Eliphaz Speaks: Job’s Wickedness Is Great
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
2 y“Can a man be profitable to God?
Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.
3 zIs it any pleasure to the Almighty if ayou are in the right,
or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless?
4 Is it for your fear of him that he reproves you
and enters into judgment with you?
5 Is not your evil abundant?
There is no end to your iniquities.
6 For you have exacted pledges of your brothers for nothing
and stripped the naked of their clothing.
7 bYou have given no water to the weary to drink,
and you have withheld bread from the hungry.
8 The man with power possessed the land,
and the favored man lived in it.
9 You have sent cwidows away empty,
and the arms of the fatherless were crushed.
10 Therefore snares are all around you,
and sudden terror overwhelms you,
11 or darkness, so that you cannot see,
and da flood of water covers you.
12 “Is not God ehigh in the heavens?
See the highest stars, how lofty they are!
13 But you say, f‘What does God know?
Can he judge through the gdeep darkness?
14 Thick clouds veil him, so that he does not see,
and he walks on the hvault of heaven.’
15 Will you keep to the old way
that wicked men have trod?
16 They were snatched away ibefore their time;
their foundation was washed away.1
17 jThey said to God, ‘Depart from us,’
and ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’2
18 Yet he filled their houses with good things—
but the kcounsel of the wicked is far from me.
19 lThe righteous see it and are glad;
the innocent one mocks at them,
20 saying, ‘Surely our adversaries are cut off,
and what they left the fire has consumed.’
21 “Agree with God, and be at peace;
thereby good will come to you.
22 Receive instruction from his mouth,
and lay up his words in your heart.
23 mIf you return to the Almighty you will be built up;
if you remove ninjustice far from your tents,
24 if you lay gold in the dust,
and gold of oOphir among the stones of the torrent-bed,
25 then the Almighty will be your gold
and your precious silver.
26 For then you will pdelight yourself in the Almighty
and qlift up your face to God.
27 You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you,
and you will pay your vows.
28 You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you,
and light will shine on your ways.
29 For when they are humbled you say, ‘It is because of pride’;3
but rhe saves the lowly.
30 He delivers even the one who is not innocent,
who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”
Job Replies: Where Is God?
1 Then Job answered and said:
2 “Today also my scomplaint is bitter;4
tmy hand is heavy on account of my groaning.
3 uOh, that I knew where I might find him,
that I might come even to his seat!
4 vI would lay my case before him
and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would know what he would answer me
and understand what he would say to me.
6 Would he wcontend with me in the greatness of his power?
No; he would pay attention to me.
7 There an upright man could argue with him,
and I would be acquitted forever by my judge.
8 x“Behold, I go forward, but he is not there,
and backward, but I do not perceive him;
9 on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him;
he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him.
10 But yhe knows the way that I take;
when he has ztried me, I shall come out as gold.
11 aMy foot has held fast to his steps;
I have kept his way and have not turned aside.
12 I have not departed from the commandment of his lips;
I have btreasured the words of his mouth cmore than my portion of food.
13 But he is unchangeable,5 and dwho can turn him back?
What he desires, that he does.
14 For he will ecomplete what he appoints for me,
and many such things are in his mind.
15 Therefore I am terrified at his presence;
when I consider, I am in dread of him.
16 God has made my heart faint;
the Almighty has terrified me;
17 yet I am not silenced because of the darkness,
nor because thick darkness covers my face.
1 “Why are not times of judgment kept by the Almighty,
and why do those who know him never see his fdays?
2 Some gmove landmarks;
they seize flocks and pasture them.
3 They drive away the donkey of the fatherless;
they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
4 They hthrust the poor off the road;
the poor of the earth all hide themselves.
5 Behold, like iwild donkeys in the desert
the poor6 go out to their toil, seeking game;
the wasteland yields food for their children.
6 They gather their7 fodder in the field,
and they glean the vineyard of the wicked man.
7 jThey lie all night naked, without clothing,
and have no covering in the cold.
8 They are wet with the rain of the mountains
and cling to the rock for lack of shelter.
9 (There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast,
and they take a pledge against the poor.)
10 They go about naked, without clothing;
hungry, they carry the sheaves;
11 among the olive rows of the wicked8 they make oil;
kthey tread the winepresses, but suffer thirst.
12 From out of the city the dying9 groan,
and the soul of the wounded cries for help;
yet God charges no one with wrong.
13 “There are those who rebel against the light,
who are not acquainted with its ways,
and do not stay in its paths.
14 The murderer rises before it is light,
that he may kill the poor and needy,
and in the night he is like a thief.
15 The eye of the adulterer also waits for the ltwilight,
saying, ‘No eye will see me’;
and he veils his face.
16 In the dark they dig through houses;
by day they shut themselves up;
they do not know the light.
17 For deep darkness is morning to all of them;
for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.
18 “You say, ‘Swift are they on the face of the waters;
their portion is cursed in the land;
no treader turns toward their vineyards.
19 Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters;
so does Sheol those who have sinned.
20 The womb forgets them;
the worm finds them sweet;
mthey are no longer remembered,
so wickedness is broken like a tree.’
21 “They wrong the barren, childless woman,
and do no good to the widow.
22 Yet God10 prolongs the life of the mighty by his power;
they rise up when they despair of life.
23 He gives them security, and they are supported,
and nhis eyes are upon their ways.
24 oThey are exalted a little while, and then are gone;
they are brought low and gathered up like all others;
they are cut off like the heads of grain.
25 If it is not so, pwho will prove me a liar
and show that there is nothing in what I say?”
Peter Reports to the Church
1 Now the apostles and the brothers1 who were throughout Judea rheard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, sthe circumcision party2 criticized him, saying, 3 “You went to uncircumcised men and tate with them.” 4 But Peter began and explained it to them in order: 5 u“I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a vtrance I saw a wvision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. 6 Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. 7 And I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ 8 But I said, x‘By no means, Lord; for ynothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 9 But the voice answered a second time from heaven, z‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’ 10 This happened three times, and all was drawn up again into heaven. 11 And behold, at that very moment three men arrived at the house in which we were, sent to me from Caesarea. 12 And the aSpirit told me to go with them, bmaking no distinction. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. 13 And he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter; 14 he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’ 15 As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them cjust as on us at the beginning. 16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, d‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 If then God gave the same egift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, fwho was I that I could stand in God’s way?” 18 When they heard these things they fell silent. And they gglorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”
The Church in Antioch
19 Now those who were scattered because of hthe persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. 20 But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the iHellenists3 also, jpreaching the Lord Jesus. 21 And the khand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. 22 The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent lBarnabas to Antioch. 23 When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, 24 for he was a good man, mfull of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were nadded to the Lord. 25 So Barnabas went to oTarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called pChristians.
27 Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 And one of them named qAgabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the days of Claudius). 29 So the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, rto send relief to the brothers4 living in Judea. 30 And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.
