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Job 30

 ¹ "But now they mock me,
       men younger than I,
       whose fathers I would have disdained
       to put with my sheep dogs.

 ² Of what use was the strength of their hands to me,
       since their vigor had gone from them?

 ³ Haggard from want and hunger,
       they roamed ^[a] the parched land
       in desolate wastelands at night.

 ⁴ In the brush they gathered salt herbs,
       and their food ^[b] was the root of the broom tree.

 ⁵ They were banished from their fellow men,
       shouted at as if they were thieves.

 ⁶ They were forced to live in the dry stream beds,
       among the rocks and in holes in the ground.

 ⁷ They brayed among the bushes
       and huddled in the undergrowth.

 ⁸ A base and nameless brood,
       they were driven out of the land.

 ⁹ "And now their sons mock me in song;
       I have become a byword among them.

 ¹⁰ They detest me and keep their distance;
       they do not hesitate to spit in my face.

 ¹¹ Now that God has unstrung my bow and afflicted me,
       they throw off restraint in my presence.

 ¹² On my right the tribe ^[c] attacks;
       they lay snares for my feet,
       they build their siege ramps against me.

 ¹³ They break up my road;
       they succeed in destroying me—
       without anyone's helping them. ^[d]

 ¹⁴ They advance as through a gaping breach;
       amid the ruins they come rolling in.

 ¹⁵ Terrors overwhelm me;
       my dignity is driven away as by the wind,
       my safety vanishes like a cloud.

 ¹⁶ "And now my life ebbs away;
       days of suffering grip me.

 ¹⁷ Night pierces my bones;
       my gnawing pains never rest.

 ¹⁸ In his great power God becomes like clothing to me ^[e] ;
       he binds me like the neck of my garment.

 ¹⁹ He throws me into the mud,
       and I am reduced to dust and ashes.

 ²⁰ "I cry out to you, O God, but you do not answer;
       I stand up, but you merely look at me.

 ²¹ You turn on me ruthlessly;
       with the might of your hand you attack me.

 ²² You snatch me up and drive me before the wind;
       you toss me about in the storm.

 ²³ I know you will bring me down to death,
       to the place appointed for all the living.

 ²⁴ "Surely no one lays a hand on a broken man
       when he cries for help in his distress.

 ²⁵ Have I not wept for those in trouble?
       Has not my soul grieved for the poor?

 ²⁶ Yet when I hoped for good, evil came;
       when I looked for light, then came darkness.

 ²⁷ The churning inside me never stops;
       days of suffering confront me.

 ²⁸ I go about blackened, but not by the sun;
       I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.

 ²⁹ I have become a brother of jackals,
       a companion of owls.

 ³⁰ My skin grows black and peels;
       my body burns with fever.

 ³¹ My harp is tuned to mourning,
       and my flute to the sound of wailing.

Job 31

 ¹ "I made a covenant with my eyes
       not to look lustfully at a girl.

 ² For what is man's lot from God above,
       his heritage from the Almighty on high?

 ³ Is it not ruin for the wicked,
       disaster for those who do wrong?

 ⁴ Does he not see my ways
       and count my every step?

 ⁵ "If I have walked in falsehood
       or my foot has hurried after deceit-

 ⁶ let God weigh me in honest scales
       and he will know that I am blameless-

 ⁷ if my steps have turned from the path,
       if my heart has been led by my eyes,
       or if my hands have been defiled,

 ⁸ then may others eat what I have sown,
       and may my crops be uprooted.

 ⁹ "If my heart has been enticed by a woman,
       or if I have lurked at my neighbor's door,

 ¹⁰ then may my wife grind another man's grain,
       and may other men sleep with her.

 ¹¹ For that would have been shameful,
       a sin to be judged.

 ¹² It is a fire that burns to Destruction ^[f] ;
       it would have uprooted my harvest.

 ¹³ "If I have denied justice to my menservants and maidservants
       when they had a grievance against me,

 ¹⁴ what will I do when God confronts me?
       What will I answer when called to account?

 ¹⁵ Did not he who made me in the womb make them?
       Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?

 ¹⁶ "If I have denied the desires of the poor
       or let the eyes of the widow grow weary,

 ¹⁷ if I have kept my bread to myself,
       not sharing it with the fatherless-

 ¹⁸ but from my youth I reared him as would a father,
       and from my birth I guided the widow-

 ¹⁹ if I have seen anyone perishing for lack of clothing,
       or a needy man without a garment,

 ²⁰ and his heart did not bless me
       for warming him with the fleece from my sheep,

 ²¹ if I have raised my hand against the fatherless,
       knowing that I had influence in court,

 ²² then let my arm fall from the shoulder,
       let it be broken off at the joint.

 ²³ For I dreaded destruction from God,
       and for fear of his splendor I could not do such things.

 ²⁴ "If I have put my trust in gold
       or said to pure gold, 'You are my security,'

 ²⁵ if I have rejoiced over my great wealth,
       the fortune my hands had gained,

 ²⁶ if I have regarded the sun in its radiance
       or the moon moving in splendor,

 ²⁷ so that my heart was secretly enticed
       and my hand offered them a kiss of homage,

 ²⁸ then these also would be sins to be judged,
       for I would have been unfaithful to God on high.

 ²⁹ "If I have rejoiced at my enemy's misfortune
       or gloated over the trouble that came to him-

 ³⁰ I have not allowed my mouth to sin
       by invoking a curse against his life-

 ³¹ if the men of my household have never said,
       'Who has not had his fill of Job's meat?'-

 ³² but no stranger had to spend the night in the street,
       for my door was always open to the traveler-

 ³³ if I have concealed my sin as men do, ^[g]
       by hiding my guilt in my heart

 ³⁴ because I so feared the crowd
       and so dreaded the contempt of the clans
       that I kept silent and would not go outside

 ³⁵ ("Oh, that I had someone to hear me!
       I sign now my defense—let the Almighty answer me;
       let my accuser put his indictment in writing.

 ³⁶ Surely I would wear it on my shoulder,
       I would put it on like a crown.

 ³⁷ I would give him an account of my every step;
       like a prince I would approach him.)-

 ³⁸ "if my land cries out against me
       and all its furrows are wet with tears,

 ³⁹ if I have devoured its yield without payment
       or broken the spirit of its tenants,

 ⁴⁰ then let briers come up instead of wheat
       and weeds instead of barley."
      The words of Job are ended.

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 ²⁶"Brothers, children of Abraham, and you God-fearing Gentiles, it is to us that this message of salvation has been sent. ²⁷The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath. ²⁸Though they found no proper ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him executed. ²⁹When they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. ³⁰But God raised him from the dead, ³¹and for many days he was seen by those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his witnesses to our people.

 ³²"We tell you the good news: What God promised our fathers ³³he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm:
   " 'You are my Son;
      today I have become your Father.^[a]'^{[b] 34}The fact that God raised him from the dead, never to decay, is stated in these words:
   " 'I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David.'^{[c] 35}So it is stated elsewhere:
   " 'You will not let your Holy One see decay.'^[d]

 ³⁶"For when David had served God's purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his fathers and his body decayed. ³⁷But the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay.

 ³⁸"Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. ³⁹Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses. ⁴⁰Take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you:
 ⁴¹" 'Look, you scoffers,
      wonder and perish,
   for I am going to do something in your days
      that you would never believe,
      even if someone told you.'^[e]"

 ⁴²As Paul and Barnabas were leaving the synagogue, the people invited them to speak further about these things on the next Sabbath. ⁴³When the congregation was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who talked with them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.

 ⁴⁴On the next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. ⁴⁵When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and talked abusively against what Paul was saying.

 ⁴⁶Then Paul and Barnabas answered them boldly: "We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. ⁴⁷For this is what the Lord has commanded us:
   " 'I have made you^[f] a light for the Gentiles,
      that you^[g] may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.'^[h]"

 ⁴⁸When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.

 ⁴⁹The word of the Lord spread through the whole region. ⁵⁰But the Jews incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region. ⁵¹So they shook the dust from their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium. ⁵²And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.