Job 34:36

Search me, God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts.

There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, and one who feared God, and turned away from evil.

Blessed is a person who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to those who love him.

Yahweh passed by before him, and proclaimed, “Yahweh! Yahweh, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth,

But he knows the way that I take. When he has tried me, I will come out like gold.

Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, but establish the righteous; their minds and hearts are searched by the righteous God.

For I was envious of the arrogant, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

“Your words have been stout against me,” says Yahweh. “Yet you say, ‘What have we spoken against you?’

The refining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold, but Yahweh tests the hearts.

You have bought me no sweet cane with money, nor have you filled me with the fat of your sacrifices, but you have burdened me with your sins. You have wearied me with your iniquities.

You are righteous, Yahweh, when I contend with you; yet I would like to reason the cause with you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are they all at ease who deal very treacherously?

He said to them, “It isn’t for you to know times or seasons which the Father has set within his own authority.

and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.”

But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job didn’t sin with his lips.

The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. If not he, then who is it?

“As God lives, who has taken away my right, the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter

So Yahweh blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand female donkeys.

I am poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted within me.

I said, “I will watch my ways, so that I don’t sin with my tongue. I will keep my mouth with a bridle while the wicked is before me.”

For you, God, have tested us. You have refined us, as silver is refined.

though the wicked spring up as the grass, and all the evildoers flourish, they will be destroyed forever.

Yahweh is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness.

But you, Yahweh, know me. You see me, and test my heart toward you. Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.

“Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not equal.’ Hear now, house of Israel: Is my way not equal? Aren’t your ways unequal?

Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails; for the wicked surround the righteous; therefore justice comes out perverted.

I will bring the third part into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will test them like gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say, ‘It is my people;’ and they will say, ‘Yahweh is my God.’ ”

Test all things, and hold firmly that which is good.

that the proof of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes even though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ—

Finally, all of you be like-minded, compassionate, loving as brothers, tenderhearted, courteous,

I will kill her children with Death, and all the assemblies will know that I am he who searches the minds and hearts. I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.

‘Yahweh is slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, forgiving iniquity and disobedience; and he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation.’

and shall tell them, “Hear, Israel, you draw near today to battle against your enemies. Don’t let your heart faint! Don’t be afraid, nor tremble, neither be scared of them;

the wicked man writhes in pain all his days, even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor.

I will bless Yahweh, who has given me counsel. Yes, my heart instructs me in the night seasons.

I have seen the wicked in great power, spreading himself like a green tree in its native soil.

Yahweh, you have searched me, and you know me.

For the ways of man are before Yahweh’s eyes. He examines all his paths.

He who guards his mouth guards his soul. One who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.

I said in my heart, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked; for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.”

Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.

There is a vanity which is done on the earth, that there are righteous men to whom it happens according to the work of the wicked. Again, there are wicked men to whom it happens according to the work of the righteous. I said that this also is vanity.

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Woe to those who deeply hide their counsel from Yahweh, and whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, “Who sees us?” and “Who knows us?”

“I, Yahweh, search the mind. I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.”

But Yahweh of Armies, who tests the righteous, who sees the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance on them, for I have revealed my cause to you.

Thus Yahweh could no longer bear it, because of the evil of your doings, and because of the abominations which you have committed. Therefore your land has become a desolation, and an astonishment, and a curse, without inhabitant, as it is today.

Then Yahweh was jealous for his land, And had pity on his people.

You who have purer eyes than to see evil, and who cannot look on perversity, why do you tolerate those who deal treacherously, and keep silent when the wicked swallows up the man who is more righteous than he,

It will happen at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are settled on their dregs, who say in their heart, “Yahweh will not do good, neither will he do evil.”

Yet you say, ‘Why?’ Because Yahweh has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion, and the wife of your covenant.

“But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like launderers’ soap;

For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds. To him who knocks it will be opened.

and delivered him out of all his afflictions, and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He made him governor over Egypt and all his house.

who, when he had come, and had seen the grace of God, was glad. He exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they should remain near to the Lord.

Examine your own selves, whether you are in the faith. Test your own selves. Or don’t you know about your own selves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.

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

But even as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News, so we speak: not as pleasing men, but God, who tests our hearts.

Yahweh said, “Will I hide from Abraham what I do,

The tents of robbers prosper. Those who provoke God are secure, who carry their god in their hands.

With him is strength and wisdom. The deceived and the deceiver are his.

Is it good that he should search you out? Or as one deceives a man, will you deceive him?

That you turn your spirit against God, and let such words go out of your mouth?

“Why do the wicked live, become old, yes, and grow mighty in power?

Will you keep the old way, which wicked men have trodden,

Yet he filled their houses with good things, but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

For God has made my heart faint. The Almighty has terrified me.

“Why aren’t times laid up by the Almighty? Why don’t those who know him see his days?

Behold, as wild donkeys in the desert, they go out to their work, seeking diligently for food. The wilderness yields them bread for their children.

Let us choose for us that which is right. Let us know among ourselves what is good.

Who goes in company with the workers of iniquity, and walks with wicked men?

“But you are full of the judgment of the wicked. Judgment and justice take hold of you.

Those who know your name will put their trust in you, for you, Yahweh, have not forsaken those who seek you.

You have proved my heart. You have visited me in the night. You have tried me, and found nothing. I have resolved that my mouth shall not disobey.

I was also blameless with him. I kept myself from my iniquity.

Examine me, Yahweh, and prove me. Try my heart and my mind.

My times are in your hand. Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.

God, you know my foolishness. My sins aren’t hidden from you.

Your fierce wrath has gone over me. Your terrors have cut me off.

Then I said, “Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of Armies!”

Now therefore don’t be scoffers, lest your bonds be made strong; for I have heard a decree of destruction from the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, on the whole earth.

For I will not contend forever, neither will I always be angry; for the spirit would faint before me, and the souls whom I have made.

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.

Don’t let your heart faint. Don’t fear for the news that will be heard in the land. For news will come one year, and after that in another year news will come, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler.

The army was given over to it together with the continual burnt offering through disobedience. It cast down truth to the ground, and it did its pleasure and prospered.

Hear this, you elders, And listen, all you inhabitants of the land. Has this ever happened in your days, or in the days of your fathers?

Alas for the day! For the day of Yahweh is at hand, and it will come as destruction from the Almighty.

You have wearied Yahweh with your words. Yet you say, ‘How have we wearied him?’ In that you say, ‘Everyone who does evil is good in Yahweh’s sight, and he delights in them;’ or ‘Where is the God of justice?’

Now we call the proud happy; yes, those who work wickedness are built up; yes, they tempt God, and escape.’

Don’t judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment.”

This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.

He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed seasons, and the boundaries of their dwellings,

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.

But the Spirit says expressly that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons,

which in its own times he will show, who is the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings, and Lord of lords.

Behold, we call them blessed who endured. You have heard of the perseverance of Job, and have seen the Lord in the outcome, and how the Lord is full of compassion and mercy.