Thematic Bible




Thematic Bible



"My soul is weary of my life. I will give free course to my complaint. I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

"Oh that you would hide me in Sheol, that you would keep me secret, until your wrath is past, that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!

"Oh that I might have my request, that God would grant the thing that I long for, even that it would please God to crush me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off! Be it still my consolation, yes, let me exult in pain that doesn't spare, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One. read more.
What is my strength, that I should wait? What is my end, that I should be patient?

"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, so am I made to possess months of misery, wearisome nights are appointed to me.

so that my soul chooses strangling, death rather than my bones. I loathe my life. I don't want to live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.



"Hear another parable. There was a man who was a master of a household, who planted a vineyard, set a hedge about it, dug a winepress in it, built a tower, leased it out to farmers, and went into another country. When the season for the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the farmers, to receive his fruit. The farmers took his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned another. read more.
Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they treated them the same way. But afterward he sent to them his son, saying, 'They will respect my son.' But the farmers, when they saw the son, said among themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him, and seize his inheritance.' So they took him, and threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. When therefore the lord of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers?" They told him, "He will miserably destroy those miserable men, and will lease out the vineyard to other farmers, who will give him the fruit in its season."

"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, so am I made to possess months of misery, wearisome nights are appointed to me.

Look away from him, that he may rest, until he shall accomplish, as a hireling, his day.

"For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who was the master of a household, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. He went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace. read more.
To them he said, 'You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.' So they went their way. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise. About the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle. He said to them, 'Why do you stand here all day idle?' "They said to him, 'Because no one has hired us.' "He said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard, and you will receive whatever is right.' When evening had come, the lord of the vineyard said to his manager, 'Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last to the first.' "When those who were hired at about the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius. When the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise each received a denarius. When they received it, they murmured against the master of the household, saying, 'These last have spent one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat!' "But he answered one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Didn't you agree with me for a denarius? Take that which is yours, and go your way. It is my desire to give to this last just as much as to you. Isn't it lawful for me to do what I want to with what I own? Or is your eye evil, because I am good?'

He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who doesn't own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and flees. The wolf snatches the sheep, and scatters them. The hired hand flees because he is a hired hand, and doesn't care for the sheep.


"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, so am I made to possess months of misery, wearisome nights are appointed to me.

"'Why, then, have you brought me forth out of the womb? I wish I had given up the spirit, and no eye had seen me. I should have been as though I had not been. I should have been carried from the womb to the grave. Aren't my days few? Cease then. Leave me alone, that I may find a little comfort,



For the Scripture says, "You shall not muzzle the ox when it treads out the grain." And, "The laborer is worthy of his wages."




Look away from him, that he may rest, until he shall accomplish, as a hireling, his day.



"'If your brother has grown poor among you, and sells himself to you; you shall not make him to serve as a slave. As a hired servant, and as a temporary resident, he shall be with you; he shall serve with you until the Year of Jubilee: then he shall go out from you, he and his children with him, and shall return to his own family, and to the possession of his fathers.

You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he be of your brothers, or of your foreigners who are in your land within your gates: in his day you shall give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down on it; for he is poor, and sets his heart on it: lest he cry against you to Yahweh, and it be sin to you.

"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,

Don't take any gold, nor silver, nor brass in your money belts. Take no bag for your journey, neither two coats, nor shoes, nor staff: for the laborer is worthy of his food.


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