"How you have helped the powerless!How you have saved the arm that is feeble!What advice you have offered to one without wisdom!And what great insight you have displayed!Who has helped you utter these words?And whose spirit spoke from your mouth?...As surely as God lives, who has denied me justice, the Almighty, who has made my life bitter, as long as I have life within me, the breath of God in my...  Read More

"Dominion and awe belong to God;He establishes order in the heights of heaven.Can His forces be numbered?On whom does His light not rise?How then can a mortal be righteous before God?How can one born of woman be pure?If even the moon is not bright and the stars are not pure in His eyes, how much less a mortal, who is but a maggot -- a human being who is only a worm! (Job 25) God is utterly awesome...  Read More

Why doesn't the Almighty bring the wicked to judgment?Why must the godly wait for Him in vain?Evil people steal land by moving the boundary markers.They steal livestock and put them in their own pastures.They take the orphan's donkey and demand the widow's ox as security for a loan.The poor are pushed off the path...Like wild donkeys in the wilderness, the poor must spend all their time looking fo...  Read More

Then Job replied:"Even today my complaint is bitter; His hand is heavy in spite of my groaning.If only I knew where to find Him;If only I could go to His dwelling!I would state my case before HimAnd fill my mouth with arguments.I would find out what He would answer me,And consider what He would say to me…But if I go to the east, He is not there;If I go to the west, I do not find Him.When He is at ...  Read More

Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied: ..."Submit to God and be at peace with Him;In this way prosperity will come to you.Accept instructions from His mouthAnd lay up His words in your heart.If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored:If you remove wickedness far from your tentAnd assign your nuggets to the dust,Your gold of Ophir to the rocks in the ravines,Then the Almighty will be your gold...  Read More

Eli's sons were scoundrels; they had no regard for the LORD. Now it was the practice of the priests that, whenever any of the people offered a sacrifice, the priest's servant would come with a three-pronged fork in his hand while the meat was being boiled and would plunge the fork into the pan or kettle or caldron or pot. Whatever the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is how ...  Read More

Then Hannah prayed and said: "My heart rejoices in the LORD; in the LORD my horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies . . .  there is no Rock like our God.  . . . She who was barren has borne seven children, but she who has had many sons pines away.The LORD brings death and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and raises up.The LORD sends poverty and wealth; He humbles and He exalts...  Read More

Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up.  Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the LORD's house. In her deep anguish, Hannah prayed to the LORD, weeping bitterly. And she made a vow, saying, "LORD Almighty, if you will only look on your servant's misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him...  Read More

There was a certain man from Ramathaim, a Zuphite from the hill country of Ephraim, whose name was Elkanah . . .  He had two wives; one was called Hannah and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none.Year after year this man went up from his town to worship and sacrifice to the LORD Almighty at Shiloh . . . Because the LORD had closed Hannah's womb, her rival kept provoking he...  Read More

So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. The women said to Naomi: "Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to yo...  Read More

For to us a child is born,To us a Son is givenAnd the government will be on His shouldersAnd He will be calledWonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of PeaceIsaiah 9:6 Virtually the whole world is celebrating today in commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ.Over the past two thousand years, countless numbers of songs, musicals, plays and books have been written about the li...  Read More

In the six month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin . . . The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found fa...  Read More