¹⁶ Now while Paul was awaiting them at Athens, his spirit was grieved and roused to anger as he saw that the city was full of idols.

¹⁷ So he reasoned and argued in the synagogue with the Jews and those who worshiped there, and in the marketplace [where assemblies are held] day after day with any who chanced to be there.

¹⁸ And some also of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him and began to engage in discussion. And some said, What is this babbler with his scrap-heap learning trying to say? Others said, He seems to be an announcer of foreign deities—because he preached Jesus and the resurrection.

¹⁹ And they took hold of him and brought him to the ^[a]Areopagus [Mars Hill meeting place], saying, May we know what this novel (unheard of and unprecedented) teaching is which you are openly declaring?

²⁰ For you set forth some startling things, foreign and strange to our ears; we wish to know therefore just what these things mean—

²¹ For the Athenians, all of them, and the foreign residents and visitors among them spent all their leisure time in nothing except telling or hearing something newer than the last—

²² So Paul, standing in the center of the Areopagus [Mars Hill meeting place], said: Men of Athens, I perceive in every way [on every hand and with every turn I make] that you are most religious or very reverent to demons.

²³ For as I passed along and carefully observed your objects of worship, I came also upon an altar with this inscription, To the unknown god. Now what you are already worshiping as unknown, this I set forth to you.

²⁴ The God Who produced and formed the world and all things in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in handmade shrines.

²⁵ Neither is He served by human hands, as though He lacked anything, for it is He Himself Who gives life and breath and all things to all [people].^(A)

²⁶ And He made from one [common origin, one source, one blood] all nations of men to settle on the face of the earth, having definitely determined [their] allotted periods of time and the fixed boundaries of their habitation (their settlements, lands, and abodes),

²⁷ So that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel after Him and find Him, although He is not far from each one of us.

²⁸ For in Him we live and move and have our being; as even some of your [own] poets have said, For we are also His offspring.

²⁹ Since then we are God’s offspring, we ought not to suppose that Deity (the Godhead) is like gold or silver or stone, [of the nature of] a representation by human art and imagination, or anything constructed or invented.

³⁰ Such [former] ages of ignorance God, it is true, ignored and allowed to pass unnoticed; but now He charges all people everywhere to repent (^[b]to change their minds for the better and heartily to amend their ways, with abhorrence of their past sins),

³¹ Because He has fixed a day when He will judge the world righteously (justly) by a Man Whom He has destined and appointed for that task, and He has made this credible and given conviction and assurance and evidence to everyone by raising Him from the dead.^(B)

³² Now when they had heard [that there had been] a resurrection from the dead, some scoffed; but others said, We will hear you again about this matter.

³³ So Paul went out from among them.

³⁴ But some men were on his side and joined him and believed (became Christians); among them were Dionysius, a judge of the Areopagus, and a woman named Damaris, and some others with them.

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6 Then Job answered,

² Oh, that my impatience and vexation might be [thoroughly] weighed and all my calamity be laid up over against them in the balances, one against the other [to see if my grief is unmanly]!

³ For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea; therefore my words have been rash and wild,

⁴ [But it is] because the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison which my spirit drinks up; the terrors of God set themselves in array against me.

⁵ Does the wild ass bray when it has grass? Or does the ox low over its fodder?

⁶ Can that which has no taste to it be eaten without salt? Or is there any flavor in the white of an egg?

⁷ [These afflictions] my soul refuses to touch! Such things are like diseased food to me [sickening and repugnant]!

⁸ Oh, that I might have my request, and that God would grant me the thing that I long for!

⁹ I even wish that it would please God to crush me, that He would let loose His hand and cut me off!

¹⁰ Then would I still have consolation—yes, I would leap [for joy] amid unsparing pain [though I shrink from it]—that I have not concealed or denied the words of the Holy One!

¹¹ What strength have I left, that I should wait and hope? And what is ahead of me, that I should be patient?

¹² Is my strength and endurance that of stones? Or is my flesh made of bronze?

¹³ Is it not that I have no help in myself, and that wisdom is quite driven from me?

¹⁴ To him who is about to faint and despair, kindness is due from his friend, lest he forsake the fear of the Almighty.

¹⁵ [You] my brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, as the channel of brooks that pass away,

¹⁶ Which are black and turbid by reason of the ice, and in which the snows hides itself;

¹⁷ When they get warm, they shrink and disappear; when it is hot, they vanish out of their place.

¹⁸ The caravans which travel by way of them turn aside; they go into the waste places and perish. [Such is my disappointment in you, the friends I fully trusted.]

¹⁹ The caravans of Tema looked [for water], the companies of Sheba waited for them [in vain].

²⁰ They were confounded because they had hoped [to find water]; they came there and were bitterly disappointed.

²¹ Now to me you are [like a dried-up brook]; you see my dismay and terror, and [believing me to be a victim of God’s anger] you are afraid [to sympathize with me].

²² Did I ever say, Bring me a gift, or Pay a bribe on my account from your wealth

²³ To deliver me from the adversary’s hand, or Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors?

²⁴ Teach me, and I will hold my peace; and cause me to understand wherein I have erred.

²⁵ How forcible are words of straightforward speech! But what does your arguing argue and prove or your reproof reprove?

²⁶ Do you imagine your words to be an argument, but the speeches of one who is desperate to be as wind?

²⁷ Yes, you would cast lots over the fatherless and bargain away your friend.

²⁸ Now be pleased to look upon me, that it may be evident to you if I lie [for surely I would not lie to your face].

²⁹ Return [from your suspicion], I pray you, let there be no injustice; yes, return again [to confidence in me], my vindication is in it.

³⁰ Is there wrong on my tongue? Cannot my taste discern what is destructive?

7 Is there not an [appointed] warfare and hard labor to man upon earth? And are not his days like the days of a hireling?

² As a servant earnestly longs for the shade and the evening shadows, and as a hireling who looks for the reward of his work,

³ So am I allotted months of futile [suffering], and [long] nights of misery are appointed to me.

⁴ When I lie down I say, When shall I arise and the night be gone? And I am full of tossing to and fro till the dawning of the day.

⁵ My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken and has become loathsome, and it closes up and breaks out afresh.

⁶ My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope.

⁷ Oh, remember that my life is but wind (a puff, a breath, a sob); my eye shall see good no more.

⁸ The eye of him who sees me shall see me no more; while your eyes are upon me, I shall be gone.

⁹ As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away, so he who goes down to Sheol (the place of the dead) shall come up no more.

¹⁰ He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.

¹¹ Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul [O Lord]!

¹² Am I the sea, or the sea monster, that You set a watch over me?

¹³ When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint,

¹⁴ Then You scare me with dreams and terrify me through visions,

¹⁵ So that I would choose strangling and death rather than these my bones.

¹⁶ I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Let me alone, for my days are a breath (futility).

¹⁷ What is man that You should magnify him and think him important? And that You should set Your mind upon him?^(A)

¹⁸ And that You should visit him every morning and try him every moment?

¹⁹ How long will Your [plaguing] glance not look away from me, nor You let me alone till I swallow my spittle?

²⁰ If I have sinned, what [harm] have I done You, O You Watcher and Keeper of men? Why have You set me as a mark for You, so that I am a burden to myself [and You]?

²¹ And why do You not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now shall I lie down in the dust; and [even if] You will seek me diligently, [it will be too late, for] I shall not be.

8 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite,

² How long will you say these things [Job]? And how long shall the words of your mouth be as a mighty wind?

³ Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert righteousness?

⁴ If your children have sinned against Him, then He has delivered them into the power of their transgression.

⁵ If you will seek God diligently and make your supplication to the Almighty,

⁶ Then, if you are pure and upright, surely He will bestir Himself for you and make your righteous dwelling prosperous again.

⁷ And though your beginning was small, yet your latter end would greatly increase.

⁸ For inquire, I pray you, of the former age and apply yourself to that which their fathers have searched out,

⁹ For we are but of yesterday and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow.

¹⁰ Shall not [the forefathers] teach you and tell you and utter words out of their hearts (the deepest part of their nature)?

¹¹ Can the rush or papyrus grow up without marsh? Can the flag or reed grass grow without water?

¹² While it is yet green, in flower, and not cut down, it withers before any other herb [when without water].

¹³ So are the ways of all who forget God; and the hope of the godless shall perish.

¹⁴ For his confidence breaks, and [the object of] his trust is a spider’s web.

¹⁵ He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand; he shall hold fast to it, but it shall not last.

¹⁶ He is green before the sun, and his shoots go forth over his garden.

¹⁷ [Godless] his roots are wrapped about the [stone] heap, and see their way [promisingly] among the rocks.

¹⁸ But if [God] snatches him from his property, [then having passed into the hands of others] it [his property] will forget and deny him, [saying,] I have never seen you [before, as if ashamed of him—like his former friends].

¹⁹ See, this is the joy of going the way [of the ungodly]! And from the dust others will spring up [to take his place].

²⁰ Behold, as surely as God will never uphold wrongdoers, He will never cast away a blameless man.

²¹ He will yet fill your mouth with laughter [Job] and your lips with joyful shouting.

²² Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tents of the wicked shall be no more.