Job 15-16
Christian Standard Bible
Second Series of Speeches
Eliphaz Speaks
15 Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
2 Does a wise man answer with empty[a] counsel(A)
or fill himself[b] with the hot east wind?
3 Should he argue(B) with useless talk
or with words that serve no good purpose?
4 But you even undermine the fear of God
and hinder meditation before him.
5 Your iniquity(C) teaches you what to say,
and you choose the language of the crafty.
6 Your own mouth condemns you, not I;
your own lips testify against you.(D)
7 Were you the first human ever born,
or were you brought forth before the hills?(E)
8 Do you listen in on the council of God,
or have a monopoly on wisdom?(F)
9 What do you know that we don’t?
What do you understand that is not clear to us?
10 Both the gray-haired and the elderly are with us—
older than your father.
11 Are God’s consolations not enough for you,
even the words that deal gently with you?
12 Why has your heart misled you,
and why do your eyes flash
13 as you turn your anger[c] against God
and allow such words to leave your mouth?
14 What is a mere human, that he should be pure,(G)
or one born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
15 If God puts no trust in his holy ones(H)
and the heavens are not pure in his sight,(I)
16 how much less one who is revolting and corrupt,(J)
who drinks injustice(K) like water?
17 Listen to me and I will inform you.
I will describe what I have seen,
18 what the wise have declared and not concealed,
that came from their ancestors,(L)
19 to whom alone the land was given
when no foreigner passed among them.
20 A wicked person writhes in pain all his days,
throughout the number of years reserved for the ruthless.
21 Dreadful sounds fill his ears;
when he is at peace, a robber attacks him.
22 He doesn’t believe he will return from darkness;
he is destined for the sword.(M)
23 He wanders about for food, asking, “Where is it?”
He knows the day of darkness is at hand.
24 Trouble(N) and distress terrify him,
overwhelming him like a king prepared for battle.
25 For he has stretched out his hand(O) against God
and has arrogantly opposed the Almighty.
26 He rushes headlong at him
with his thick, studded shields.
27 Though his face is covered with fat[d]
and his waistline bulges with it,
28 he will dwell in ruined cities,
in abandoned houses destined to become piles of rubble.(P)
29 He will no longer be rich; his wealth will not endure.
His possessions[e] will not increase in the land.
30 He will not escape from the darkness;
flames will wither his shoots,
and by the breath of God’s mouth, he will depart.(Q)
31 Let him not put trust in worthless things, being led astray,
for what he gets in exchange will prove worthless.
32 It will be accomplished before his time,
and his branch will not flourish.
33 He will be like a vine that drops its unripe grapes(R)
and like an olive tree that sheds its blossoms.
34 For the company of the godless(S) will have no children,
and fire will consume the tents of those who offer bribes.
35 They conceive trouble(T) and give birth to evil;
their womb(U) prepares deception.(V)
Job’s Reply to Eliphaz
16 Then Job answered:
2 I have heard many things like these.
You are all miserable comforters.(W)
3 Is there no end to your empty[f](X) words?
What provokes you that you continue testifying?
4 If you were in my place I could also talk like you.
I could string words together against you
and shake my head at you.
5 Instead, I would encourage you with my mouth,
and the consolation from my lips would bring relief.(Y)
6 If I speak, my suffering is not relieved,
and if I hold back, does any of it leave me?
7 Surely he[g] has now exhausted me.
You have devastated my entire family.
8 You have shriveled me up[h]—it has become a witness;
my frailty rises up against me and testifies to my face.
9 His anger tears at me, and he harasses(Z) me.
He gnashes his teeth at me.
My enemy pierces me with his eyes.
10 They open their mouths against me
and strike my cheeks with contempt;(AA)
they join themselves together against me.
11 God hands me over to the unjust;[i]
he throws me to the wicked.
12 I was at ease, but he shattered me;
he seized me by the scruff of the neck
and smashed me to pieces.
He set me up as his target;(AB)
13 his archers[j] surround me.
He pierces my kidneys without mercy
and pours my bile on the ground.
14 He breaks through my defenses again and again;[k]
he charges at me like a warrior.(AC)
15 I have sewn sackcloth over my skin;
I have buried my strength[l] in the dust.(AD)
16 My face has grown red with weeping,
and darkness(AE) covers my eyes,
17 although my hands are free from violence(AF)
and my prayer is pure.
18 Earth, do not cover my blood;
may my cry for help find no resting place.(AG)
19 Even now my witness is in heaven,
and my advocate is in the heights!(AH)
20 My friends scoff at me
as I weep before God.
21 I wish that someone might argue for a man with God(AI)
just as anyone[m] would for a friend.
22 For only a few years will pass
before I go the way of no return.
Footnotes
- 15:2 Lit windy; Jb 16:3
- 15:2 Lit his belly
- 15:13 Or spirit
- 15:27 Lit with his fat
- 15:29 Text emended; MT reads Their gain
- 16:3 Lit windy; Jb 15:2
- 16:7 Or it
- 16:8 Or have seized me; Hb obscure
- 16:11 LXX, Vg; MT reads to a boy
- 16:13 Or arrows
- 16:14 Lit through me, breach on breach
- 16:15 Lit horn
- 16:21 Lit a son of man
Acts 25:1-12
Christian Standard Bible
Appeal to Caesar
25 Three days after Festus arrived in the province, he went up to Jerusalem from Caesarea.(A) 2 The chief priests and the leaders of the Jews presented their case against Paul to him; and they appealed,(B) 3 asking for a favor against Paul, that Festus summon him to Jerusalem. They were, in fact, preparing an ambush along the road to kill him. 4 Festus, however, answered that Paul should be kept at Caesarea, and that he himself was about to go there shortly.(C) 5 “Therefore,” he said, “let those of you who have authority go down with me and accuse him, if he has done anything wrong.”
6 When he had spent not more than eight or ten days among them, he went down to Caesarea. The next day, seated at the tribunal, he commanded Paul to be brought in.(D) 7 When he arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him and brought many serious charges that they were not able to prove.(E) 8 Then Paul made his defense: “Neither against the Jewish law,(F) nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I sinned in any way.”
9 But Festus, wanting to do the Jews a favor,(G) replied to Paul, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem to be tried before me there on these charges?”
10 Paul replied, “I am standing at Caesar’s tribunal, where I ought to be tried. I have done no wrong to the Jews, as even you yourself know very well. 11 If then I did anything wrong and am deserving of death, I am not trying to escape death; but if there is nothing to what these men accuse me of, no one can give me up to them. I appeal to Caesar!” (H)
12 Then after Festus conferred with his council, he replied, “You have appealed to Caesar; to Caesar you will go.”
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Psalm 89:35-41
Christian Standard Bible
35 Once and for all
I have sworn an oath by my holiness;
I will not lie to David.(A)
36 His offspring will continue forever,
his throne like the sun before me,(B)
37 like the moon, established forever,
a faithful witness in the sky.”(C)Selah
38 But you have spurned and rejected him;
you have become enraged with your anointed.(D)
39 You have repudiated the covenant with your servant;
you have completely dishonored his crown.[a](E)
40 You have broken down all his walls;
you have reduced his fortified cities to ruins.(F)
41 All who pass by plunder him;(G)
he has become an object of ridicule
to his neighbors.(H)
Footnotes
- 89:39 Lit have dishonored his crown to the ground
Proverbs 19:10-11
Christian Standard Bible
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