24Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind”; and it was so. 25God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good.
26Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” 29Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; 30and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so. 31God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
The Creation of Man and Woman
1Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. 2By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
Keeping the Sabbath
13“If because of the sabbath, you turn your foot
From doing your own pleasure on My holy day,
And call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable,
And honor it, desisting from your own ways,
From seeking your own pleasure
And speaking your own word,
14Then you will take delight in the Lord,
And I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;
And I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
The Believer’s Rest
1Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. 2For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. 3For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said,
“As I swore in My wrath,
They shall not enter My rest,”
although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh day: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; 5and again in this passage, “They shall not enter My rest.” 6Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience, 7He again fixes a certain day, “Today,” saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before,
“Today if you hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts.”
8For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. 9So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 10For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. 11Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.
1) What does יהוה teach us about rest?
2) What does Hebrews teach about Sabbath pointing to Messiah?
3) How do we enter His rest today?
Thanksgiving Expressed
1Then you will say on that day,
“I will give thanks to You, O Lord;
For although You were angry with me,
Your anger is turned away,
And You comfort me.
2Behold, God is my salvation,
I will trust and not be afraid;
For the Lord God is my strength and song,
And He has become my salvation.”
3Therefore you will joyously draw water
From the springs of salvation.
4And in that day you will say,
“Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name.
Make known His deeds among the peoples;
Make them remember that His name is exalted.”
5Praise the Lord in song, for He has done excellent things;
Let this be known throughout the earth.
6Cry aloud and shout for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,
For great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
Elihu Sharply Reproves Job
1Then Elihu continued and said,
2“Do you think this is according to justice?
Do you say, ‘My righteousness is more than God’s’?
3For you say, ‘What advantage will it be to You?
What profit will I have, more than if I had sinned?’
4I will answer you,
And your friends with you.
5Look at the heavens and see;
And behold the clouds—they are higher than you.
6If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against Him?
And if your transgressions are many, what do you do to Him?
7If you are righteous, what do you give to Him,
Or what does He receive from your hand?
8Your wickedness is for a man like yourself,
And your righteousness is for a son of man.
9“Because of the multitude of oppressions they cry out;
They cry for help because of the arm of the mighty.
10But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker,
Who gives songs in the night,
11Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth
And makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?’
12There they cry out, but He does not answer
Because of the pride of evil men.
13Surely God will not listen to an empty cry,
Nor will the Almighty regard it.
14How much less when you say you do not behold Him,
The case is before Him, and you must wait for Him!
15And now, because He has not visited in His anger,
Nor has He acknowledged transgression well,
16So Job opens his mouth emptily;
He multiplies words without knowledge.”
The Bride’s Admiration
1“I am the rose of Sharon,
The lily of the valleys.”
2“Like a lily among the thorns,
So is my darling among the maidens.”
3“Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest,
So is my beloved among the young men.
In his shade I took great delight and sat down,
And his fruit was sweet to my taste.
4He has brought me to his banquet hall,
And his banner over me is love.
5Sustain me with raisin cakes,
Refresh me with apples,
Because I am lovesick.
6Let his left hand be under my head
And his right hand embrace me.”
7“I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
By the gazelles or by the hinds of the field,
That you do not arouse or awaken my love
Until she pleases.”
8“Listen! My beloved!
Behold, he is coming,
Climbing on the mountains,
Leaping on the hills!
9My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag.
Behold, he is standing behind our wall,
He is looking through the windows,
He is peering through the lattice.
10“My beloved responded and said to me,
‘Arise, my darling, my beautiful one,
And come along.
11For behold, the winter is past,
The rain is over and gone.
12The flowers have already appeared in the land;
The time has arrived for pruning the vines,
And the voice of the turtledove has been heard in our land.
13The fig tree has ripened its figs,
And the vines in blossom have given forth their fragrance.
Arise, my darling, my beautiful one,
And come along!’ ”
14“O my dove, in the clefts of the rock,
In the secret place of the steep pathway,
Let me see your form,
Let me hear your voice;
For your voice is sweet,
And your form is lovely.”
15“Catch the foxes for us,
The little foxes that are ruining the vineyards,
While our vineyards are in blossom.”
16“My beloved is mine, and I am his;
He pastures his flock among the lilies.
17Until the cool of the day when the shadows flee away,
Turn, my beloved, and be like a gazelle
Or a young stag on the mountains of Bether.”