Bildad Speaks: Job Should Repent
1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:
2 “How long will you say these things,
and the words of your mouth be a great twind?
3 uDoes God pervert justice?
Or does the Almighty pervert the right?
4 If your vchildren have sinned against him,
he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression.
5 wIf you will seek God
and xplead with the Almighty for mercy,
6 if you are pure and upright,
surely then he will rouse himself for you
and restore your rightful habitation.
7 And ythough your beginning was small,
zyour latter days will be very great.
8 “For inquire, please, of bygone ages,
and consider what the fathers have searched out.
9 For we are but of yesterday and know nothing,
for our days on earth are a ashadow.
10 Will they not teach you and tell you
and utter words out of their understanding?
11 b“Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh?
Can reeds flourish where there is no water?
12 While yet in flower and not cut down,
they wither before any other plant.
13 Such are the paths of all who forget God;
the chope of the godless shall perish.
14 His confidence is severed,
and his trust is a spider’s web.1
15 He leans against his dhouse, but it does not stand;
he lays hold of it, but it does not endure.
16 He is a lush plant before the sun,
and his shoots spread over his garden.
17 His roots entwine the stone heap;
he looks upon a house of stones.
18 If he is destroyed from ehis place,
then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have never seen you.’
19 Behold, this is the joy of his way,
and out of the soil others will spring.
20 “Behold, fGod will not reject a blameless man,
nor take the hand of evildoers.
21 He will yet gfill your mouth with laughter,
and your lips with shouting.
22 Those who hate you will be hclothed with shame,
and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”
Job Replies: There Is No Arbiter
1 Then Job answered and said:
2 “Truly I know that it is so:
But ihow can a man be in the right before God?
3 If one wished to jcontend with him,
one could not answer him once in a thousand times.
4 He is kwise in heart and mighty in strength—
who has hardened himself against him, and succeeded?—
5 he who removes mountains, and they know it not,
when he overturns them in his anger,
6 who lshakes the earth out of its place,
and its mpillars tremble;
7 who commands the sun, and it does not rise;
who seals up the stars;
8 who alone nstretched out the heavens
and otrampled the waves of the sea;
9 who made pthe Bear and Orion,
the Pleiades and the chambers of the south;
10 who does great things qbeyond searching out,
and marvelous things beyond number.
11 rBehold, he passes by me, and I see him not;
he moves on, but I do not perceive him.
12 Behold, he snatches away; swho can turn him back?
13 “God will not turn back his anger;
beneath him bowed the helpers of vRahab.
14 How then can I answer him,
choosing my words with him?
15 Though wI am in the right, I cannot answer him;
xI must appeal for mercy to my accuser.2
16 If I summoned him and he answered me,
I would not believe that he was listening to my voice.
17 For yhe crushes me with a tempest
and multiplies my wounds zwithout cause;
18 he will not let me get my breath,
but fills me with abitterness.
19 If it is a contest of strength, behold, he is mighty!
If it is a matter of justice, bwho can summon him?3
20 Though I am in the right, my own mouth would condemn me;
though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.
21 I am blameless; I regard not myself;
cI loathe my life.
22 It is all one; therefore I say,
‘He destroys dboth the blameless and the wicked.’
23 When disaster brings sudden death,
he mocks at the calamity4 of the innocent.
24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked;
ehe covers the faces of its judges—
if it is not he, who then is it?
25 f“My days are swifter than a runner;
they flee away; they see no good.
26 They go by like skiffs of reed,
like an eagle swooping on the prey.
27 If I say, ‘I will forget my gcomplaint,
I will put off my sad face, and hbe of good cheer,’
28 I become afraid of all my suffering,
for I know iyou will not hold me innocent.
29 jI shall be condemned;
why then do I labor in vain?
30 If I wash myself with ksnow
and cleanse my hands lwith lye,
31 yet you will plunge me into a pit,
and my own clothes will abhor me.
32 For mhe is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him,
that we should come to trial together.
33 nThere is no5 arbiter between us,
who might lay his hand on us both.
34 Let him take his orod away from me,
and plet not dread of him terrify me.
35 Then I would speak without fear of him,
for I am not so in myself.
Job Continues: A Plea to God
1 q“I loathe my life;
I will give free utterance to my rcomplaint;
I will speak in the sbitterness of my soul.
2 I will say to God, tDo not condemn me;
let me know why you ucontend against me.
3 Does it seem good to you to oppress,
to despise the work of your hands
and favor the designs of the wicked?
4 Have you eyes of flesh?
Do you see as man sees?
5 Are your days as the days of man,
or vyour years as a man’s years,
6 that wyou seek out my iniquity
and search for my sin,
7 although you know that I am not guilty,
and there is none to deliver out of your hand?
8 xYour hands fashioned and made me,
and now you have destroyed me altogether.
9 yRemember that you have made me like zclay;
and will you areturn me to the dust?
10 Did you not pour me out like milk
and curdle me like cheese?
11 You clothed me with skin and flesh,
and bknit me together with bones and sinews.
12 You have granted me life and steadfast love,
and your care has preserved my spirit.
13 Yet these things you hid in your heart;
I know that this was your purpose.
14 If I sin, you watch me
and cdo not acquit me of my iniquity.
15 If I am guilty, woe to me!
If dI am in the right, I cannot lift up my head,
for I am filled with disgrace
and look on my affliction.
16 And were my head lifted up,6 you would hunt me like a lion
and again work wonders against me.
17 You renew your witnesses against me
and increase your vexation toward me;
eyou bring fresh troops against me.
18 f“Why did you bring me out from the womb?
Would that I had died before any eye had seen me
19 and were as though I had not been,
carried from the womb to the grave.
20 gAre not my days few?
Then cease, and leave me alone, that hI may find a little cheer
21 before I go—and iI shall not return—
to the land of jdarkness and deep shadow,
22 the land of gloom like thick darkness,
like deep shadow without any order,
where light is as thick darkness.”
Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch
26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south1 to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. 27 And he rose and went. And there was an tEthiopian, a ueunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28 and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 And the vSpirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” 30 So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, w“How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. 32 Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this:
x“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter
and like a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so he opens not his mouth.
33 In his humiliation justice was denied him.
Who can describe his generation?
For his life is taken away from the earth.”
34 And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” 35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and ybeginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. 36 And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! zWhat prevents me from being baptized?”2 38 And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. 39 And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord acarried Philip away, and the eunuch bsaw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. 40 But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.
