26 Then Job answered and said:
2 “How you have xhelped him who has no power!
How you have saved ythe arm that has no strength!
3 How you have zcounseled him who has no wisdom,
and plentifully declared sound knowledge!
4 With whose help have you uttered words,
and whose breath ahas come out from you?
5 The bdead tremble
under the waters and their inhabitants.
6 Sheol is cnaked before God,1
and dAbaddon has no covering.
7 He estretches out the north over fthe void
and hangs the earth on nothing.
8 He gbinds up the waters in his thick clouds,
and the cloud is not split open under them.
9 He covers the face of the full moon2
and hspreads over it his cloud.
10 He has inscribed ia circle on the face of the waters
at the boundary between light and darkness.
11 jThe pillars of heaven tremble
and are astounded at his krebuke.
12 By his power he lstilled the sea;
by his understanding he shattered mRahab.
13 nBy his wind the heavens were made fair;
his hand pierced othe fleeing serpent.
14 Behold, these are but the outskirts of his pways,
and how small qa whisper do we hear of him!
But the thunder of his power who can understand?”
27 And Job again rtook up his discourse, and said:
2 “As God lives, who has staken away my right,
and the Almighty, who has tmade my soul bitter,
3 as long as my breath is in me,
and uthe spirit of God is in my nostrils,
4 my lips will not speak vfalsehood,
and my tongue will not utter vdeceit.
5 Far be it from me to say that you are right;
till I die I will not put away my wintegrity from me.
6 I xhold fast my righteousness and will not let it go;
my heart does not yreproach me for any of my days.
7 “Let my enemy be as the wicked,
and let him who rises up against me be as the unrighteous.
8 zFor what is the hope of the godless awhen God cuts him off,
9 bWill God hear his cry
10 Will he ctake delight in the Almighty?
Will he call upon God at all times?
11 I will teach you concerning the hand of God;
dwhat is with the Almighty I will not conceal.
12 Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves;
why then have you become altogether vain?
13 e“This is the portion of a wicked man with God,
and the heritage that foppressors receive from the Almighty:
14 If his gchildren are multiplied, it is for hthe sword,
and his descendants have not enough bread.
15 Those who survive him the pestilence buries,
and his iwidows do not weep.
16 Though he jheap up silver like dust,
and pile up clothing like clay,
17 he may pile it up, but the righteous will wear it,
and kthe innocent will divide the silver.
18 He builds his lhouse like a moth's,
like ma booth that na watchman makes.
19 He goes to bed rich, but will odo so no more;
he opens his eyes, and phis wealth is gone.
20 qTerrors overtake him like ra flood;
in the night a whirlwind scarries him off.
21 tThe east wind lifts him up and he is gone;
it usweeps him out of his place.
22 It3 hurls at him vwithout pity;
he flees from its4 power in headlong flight.
23 It wclaps its hands at him
and xhisses at him from its place.
28 “Surely there is a mine for silver,
and a place for gold that they yrefine.
2 Iron is taken out of the earth,
and copper is smelted from the ore.
and searches out to the farthest limit
the ore in zgloom and adeep darkness.
4 He opens shafts in a valley away from where anyone lives;
they are forgotten by travelers;
they hang in the air, far away from mankind; they swing to and fro.
5 As for the earth, bout of it comes bread,
but underneath it is turned up as by fire.
6 Its stones are the place of csapphires,5
7 “That path no bird of prey knows,
and the falcon's eye has not seen it.
8 dThe proud beasts have not trodden it;
ethe lion has not passed over it.
9 “Man puts his hand to fthe flinty rock
and overturns mountains by the roots.
10 He cuts out channels in the rocks,
and his eye sees every precious thing.
11 He dams up the streams so that they do not trickle,
and the thing that is hidden he brings out to light.
12 g“But where shall wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
13 Man does not know its worth,
and it is not found in hthe land of the living.
14 iThe deep says, ‘It is not in me,’
and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
15 It jcannot be bought for gold,
and silver cannot be weighed as its price.
16 It cannot be valued in kthe gold of lOphir,
in precious monyx or nsapphire.
17 Gold and glass cannot equal it,
nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.
18 No mention shall be made of ocoral or of crystal;
the price of wisdom is above oppearls.
19 qThe topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,
nor can it be valued in pure gold.
20 “From where, then, does wisdom come?
And where is the place of understanding?
21 It is hidden from the eyes of rall living
and concealed from the birds of the air.
22 sAbaddon and Death say,
‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’
23 t“God understands the way to it,
24 For he ulooks to the ends of the earth
and sees everything under the heavens.
25 When he vgave to the wind its weight
and apportioned the waters by measure,
26 when he made a decree for the rain
and wa way for the lightning of the thunder,
27 then he saw it and declared it;
he established it, and searched it out.
‘Behold, xthe fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
and to yturn away from evil is understanding.’”
11 Now the apostles and rthe brothers1 who were throughout Judea heard 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 t“You went to uncircumcised men and uate with them.” 4 But Peter began and explained it to them in order: 5 v“I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, 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, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 9 But the voice answered a second time from heaven, ‘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 Spirit told me to go with them, wmaking no distinction. xThese 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 yhe will declare to you a message by which zyou will be saved, you and all your household.’ 15 As I began to speak, athe Holy Spirit fell on them bjust as on us at the beginning. 16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, c‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 If then dGod gave ethe same gift to them as he gave to us fwhen we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, gwho was I hthat I could stand in God's way?” 18 When they heard these things they fell silent. And they iglorified God, saying, j“Then to the Gentiles also God has kgranted lrepentance that leads to life.”
19 mNow those who were scattered because of the 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 Hellenists3 also, npreaching the Lord Jesus. 21 And othe hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed pturned to the Lord. 22 The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he came and saw qthe grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord rwith steadfast purpose, 24 for he was a good man, sfull of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people twere added to the Lord. 25 So Barnabas went to uTarsus 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 vChristians.
27 Now in these days wprophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 And one of them named xAgabus stood up and foretold yby the Spirit that there would be a great zfamine over all the world (this took place in the days of aClaudius). 29 So the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, bto send relief to cthe brothers4 living in Judea. 30 dAnd they did so, sending it to ethe elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.