Job 17–19; Acts 10:1–23

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Job 17–19

Job Continues: Where Then Is My Hope?

My spirit is broken; my days are jextinct;

kthe graveyard is ready for me.

Surely there are mockers about me,

and my eye dwells on their lprovocation.

Lay down a pledge for me with you;

who is there who will put up msecurity for me?

Since you have closed their hearts to understanding,

therefore you will not let them triumph.

He who informs against his friends to get a share of their property

the neyes of his children will fail.

He has made me oa byword of the peoples,

and I am one before whom men spit.

My peye has grown dim from vexation,

and all my members are like qa shadow.

The upright are rappalled at this,

and the innocent stirs himself up against the godless.

Yet the righteous holds to his way,

and he who has sclean hands grows stronger and stronger.

10  But you, tcome on again, all of you,

and I shall not find a wise man among you.

11  My udays are past; my plans are broken off,

the desires of my heart.

12  They vmake night into day:

The light, they say, is near to the darkness.1

13  If I hope for wSheol as xmy house,

if I make my bed in darkness,

14  if I say to the pit, You are my father,

and to the worm, My mother, or My sister,

15  where then is my hope?

Who will see my hope?

16  Will it go down to the bars of wSheol?

Shall we ydescend together zinto the dust?2

Bildad Speaks: God Punishes the Wicked

Then aBildad the Shuhite answered and said:

How long will you bhunt for words?

Consider, and then we will speak.

Why are we counted as ccattle?

Why are we stupid in your sight?

You who dtear yourself in your anger,

shall the earth be forsaken for you,

or ethe rock be removed out of its place?

Indeed, fthe light of the wicked is put out,

and the flame of his fire does not shine.

The light is gdark in his tent,

and his lamp above him is put out.

His strong steps are shortened,

and his hown schemes throw him down.

For he is cast into a net by his own feet,

and he walks on its mesh.

iA trap seizes him by the heel;

a snare lays hold of him.

10  A rope is hidden for him in the ground,

a trap for him in the path.

11  jTerrors frighten him on every side,

and chase him at his heels.

12  His strength is famished,

and calamity is kready for his stumbling.

13  It consumes the parts of his skin;

lthe firstborn of death consumes his limbs.

14  He is torn from the tent in which he trusted

and is brought to mthe king of terrors.

15  In his tent dwells that which is none of his;

nsulfur is scattered over his habitation.

16  His oroots dry up beneath,

and his branches pwither above.

17  His qmemory perishes from the earth,

and he has no name in the street.

18  rHe is thrust from light into darkness,

and driven out of the world.

19  He has no sposterity or progeny among his people,

and no survivor where he used to live.

20  They of the west are appalled at his tday,

and uhorror seizes them of the east.

21  Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous,

such is the place of him who vknows not God.

Job Replies: My Redeemer Lives

Then Job answered and said:

How long will you torment me

and break me in pieces with words?

These wten times you have cast reproach upon me;

are you not ashamed to wrong me?

And even if it be true that I have erred,

my error remains with myself.

If indeed you xmagnify yourselves against me

and make my disgrace an argument against me,

know then that God has yput me in the wrong

and closed his net about me.

Behold, I zcry out, Violence! but I am not answered;

I call for help, but there is no justice.

He has awalled up my way, so that I cannot pass,

and he has set darkness upon my paths.

He has bstripped from me my glory

and taken the ccrown from my head.

10  He breaks me down on every side, and I dam gone,

and my hope has he pulled up like a tree.

11  He has kindled his wrath against me

and ecounts me as his adversary.

12  His ftroops come on together;

they have gcast up their siege ramp3 against me

and encamp around my tent.

13  He has put my hbrothers far from me,

and ithose who knew me are wholly estranged from me.

14  My relatives jhave failed me,

my close kfriends have forgotten me.

15  The guests lin my house and my maidservants count me as a stranger;

I have become a foreigner in their eyes.

16  I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer;

I must plead with him with my mouth for mercy.

17  My breath is strange to my mwife,

and I am a stench to the children of nmy own mother.

18  Even young ochildren despise me;

when I rise they talk against me.

19  All my pintimate friends abhor me,

and those whom I loved have turned against me.

20  My qbones stick to my skin and to my flesh,

and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

21  Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, O you my friends,

for the hand of God has rtouched me!

22  Why do you, like God, spursue me?

Why are you not satisfied with my flesh?

23  Oh that my words were written!

Oh that they were tinscribed in a book!

24  Oh that with an iron upen and lead

they were engraved in the rock forever!

25  For I vknow that my wRedeemer lives,

and at the last he will stand upon the xearth.4

26  And after my skin has been thus destroyed,

yet in5 my flesh I shall ysee God,

27  whom I shall see for myself,

and my eyes shall behold, and not zanother.

My heart afaints within me!

28  If you say, How we will spursue him!

and, The root of the matter is found in him,6

29  be afraid of the sword,

for wrath brings the punishment of the sword,

that you may know there is ba judgment.


Acts 10:1–23

Peter and Cornelius

At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of wwhat was known as the Italian Cohort, a devout man xwho feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God. yAbout the ninth hour of the day1 zhe saw clearly in a vision aan angel of God come in and say to him, Cornelius. And he stared at him in terror and said, What is it, Lord? And he said to him, Your prayers and your alms bhave ascended cas a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging dwith one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea. When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who attended him, and having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.

Peter’s Vision

The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, ePeter went up fon the housetop about gthe sixth hour2 to pray. 10 And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into ha trance 11 and saw ithe heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. 12 In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. 13 And there came a voice to him: Rise, Peter; kill and eat. 14 But Peter said, By no means, Lord; jfor I have never eaten anything that is kcommon or lunclean. 15 And the voice came to him again a second time, mWhat God has made clean, do not call common. 16 This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven.

17 Now while Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what nthe vision that he had seen might mean, behold, othe men who were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon’s house, stood at the gate 18 and called out to ask whether Simon who was called Peter was lodging there. 19 And while Peter was pondering nthe vision, pthe Spirit said to him, Behold, three men are looking for you. 20 Rise and go down and qaccompany them without hesitation,3 for I have sent them. 21 And Peter went down to the men and said, I am the one you are looking for. What is the reason for your coming? 22 And they said, Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and rGod-fearing man, who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by sa holy angel to send for you to come to his house and tto hear what you have to say. 23 So he invited them in to be his guests.

The next day he rose and went away with them, and usome of vthe brothers from Joppa accompanied him.