Job 17-18

English Standard Version

Job Continues: Where Then Is My Hope?

17 “My spirit is broken; my days are ^(A)extinct;
^(B)the graveyard is ready for me.
²Surely there are mockers about me,
and my eye dwells on their ^(C)provocation.

³“Lay down a pledge for me with you;
    who is there who will put up ^(D)security for me?
⁴Since you have closed their hearts to understanding,
    therefore you will not let them triumph.
⁵He who informs against his friends to get a share of their property—
    the ^(E)eyes of his children will fail.

⁶“He has made me ^(F)a byword of the peoples,
    and I am one before whom men spit.
⁷My ^(G)eye has grown dim from vexation,
    and all my members are like ^(H)a shadow.
⁸The upright are ^(I)appalled at this,
    and the innocent stirs himself up against the godless.
⁹Yet the righteous holds to his way,
    and he who has ^(J)clean hands grows stronger and stronger.
¹⁰But you, ^(K)come on again, all of you,
    and I shall not find a wise man among you.
¹¹My ^(L)days are past; my plans are broken off,
    the desires of my heart.
¹²They ^(M)make night into day:
    ‘The light,’ they say, ‘is near to the darkness.’^[a]
¹³If I hope for ^(N)Sheol as ^(O)my house,
    if I make my bed in darkness,
¹⁴if I say to the pit, ‘You are my father,’
    and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’
¹⁵where then is my hope?
    Who will see my hope?
¹⁶Will it go down to the bars of ^(P)Sheol?
    Shall we ^(Q)descend together ^(R)into the dust?”^[b]

Bildad Speaks: God Punishes the Wicked

18 Then ^(S)Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:

²“How long will you ^(T)hunt for words?
    Consider, and then we will speak.
³Why are we counted as ^(U)cattle?
    Why are we stupid in your sight?
⁴You who ^(V)tear yourself in your anger,
    shall the earth be forsaken for you,
    or ^(W)the rock be removed out of its place?

⁵“Indeed, ^(X)the light of the wicked is put out,
    and the flame of his fire does not shine.
⁶The light is ^(Y)dark in his tent,
    and his lamp above him is put out.
⁷His strong steps are shortened,
    and his ^(Z)own schemes throw him down.
⁸For he is cast into a net by his own feet,
    and he walks on its mesh.
⁹^(AA)A trap seizes him by the heel;
    a snare lays hold of him.
¹⁰A rope is hidden for him in the ground,
    a trap for him in the path.
¹¹^(AB)Terrors frighten him on every side,
    and chase him at his heels.
¹²His strength is famished,
    and calamity is ^(AC)ready for his stumbling.
¹³It consumes the parts of his skin;
    ^(AD)the firstborn of death consumes his limbs.
¹⁴He is torn from the tent in which he trusted
    and is brought to ^(AE)the king of terrors.
¹⁵In his tent dwells that which is none of his;
    ^(AF)sulfur is scattered over his habitation.
¹⁶His ^(AG)roots dry up beneath,
    and his branches ^(AH)wither above.
¹⁷His ^(AI)memory perishes from the earth,
    and he has no name in the street.
¹⁸^(AJ)He is thrust from light into darkness,
    and driven out of the world.
¹⁹He has no ^(AK)posterity or progeny among his people,
    and no survivor where he used to live.
²⁰They of the west are appalled at his ^(AL)day,
    and ^(AM)horror seizes them of the east.
²¹Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous,
    such is the place of him who ^(AN)knows not God.”

Footnotes

Job 17:12 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
Job 17:16 Or Will they go down to the bars of Sheol? Is rest to be found together in the dust?

Psalm 143

English Standard Version

My Soul Thirsts for You

A Psalm of David.

143 Hear my prayer, O Lord;
    ^(A)give ear to my pleas for mercy!
    In your ^(B)faithfulness answer me, in your ^(C)righteousness!
²^(D)Enter not into judgment with your servant,
    for no one living is righteous ^(E)before you.

³For the enemy has pursued my soul;
    ^(F)he has crushed my life to the ground;
    ^(G)he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead.
⁴Therefore my spirit ^(H)faints within me;
    my heart within me is appalled.

⁵^(I)I remember the days of old;
    ^(J)I meditate on all that you have done;
    I ponder the work of your hands.
⁶^(K)I stretch out my hands to you;
    ^(L)my soul thirsts for you like ^(M)a parched land. Selah

⁷^(N)Answer me quickly, O Lord!
    ^(O)My spirit fails!
^(P)Hide not your face from me,
    ^(Q)lest I be like those who go down to the pit.
⁸^(R)Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love,
    for in you I ^(S)trust.
^(T)Make me know the way I should go,
    ^(U)for to you I lift up my soul.

⁹^(V)Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord!
    I have fled to you for refuge.^[a]
¹⁰^(W)Teach me to do your will,
    for you are my God!
^(X)Let your good Spirit ^(Y)lead me
    on ^(Z)level ground!

¹¹^(AA)For your name's sake, O Lord, ^(AB)preserve my life!
    In your righteousness ^(AC)bring my soul out of trouble!
¹²And in your steadfast love you will ^(AD)cut off my enemies,
    and you will destroy all the adversaries of my soul,
    for I am your ^(AE)servant.

Footnotes

Psalm 143:9 One Hebrew manuscript, Septuagint; most Hebrew manuscripts To you I have covered

Galatians 2

English Standard Version

Paul Accepted by the Apostles

2 Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. ²I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those ^(A)who seemed influential) the gospel that ^(B)I proclaim among the Gentiles, ^(C)in order to make sure I was not running or had not ^(D)run in vain. ³But even Titus, who was with me, ^(E)was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. ⁴^(F)Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who ^(G)slipped in to spy out ^(H)our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, ^(I)so that they might bring us into slavery— ⁵to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that ^(J)the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. ⁶And from those ^(K)who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; ^(L)God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential ^(M)added nothing to me. ⁷On the contrary, when they saw that I had been ^(N)entrusted with ^(O)the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised ⁸(for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), ⁹and when James and Cephas and John, ^(P)who seemed to be ^(Q)pillars, perceived the ^(R)grace that was given to me, they ^(S)gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. ¹⁰Only, they asked us to remember the poor, ^(T)the very thing I was eager to do.

Paul Opposes Peter

¹¹But ^(U)when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him ^(V)to his face, because he stood condemned. ¹²For before certain men came from James, ^(W)he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing ^(X)the circumcision party.^[a] ¹³And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. ¹⁴But when I saw that their ^(Y)conduct was not in step with ^(Z)the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas ^(AA)before them all, “If you, though a Jew, ^(AB)live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

Justified by Faith

¹⁵We ourselves are Jews by birth and not ^(AC)Gentile sinners; ¹⁶yet we know that ^(AD)a person is not justified^[b] by works of the law ^(AE)but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, ^(AF)because by works of the law no one will be justified.

¹⁷But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found ^(AG)to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! ¹⁸For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. ¹⁹For through the law I ^(AH)died to the law, so that I might ^(AI)live to God. ²⁰I have been ^(AJ)crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives ^(AK)in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, ^(AL)who loved me and ^(AM)gave himself for me. ²¹I do not nullify the grace of God, for ^(AN)if righteousness^[c] were through the law, ^(AO)then Christ died for no purpose.