1 He also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call back his words. 2 His covenant will he not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of his lips. 3 Our labour shall not be in vain in the Lord: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness. 5 God is not a man that he should lie: neither the son of man that he should repent. Let God be true, but every man a liar. 6 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful; he cannot deny himself. It is impossible for God to lie. "Hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? I have spoken it, (saith the Lord) I will also bring it to pass : I have purposed it, I will also do it: I will not repent; neither will I turn back from it. HIS HOLINESS. 8 The Lord our God is holy. He is the Lord our Holy One. Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts. 'God is pure, and every word of God is pure. 10 Holy and reverend is his name. "The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works. 12 The law of God is holy; and his commandments are holy, and just, and good. 'Thou only, O Lord, art holy. 2 There is none holy as the Lord. Who is like unto thee, O Lord, glorious in holiness? 3 Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight. 4 Far be it from God, that he should do wickedness, and from the Almighty, that he should commit iniquity. God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man. 3 Why say ye, every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and he delighteth in them? He is not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness, neither shall evil dwell with him. He is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity; the foolish shall not stand in his sight. He hateth all workers of iniquity. 6 The way of the wicked, the thoughts of the wicked, the sacrifice and prayer of the wicked, are an abomination unto the Lord. 7 The righteous Lord loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright. The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him; but to all those that work wickedness he saith, Depart from me, I know you not. 8 Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it; but the prayer of the upright is his delight. 9 GOD IS INCOMPREHENSIBLE. Behold, God is great, and we know him not: touching the Almighty; we cannot find him out. His greatness is unsearchable. 1 Can we by searching find out God? Can we find out the Almighty unto perfection? Such knowledge is too wonderful for us: it is high, we cannot attain unto it. And when we talk of him, we cannot order our speech by reason of darkness. 2 What man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of a man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. 3 Verily, O God, thou art a God that hidest thyself; dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! there is no searching of his understanding. We know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither understand we his counsel. 5 Who knoweth the power of his anger? and the thunder of his power who can understand? 6 How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! His judgments are a great deep. 'We are not able to comprehend what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of God, which passeth knowledge. * Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord? Who can shew forth all his praise? 9 Many, O Lord, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done: they cannot be reckoned up in order 1 Job xi. 7. 3 Isa. xlv. 15. Micah iv. 12. Psal. xxxvi. 6. 9 Psal. xl. 5. Psal. cxxxix. 6. Job xxxvii. 19. 1 Tim. vi. 16. 2 1 Cor. ii. 11. 4 Rom. xi. 33. Isa. xi. 28. 6 Rom. xi. 33. 8 Psal. cvi. 2. 5 Psal. xix. 11. Job xxxvi. 14. unto thee; if we would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered. 1 God hath done great things, and unsearchable; marvellous things, past finding out. Great things doth he, which we cannot comprehend. 2 No man can find out the work that God maketh, from the beginning to the end: though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea, though a wise man think to know it, yet he shall not be able to find it. Stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God? Dost thou know when God disposed them? Dost thou know the wondrous works of him which is perfect in knowledge? Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with a span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? 5 The host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured. Lo! these are parts of his ways; but how little a portion is there of him? 7 As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child; even so thou knowest not the works of God, who maketh all. 1 Job v. 9. Job ix. 10. Eccles. viii. 17. 5 Jer. xxxiii. 22. Job xxxvii. 5. 3 Job xxxvii. 14, 15, 16. 2 Eccles. iii. 11. 4 Isa. xl. 12. 7 Eccles. xi. 5. CHAPTER III. Concerning the Nature and Condition of Man. THE ORIGINAL FORMATION AND STATE OF MAN, 1 GOD created man in his own image, after his likeness in the likeness of God made he him. 2 He made him a little lower than the angels; and crowned him glory and honour. 3 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. He was fearfully and wonderfully made; and his substance curiously wrought in secret. * And because it was not good that the man should be alone, the Lord made a woman to be an help meet for him; and she was taken out of man. 5 The man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man; neither was the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man. For the man is the image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of the man. 6 There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding. 7 God our Maker teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth; and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven. 8 The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord. ' God made man upright. 1 |