Job 22
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Eliphaz Speaks: Job’s Wickedness Is Great
22 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
2 “Can a mortal be of use to God?
Can even the wisest be of service to him?(A)
3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty[a] if you are righteous,
or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless?
4 Is it for your piety that he reproves you
and enters into judgment with you?(B)
5 Is not your wickedness great?
There is no end to your iniquities.(C)
6 For you have exacted pledges from your family for no reason
and stripped the naked of their clothing.(D)
7 You have given no water to the weary to drink,
and you have withheld bread from the hungry.(E)
8 The powerful possess the land,
and the favored live in it.
9 You have sent widows away empty-handed,
and the arms of the orphans you have crushed.[b](F)
10 Therefore snares are around you,
and sudden terror overwhelms you,
11 or darkness so that you cannot see;
a flood of water covers you.(G)
12 “Is not God high in the heavens?
See the highest stars, how lofty they are!
13 Therefore you say, ‘What does God know?
Can he judge through the deep darkness?(H)
14 Thick clouds enwrap him, so that he does not see,
and he walks on the dome of heaven.’
15 Will you keep to the old way
that the wicked have trod?
16 They were snatched away before their time;
their foundation was washed away by a flood.(I)
17 They said to God, ‘Leave us alone,’
and ‘What can the Almighty[c] do to us?’[d]
18 Yet he filled their houses with good things—
but the plans of the wicked are repugnant to me.(J)
19 The righteous see it and are glad;
the innocent laugh them to scorn,(K)
20 saying, ‘Surely our adversaries are cut off,
and what they left, the fire has consumed.’(L)
21 “Agree with God,[e] and be at peace;
in this way good will come to you.(M)
22 Receive instruction from his mouth,
and lay up his words in your heart.(N)
23 If you return to the Almighty,[f] you will be restored,
if you remove unrighteousness from your tents,(O)
24 if you treat gold like dust
and gold of Ophir like the stones of the torrent bed,(P)
25 and if the Almighty[g] is your gold
and your precious silver,(Q)
26 then you will delight yourself in the Almighty[h]
and lift up your face to God.(R)
27 You will pray to him, and he will hear you,
and you will pay your vows.(S)
28 You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you,
and light will shine on your ways.(T)
29 When others are humiliated, you say it is pride,
for he saves the humble.(U)
30 He will deliver even those who are guilty;
they will escape because of the cleanness of your hands.”[i](V)
Footnotes
- 22.3 Traditional rendering of Heb Shaddai
- 22.9 Gk Syr Tg Vg: Heb were crushed
- 22.17 Traditional rendering of Heb Shaddai
- 22.17 Gk Syr: Heb them
- 22.21 Heb him
- 22.23 Traditional rendering of Heb Shaddai
- 22.25 Traditional rendering of Heb Shaddai
- 22.26 Traditional rendering of Heb Shaddai
- 22.30 Meaning of Heb uncertain
1 Peter 4:7-19
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
7 The end of all things is near;[a] therefore be serious and discipline yourselves for the sake of your prayers.(A) 8 Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins.(B) 9 Be hospitable to one another without complaining. 10 Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received.(C) 11 Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.(D)
Suffering as a Christian
12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ’s sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed.(E) 14 If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory,[b] which is the Spirit of God,[c] is resting on you.[d](F) 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, a criminal, or even as a mischief maker.[e](G) 16 Yet if any of you suffers as a Christian, do not consider it a disgrace, but glorify God because you bear this name.[f] 17 For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God; if it begins with us, what will be the end for those who do not obey the gospel of God?(H) 18 And
“If it is hard for the righteous to be saved,
what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”
19 Therefore, let those suffering in accordance with God’s will entrust their lives to a faithful Creator, while continuing to do good.
Read full chapter
Job 23
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Job Replies: My Complaint Is Bitter
23 Then Job answered:
2 “Today also my complaint is bitter;[a]
his[b] hand is heavy despite my groaning.(A)
3 Oh, that I knew where I might find him,
that I might come even to his dwelling!(B)
4 I would lay my case before him
and fill my mouth with arguments.(C)
5 I would learn what he would answer me
and understand what he would say to me.
6 Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power?
No, but he would give heed to me.
7 There the upright could reason with him,
and I should be acquitted forever by my judge.(D)
8 “If I go forward, he is not there;
or backward, I cannot perceive him;(E)
9 on the left he hides, and I cannot behold him;
I turn[c] to the right, but I cannot see him.
10 But he knows the way that I take;
when he has tested me, I shall come out like gold.(F)
11 My foot has held fast to his steps;
I have kept his way and have not turned aside.(G)
12 I have not departed from the commandment of his lips;
I have treasured his words in my bosom.[d](H)
13 But he stands alone, and who can dissuade him?
What he desires, that he does.(I)
14 For he will complete what he appoints for me,
and many such things are in his mind.(J)
15 Therefore I am terrified at his presence;
when I consider, I am in dread of him.
16 God has made my heart faint;
the Almighty[e] has terrified me.(K)
17 If only I could vanish in darkness,
and thick darkness would cover my face
Mark 7:1-23
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Tradition of the Elders
7 Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, 2 they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. 3 (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they wash their hands,[a] thus observing the tradition of the elders,(A) 4 and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash,[b] and there are also many other traditions that they observe: the washing of cups and pots and bronze kettles and beds.[c])(B) 5 So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders but eat with defiled hands?”(C) 6 He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,
‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;(D)
7 in vain do they worship me,
teaching human precepts as doctrines.’
8 “You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.”(E)
9 Then he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition!(F) 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.’(G) 11 But you say that if anyone tells father or mother, ‘Whatever support you might have had from me is Corban’ (that is, an offering to God[d]),(H) 12 then you no longer permit doing anything for a father or mother, 13 thus nullifying the word of God through your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many things like this.”
14 Then he called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: 15 there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.”[e]
17 When he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18 He said to them, “So, are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile, 19 since it enters not the heart but the stomach and goes out into the sewer?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20 And he said, “It is what comes out of a person that defiles. 21 For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, pride, folly. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
Read full chapterFootnotes
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.