Job 29:16

Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.

You adulterers and adulteresses, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

Let them judge the people at all times. It shall be that every great matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they shall judge themselves. So shall it be easier for you, and they shall share the load with you.

He executes justice for the fatherless and widow and loves the foreigner in giving him food and clothing.

The secret things belong to Yahweh our God; but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

But you do see trouble and grief. You consider it to take it into your hand. You help the victim and the fatherless.

Put on therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, humility, and perseverance;

But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them learn first to show piety toward their own family and to repay their parents, for this is acceptable in the sight of God.

On that day, King Ahasuerus gave the house of Haman, the Jews’ enemy, to Esther the queen. Mordecai came before the king; for Esther had told what he was to her.

Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, who walk according to Yahweh’s law.

When the wicked rise, men hide themselves; but when they perish, the righteous thrive.

The righteous care about justice for the poor. The wicked aren’t concerned about knowledge.

They were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord.

Therefore select from among you, brothers, seven men of good report, full of the Holy Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.

And be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you.

but the goal of this command is love, out of a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith,

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

He made him ride in the second chariot which he had. They cried before him, “Bow the knee!” He set him over all the land of Egypt.

The land of Egypt is before you. Make your father and your brothers dwell in the best of the land. Let them dwell in the land of Goshen. If you know any able men among them, then put them in charge of my livestock.”

These are those who were called of the congregation, the princes of the tribes of their fathers; they were the heads of the thousands of Israel.

If they blow just one, then the princes, the heads of the thousands of Israel, shall gather themselves to you.

Take wise men of understanding who are respected among your tribes, and I will make them heads over you.”

You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not be afraid of the face of man, for the judgment is God’s. The case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.”

They said to him, “Hold your peace, put your hand on your mouth, and go with us. Be a father and a priest to us. Is it better for you to be priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and a family in Israel?”

Then the Levitical priests arose and blessed the people. Their voice was heard, and their prayer came up to his holy habitation, even to heaven.

Now therefore, if it seems good to the king, let a search be made in the king’s treasure house, which is there at Babylon, whether it is so, that a decree was made of Cyrus the king to build this house of God at Jerusalem; and let the king send his pleasure to us concerning this matter.”

Blessed is he who considers the poor. Yahweh will deliver him in the day of evil.

One who is slow to anger is better than the mighty; one who rules his spirit, than he who takes a city.

Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes and follows after rewards. They don’t defend the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come to them.

Leave your fatherless children. I will preserve them alive. Let your widows trust in me.”

Assyria can’t save us. We won’t ride on horses; neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, ‘Our gods!’ for in you the fatherless finds mercy.”

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me.’

Beloved, if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another.

We know that whoever is born of God doesn’t sin, but he who was born of God keeps himself, and the evil one doesn’t touch him.

Now when the turn of Esther, the daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai, who had taken her for his daughter, came to go in to the king, she required nothing but what Hegai the king’s eunuch, the keeper of the women, advised. Esther obtained favor in the sight of all those who looked at her.

He who answers before he hears, that is folly and shame to him.

and I will clothe him with your robe, and strengthen him with your belt. I will commit your government into his hand; and he will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah.

Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I still earnestly remember him. therefore my heart yearns for him. I will surely have mercy on him,” says Yahweh.

has walked in my statutes, and has kept my ordinances, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live,” says the Lord Yahweh.

Be silent, all flesh, before Yahweh; for he has roused himself from his holy habitation!”

for I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in.

But give for gifts to the needy those things which are within, and behold, all things will be clean to you.

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision amounts to anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith working through love.

Joseph said to them the third day, “Do this, and live, for I fear God.

Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.

“If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be to him as a creditor. You shall not charge him interest.

For I am Yahweh who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.

The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name, and cursed; and they brought him to Moses. His mother’s name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.

Take no interest from him or profit; but fear your God, that your brother may live among you.

Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Everyone kill his men who have joined themselves to Baal Peor.”

and you are told, and you have heard of it, then you shall inquire diligently. Behold, if it is true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is done in Israel,

and the judges shall make diligent inquisition; and behold, if the witness is a false witness, and has testified falsely against his brother,

The tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What wickedness is this that has happened among you?

His sons didn’t walk in his ways, but turned away after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice.

The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me, ‘One who rules over men righteously, who rules in the fear of God,

But I have built you a house and home, a place for you to dwell in forever.”

that search may be made in the book of the records of your fathers. You will see in the book of the records, and know that this city is a rebellious city, and hurtful to kings and provinces, and that they have started rebellions within it in the past. That is why this city was destroyed.

He brought up Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle’s daughter; for she had neither father nor mother. The maiden was fair and beautiful; and when her father and mother were dead, Mordecai took her for his own daughter.

The murderer rises with the light. He kills the poor and needy. In the night he is like a thief.

Because I delivered the poor who cried, and the fatherless also, who had no one to help him,

(no, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, I have guided her from my mother’s womb);

he who doesn’t lend out his money for usury, nor take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be shaken.

From the place of his habitation he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth,

A father of the fatherless, and a defender of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.

He will judge the poor of the people. He will save the children of the needy, and will break the oppressor in pieces.

Turn my heart toward your statutes, not toward selfish gain.

Yahweh preserves the foreigners. He upholds the fatherless and widow, but he turns the way of the wicked upside down.

Whoever stops his ears at the cry of the poor, he will also cry out, but shall not be heard.

for Yahweh will plead their case, and plunder the life of those who plunder them.

It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.

He who increases his wealth by excessive interest gathers it for one who has pity on the poor.

They have grown fat. They shine; yes, they excel in deeds of wickedness. They don’t plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and they don’t defend the rights of the needy.

he who hasn’t lent to them with interest, hasn’t taken any increase from them, who has withdrawn his hand from iniquity, has executed true justice between man and man,

Yet the number of the children of Israel will be as the sand of the sea, which can’t be measured or counted; and it will come to pass that, in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’

They trample on the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and deny justice to the oppressed; and a man and his father use the same maiden, to profane my holy name;

saying, “There was a judge in a certain city who didn’t fear God, and didn’t respect man.

Whenever he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us out of this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father—

For you are all children of God, through faith in Christ Jesus.

But far be it from me to boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

You fathers, don’t provoke your children to wrath, but nurture them in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

When his master heard the words of his wife, which she spoke to him, saying, “This is what your servant did to me,” his wrath was kindled.

So now it wasn’t you who sent me here, but God, and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

Moreover you shall provide out of all the people able men which fear God: men of truth, hating unjust gain; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.

They judged the people at all times. They brought the hard cases to Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves.

then you shall inquire, investigate, and ask diligently. Behold, if it is true, and the thing certain, that such abomination was done among you,

Micah said to him, “Dwell with me, and be to me a father and a priest, and I will give you ten pieces of silver per year, a suit of clothing, and your food.” So the Levite went in.

The king said to the woman, “Go to your house, and I will give a command concerning you.”

Then Darius the king made a decree, and the house of the archives, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon, was searched.

The children of the captivity did so. Ezra the priest, with certain heads of fathers’ households, after their fathers’ houses, and all of them by their names, were set apart; and they sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.

They turn the needy out of the way. The poor of the earth all hide themselves.

who has withdrawn his hand from the poor, who hasn’t received interest or increase, has executed my ordinances, has walked in my statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of his father. He shall surely live.

Be therefore imitators of God, as beloved children.

Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.