Job 39; Job 40; Romans 7

1 “Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch when the doe bears her fawn?

2 Do you count the months till they bear? Do you know the time they give birth?

3 They crouch down and bring forth their young; their labor pains are ended.

4 Their young thrive and grow strong in the wilds; they leave and do not return.

5 “Who let the wild donkey go free? Who untied its ropes?

6 I gave it the wasteland as its home, the salt flats as its habitat.

7 It laughs at the commotion in the town; it does not hear a driver’s shout.

8 It ranges the hills for its pasture and searches for any green thing.

9 “Will the wild ox consent to serve you? Will it stay by your manger at night?

10 Can you hold it to the furrow with a harness? Will it till the valleys behind you?

11 Will you rely on it for its great strength? Will you leave your heavy work to it?

12 Can you trust it to haul in your grain and bring it to your threshing floor?

13 “The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully, though they cannot compare with the wings and feathers of the stork.

14 She lays her eggs on the ground and lets them warm in the sand,

15 unmindful that a foot may crush them, that some wild animal may trample them.

16 She treats her young harshly, as if they were not hers; she cares not that her labor was in vain,

17 for God did not endow her with wisdom or give her a share of good sense.

18 Yet when she spreads her feathers to run, she laughs at horse and rider.

19 “Do you give the horse its strength or clothe its neck with a flowing mane?

20 Do you make it leap like a locust, striking terror with its proud snorting?

21 It paws fiercely, rejoicing in its strength, and charges into the fray.

22 It laughs at fear, afraid of nothing; it does not shy away from the sword.

23 The quiver rattles against its side, along with the flashing spear and lance.

24 In frenzied excitement it eats up the ground; it cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds.

25 At the blast of the trumpet it snorts, ‘Aha!’ It catches the scent of battle from afar, the shout of commanders and the battle cry.

26 “Does the hawk take flight by your wisdom and spread its wings toward the south?

27 Does the eagle soar at your command and build its nest on high?

28 It dwells on a cliff and stays there at night; a rocky crag is its stronghold.

29 From there it looks for food; its eyes detect it from afar.

30 Its young ones feast on blood, and where the slain are, there it is.”

1 The LORD said to Job:

2 “Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let him who accuses God answer him!”

3 Then Job answered the LORD:

4 “I am unworthy—how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth.

5 I spoke once, but I have no answer— twice, but I will say no more.”

6 Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm:

7 “Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.

8 “Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself?

9 Do you have an arm like God’s, and can your voice thunder like his?

10 Then adorn yourself with glory and splendor, and clothe yourself in honor and majesty.

11 Unleash the fury of your wrath, look at all who are proud and bring them low,

12 look at all who are proud and humble them, crush the wicked where they stand.

13 Bury them all in the dust together; shroud their faces in the grave.

14 Then I myself will admit to you that your own right hand can save you.

15 “Look at Behemoth, which I made along with you and which feeds on grass like an ox.

16 What strength it has in its loins, what power in the muscles of its belly!

17 Its tail sways like a cedar; the sinews of its thighs are close-knit.

18 Its bones are tubes of bronze, its limbs like rods of iron.

19 It ranks first among the works of God, yet its Maker can approach it with his sword.

20 The hills bring it their produce, and all the wild animals play nearby.

21 Under the lotus plants it lies, hidden among the reeds in the marsh.

22 The lotuses conceal it in their shadow; the poplars by the stream surround it.

23 A raging river does not alarm it; it is secure, though the Jordan should surge against its mouth.

24 Can anyone capture it by the eyes, or trap it and pierce its nose?

1 Do you not know, brothers and sisters—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives?

2 For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him.

3 So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.

4 So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.

5 For when we were in the realm of the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in us, so that we bore fruit for death.

6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.

7 What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”

8 But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead.

9 Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.

10 I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.

11 For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.

12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.

13 Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! Nevertheless, in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it used what is good to bring about my death, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin.

15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.

16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.

17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.

18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.

19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.

20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.

22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;

23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.

24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?

25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.