"FEMALE EMPLOYMENT"
Psalm 5:4-8
Living Bible
4 I know you get no pleasure from wickedness and cannot tolerate the slightest sin. 5 Therefore, proud sinners will not survive your searching gaze, for how you hate their evil deeds. 6 You will destroy them for their lies; how you abhor all murder and deception.
7 But as for me, I will come into your Temple protected by your mercy and your love; I will worship you with deepest awe.
8 Lord, lead me as you promised me you would; otherwise my enemies will conquer me. Tell me clearly what to do, which way to turn.
Psalm 31:1-6
Living Bible
31 Lord, I trust in you alone. Don’t let my enemies defeat me. Rescue me because you are the God who always does what is right. 2 Answer quickly when I cry to you; bend low and hear my whispered plea. Be for me a great Rock of safety from my foes. 3 Yes, you are my Rock and my fortress; honor your name by leading me out of this peril. 4 Pull me from the trap my enemies have set for me. For you alone are strong enough. 5-6 Into your hand I commit my spirit.
You have rescued me, O God who keeps his promises. I worship only you; how you hate all those who worship idols, those imitation gods.
Proverbs 8:13-21
Living Bible
13 If anyone respects and fears God, he will hate evil. For wisdom hates pride, arrogance, corruption, and deceit of every kind.
14-16 “I, Wisdom, give good advice and common sense. Because of my strength, kings reign in power, and rulers make just laws. 17 I love all who love me. Those who search for me shall surely find me. 18 Unending riches, honor, justice, and righteousness are mine to distribute. 19 My gifts are better than the purest gold or sterling silver! 20 My paths are those of justice and right. 21 Those who love and follow me are indeed wealthy. I fill their treasuries.
"LOVER'S TALE"
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Job 10:8-22
Living Bible
8 “‘You have made me, and yet you destroy me. 9 Oh, please remember that I’m made of dust—will you change me back again to dust so soon? 10 You have already poured me from bottle to bottle like milk and curdled me like cheese. 11 You gave me skin and flesh and knit together bones and sinews. 12 You gave me life and were so kind and loving to me, and I was preserved by your care.
13-14 “‘Yet all the time your real motive in making me was to destroy me if I sinned, and to refuse to forgive my iniquity. 15 Just the slightest wickedness, and I am done for. And if I’m good, that doesn’t count. I am filled with frustration. 16 If I start to get up off the ground, you leap upon me like a lion and quickly finish me off. 17 Again and again you witness against me and pour out an ever-increasing volume of wrath upon me and bring fresh armies against me.
18 “‘Why then did you even let me be born? Why didn’t you let me die at birth? 19 Then I would have been spared this miserable existence. I would have gone directly from the womb to the grave. 20-21 Can’t you see how little time I have left? Oh, leave me alone that I may have a little moment of comfort before I leave for the land of darkness and the shadow of death, never to return— 22 a land as dark as midnight, a land of the shadow of death where only confusion reigns and where the brightest light is dark as midnight.’”
Job 38:1-17
Easy-to-Read Version
God Speaks to Job
38 Then the Lord spoke to Job from a whirlwind and said,
2 “Who is this ignorant person
saying these foolish things?
3 Prepare yourself for an attack!
Get ready to answer the questions I will ask you.
4 “Where were you when I made the earth?
If you are so smart, answer me.
5 And who decided how big the earth should be?
Who measured it with a measuring line?
6 What is the earth resting on?
Who put the first stone in its place
7 when the morning stars sang together
and the angels shouted with joy?
8 “Who closed the flood gates
as the sea gushed from the womb?
9 Who covered it with clouds
and wrapped it in darkness?
10 I set the limits for the sea
and put it behind locked gates.
11 I said to the sea, ‘You can come this far, but no farther.
This is where your proud waves will stop.’
12 “Did you ever in your life command the morning to begin
or the day to dawn?
13 Did you ever tell the morning light to grab the earth
and shake those who are evil out of their hiding places?
14 The morning light makes the hills
and valleys easy to see.
When the daylight comes to the earth,
the shapes of these places stand out like the folds of a coat.
They take shape like soft clay
that is pressed with a stamp.
15 Evil people don’t like the daylight.
When it shines bright, it keeps them from doing the bad things they do.
16 “Have you ever gone to the deepest parts of the sea?
Have you ever walked on the ocean bottom?
17 Has anyone shown you the gates to the world of the dead?
Have you ever seen those gates that lead to the dark place of death?
Psalm 44:4-19
Living Bible
4 You are my King and my God. Decree victories for your people. 5 For it is only by your power and through your name that we tread down our enemies; 6 I do not trust my weapons. They could never save me. 7 Only you can give us the victory over those who hate us.
8 My constant boast is God. I can never thank you enough! 9 And yet for a time, O Lord, you have tossed us aside in dishonor and have not helped us in our battles. 10 You have actually fought against us and defeated us before our foes. Our enemies have invaded our land and pillaged the countryside. 11 You have treated us like sheep in a slaughter pen and scattered us among the nations. 12 You sold us for a pittance. You valued us at nothing at all. 13 The neighboring nations mock and laugh at us because of all the evil you have sent. 14 You have made the word Jew a byword of contempt and shame among the nations, disliked by all. 15-16 I am constantly despised, mocked, taunted, and cursed by my vengeful enemies.
17 And all this has happened, Lord, despite our loyalty to you. We have not violated your covenant. 18 Our hearts have not deserted you! We have not left your path by a single step. 19 If we had, we could understand your punishing us in the barren wilderness and sending us into darkness and death.