2nd December

¹ There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.² And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.³ His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.⁴ And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.⁵ And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.⁶ Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.⁷ And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.⁸ And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?⁹ Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?¹⁰ Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.¹¹ But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.¹² And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.¹³ And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house:¹⁴ And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them:¹⁵ And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.¹⁶ While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.¹⁷ While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.¹⁸ While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother's house:¹⁹ And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.²⁰ Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped,²¹ And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.²² In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.

¹ Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD.² And the LORD said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.³ And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause.⁴ And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.⁵ But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.⁶ And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.⁷ So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.⁸ And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself withal; and he sat down among the ashes.⁹ Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die.¹⁰ But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.¹¹ Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place; Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite: for they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him.¹² And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice, and wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven.¹³ So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him: for they saw that his grief was very great.

¹ Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish's belly,² And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.³ For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.⁴ Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.⁵ The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.⁶ I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God.⁷ When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.⁸ They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.⁹ But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.¹⁰ And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.

¹ And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying,² Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.³ So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey.⁴ And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.⁵ So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.⁶ For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.⁷ And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:⁸ But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.⁹ Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?¹⁰ And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.

¹ Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;² A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man.³ For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer.⁴ For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest, seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law:⁵ Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.⁶ But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.⁷ For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.⁸ For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:⁹ Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.¹⁰ For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:¹¹ And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.¹² For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.¹³ In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.

¹ Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary.² For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the sanctuary.³ And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all;⁴ Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant;⁵ And over it the cherubims of glory shadowing the mercyseat; of which we cannot now speak particularly.⁶ Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God.⁷ But into the second went the high priest alone once every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors of the people:⁸ The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing:⁹ Which was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;¹⁰ Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.¹¹ But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;¹² Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.¹³ For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:¹⁴ How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?¹⁵ And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.¹⁶ For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.¹⁷ For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.¹⁸ Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.¹⁹ For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people,²⁰ Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.²¹ Moreover he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle, and all the vessels of the ministry.²² And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.²³ It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.²⁴ For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:²⁵ Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others;²⁶ For then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.²⁷ And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:²⁸ So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.