Satan Attacks Job’s Health

2 Again ^(A)there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord. ² And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?”

^(B)Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.”

³ Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, ^(C)a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil? And still he ^(D)holds fast to his integrity, although you incited Me against him, ^(E)to ^[a]destroy him without cause.”

⁴ So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. ^5 (F)But stretch out Your hand now, and touch his ^(G)bone and his flesh, and he will surely ^[b]curse You to Your face!”

^6 (H)And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life.”

⁷ So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and struck Job with painful boils ^(I)from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. ⁸ And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself ^(J)while he sat in the midst of the ashes.

⁹ Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? ^[c]Curse God and die!”

¹⁰ But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. ^(K)Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” ^(L)In all this Job did not ^(M)sin with his lips.

Job’s Three Friends

¹¹ Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him, each one came from his own place—Eliphaz the ^(N)Temanite, Bildad the ^(O)Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. For they had made an appointment together to come ^(P)and mourn with him, and to comfort him. ¹² And when they raised their eyes from afar, and did not recognize him, they lifted their voices and wept; and each one tore his robe and ^(Q)sprinkled dust on his head toward heaven. ¹³ So they sat down with him on the ground ^(R)seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great.

Do Not Judge^(A)

7 “Judge^{[a] (B)}not, that you be not judged. ² For with what ^[b]judgment you judge, you will be judged; ^(C)and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. ^3 (D)And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? ⁴ Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye? ⁵ Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

^6 (E)“Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces.

Keep Asking, Seeking, Knocking^(F)

^7 (G)“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. ⁸ For ^(H)everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. ^9 (I)Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? ¹¹ If you then, ^(J)being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! ¹² Therefore, ^(K)whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for ^(L)this is the Law and the Prophets.

The Narrow Way^(M)

^13 (N)“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. ^14 [c]Because narrow is the gate and ^[d]difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.

You Will Know Them by Their Fruits^(O)

^15 (P)“Beware of false prophets, ^(Q)who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. ^16 (R)You will know them by their fruits. ^(S)Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ Even so, ^(T)every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. ^19 (U)Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

I Never Knew You^(V)

²¹ “Not everyone who says to Me, ^(W)‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who ^(X)does the will of My Father in heaven. ²² Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we ^(Y)not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ ²³ And ^(Z)then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; ^(AA)depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’

Build on the Rock^(AB)

²⁴ “Therefore ^(AC)whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: ²⁵ and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.

²⁶ “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: ²⁷ and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”

²⁸ And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that ^(AD)the people were astonished at His teaching, ^29 (AE)for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

Our Inheritance Through Christ’s Blood

2 Therefore, ^(A)laying aside all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking, ^2 (B)as newborn babes, desire the pure ^(C)milk of the word, that you may grow ^[a]thereby, ³ if indeed you have ^(D)tasted that the Lord is gracious.

The Chosen Stone and His Chosen People^(E)

⁴ Coming to Him as to a living stone, ^(F)rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, ⁵ you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶ Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture,

⁷ Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who ^[b]are disobedient,

⁸ and

^(J)They stumble, being disobedient to the word, ^(K)to which they also were appointed.

⁹ But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of ^(L)darkness into His marvelous light; ^10 (M)who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.

Living Before the World

¹¹ Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts ^(N)which war against the soul, ^12 (O)having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, ^(P)they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.

Submission to Government^(Q)

^13 (R)Therefore submit yourselves to every ^[c]ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, ¹⁴ or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. ¹⁵ For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men— ^16 (S)as free, yet not ^(T)using liberty as a cloak for ^[d]vice, but as bondservants of God. ¹⁷ Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear ^(U)God. Honor the king.