¹⁷ When we arrived in Jerusalem, the brethren received and welcomed us gladly.

¹⁸ On the next day Paul went in with us to [see] James, and all the elders of the church were present [also].

¹⁹ After saluting them, Paul gave a detailed account of the things God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

²⁰ And upon hearing it, they adored and exalted and praised and thanked God. And they said to [Paul], You see, brother, how many thousands of believers there are among the Jews, and all of them are enthusiastic upholders of the [Mosaic] Law.

²¹ Now they have been informed about you that you continually teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn back from and forsake Moses, advising them not to circumcise their children or pay any attention to the observance of the [Mosaic] customs.

²² What then [is best that] should be done? A multitude will come together, for they will surely hear that you have arrived.

²³ Therefore do just what we tell you. With us are four men who have taken a vow upon themselves.

²⁴ Take these men and purify yourself along with them and pay their expenses [for the temple offering], so that they may have their heads shaved. Thus everybody will know that there is no truth in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself walk in observance of the Law.

²⁵ But with regard to the Gentiles who have believed (adhered to, trusted in, and relied on Christ), we have sent them a letter with our decision that they should keep themselves free from anything that has been sacrificed to idols and from [tasting] blood and [eating the meat of animals] which have been strangled and from all impurity and sexual immorality.

²⁶ Then Paul took the [four] men with him and the following day [he went through the rites of] purifying himself along with them. And they entered the temple to give notice when the days of purification (the ending of each vow) would be fulfilled and the usual offering could be presented on behalf of each of them.

²⁷ When the seven days were drawing to a close, some of the Jews from [the province of] Asia, who had caught sight of Paul in the temple, incited all the rabble and laid hands on him,

²⁸ Shouting, Men of Israel, help! [Help!] This is the man who is teaching everybody everywhere against the people and the Law and this place! Moreover, he has also [actually] brought Greeks into the temple; he has desecrated and polluted this holy place!

²⁹ For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with Paul and they supposed that he had brought the man into the temple [into the inner court forbidden to Gentiles].

³⁰ Then the whole city was aroused and thrown into confusion, and the people rushed together; they laid hands on Paul and dragged him outside the temple, and immediately the gates were closed.

³¹ Now while they were trying to kill him, word came to the commandant of the regular Roman garrison that the whole of Jerusalem was in a state of ferment.

³² So immediately he took soldiers and centurions and hurried down among them; and when the people saw the commandant and the troops, they stopped beating Paul.

³³ Then the commandant approached and arrested Paul and ordered that he be secured with two chains. He then inquired who he was and what he had done.

³⁴ Some in the crowd kept shouting back one thing and others something else, and since he could not ascertain the facts because of the furor, he ordered that Paul be removed to the barracks.

³⁵ And when [Paul] came to mount the steps, he was actually being carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob;

³⁶ For the mass of the people kept following them, shouting, Away with him! [Kill him!]

Read full chapter

29 And Job again took up his discussion and said,

² Oh, that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me,^(A)

³ When His lamp shone above and upon my head and by His light I walked through darkness;

⁴ As I was in the [prime] ripeness of my days, when the friendship and counsel of God were over my tent,

⁵ When the Almighty was yet with me and my children were about me,

⁶ When my steps [through rich pasturage] were washed with butter and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!

⁷ When I went out to the gate of the city, when I prepared my seat in the street [the broad place for the council at the city’s gate],

⁸ The young men saw me and hid themselves; the aged rose up and stood;

⁹ The princes refrained from talking and laid their hands on their mouths;

¹⁰ The voices of the nobles were hushed, and their tongues cleaved to the roof of their mouths.

¹¹ For when the ear heard, it called me happy and blessed me; and when the eye saw, it testified for me [approvingly],

¹² Because I delivered the poor who cried, the fatherless and him who had none to help him.

¹³ The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.

¹⁴ I put on ^[a]righteousness, and it clothed me or clothed itself with me; my justice was like a robe and a turban or a diadem or a crown!

¹⁵ I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame.

¹⁶ I was a father to the poor and needy; the cause of him I did not know I searched out.

¹⁷ And I broke the jaws or the big teeth of the unrighteous and plucked the prey out of his teeth.

¹⁸ Then I said, I shall die in or beside my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand.

¹⁹ My root is spread out and open to the waters, and the dew lies all night upon my branch.

²⁰ My glory and honor are fresh in me [being constantly renewed], and my bow gains [ever] new strength in my hand.

²¹ Men listened to me and waited and kept silence for my counsel.

²² After I spoke, they did not speak again, and my speech dropped upon them [like a refreshing shower].

²³ And they waited for me as for the rain, and they opened their mouths wide as for the spring rain.

²⁴ I smiled on them when they had no confidence, and their depression did not cast down the light of my countenance.

²⁵ I chose their way [for them] and sat as [their] chief, and dwelt like a king among his soldiers, like one who comforts mourners.

30 But now they who are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.

² Yes, how could the strength of their hands profit me? They were men whose ripe age and vigor had perished.

³ They are gaunt with want and famine; they gnaw the dry and barren ground or flee into the wilderness, into the gloom of wasteness and desolation.

⁴ They pluck saltwort or mallows among the bushes, and roots of the broom for their food or to warm them.

⁵ They are driven from among men, who shout after them as after a thief.

⁶ They must dwell in the clefts of frightful valleys (gullies made by torrents) and in holes of the earth and of the rocks.

⁷ Among the bushes they bray and howl [like wild animals]; beneath the prickly scrub they fling themselves and huddle together.

⁸ Sons of the worthless and nameless, they have been scourged and crushed out of the land.

⁹ And now I have become their song; yes, I am a byword to them.

¹⁰ They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, and do not refrain from spitting in my face or at the sight of me.

¹¹ For God has loosed my bowstring and afflicted and humbled me; they have cast off the bridle [of restraint] before me.

¹² On my right hand rises the rabble brood; they jostle me and push away my feet, and they cast up against me their ways of destruction [like an advancing army].

¹³ They break up and clutter my path [embarrassing my plans]; they urge on my calamity, even though they have no helper [and are themselves helpless].

¹⁴ As through a wide breach they come in; amid the crash [of falling walls] they roll themselves upon me.

¹⁵ Terrors are turned upon me; my honor and reputation they chase away like the wind, and my welfare has passed away as a cloud.

¹⁶ And now my life is poured out within me; the days of affliction have gripped me.

¹⁷ My bones are pierced [with aching] in the night season, and the pains that gnaw me take no rest.

¹⁸ By the great force [of my disease] my garment is disguised and disfigured; it binds me about like the collar of my coat.

¹⁹ [God] has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.

²⁰ I cry to You, [Lord,] and You do not answer me; I stand up, but You [only] gaze [indifferently] at me.

²¹ You have become harsh and cruel to me; with the might of Your hand You [keep me alive only to] persecute me.

²² You lift me up on the wind; You cause me to ride upon it, and You toss me about in the tempest.

²³ For I know that You will bring me to death and to the house [of meeting] appointed for all the living.

²⁴ However, does not one falling in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand? Or in his calamity will he not therefore cry for help?

²⁵ Did not I weep for him who was in trouble? Was not my heart grieved for the poor and needy?

²⁶ But when I looked for good, then evil came to me; and when I waited for light, there came darkness.

²⁷ My heart is troubled and does not rest; days of affliction come to meet me.

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

²⁹ I am a brother to jackals [which howl], and a companion to ostriches [which scream dismally].

³⁰ My skin falls from me in blackened flakes, and my bones are burned with heat.

³¹ Therefore my lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of those who weep.

31 I dictated a covenant (an agreement) to my eyes; how then could I look [lustfully] upon a girl?

² For what portion should I have from God above [if I were lewd], and what heritage from the Almighty on high?

³ Does not calamity [justly] befall the unrighteous, and disaster the workers of iniquity?

⁴ Does not [God] see my ways and count all my steps?

⁵ If I have walked with falsehood or vanity, or if my foot has hastened to deceit—

⁶ Oh, let me be weighed in a just balance and let Him weigh me, that God may know my integrity!

⁷ If my step has turned out of [God’s] way, and my heart has gone the way my eyes [covetously] invited, and if any spot has stained my hands with guilt,

⁸ Then let me sow and let another eat; yes, let the produce of my field or my offspring be rooted out.

⁹ If my heart has been deceived and I made a fool by a woman, or if I have [covetously] laid wait at my neighbor’s door [until his departure],

¹⁰ Then let my wife grind [meal, like a bondslave] for another, and let others bow down upon her.

¹¹ For [adultery] is a heinous and chief crime, an iniquity [to demand action by] the judges and punishment.^(B)

¹² For [uncontrolled passion] is a fire which consumes to Abaddon (to destruction, ruin, and the place of final torment); [that fire once lighted would rage until all is consumed] and would burn to the root all my [life’s] increase.

¹³ If I have despised and rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant when they contended or brought a complaint against me,

¹⁴ What then shall I do when God rises up [to judge]? When He visits [to inquire of me], what shall I answer Him?^(C)

¹⁵ Did not He Who made me in the womb make [my servant]? And did not One fashion us both in the womb?^(D)

¹⁶ If I have withheld from the poor and needy what they desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to look in vain [for relief],

¹⁷ Or have eaten my morsel alone and have not shared it with the fatherless—

¹⁸ No, but from my youth [the fatherless] grew up with me as a father, and I have been [the widow’s] guide from my mother’s womb—

¹⁹ If I have seen anyone perish for want of clothing, or any poor person without covering,

²⁰ If his loins have not blessed me [for clothing them], and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep,

²¹ If I have lifted my hand against the fatherless when I saw [that the judges would be favorable and be] my help at the [council] gate,

²² Then let my shoulder fall away from my shoulder blade, and my arm be broken from its socket.

²³ For calamity from God was a terror to me, and because of His majesty I could not endure [to face Him] and could do nothing.^(E)

²⁴ If I have made gold my trust and hope or have said to fine gold, You are my confidence,

²⁵ If I rejoiced because my wealth was great and because my [powerful] hand [alone] had gotten much,

²⁶ If I beheld [as an object of worship] the sunlight when it shone or the moon walking in its brightness,

²⁷ And my heart has been secretly enticed by them or my mouth has kissed my hand [in homage to them],

²⁸ This also would have been [a heinous and principal] iniquity to demand the judges’ action and punishment, for I would have denied and been false to the God Who is above.^(F)

²⁹ If I rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me or lifted myself up [in malicious triumph] when evil overtook him—

³⁰ No, I have let my mouth sin neither by cursing my enemy nor by praying that he might die—

³¹ [Just ask] if the men of my tent will not say, Who can find one in need who has not been satisfied with food he gave them?—

³² The temporary resident has not lodged in the street, but I have opened my door to the wayfaring man—

³³ If like Adam or like [other] men I have concealed my transgressions, by hiding my iniquity in my bosom

³⁴ Because I feared the great multitude and the contempt of families terrified me so that I kept silence and did not go out of the door—

³⁵ Oh, for a hearing! Oh, for an answer from the Almighty! Let my adversary write out His indictment [and put His vague accusations in tangible form] in a book!

³⁶ Surely I would [proudly] bear it on my shoulder and wind the scroll about my head as a diadem.

³⁷ I would count out to Him the number of my steps [with every detail of my life], approaching His presence as a prince—

³⁸ For if my land has cried out against me and its furrows have complained together with tears [that I have no right to them],

³⁹ If I have eaten its fruits without paying for them or have caused its [rightful] owners to breathe their last,

⁴⁰ Let thistles grow instead of wheat and cockleburs instead of barley. The [controversial] words of Job [with his friends] are ended.