Job 4:12-5:16

New International Version

¹²“A word^(A) was secretly brought to me,
    my ears caught a whisper^(B) of it.^(C)
¹³Amid disquieting dreams in the night,
    when deep sleep falls on people,^(D)
¹⁴fear and trembling^(E) seized me
    and made all my bones shake.^(F)
¹⁵A spirit glided past my face,
    and the hair on my body stood on end.^(G)
¹⁶It stopped,
    but I could not tell what it was.
A form stood before my eyes,
    and I heard a hushed voice:^(H)
¹⁷‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God?^(I)
    Can even a strong man be more pure than his Maker?^(J)
¹⁸If God places no trust in his servants,^(K)
    if he charges his angels with error,^(L)
¹⁹how much more those who live in houses of clay,^(M)
    whose foundations^(N) are in the dust,^(O)
    who are crushed^(P) more readily than a moth!^(Q)
²⁰Between dawn and dusk they are broken to pieces;
    unnoticed, they perish forever.^(R)
²¹Are not the cords of their tent pulled up,^(S)
    so that they die^(T) without wisdom?’^(U)

5 “Call if you will, but who will answer you?^(V)
    To which of the holy ones^(W) will you turn?
²Resentment^(X) kills a fool,
    and envy slays the simple.^(Y)
³I myself have seen^(Z) a fool taking root,^(AA)
    but suddenly^(AB) his house was cursed.^(AC)
⁴His children^(AD) are far from safety,^(AE)
    crushed in court^(AF) without a defender.^(AG)
⁵The hungry consume his harvest,^(AH)
    taking it even from among thorns,
    and the thirsty pant after his wealth.
⁶For hardship does not spring from the soil,
    nor does trouble sprout from the ground.^(AI)
⁷Yet man is born to trouble^(AJ)
    as surely as sparks fly upward.

⁸“But if I were you, I would appeal to God;
    I would lay my cause before him.^(AK)
⁹He performs wonders^(AL) that cannot be fathomed,^(AM)
    miracles that cannot be counted.^(AN)
¹⁰He provides rain for the earth;^(AO)
    he sends water on the countryside.^(AP)
¹¹The lowly he sets on high,^(AQ)
    and those who mourn^(AR) are lifted^(AS) to safety.
¹²He thwarts the plans^(AT) of the crafty,
    so that their hands achieve no success.^(AU)
¹³He catches the wise^(AV) in their craftiness,^(AW)
    and the schemes of the wily are swept away.^(AX)
¹⁴Darkness^(AY) comes upon them in the daytime;
    at noon they grope as in the night.^(AZ)
¹⁵He saves the needy^(BA) from the sword in their mouth;
    he saves them from the clutches of the powerful.^(BB)
¹⁶So the poor^(BC) have hope,
    and injustice shuts its mouth.^(BD)

Psalm 94:12-16

New International Version

¹²Blessed is the one you discipline,^(A) Lord,
    the one you teach^(B) from your law;
¹³you grant them relief from days of trouble,^(C)
    till a pit^(D) is dug for the wicked.
¹⁴For the Lord will not reject his people;^(E)
    he will never forsake his inheritance.
¹⁵Judgment will again be founded on righteousness,^(F)
    and all the upright in heart^(G) will follow it.

¹⁶Who will rise up^(H) for me against the wicked?
Who will take a stand for me against evildoers?^(I)

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Romans 9:14-33

New International Version

¹⁴What then shall we say?^(A) Is God unjust? Not at all!^(B) ¹⁵For he says to Moses,

“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”^[a]^(C)

¹⁶It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.^(D) ¹⁷For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”^[b]^(E) ¹⁸Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.^(F)

¹⁹One of you will say to me:^(G) “Then why does God still blame us?^(H) For who is able to resist his will?”^(I) ²⁰But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God?^(J) “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it,^(K) ‘Why did you make me like this?’”^[c]^(L) ²¹Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?^(M)

²²What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience^(N) the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?^(O) ²³What if he did this to make the riches of his glory^(P) known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory^(Q)— ²⁴even us, whom he also called,^(R) not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?^(S) ²⁵As he says in Hosea:

“I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people;
and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,”^[d]^(T)

²⁶and,

“In the very place where it was said to them,
‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”^[e]^(U)

²⁷Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:

“Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea,^(V)
only the remnant will be saved.^(W)
²⁸For the Lord will carry out
his sentence on earth with speed and finality.”^[f]^(X)

²⁹It is just as Isaiah said previously:

“Unless the Lord Almighty^(Y)
had left us descendants,
we would have become like Sodom,
we would have been like Gomorrah.”^[g]^(Z)

Israel’s Unbelief

³⁰What then shall we say?^(AA) That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;^(AB) ³¹but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness,^(AC) have not attained their goal.^(AD) ³²Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.^(AE) ³³As it is written:

“See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall,
and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”^[h]^(AF)

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