17 Now after [Paul and Silas] had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.

² And Paul entered, as he usually did, and for three Sabbaths he reasoned and argued with them from the Scriptures,

³ Explaining [them] and [quoting passages] setting forth and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, This Jesus, Whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ (the Messiah).

⁴ And some of them [accordingly] were induced to believe and associated themselves with Paul and Silas, as did a great number of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women.

⁵ But the unbelieving Jews were aroused to jealousy, and, getting hold of some wicked men (ruffians and rascals) and loungers in the marketplace, they gathered together a mob, set the town in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring [Paul and Silas] out to the people.

⁶ But when they failed to find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brethren before the city authorities, crying, These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also,

⁷ And Jason has received them to his house and privately protected them! And they are all ignoring and acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, [actually] asserting that there is another king, one Jesus!

⁸ And both the crowd and the city authorities, on hearing this, were irritated (stirred up and troubled).

⁹ And when they had taken security [bail] from Jason and the others, they let them go.

¹⁰ Now the brethren at once sent Paul and Silas away by night to Beroea; and when they arrived, they entered the synagogue of the Jews.

¹¹ Now these [Jews] were better disposed and more noble than those in Thessalonica, for they were entirely ready and accepted and welcomed the message [^[a]concerning the attainment through Christ of eternal salvation in the kingdom of God] with inclination of mind and eagerness, searching and examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

¹² Many of them therefore became believers, together with not a few prominent Greeks, women as well as men.

¹³ But when the Jews of Thessalonica learned that the Word of God [^[b]concerning the attainment through Christ of eternal salvation in the kingdom of God] was also preached by Paul at Beroea, they came there too, disturbing and inciting the masses.

¹⁴ At once the brethren sent Paul off on his way to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained behind.

¹⁵ Those who escorted Paul brought him as far as Athens; and receiving instructions for Silas and Timothy that they should come to him as soon as possible, they departed.

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3 After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed his day (birthday).

² And Job said,

³ Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night which announced, There is a man-child conceived.

⁴ Let that day be darkness! May not God above regard it, nor light shine upon it.

⁵ Let gloom and deep darkness claim it for their own; let a cloud dwell upon it; let all that blackens the day terrify it (the day that I was born).

⁶ As for that night, let thick darkness seize it; let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months.

⁷ Yes, let that night be solitary and barren; let no joyful voice come into it.

⁸ Let those curse it who curse the day, who are skilled in rousing up Leviathan.

⁹ Let the stars of the early dawn of that day be dark; let [the morning] look in vain for the light, nor let it behold the day’s dawning,

¹⁰ Because it shut not the doors of my mother’s womb nor hid sorrow and trouble from my eyes.

¹¹ Why was I not stillborn? Why did I not give up the ghost when my mother bore me?

¹² Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should suck?

¹³ For then would I have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept; then would I have been at rest [in death]

¹⁴ With kings and counselors of the earth, who built up [now] desolate ruins for themselves,

¹⁵ Or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.

¹⁶ Or [why] was I not a miscarriage, hidden and put away, as infants who never saw light?

¹⁷ There [in death] the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest.

¹⁸ There the [captive] prisoners rest together; they hear not the taskmaster’s voice.

¹⁹ The small and the great are there, and the servant is free from his master.^(A)

²⁰ Why is light [of life] given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul,

²¹ Who long and wait for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,

²² Who rejoice exceedingly and are elated when they find the grave?

²³ [Why is the light of day given] to a man whose way is hidden, and whom God has hedged in?

²⁴ For my sighing comes before my food, and my groanings are poured out like water.

²⁵ For the thing which I greatly fear comes upon me, and that of which I am afraid befalls me.

²⁶ I was not or am not at ease, nor had I or have I rest, nor was I or am I quiet, yet trouble came and still comes [upon me].

4 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

² If we venture to converse with you, will you be offended? Yet who can restrain himself from speaking?

³ Behold, you have instructed many, and you have strengthened the weak hands.

⁴ Your words have held firm him who was falling, and you have strengthened the feeble knees.

⁵ But now it is come upon you, and you faint and are grieved; it touches you, and you are troubled and dismayed.

⁶ Is not your [reverent] fear of God your confidence and the integrity and uprightness of your ways your hope?

⁷ Think [earnestly], I beg of you: who, being innocent, ever perished? Or where were those upright and in right standing with God cut off?

⁸ As I myself have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble and mischief reap the same.

⁹ By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of His anger they are consumed.

¹⁰ The roaring of the lion and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions are broken.

¹¹ The old and strong lion perishes for lack of prey, and the whelps of the lioness are scattered abroad.

¹² Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and my ear received a whisper of it.

¹³ In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men,

¹⁴ Fear came upon me and trembling, which made all my bones shake.

¹⁵ Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up!

¹⁶ [The spirit] stood still, but I could not discern the appearance of it. A form was before my eyes; there was silence, and then I heard a voice, saying,

¹⁷ Can mortal man be just before God, or be more right than He is? Can a man be pure before his Maker, or be more cleansed than He is?^(B)

¹⁸ Even in His [heavenly] servants He puts no trust or confidence, and His angels He charges with folly and error—

¹⁹ How much more those who dwell in houses (bodies) of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who are crushed like the moth.

²⁰ Between morning and evening they are destroyed; without anyone noticing it they perish forever.

²¹ Is not their tent cord plucked up within them [so that the tent falls]? Do they not die, and that without [acquiring] wisdom?

5 Call now—is there any who will answer you? And to which of the holy [angels] will you turn?

² For ^[a]vexation and rage kill the foolish man; jealousy and indignation slay the simple.

³ I have seen the foolish taking root [and outwardly prospering], but suddenly I saw that his dwelling was cursed [for his doom was certain].

⁴ His children are far from safety; [involved in their father’s ruin] they are crushed in the [court of justice in the city’s] gate, and there is no one to deliver them.

⁵ His harvest the hungry eat and take it even [when it grows] among the thorns; the snare opens for [his] wealth.

⁶ For affliction comes not forth from the dust, neither does trouble spring forth out of the ground.

⁷ But man is born to trouble as the sparks and the flames fly upward.

⁸ As for me, I would seek God and inquire of and require Him, and to God would I commit my cause—

⁹ Who does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number,

¹⁰ Who gives rain upon the earth and sends waters upon the fields,

¹¹ So that He sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn He lifts to safety.

¹² He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise or anything of [lasting] worth.

¹³ He catches the [so-called] wise in their own trickiness, and the counsel of the schemers is brought to a quick end.^(C)

¹⁴ In the daytime they meet in darkness, and at noon they grope as in the night.

¹⁵ But [God] saves [the fatherless] from the sword of their mouth, and the needy from the hand of the mighty.

¹⁶ So the poor have hope, and iniquity shuts her mouth.

¹⁷ Happy and fortunate is the man whom God reproves; so do not despise or reject the correction of the Almighty [subjecting you to trial and suffering].

¹⁸ For He wounds, but He binds up; He smites, but His hands heal.

¹⁹ He will rescue you in six troubles; in seven nothing that is evil [for you] will touch you.

²⁰ In famine He will redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword.

²¹ You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, neither shall you be afraid of destruction when it comes.

²² At destruction and famine you shall laugh, neither shall you be afraid of the living creatures of the earth.

²³ For you shall be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you.

²⁴ And you shall know that your tent shall be in peace, and you shall visit your fold and your dwelling and miss nothing [from them].

²⁵ You shall know also that your children shall be many, and your offspring as the grass of the earth.

²⁶ You shall come to your grave in ripe old age, and as a shock of grain goes up [to the threshing floor] in its season.

²⁷ This is what we have searched out; it is true. Hear and heed it and know for yourself [for your good].