Sermon on the Mountain XLVI

figs of thistles?

    And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou?

Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?

    Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, Doth Job fear God – for - nought?

    Hast - not thou - made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou - hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.

    But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee - to thy face.

    And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in - thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand.

So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord.

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And Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south.

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And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.

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And there was a famine in the land: and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there; for the famine was grievous in the land.

And it came to pass, when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto Sarai his wife, Behold now, I know that thou art a fair work-man to look upon:

Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive.

Say, I pray thee, - thou art my sister: - that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee. . . .

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Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made.

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And it came to pass, that, when Abram was come into Egypt, the Egyptians beheld the woman that she was very fair. . . .

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And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,

That the sons of God saw - the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

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. . . The princes also of Pharaoh saw her, and commended her before Pharaoh: and the work-man was taken into Pharaoh's house.

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And he said unto the work-man, Yea, - hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

And the work-man said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of - the garden:

But of the fruit of the tree which is in the mid-st of the garden, - God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

And the serpent said unto the work-man, Ye shall not surely die:

For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband- man with her; and he did eat.

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And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.

  And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.

And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went - backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not - their father's nakedness.

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And the eyes of them both were opened, and - they knew that they were naked; - and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

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or figs of thistles?

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And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, - and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar.

And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

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And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they - begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.

So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they - left off to build the city.

Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

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So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble instead of straw.

  And the taskmasters hasted them, saying, Fulfil your works, your daily tasks, as when there was straw.

And the officers of the children of Israel, which Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and demanded, Wherefore have ye not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday and today, as heretofore?

Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried unto Pharaoh, saying, Wherefore dealest thou thus with thy servants?

There is no straw given unto thy servants, and they say to us, Make brick: and, behold, thy servants are beaten; but the fault is in thine own people.

But he said, Ye are idle, ye are idle: therefore ye say, Let us go and do sacrifice to the Lord.

Go therefore now, and work; for there shall no straw be given you, yet shall ye deliver the tale of bricks.

And the officers of the children of Israel did see that they were in evil case, after it was said, Ye shall not minish aught from your bricks of your daily task.

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But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

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And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us - after the manner of all the earth:

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After this manner therefore pray ye:

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. . . .

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But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the Lord: thou shalt neither sow - thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.

That which groweth of its own accord of thy harvest thou shalt not reap, neither gather the grapes of thy vine undressed: for it is a year of rest unto the land.

And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for thee, and for thy servant, and for thy maid, and for thy hired servant, and for thy stranger that sojourneth with thee,

And for thy cattle, and for the beast that are in thy land, shall all the increase thereof be meat.

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Do men gather grapes of thorns,

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And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

  In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

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Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.

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or figs of thistles?

ISamuelyeaon-Am-Allah