Passage results

Listen to this passage

Job 22

Eliphaz

 ² "Can a man be of benefit to God?
       Can even a wise man benefit him?

 ³ What pleasure would it give the Almighty if you were righteous?
       What would he gain if your ways were blameless?

 ⁴ "Is it for your piety that he rebukes you
       and brings charges against you?

 ⁵ Is not your wickedness great?
       Are not your sins endless?

 ⁶ You demanded security from your brothers for no reason;
       you stripped men of their clothing, leaving them naked.

 ⁷ You gave no water to the weary
       and you withheld food from the hungry,

 ⁸ though you were a powerful man, owning land—
       an honored man, living on it.

 ⁹ And you sent widows away empty-handed
       and broke the strength of the fatherless.

 ¹⁰ That is why snares are all around you,
       why sudden peril terrifies you,

 ¹¹ why it is so dark you cannot see,
       and why a flood of water covers you.

 ¹² "Is not God in the heights of heaven?
       And see how lofty are the highest stars!

 ¹³ Yet you say, 'What does God know?
       Does he judge through such darkness?

 ¹⁴ Thick clouds veil him, so he does not see us
       as he goes about in the vaulted heavens.'

 ¹⁵ Will you keep to the old path
       that evil men have trod?

 ¹⁶ They were carried off before their time,
       their foundations washed away by a flood.

 ¹⁷ They said to God, 'Leave us alone!
       What can the Almighty do to us?'

 ¹⁸ Yet it was he who filled their houses with good things,
       so I stand aloof from the counsel of the wicked.

 ¹⁹ "The righteous see their ruin and rejoice;
       the innocent mock them, saying,

 ²⁰ 'Surely our foes are destroyed,
       and fire devours their wealth.'

 ²¹ "Submit to God and be at peace with him;
       in this way prosperity will come to you.

 ²² Accept instruction from his mouth
       and lay up his words in your heart.

 ²³ If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored:
       If you remove wickedness far from your tent

 ²⁴ and assign your nuggets to the dust,
       your gold of Ophir to the rocks in the ravines,

 ²⁵ then the Almighty will be your gold,
       the choicest silver for you.

 ²⁶ Surely then you will find delight in the Almighty
       and will lift up your face to God.

 ²⁷ You will pray to him, and he will hear you,
       and you will fulfill your vows.

 ²⁸ What you decide on will be done,
       and light will shine on your ways.

 ²⁹ When men are brought low and you say, 'Lift them up!'
       then he will save the downcast.

 ³⁰ He will deliver even one who is not innocent,
       who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands."

Job 23

Job

 ² "Even today my complaint is bitter;
       his hand ^[a] is heavy in spite of ^[b] my groaning.

 ³ If only I knew where to find him;
       if only I could go to his dwelling!

 ⁴ I would state my case before him
       and fill my mouth with arguments.

 ⁵ I would find out what he would answer me,
       and consider what he would say.

 ⁶ Would he oppose me with great power?
       No, he would not press charges against me.

 ⁷ There an upright man could present his case before him,
       and I would be delivered forever from my judge.

 ⁸ "But if I go to the east, he is not there;
       if I go to the west, I do not find him.

 ⁹ When he is at work in the north, I do not see him;
       when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him.

 ¹⁰ But he knows the way that I take;
       when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.

 ¹¹ My feet have closely followed his steps;
       I have kept to his way without turning aside.

 ¹² I have not departed from the commands of his lips;
       I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.

 ¹³ "But he stands alone, and who can oppose him?
       He does whatever he pleases.

 ¹⁴ He carries out his decree against me,
       and many such plans he still has in store.

 ¹⁵ That is why I am terrified before him;
       when I think of all this, I fear him.

 ¹⁶ God has made my heart faint;
       the Almighty has terrified me.

 ¹⁷ Yet I am not silenced by the darkness,
       by the thick darkness that covers my face.

Job 24

 ¹ "Why does the Almighty not set times for judgment?
       Why must those who know him look in vain for such days?

 ² Men move boundary stones;
       they pasture flocks they have stolen.

 ³ They drive away the orphan's donkey
       and take the widow's ox in pledge.

 ⁴ They thrust the needy from the path
       and force all the poor of the land into hiding.

 ⁵ Like wild donkeys in the desert,
       the poor go about their labor of foraging food;
       the wasteland provides food for their children.

 ⁶ They gather fodder in the fields
       and glean in the vineyards of the wicked.

 ⁷ Lacking clothes, they spend the night naked;
       they have nothing to cover themselves in the cold.

 ⁸ They are drenched by mountain rains
       and hug the rocks for lack of shelter.

 ⁹ The fatherless child is snatched from the breast;
       the infant of the poor is seized for a debt.

 ¹⁰ Lacking clothes, they go about naked;
       they carry the sheaves, but still go hungry.

 ¹¹ They crush olives among the terraces ^[c] ;
       they tread the winepresses, yet suffer thirst.

 ¹² The groans of the dying rise from the city,
       and the souls of the wounded cry out for help.
       But God charges no one with wrongdoing.

 ¹³ "There are those who rebel against the light,
       who do not know its ways
       or stay in its paths.

 ¹⁴ When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up
       and kills the poor and needy;
       in the night he steals forth like a thief.

 ¹⁵ The eye of the adulterer watches for dusk;
       he thinks, 'No eye will see me,'
       and he keeps his face concealed.

 ¹⁶ In the dark, men break into houses,
       but by day they shut themselves in;
       they want nothing to do with the light.

 ¹⁷ For all of them, deep darkness is their morning ^[d] ;
       they make friends with the terrors of darkness. ^[e]

 ¹⁸ "Yet they are foam on the surface of the water;
       their portion of the land is cursed,
       so that no one goes to the vineyards.

 ¹⁹ As heat and drought snatch away the melted snow,
       so the grave ^[f] snatches away those who have sinned.

 ²⁰ The womb forgets them,
       the worm feasts on them;
       evil men are no longer remembered
       but are broken like a tree.

 ²¹ They prey on the barren and childless woman,
       and to the widow show no kindness.

 ²² But God drags away the mighty by his power;
       though they become established, they have no assurance of life.

 ²³ He may let them rest in a feeling of security,
       but his eyes are on their ways.

 ²⁴ For a little while they are exalted, and then they are gone;
       they are brought low and gathered up like all others;
       they are cut off like heads of grain.

 ²⁵ "If this is not so, who can prove me false
       and reduce my words to nothing?"

Listen to this passage
View commentary related to this passage

Acts 11

Peter Explains His Actions

 ⁴Peter began and explained everything to them precisely as it had happened: ⁵"I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to where I was. ⁶I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds of the air. ⁷Then I heard a voice telling me, 'Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.'

 ⁸"I replied, 'Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.'

 ⁹"The voice spoke from heaven a second time, 'Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.' ¹⁰This happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to heaven again.

 ¹¹"Right then three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying. ¹²The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man's house. ¹³He told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, 'Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. ¹⁴He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.'

 ¹⁵"As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. ¹⁶Then I remembered what the Lord had said: 'John baptized with^[a]water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' ¹⁷So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God?"

 ¹⁸When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, "So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life."

The Church in Antioch

 ²²News of this reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. ²³When he arrived and saw the evidence of the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts. ²⁴He was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people were brought to the Lord.

 ²⁵Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, ²⁶and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.

 ²⁷During this time some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. ²⁸One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.) ²⁹The disciples, each according to his ability, decided to provide help for the brothers living in Judea. ³⁰This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.