Job 3–4; Acts 7:44–60

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Job 3–4

Job Laments His Birth

After this Job hopened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. And Job said:

iLet the day perish on which I was born,

and the night that said,

A man is conceived.

Let that day be darkness!

May God above not seek it,

nor light shine upon it.

Let gloom and jdeep darkness claim it.

Let clouds dwell upon it;

let the blackness of the day terrify it.

That nightlet thick darkness seize it!

Let it not rejoice among the days of the year;

let it not come into the number of the months.

Behold, let that night be barren;

let no joyful cry enter it.

Let those curse it who curse the day,

who are ready to rouse up kLeviathan.

Let the stars of its dawn be dark;

let it hope for light, but have none,

nor see lthe eyelids of the morning,

10  because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb,

nor hide trouble from my eyes.

11  Why mdid I not die at birth,

come out from the womb and expire?

12  Why did nthe knees receive me?

Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?

13  For then I would have lain down and been quiet;

I would have slept; then I would have been at rest,

14  with kings and counselors of the earth

who orebuilt ruins for themselves,

15  or with princes who had gold,

who filled their houses with silver.

16  Or why was I not as a hidden pstillborn child,

as infants who never see the light?

17  There the wicked cease from troubling,

and there the weary are at qrest.

18  There the prisoners are at ease together;

they hear not the voice of rthe taskmaster.

19  The small and the great are there,

and the slave is free from his master.

20  Why is light given to him who is in misery,

and life to sthe bitter in soul,

21  who tlong for death, but it comes not,

and dig for it more than for uhidden treasures,

22  who rejoice exceedingly

and are glad when they find the grave?

23  Why is light given to a man whose vway is hidden,

whom God has whedged in?

24  For my sighing comes xinstead of1 my bread,

and my ygroanings are poured out like water.

25  zFor the thing that I fear comes upon me,

and what I dread befalls me.

26  I am not at ease, nor am I quiet;

I have no rest, but trouble comes.

Eliphaz Speaks: The Innocent Prosper

Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

If one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient?

Yet who can keep from speaking?

Behold, you have instructed many,

and you have astrengthened the weak hands.

Your words have upheld him who was stumbling,

and you have amade firm the feeble knees.

But now it has come to you, and you are impatient;

it touches you, and you are dismayed.

bIs not your fear of God2 your cconfidence,

and the integrity of your ways your hope?

Remember: dwho that was innocent ever perished?

Or where were the upright cut off?

As I have seen, those who eplow iniquity

and sow trouble reap the same.

By fthe breath of God they perish,

and by gthe blast of his anger they are consumed.

10  The roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion,

hthe teeth of the young lions are broken.

11  The strong lion perishes for lack of prey,

and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

12  Now a word was brought to me stealthily;

my ear received ithe whisper of it.

13  Amid jthoughts from kvisions of the night,

when kdeep sleep falls on men,

14  dread came upon me, and trembling,

which made all my bones shake.

15  A spirit glided past my face;

the hair of my flesh stood up.

16  It stood still,

but I could not discern its appearance.

lA form was before my eyes;

there was silence, then I heard ma voice:

17  nCan mortal man be in the right before3 God?

Can a man be pure before his Maker?

18  Even in his servants ohe puts no trust,

and his angels he charges with error;

19  how much more those who dwell in houses of pclay,

whose foundation is in qthe dust,

who are crushed like4 rthe moth.

20  Between smorning and evening they are beaten to pieces;

they perish forever twithout anyone regarding it.

21  Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them,

udo they not die, and that without wisdom?


Acts 7:44–60

44 Our fathers had pthe tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses qdirected him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. 45 Our fathers in turn rbrought it in with Joshua when they sdispossessed the nations tthat God drove out before our fathers. So it was uuntil the days of David, 46 vwho found favor in the sight of God and wasked to find a dwelling place for xthe God of Jacob.1 47 But it was ySolomon who built a house for him. 48 zYet the Most High does not dwell ain houses made by hands, as the prophet says,

49  bHeaven is my throne,

cand the earth is my footstool.

What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord,

or what is the place of my rest?

50  Did not my hand make all these things?

51 dYou stiff-necked people, euncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. fAs your fathers did, so do you. 52 gWhich of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of hthe Righteous One, iwhom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53 you who received the law jas delivered by angels and kdid not keep it.

The Stoning of Stephen

54 Now when they heard these things lthey were enraged, and they mground their teeth at him. 55 But he, nfull of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw othe glory of God, and Jesus standing pat the right hand of God. 56 And he said, Behold, I see qthe heavens opened, and rthe Son of Man standing pat the right hand of God. 57 But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together2 at him. 58 Then sthey cast him out of the city and tstoned him. And uthe witnesses laid down their garments vat the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And as they were stoning Stephen, whe called out, Lord Jesus, xreceive my spirit. 60 And yfalling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, zLord, do not hold this sin against them. And when he had said this, ahe fell asleep.