Study Desk

Jehoash the king of Israel sent word to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, "The [little] thorn-bush in Lebanon sent word to the [tall] cedar in Lebanon, saying, 'Give your daughter to my son as wife.' But a wild beast that was in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thorn-bush.

Then Joash king of Israel sent word to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, "The [little] thorn bush in Lebanon sent word to the [great] cedar in Lebanon, saying, 'Give your daughter to my son in marriage.' But a wild beast in Lebanon passed by and trampled down the thorn bush.

"Then the beast goes into its lair And remains in its hiding place.

Forgetting that a foot may crush them, Or that the wild beast may trample them.

"Who has first given to Me that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is Mine. [Who can have a claim against Me who made the unmastered beast?]

"He looks on everything that is high [without terror]; He is monarch over all the sons of pride. [And now, Job, who are you who does not dare to disturb the beast, yet who dares resist Me, the beast's creator? Everything under the heavens is Mine; therefore, who can have a claim against God?]"

Your righteousness is like the mountains of God, Your judgments are like the great deep. O LORD, You preserve man and beast.

"For every beast of the forest is Mine, And the cattle on a thousand hills.

Then I was senseless and ignorant; I was like a beast before You.

Oh, do not hand over the soul of your turtledove to the wild beast; Do not forget the life of Your afflicted forever.

They give drink to every beast of the field; The wild donkeys quench their thirst there.

You [O LORD] make darkness and it becomes night, In which prowls about every wild beast of the forest.

He gives to the beast its food, And to the young ravens that for which they cry.

Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, My anger and My wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and [the fire will] not be quenched."

"I will also strike the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast; they will die of a great virulent disease.

"Behold (listen carefully), the days are coming," says the LORD, "when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of beast.

"And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say, 'Thus says the LORD, "You have burned this scroll, saying, 'Why have you written on it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and will cut off man and beast from it?'"

therefore thus says the Lord GOD, "I will also stretch out My hand against Edom and I will cut off and destroy man and beast. I will make it desolate; from Teman even to Dedan they will fall by the sword.

"And behold, another beast, a second one (the Medo-Persian Empire), was like a bear, and it was raised up on one side (domain), and three ribs were in its mouth between its teeth; and it was told, 'Arise, devour much meat.'

"After this I kept looking, and behold, another one (the Greek Empire of Alexander the Great), like a leopard, which had on its back four wings like those of a bird; the beast also had four heads (Alexander's generals, his successors), and power to rule was given to it.