So the <sc>Lordsc> said to Satan, &#8220;Have you considered<n id="1" /> my servant Job? There<n id="2" /> is no one like him on the earth, a pure and upright man, one who fears God and turns away<n id="3" /> from evil.&#8221;p>

Then the <sc>Lordsc> said to Satan, &#8220;Have you considered my servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a pure and upright man, one who fears God and turns away from evil. And he still holds firmly<n id="1" /> to his integrity,<n id="2" /> so that<n id="3" /> you stirred me up to destroy him<n id="4" /> without reason.&#8221;<n id="5" />p>

<p class="poetry">No weapon forged to be used against you will succeed;p> <p class="poetry">you will refute everyone who tries to accuse you.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">This is what the <sc>Lordsc> will do for his servants &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">I will vindicate them,&#8221;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">says the <sc>Lordsc>.p>

<p class="poetry">This is what the <sc>Lordsc> says:p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;When<n id="1" /> juice is discovered in a cluster of grapes,p> <p class="poetry">someone says, &#8216;Don&#8217;t destroy it, for it contains juice.&#8217;<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">So I will do for the sake of my servants &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">I will not destroy everyone.<n id="3" />p>

From the time your ancestors departed the land of Egypt until now,<n id="1" /> I sent my servants the prophets to you again and again,<n id="2" /> day after day.<n id="3" />

I have at this time placed all these nations of yours under the power<n id="1" /> of my servant,<n id="2" /> King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I have even made all the wild animals subject to him.<n id="3" />

For they have not paid attention to what I said to them through my servants the prophets whom I sent to them over and over again,&#8217;<n id="1" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="2" /> &#8216;And you exiles<n id="3" /> have not paid any attention to them either,&#8217; says the <sc>Lordsc>.<n id="4" />

<p class="poetry">So I, the <sc>Lordsc>, tell you not to be afraid,p> <p class="poetry">you descendants of Jacob, my servants.<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">Do not be terrified, people of Israel.p> <p class="poetry">For I will rescue you and your descendantsp> <p class="poetry">from a faraway land where you are captives.<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">The descendants of Jacob will return to their land and enjoy peace.p> <p class="poetry">They will be secure and no one will terrify them.<n id="3" />p>

I will make the children who follow one another in the line of my servant David very numerous. I will also make the Levites who minister before me very numerous. I will make them all as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sands which are on the seashore.&#8217;&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

Just as surely as I have done this, so surely will I never reject the descendants of Jacob. Nor will I ever refuse to choose one of my servant David&#8217;s descendants to rule over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Indeed,<n id="1" /> I will restore them<n id="2" /> and show mercy to them.&#8221;p>

Then tell them,<n id="1" /> &#8216;The <sc>Lordsc> God of Israel who rules over all<n id="2" /> says, &#8220;I will bring<n id="3" /> my servant<n id="4" /> King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. I will set his throne over these stones which I<n id="5" /> have buried. He will pitch his royal tent<n id="6" /> over them.

<t /><n id="1" /><p class="poetry">&#8220;You descendants of Jacob, my servants,<n id="2" /> do not be afraid;p> <p class="poetry">do not be terrified, people of Israel.p> <p class="poetry">For I will rescue you and your descendantsp> <p class="poetry">from the faraway lands where you are captives.<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">The descendants of Jacob will return to their land and enjoy peace.p> <p class="poetry">They will be secure and no one will terrify them.p>

<p class="poetry">I, the <sc>Lordsc>, tell<n id="1" /> you not to be afraid,p> <p class="poetry">you descendants of Jacob, my servant,p> <p class="poetry">for I am with you.p> <p class="poetry">Though I completely destroy all the nations where I scatter you,p> <p class="poetry">I will not completely destroy you.p> <p class="poetry">I will indeed discipline you but only in due measure.p> <p class="poetry">I will not allow you to go entirely unpunished.&#8221;<n id="2" />p>

They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, in which your fathers lived; they will live in it &#8211; they and their children and their grandchildren forever. David my servant will be prince over them forever.

<p class="bodytext">&#8220;&#8216;This is what the sovereign <sc>Lordsc> says: Are you the one of whom I spoke in former days by my servants<n id="1" /> the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days<n id="2" /> that I would bring you against them?

On that day,&#8217;<n id="1" /> says the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all, &#8216;I will take you, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, my servant,&#8217;<n id="2" /> says the <sc>Lordsc>, &#8216;and I will make you like a signet ring,<n id="3" /> for I have chosen you,&#8217; says the <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all.&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

But have my words and statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, not outlived your fathers?<n id="1" /> Then they paid attention<n id="2" /> and confessed, &#8216;The <sc>Lordsc> who rules over all has indeed done what he said he would do to us, because of our sinful ways.&#8217;&#8221;p>

Listen now, Joshua the high priest, both you and your colleagues who are sitting before you, all of you<n id="1" /> are a symbol that I am about to introduce my servant, the Branch.<n id="2" />

Then the king said to the messengers<n id="1" /> who were stationed beside him, &#8220;Turn and kill the priests of the <sc>Lordsc>, for they too have sided<n id="2" /> with David! They knew he was fleeing, but they did not inform me.&#8221; But the king&#8217;s servants refused to harm<n id="3" /> the priests of the <sc>Lordsc>.p>

<p class="bodytext">On the seventh day the child died. But the servants of David were afraid to inform him that the child had died, for they said, &#8220;While the child was still alive he would not listen to us<n id="1" /> when we spoke to him. How can we tell him that the child is dead? He will do himself harm!&#8221;<n id="2" />p>