Job 18-20
Christian Standard Bible
Bildad Speaks
18 Then Bildad the Shuhite(A) replied:
2 How long until you stop talking?
Show some sense, and then we can talk.
3 Why are we regarded as cattle,
as stupid in your sight?
4 You who tear yourself in anger[a]—
should the earth be abandoned on your account,
or a rock be removed from its place?
5 Yes, the light(B) of the wicked(C) is extinguished;
the flame of his fire does not glow.
6 The light in his tent grows dark,(D)
and the lamp beside him is put out.
7 His powerful stride is shortened,
and his own schemes trip him up.(E)
8 For his own feet lead him into a net,
and he strays into its mesh.
9 A trap catches him by the heel;
a noose seizes him.
10 A rope lies hidden for him on the ground,
and a snare waits for him along the path.
11 Terrors frighten him on every side(F)
and harass him at every step.
12 His strength is depleted;
disaster lies ready for him to stumble.[b]
13 Parts of his skin are eaten away;
death’s firstborn consumes his limbs.
14 He is ripped from the security of his tent
and marched away to the king of terrors.
15 Nothing he owned remains in his tent.
Burning sulfur(G) is scattered over his home.
16 His roots below dry up,
and his branches above wither away.(H)
17 All memory(I) of him perishes from the earth;
he has no name anywhere.[c]
18 He is driven from light to darkness
and chased from the inhabited world.
19 He has no children or descendants among his people,
no survivor where he used to live.(J)
20 Those in the west are appalled(K) at his fate,
while those in the east tremble in horror.
21 Indeed, such is the dwelling of the unjust man,
and this is the place of the one who does not know God.(L)
Job’s Reply to Bildad
19 Then Job answered:
2 How long will you torment me
and crush me with words?
3 You have humiliated me ten times now,
and you mistreat[d] me without shame.(M)
4 Even if it is true that I have sinned,
my mistake concerns only[e] me.
5 If you really want to appear superior(N) to me
and would use my disgrace as evidence against me,
6 then understand that it is God who has wronged me
and caught me in his net.(O)
7 I cry out, “Violence!” but get no response;(P)
I call for help, but there is no justice.
8 He has blocked(Q) my way so that I cannot pass through;
he has veiled my paths with darkness.(R)
9 He has stripped me of my honor
and removed the crown from my head.
10 He tears me down on every side so that I am ruined.[f]
He uproots my hope like a tree.(S)
11 His anger(T) burns against me,
and he regards me as one of his enemies.(U)
12 His troops advance together;
they construct a ramp[g] against me
and camp(V) around my tent.
13 He has removed my brothers from me;
my acquaintances have abandoned me.(W)
14 My relatives stop coming by,
and my close friends have forgotten me.
15 My house guests[h] and female servants regard me as a stranger;
I am a foreigner in their sight.(X)
16 I call for my servant, but he does not answer,
even if I beg him with my own mouth.
17 My breath is offensive to my wife,
and my own family[i] finds me repulsive.
18 Even young boys scorn me.
When I stand up, they mock me.(Y)
19 All of my best friends[j] despise me,(Z)
and those I love have turned against me.(AA)
20 My skin and my flesh cling to my bones;
I have escaped with only the skin of my teeth.
21 Have mercy on me, my friends,(AB) have mercy,
for God’s hand(AC) has struck me.(AD)
22 Why do you persecute me as God does?
Will you never get enough of my flesh?
23 I wish that my words were written down,
that they were recorded on a scroll
24 or were inscribed in stone forever
by an iron stylus and lead!
25 But I know that my Redeemer lives,[k](AE)
and at the end he will stand on the dust.(AF)
26 Even after my skin has been destroyed,[l]
yet I will see God in[m] my flesh.(AG)
27 I will see him myself;
my eyes will look at him, and not as a stranger.[n]
My heart longs[o] within me.(AH)
28 If you say, “How will we pursue him,
since the root of the problem lies with him?” [p]
29 then be afraid of the sword,
because wrath brings punishment by the sword,(AI)
so that you may know there is a judgment.
Zophar Speaks
20 Then Zophar the Naamathite(AJ) replied:
2 This is why my unsettling thoughts compel me to answer,
because I am upset![q]
3 I have heard a rebuke that insults me,
and my understanding[r] makes me reply.(AK)
4 Don’t you know that ever since antiquity,
from the time a human was placed on earth,
5 the joy of the wicked has been brief
and the happiness of the godless has lasted only a moment?(AL)
6 Though his arrogance reaches heaven,
and his head touches the clouds,(AM)
7 he will vanish forever like his own dung.
Those who know[s] him will ask, “Where is he?” (AN)
8 He will fly away like a dream and never be found;
he will be chased away like a vision in the night.(AO)
9 The eye that saw him will see him no more,(AP)
and his household will no longer see him.(AQ)
10 His children will beg from[t] the poor,
for his own hands must give back his wealth.
11 His frame may be full of youthful vigor,
but it will lie down with him in dust.(AR)
12 Though evil tastes sweet in his mouth
and he conceals it under his tongue,
13 though he cherishes it and will not let it go
but keeps it in his mouth,(AS)
14 yet the food in his stomach turns
into cobras’ venom inside him.
15 He swallows wealth but must vomit it up;
God will force it from his stomach.
16 He will suck the poison of cobras;
a viper’s fangs[u] will kill him.(AT)
17 He will not enjoy the streams,
the rivers flowing with honey and curds.(AU)
18 He must return the fruit of his labor without consuming it;
he doesn’t enjoy the profits from his trading.
19 For he oppressed and abandoned the poor;
he seized a house he did not build.(AV)
20 Because his appetite is never satisfied,[v]
he does not let anything he desires escape.
21 Nothing is left for him to consume;(AW)
therefore, his prosperity will not last.
22 At the height of his success[w] distress will come to him;(AX)
the full weight of misery[x] will crush him.
23 When he fills his stomach,
God will send his burning anger against him,
raining(AY) it down on him while he is eating.[y]
24 If he flees from an iron weapon,
an arrow from a bronze bow will pierce him.
25 He pulls it out of his back,
the flashing tip out of his liver.[z]
Terrors come over him.(AZ)
26 Total darkness is reserved for his treasures.
A fire unfanned by human hands will consume(BA) him;
it will feed on what is left in his tent.
27 The heavens will expose his iniquity,(BB)
and the earth will rise up against him.(BC)
28 The possessions in his house will be removed,
flowing away on the day of God’s anger.
29 This is the wicked person’s lot(BD) from God,
the inheritance God ordained for him.
Footnotes
- 18:4 Lit He who tears himself in his anger
- 18:12 Or disaster hungers for him
- 18:17 Or name in the streets
- 19:3 Hb obscure
- 19:4 Lit mistake lives with
- 19:10 Lit gone
- 19:12 Lit they raise up their way
- 19:15 Or The resident aliens in my household
- 19:17 Lit and the sons of my belly
- 19:19 Lit of the men of my council
- 19:25 Or know my living Redeemer
- 19:26 Lit skin which they destroyed, or skin they destroyed in this way
- 19:26 Or apart from
- 19:27 Or not a stranger
- 19:27 Lit My kidneys grow faint
- 19:28 Some Hb mss, LXX, Vg; other Hb mss read me
- 20:2 Lit because of my feeling within me
- 20:3 Lit and a spirit from my understanding
- 20:7 Lit have seen
- 20:10 Or children must compensate
- 20:16 Lit tongue
- 20:20 Lit Because he does not know ease in his stomach
- 20:22 Lit In the fullness of his excess
- 20:22 Some Hb mss, LXX, Vg; other Hb mss read the hand of everyone in misery
- 20:23 Text emended; MT reads him, against his flesh
- 20:25 Or gallbladder
Psalm 141
Christian Standard Bible
Psalm 141
Protection from Sin and Sinners
A psalm of David.
1 Lord, I call on you; hurry to help me.
Listen to my voice when I call on you.(A)
2 May my prayer be set before you as incense,(B)
the raising of my hands as the evening offering.(C)
3 Lord, set up a guard for my mouth;
keep watch at the door of my lips.(D)
4 Do not let my heart turn to any evil thing
or perform wicked acts with evildoers.
Do not let me feast on their delicacies.(E)
5 Let the righteous one strike me—
it is an act of faithful love;
let him rebuke me—
it is oil for my head;
let me[a] not refuse it.(F)
Even now my prayer is against
the evil acts of the wicked.[b](G)
6 When their rulers[c] will be thrown off
the sides of a cliff,
the people[d] will listen to my words,
for they are pleasing.(H)
7 As when one plows and breaks up the soil,
turning up rocks,
so our[e] bones have been scattered
at the mouth of Sheol.(I)
Revelation 15
Christian Standard Bible
Preparation for the Bowl Judgments
15 Then I saw another great and awe-inspiring sign[a] in heaven:(A) seven angels with the seven last plagues; for with them God’s wrath will be completed.(B) 2 I also saw something like a sea of glass(C) mixed with fire, and those who had won the victory over the beast, its image,[b] and the number of its name, were standing on the sea of glass with harps from God.(D) 3 They sang the song of God’s servant Moses(E) and the song of the Lamb:
Great and awe-inspiring are your works,
Lord God, the Almighty;
just and true(F) are your ways,
King of the nations.[c](G)
4 Lord, who will not fear
and glorify your name?
For you alone are holy.(H)
All the nations will come
and worship before you(I)
because your righteous acts
have been revealed.
5 After this I looked, and the heavenly temple—the tabernacle of testimony(J)—was opened.(K) 6 Out of the temple came the seven angels with the seven plagues, dressed in pure, bright linen, with golden sashes wrapped around their chests. 7 One of the four living creatures gave the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God who lives forever and ever.(L) 8 Then the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power,(M) and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.
The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible®, and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers, all rights reserved.
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