priest but had willfully defiled himself in the times of separation, realized that there was no way for him to be safe or to have access again to the holy altar,
4 and went to King Demetrius in about the one hundred fifty-first year, presenting to him a crown of gold and a palm, and besides these some of the customary olive branches from the temple. During that day he kept quiet.
5 But he found an opportunity that furthered his mad purpose when he was invited by Demetrius to a meeting of the council and was asked about the attitude and intentions of the Jews. He answered:
6 "Those of the Jews who are called Hasideans, whose leader is Judas Maccabeus, are keeping up war and stirring up sedition, and will not let the kingdom attain tranquility.
7 Therefore I have laid aside my ancestral glory - I mean the high priesthood - and have now come here,
8 first because I am genuinely concerned for the interests of the king, and second because I have regard also for my compatriots. For through the folly of those whom I have mentioned our whole nation is now in no small misfortune.
9 Since you are acquainted, O king, with the details of this matter, may it please you to take thought for our country and our hard-pressed nation with the gracious kindness that you show to all.
10 For as long as Judas lives, it is impossible for the government to find peace."
11 When he had said this, the rest of the king's Friends, who were hostile to Judas, quickly inflamed Demetrius still more.
12 He immediately chose Nicanor, who had been in command of the elephants, appointed him governor of Judea, and sent him off
13 with orders to kill Judas and scatter his troops, and to install Alcimus as high priest of the great temple.
14 And the Gentiles throughout Judea, who had fled before Judas, flocked to join Nicanor, thinking that the misfortunes and calamities of the Jews would mean prosperity for themselves.


Nicanor makes friends with Judas
15 When the Jews heard of Nicanor's coming and the gathering of the Gentiles, they sprinkled dust on their heads and prayed to him who established his own people forever and always upholds his own heritage by manifesting himself.
16 At the command of the leader, they set out from there immediately and engaged them in battle at a village called Dessau.
17 Simon, the brother of Judas, had encountered Nicanor, but had been temporarily checked because of the sudden consternation created by the enemy.
18 Nevertheless Nicanor, hearing of the valor of Judas and his troops and their courage in battle for their country, shrank from deciding the issue by bloodshed.
19 Therefore he sent Posidonius, Theodotus, and Mattathias to give and receive pledges of friendship.
20 When the terms had been fully considered, and the leader had informed the people, and it had appeared that they were of one mind, they agreed to the covenant.
21 The leaders set a day on which to meet by themselves. A chariot came forward from each army; seats of honor were set in place; 22 Judas posted armed men in readiness at key places to prevent sudden treachery on the part of the enemy; so they duly held the consultation.
23 Nicanor stayed on in Jerusalem and did nothing out of the way, but dismissed the flocks of people that had gathered.
24 And he kept Judas always in his presence; he was warmly attached to the man.
25 He urged him to marry and have children; so Judas married, settled down, and shared the common life.


Nicanor turns against Judas
26 But when Alcimus noticed their goodwill for one another, he took the covenant that had been made and went to Demetrius. He told him that Nicanor was disloyal to the government, since he had appointed that conspirator against the kingdom, Judas, to be his successor.
27 The king became excited and, provoked by the false accusations of that depraved man, wrote to Nicanor, stating that he was displeased with the covenant and commanding him to send Maccabeus to Antioch as a prisoner without delay.
28 When this message came to Nicanor, he was troubled and grieved that he had to annul their agreement when the man had done no wrong.
29 Since it was not possible to oppose the king, he watched for an opportunity to accomplish this by a stratagem.
30 But Maccabeus, noticing that Nicanor was more austere in his dealings with him and was meeting him more rudely than had been his custom, concluded that this austerity did not spring from the best motives. So he gathered not a few of his men, and went into hiding from Nicanor.
31 When the latter became aware that he had been cleverly outwitted by the man, he went to the great and holy temple while the priests were offering the customary sacrifices, and commanded them to hand the man over.
32 When they declared on oath that they did not know where the man was whom he wanted,
33 he stretched out his right hand toward the sanctuary, and swore this oath: "If you do not hand Judas over to me as a prisoner, I will level this shrine of God to the ground and tear down the altar, and build here a splendid temple to Dionysus."
34 Having said this, he went away. Then the priests stretched out their hands toward heaven and called upon the constant Defender of our nation, in these words:
35 "O Lord of all, though you have need of nothing, you were pleased that there should be a temple for your habitation among us;
36 so now, O holy One, Lord of all holiness, keep undefiled forever this house that has been so recently purified."


Razis dies for his country
37 A certain Razis, one of the elders of Jerusalem, was denounced to Nicanor as a man who loved his compatriots and was very well thought of and for his goodwill was called father of the Jews.
38 In former times, when there was no mingling with the Gentiles, he had been accused of Judaism, and he had most zealously risked body and life for Judaism.
39 Nicanor, wishing to exhibit the enmity that he had for the Jews, sent more than five hundred soldiers to arrest him;
40 for he thought that by arresting him he would do them an injury.
41 When the troops were about to capture the tower and were forcing the door of the courtyard, they ordered that fire be brought and the doors burned. Being surrounded, Razis fell upon his own sword,
42 preferring to die nobly rather than to fall into the hands of sinners and suffer outrages unworthy of his noble birth.
43 But in the heat of the struggle he did not hit exactly, and the crowd was now rushing in through the doors. He courageously ran up on the wall, and bravely threw himself down into the crowd.
44 But as they quickly drew back, a space opened and he fell in the middle of the empty space.
45 Still alive and aflame with anger, he rose, and though his blood gushed forth and his wounds were severe he ran through the crowd; and standing upon a steep rock,
46 with his blood now completely drained from him, he tore out his entrails, took them in both hands and hurled them at the crowd, calling upon the Lord of life and spirit to give them back to him again. This was the manner of his death.

Chapter 15



Nicanor's Arrogance and Defeat
1 When Nicanor heard that Judas and his troops were in the region of Samaria, he made plans to attack them with complete safety on the day of rest.
2 When the Jews who were compelled to follow him said, "Do not destroy so savagely and barbarously, but show respect for the day that he who sees all things has honored and hallowed above other days,"
3 the thrice-accursed wretch asked if there were a sovereign in heaven who had commanded the keeping of the sabbath day.
4 When they declared, "It is the living Lord himself, the Sovereign in heaven, who ordered us to observe the seventh day,"
5 he replied, "But I am a sovereign also, on earth, and I command you to take up arms and finish the king's business." Nevertheless, he did not succeed in carrying out his abominable design.


Judas prepares his men for battle
6 This Nicanor in his utter boastfulness and arrogance had determined to erect a public monument of victory over Judas and his forces.
7 But Maccabeus did not cease to trust with all confidence that he would get help from the Lord.
8 He exhorted his troops not to fear the attack of the Gentiles, but to keep in mind the former times when help had come to them from heaven, and so to look for the victory that the Almighty would give them.
9 Encouraging them from the law and the prophets, and reminding them also of the struggles they had won, he made them the more eager.
10 When he had aroused their courage, he issued his orders, at the same time pointing out the perfidy of the Gentiles and their violation of oaths.
11 He armed each of them not so much with confidence in shields and spears as with the inspiration of brave words, and he cheered them all by relating a dream, a sort of vision, which was worthy of belief.
12 What he saw was this: Onias, who had been high priest, a noble and good man, of modest bearing and gentle manner, one who spoke fittingly and had been trained from childhood in all that belongs to excellence, was praying with outstretched hands for the whole body of the Jews.
13 Then in the same fashion another appeared, distinguished by his gray hair and dignity, and of marvelous majesty and authority.
14 And Onias spoke, saying, "This is a man who loves the family of Israel and prays much for the people and the holy city - Jeremiah, the prophet of God."
15 Jeremiah stretched out his right hand and gave to Judas a golden sword, and as he gave it he addressed him thus:
16 "Take this holy sword, a gift from God, with which you will strike down your adversaries."
17 Encouraged by the words of Judas, so noble and so effective in arousing valor and awaking courage in the souls of the young, they determined not to carry on a campaign but to attack bravely, and to decide the matter by fighting hand to hand with all courage, because the city and the sanctuary and the temple were in danger.
18 Their concern for wives and children, and also for brothers and sisters and relatives, lay upon them less heavily; their greatest and first fear was for the consecrated sanctuary.
19 And those who had to remain in the city were in no little distress, being anxious over the encounter in the open country.


Defeat and death of Nicanor
20 When all were now looking forward to the coming issue, and the enemy was already close at hand with their army drawn up for battle, the elephants strategically stationed and the cavalry deployed on the flanks,
21 Maccabeus, observing the masses that were in front of him and the varied supply of arms and the savagery of the elephants, stretched out his hands toward heaven and called upon the Lord who works wonders; for he knew that it is not by arms, but as the Lord decides, that he gains the victory for those who deserve it.
22 He called upon him in these words: "O Lord, you sent your angel in the time of King Hezekiah of Judea, and he killed fully one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of Sennacherib.
23 So now, O Sovereign of the heavens, send a good angel to spread terror and trembling before us.
24 By the might of your arm may these blasphemers who come against your holy people be struck down." With these words he ended his prayer.
25 Nicanor and his troops advanced with trumpets and battle songs,
26 but Judas and his troops met the enemy in battle with invocations to God and prayers.
27 So, fighting with their hands and praying to God in their hearts, they laid low at least thirty-five thousand, and were greatly gladdened by God's manifestation.
28 When the action was over and they were returning with joy, they recognized Nicanor, lying dead, in full armor.
29 Then there was shouting and tumult, and they blessed the Sovereign Lord in the language of their ancestors.
30 Then the man, who was ever in body and soul the defender of his people, the man who maintained his youthful goodwill toward his compatriots, ordered them to cut off Nicanor's head and arm and carry them to Jerusalem.
31 When he arrived there and had called his compatriots together and stationed the priests before the altar, he sent for those who were in the citadel.
32 He showed them the vile Nicanor's head and that profane man's arm, which had been boastfully stretched out against the holy house of the Almighty.
33 He cut out the tongue of the ungodly Nicanor and said that he would feed it piecemeal to the birds and would hang up these rewards of his folly opposite the sanctuary.
34 And they all, looking to heaven, blessed the Lord who had manifested himself, saying, "Blessed is he who has kept his own place undefiled!"
35 Judas hung Nicanor's head from the citadel, a clear and conspicuous sign to everyone of the help of the Lord.
36 And they all decreed by public vote never to let this day go unobserved, but to celebrate the thirteenth day of the twelfth month - which is called Adar in the Aramaic language - the day before Mordecai's day.
37 This, then, is how matters turned out with Nicanor, and from that time the city has been in the possession of the Hebrews. So I will here end my story.


Compiler's Epilogue
38 If it is well told and to the point, that is what I myself desired; if it is poorly done and mediocre, that was the best I could do.
39 For just as it is harmful to drink wine alone, or, again, to drink water alone, while wine mixed with water is sweet and delicious and enhances one's enjoyment, so also the sty le of the story delights the ears of those who read the work. And here will be the end.