Job 36:2

for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

How much more, those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed before the moth!

“Yahweh of Armies says: ‘If you will walk in my ways, and if you will follow my instructions, then you also shall judge my house, and shall also keep my courts, and I will give you a place of access among these who stand by.

“The lord said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service.

Working together, we entreat also that you do not receive the grace of God in vain,

Beloved, I beg you as foreigners and pilgrims, to abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

Through Silvanus, our faithful brother, as I consider him, I have written to you briefly, exhorting, and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you stand.

You are to make a distinction between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean.

I am like one who is a joke to his neighbor, I, who called on God, and he answered. The just, the blameless man is a joke.

They have gaped on me with their mouth. They have struck me on the cheek reproachfully. They gather themselves together against me.

Surely there are mockers with me. My eye dwells on their provocation.

Then Yahweh said to me, “Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind would not turn toward this people. Cast them out of my sight, and let them go out!

therefore Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Jonadab the son of Rechab will not lack a man to stand before me forever.’ ”

I have declared it to you today; but you have not obeyed Yahweh your God’s voice in anything for which he has sent me to you.

Moreover he said to me, “Son of man, receive in your heart and hear with your ears all my words that I speak to you.

Go to them of the captivity, to the children of your people, and speak to them, and tell them, ‘This is what the Lord Yahweh says,’ whether they will hear, or whether they will refuse.

Her priests have done violence to my law, and have profaned my holy things. They have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they caused men to discern between the unclean and the clean, and have hidden their eyes from my Sabbaths. So I am profaned among them.

They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.

For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of Yahweh of Armies.

After the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, speak.”

Knowing therefore the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are revealed to God, and I hope that we are revealed also in your consciences.

Therefore, holy brothers, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession: Jesus,

Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth, and teach you what you shall speak.”

Listen now to my voice. I will give you counsel, and God be with you. You represent the people before God, and bring the causes to God.

My friends scoff at me. My eyes pour out tears to God,

Allow me, and I also will speak; After I have spoken, mock on.

“Acquaint yourself with him, now, and be at peace. By it, good will come to you.

But Yahweh said to me, “Don’t say, ‘I am a child;’ for you must go to whomever I send you, and you must say whatever I command you.

“You therefore put your belt on your waist, arise, and say to them all that I command you. Don’t be dismayed at them, lest I dismay you before them.

Tell them, ‘Hear Yahweh’s word, you kings of Judah, all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates:

The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; and he who has my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the straw to the wheat?” says Yahweh.

“Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel. Therefore hear the word from my mouth, and warn them from me.

Then I spoke to the captives all the things that Yahweh had shown me.

“Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Israel, and tell them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Moreover, in this your fathers have blasphemed me, in that they have committed a trespass against me.

Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me. Whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.”

Jesus answered them, “Isn’t it written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods?’

As you sent me into the world, even so I have sent them into the world.

Jesus therefore said to them again, “Peace be to you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.”

Now I beg you, brothers, through the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfected together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

who also made us sufficient as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

We are therefore ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? For if I were still pleasing men, I wouldn’t be a servant of Christ.

That which was a temptation to you in my flesh, you didn’t despise nor reject; but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.

If anyone therefore purges himself from these, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, and suitable for the master’s use, prepared for every good work.

But solid food is for those who are full grown, who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil.

Now to him who is able to keep them from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory in great joy,

Yahweh God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

He will be your spokesman to the people. It will happen that he will be to you a mouth, and you will be to him as God.

to teach when it is unclean, and when it is clean. This is the law of leprosy.

At that time Yahweh set apart the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of Yahweh’s covenant, to stand before Yahweh to minister to him, and to bless in his name, to this day.

Elijah the Tishbite, who was one of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.”

Yet Yahweh testified to Israel, and to Judah, by every prophet, and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.”

I sent them out to Iddo the chief at the place Casiphia; and I told them what they should tell Iddo, and his brothers the temple servants, at the place Casiphia, that they should bring to us ministers for the house of our God.

Look at this. We have searched it. It is so. Hear it, and know it for your good.”

Should your boastings make men hold their peace? When you mock, will no man make you ashamed?

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

Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes. Your defenses are defenses of clay.

“Be silent! Leave me alone, that I may speak. Let come on me what will.

“I will show you, listen to me; that which I have seen I will declare

Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves; why then have you become altogether vain?

oh that I had one to hear me! Behold, here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me! Let the accuser write my indictment!

“However, Job, please hear my speech, and listen to all my words.

Behold, I am toward God even as you are. I am also formed out of the clay.

“Hear my words, you wise men. Give ear to me, you who have knowledge.

I have not hidden your righteousness within my heart. I have declared your faithfulness and your salvation. I have not concealed your loving kindness and your truth from the great assembly.

A wicked messenger falls into trouble, but a trustworthy envoy gains healing.

For Yahweh spoke this to me with a strong hand, and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying,

But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. Therefore he turned and became their enemy, and he himself fought against them.

Therefore Yahweh says, “If you return, then I will bring you again, that you may stand before me; and if you take out the precious from the vile, you will be as my mouth. They will return to you, but you will not return to them.

But if they had stood in my council, then they would have caused my people to hear my words, and would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.

“Yahweh says: ‘Stand in the court of Yahweh’s house, and speak to all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in Yahweh’s house, all the words that I command you to speak to them. Don’t omit a word.

Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem,

But if you refuse to go out, this is the word that Yahweh has shown me:

Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. Behold, I will pray to Yahweh your God according to your words; and it will happen that whatever thing Yahweh answers you, I will declare it to you. I will keep nothing back from you.”

However I sent to you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, “Oh, don’t do this abominable thing that I hate.”

Moreover Jeremiah said to all the people, including all the women, “Hear Yahweh’s word, all Judah who are in the land of Egypt!

They, whether they will hear, or whether they will refuse, for they are a rebellious house, yet they will know that there has been a prophet among them.

You shall speak my words to them, whether they will hear, or whether they will refuse; for they are most rebellious.

“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I give you.”

For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage. I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

to whom we gave no place in the way of subjection, not for an hour, that the truth of the Good News might continue with you.

Therefore he who rejects this doesn’t reject man, but God, who has also given his Holy Spirit to you.

Let’s therefore give diligence to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience.

But I exhort you, brothers, endure the word of exhortation; for I have written to you in few words.