1516 verses about Dependence

In the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, when wine was before him, I picked up the wine, and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad before in his presence.

Moreover I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah;

and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple, for the wall of the city, and for the house that I will occupy.” The king granted my requests, because of the good hand of my God on me.

Judah said, “The strength of the bearers of burdens is fading, and there is much rubble; so that we are not able to build the wall.”

Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally there to us. Our God will fight for us.”

When all our enemies heard of it, all the nations that were around us were afraid, and they lost their confidence; for they perceived that this work was done by our God.

“You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, and heard their cry by the Red Sea,

yet you in your manifold mercies didn’t forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud didn’t depart from over them by day, to lead them in the way; neither did the pillar of fire by night, to show them light, and the way in which they should go.

You gave also your good Spirit to instruct them, and didn’t withhold your manna from their mouth, and gave them water for their thirst.

“Yes, forty years you sustained them in the wilderness. They lacked nothing. Their clothes didn’t grow old, and their feet didn’t swell.

“Behold, we are servants today, and as for the land that you gave to our fathers to eat its fruit and its good, behold, we are servants in it.

It yields much increase to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins. Also they have power over our bodies and over our livestock, at their pleasure, and we are in great distress.

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.

So Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus into his royal house in the tenth month, which is the month Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.

Then Mordecai asked them to return this answer to Esther: “Don’t think to yourself that you will escape in the king’s house any more than all the Jews.

“Go, gather together all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day. I and my maidens will also fast the same way. Then I will go in to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish.”

Then Esther the queen answered, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request.

He said, “Naked I came out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. Yahweh gave, and Yahweh has taken away. Blessed be Yahweh’s name.”

“But as for me, I would seek God. I would commit my cause to God,

Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass? Or does the ox low over his fodder?

Isn’t it that I have no help in me, That wisdom is driven quite from me?

“To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown from his friend; even to him who forsakes the fear of the Almighty.

In the dry season, they vanish. When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place.

The caravans that travel beside them turn away. They go up into the waste, and perish.

The caravans of Tema looked. The companies of Sheba waited for them.

They were distressed because they were confident. They came there, and were confounded.

Did I say, ‘Give to me?’ or, ‘Offer a present for me from your substance?’

“Isn’t a man forced to labor on earth? Aren’t his days like the days of a hired hand?

As a servant who earnestly desires the shadow, as a hireling who looks for his wages,

(For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days on earth are a shadow.)

“Can the papyrus grow up without mire? Can the rushes grow without water?

Whose confidence shall break apart, Whose trust is a spider’s web.

He shall lean on his house, but it shall not stand. He shall cling to it, but it shall not endure.

His roots are wrapped around the rock pile. He sees the place of stones.

Haven’t you poured me out like milk, and curdled me like cheese?

Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months is with you, and you have appointed his bounds that he can’t pass;

I call to my servant, and he gives me no answer. I beg him with my mouth.

For he performs that which is appointed for me. Many such things are with him.

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.

They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for lack of a shelter.

“How have you helped him who is without power! How have you saved the arm that has no strength!

Will he delight himself in the Almighty, and call on God at all times?

He breaks open a shaft away from where people live. They are forgotten by the foot. They hang far from men, they swing back and forth.

They waited for me as for the rain. Their mouths drank as with the spring rain.

Didn’t he who made me in the womb make him? Didn’t one fashion us in the womb?

He puts my feet in the stocks. He marks all my paths.’

If he set his heart on himself, If he gathered to himself his spirit and his breath,

Would your wealth sustain you in distress, or all the might of your strength?

Which the skies pour down and which drop on man abundantly.

Teach us what we shall tell him, for we can’t make our case by reason of darkness.

Who provides for the raven his prey, when his young ones cry to God, and wander for lack of food?

“Do you know the time when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch when the doe bears fawns?

Can you count the months that they fulfill? Or do you know the time when they give birth?

Their young ones become strong. They grow up in the open field. They go out, and don’t return again.

He scorns the tumult of the city, neither does he hear the shouting of the driver.

“Will the wild ox be content to serve you? Or will he stay by your feeding trough?

Can you hold the wild ox in the furrow with his harness? Or will he till the valleys after you?

Will you trust him, because his strength is great? Or will you leave to him your labor?

Will you confide in him, that he will bring home your seed, and gather the grain of your threshing floor?

For she leaves her eggs on the earth, warms them in the dust,

On the cliff he dwells, and makes his home, on the point of the cliff, and the stronghold.

Surely the mountains produce food for him, where all the animals of the field play.

He lies under the lotus trees, in the covert of the reed, and the marsh.

The lotuses cover him with their shade. The willows of the brook surround him.

“Can you draw out Leviathan with a fish hook, or press down his tongue with a cord?

Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Everything under the heavens is mine.

“I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be restrained.

He will be like a tree planted by the streams of water, that produces its fruit in its season, whose leaf also does not wither. Whatever he does shall prosper.

I laid myself down and slept. I awakened; for Yahweh sustains me.

I will not be afraid of tens of thousands of people who have set themselves against me on every side.

In peace I will both lay myself down and sleep, for you, Yahweh alone, make me live in safety.

Yahweh, in the morning you shall hear my voice. In the morning I will lay my requests before you, and will watch expectantly.

Yahweh, my God, I take refuge in you. Save me from all those who pursue me, and deliver me,

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

For the needy shall not always be forgotten, nor the hope of the poor perish forever.

Behold, and answer me, Yahweh, my God. Give light to my eyes, lest I sleep in death;

Preserve me, God, for in you do I take refuge.

My soul, you have said to Yahweh, “You are my Lord. Apart from you I have no good thing.”

Yahweh assigned my portion and my cup. You made my lot secure.

I have set Yahweh always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

Show your marvelous loving kindness, you who save those who take refuge by your right hand from their enemies.

Keep me as the apple of your eye. Hide me under the shadow of your wings,

Yahweh is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower.

In my distress I called on Yahweh, and cried to my God. He heard my voice out of his temple. My cry before him came into his ears.

He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me; for they were too mighty for me.

For by you, I advance through a troop. By my God, I leap over a wall.

He makes my feet like deer’s feet, and sets me on my high places.

You have also given me the shield of your salvation. Your right hand sustains me. Your gentleness has made me great.

You have enlarged my steps under me, My feet have not slipped.

For you have armed me with strength to the battle. You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.

Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins. Let them not have dominion over me. Then I will be upright. I will be blameless and innocent of great transgression.

Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we trust the name of Yahweh our God.

They are bowed down and fallen, but we rise up, and stand upright.

But you brought me out of the womb. You made me trust while at my mother’s breasts.

I was thrown on you from my mother’s womb. You are my God since my mother bore me.

Don’t be far from me, for trouble is near. For there is no one to help.

But don’t be far off, Yahweh. You are my help: hurry to help me.

Yahweh is my shepherd: I shall lack nothing.

He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over.