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Job 3

Job Speaks

 ³ "May the day of my birth perish,
       and the night it was said, 'A boy is born!'

 ⁴ That day—may it turn to darkness;
       may God above not care about it;
       may no light shine upon it.

 ⁵ May darkness and deep shadow ^[a] claim it once more;
       may a cloud settle over it;
       may blackness overwhelm its light.

 ⁶ That night—may thick darkness seize it;
       may it not be included among the days of the year
       nor be entered in any of the months.

 ⁷ May that night be barren;
       may no shout of joy be heard in it.

 ⁸ May those who curse days ^[b] curse that day,
       those who are ready to rouse Leviathan.

 ⁹ May its morning stars become dark;
       may it wait for daylight in vain
       and not see the first rays of dawn,

 ¹⁰ for it did not shut the doors of the womb on me
       to hide trouble from my eyes.

 ¹¹ "Why did I not perish at birth,
       and die as I came from the womb?

 ¹² Why were there knees to receive me
       and breasts that I might be nursed?

 ¹³ For now I would be lying down in peace;
       I would be asleep and at rest

 ¹⁴ with kings and counselors of the earth,
       who built for themselves places now lying in ruins,

 ¹⁵ with rulers who had gold,
       who filled their houses with silver.

 ¹⁶ Or why was I not hidden in the ground like a stillborn child,
       like an infant who never saw the light of day?

 ¹⁷ There the wicked cease from turmoil,
       and there the weary are at rest.

 ¹⁸ Captives also enjoy their ease;
       they no longer hear the slave driver's shout.

 ¹⁹ The small and the great are there,
       and the slave is freed from his master.

 ²⁰ "Why is light given to those in misery,
       and life to the bitter of soul,

 ²¹ to those who long for death that does not come,
       who search for it more than for hidden treasure,

 ²² who are filled with gladness
       and rejoice when they reach the grave?

 ²³ Why is life given to a man
       whose way is hidden,
       whom God has hedged in?

 ²⁴ For sighing comes to me instead of food;
       my groans pour out like water.

 ²⁵ What I feared has come upon me;
       what I dreaded has happened to me.

 ²⁶ I have no peace, no quietness;
       I have no rest, but only turmoil."

Job 4

Eliphaz

 ² "If someone ventures a word with you, will you be impatient?
       But who can keep from speaking?

 ³ Think how you have instructed many,
       how you have strengthened feeble hands.

 ⁴ Your words have supported those who stumbled;
       you have strengthened faltering knees.

 ⁵ But now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged;
       it strikes you, and you are dismayed.

 ⁶ Should not your piety be your confidence
       and your blameless ways your hope?

 ⁷ "Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished?
       Where were the upright ever destroyed?

 ⁸ As I have observed, those who plow evil
       and those who sow trouble reap it.

 ⁹ At the breath of God they are destroyed;
       at the blast of his anger they perish.

 ¹⁰ The lions may roar and growl,
       yet the teeth of the great lions are broken.

 ¹¹ The lion perishes for lack of prey,
       and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

 ¹² "A word was secretly brought to me,
       my ears caught a whisper of it.

 ¹³ Amid disquieting dreams in the night,
       when deep sleep falls on men,

 ¹⁴ fear and trembling seized me
       and made all my bones shake.

 ¹⁵ A spirit glided past my face,
       and the hair on my body stood on end.

 ¹⁶ It stopped,
       but I could not tell what it was.
       A form stood before my eyes,
       and I heard a hushed voice:

 ¹⁷ 'Can a mortal be more righteous than God?
       Can a man be more pure than his Maker?

 ¹⁸ If God places no trust in his servants,
       if he charges his angels with error,

 ¹⁹ how much more those who live in houses of clay,
       whose foundations are in the dust,
       who are crushed more readily than a moth!

 ²⁰ Between dawn and dusk they are broken to pieces;
       unnoticed, they perish forever.

 ²¹ Are not the cords of their tent pulled up,
       so that they die without wisdom?' ^[c]

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 ⁴⁴"Our forefathers had the tabernacle of the Testimony with them in the desert. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen. ⁴⁵Having received the tabernacle, our fathers under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David, ⁴⁶who enjoyed God's favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.^{[a] 47}But it was Solomon who built the house for him.

 ⁴⁸"However, the Most High does not live in houses made by men. As the prophet says:
 ⁴⁹" 'Heaven is my throne,
      and the earth is my footstool.
   What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord.
      Or where will my resting place be?
 ⁵⁰Has not my hand made all these things?'^[b]

 ⁵¹"You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit! ⁵²Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— ⁵³you who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it."

The Stoning of Stephen

 ⁵⁷At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, ⁵⁸dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.

 ⁵⁹While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." ⁶⁰Then he fell on his knees and cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep.