Job 27-28

New American Standard Bible

Job Affirms His Righteousness

27 Job again took up his ^(A)discourse and said,

²“As God lives, ^(B)who has taken away my right,
And the Almighty, ^(C)who has embittered my soul,
³For as long as ^[a]life is in me,
And the ^[b]^(D)breath of God is in my nostrils,
⁴My lips certainly will not speak unjustly,
Nor will ^(E)my tongue mutter deceit.
⁵Far be it from me that I should declare you right;
Until I die, ^(F)I will not ^[c]give up my integrity.
⁶I have ^(G)kept hold of my righteousness and will not let it go.
My heart does not rebuke any of my days.

The State of the Godless

⁷“May my enemy be as the wicked,
And ^[d]my opponent as the criminal.
⁸For what is ^(H)the hope of the godless when he makes an end of life,
When God requires ^(I)his ^[e]life?
⁹Will God ^(J)hear his cry
When ^(K)distress comes upon him?
¹⁰Or will he take ^(L)pleasure in the Almighty?
Will he call on God at all times?
¹¹I will instruct you in the ^[f]power of God;
What is with the Almighty I will not conceal.
¹²Behold, all of you have seen it;
Why then do you talk of nothing?

¹³“This is ^(M)the portion of a wicked person from God,
And the inheritance which ^(N)tyrants receive from the Almighty:
¹⁴Though his sons are many, ^[g]they are destined ^(O)for the sword;
And his ^(P)descendants will not be satisfied with bread.
¹⁵His survivors will be buried because of the plague,
And ^[h]their ^(Q)widows will not be able to weep.
¹⁶Though he piles up silver like dust,
And prepares garments as plentiful as the clay,
¹⁷He may prepare it, ^(R)but the righteous will wear it
And the innocent will divide the silver.
¹⁸He has built his ^(S)house like the ^[i]spider’s web,
Or a hut which the watchman has made.
¹⁹He lies down rich, but never ^[j]again;
He opens his eyes, and ^(T)it no longer exists.
²⁰^(U)Terrors overtake him like a flood;
A storm steals him away ^(V)in the night.
²¹The east ^(W)wind carries him away, and he is gone;
For it sweeps him ^(X)away from his place.
²²For it will hurl at him ^(Y)without mercy;
He will certainly try to ^(Z)flee from its ^[k]power.
²³People will ^[l]clap their hands at him,
And will ^(AA)whistle at him from their places.

Job Tells of Earth’s Treasures

28 “Certainly there is a ^[m]mine for silver
And a place ^[n]for refining gold.
²Iron is taken from the dust,
And copper is smelted from rock.
³Man puts an end to darkness,
And ^(AB)to the farthest limit he searches out
The rock in gloom and deep shadow.
⁴He ^[o]sinks a shaft away from ^[p]inhabited areas,
Forgotten by the foot;
They hang and swing, away from people.
⁵^[q]From the earth comes food,
And underneath, it is turned over like fire.
⁶Its rocks are the ^[r]source of sapphires,
And its dust contains gold.
⁷No bird of prey knows the path,
Nor has the falcon’s eye caught sight of it.
⁸The ^[s]proud animals have not trodden it,
Nor has the lion passed over it.
⁹He puts his hand on the flint;
He overturns the mountains at the ^[t]base.
¹⁰He carves out channels through the rocks,
And his eye sees anything precious.
¹¹He dams up the streams from ^[u]flowing,
And brings to light what is hidden.

The Search for Wisdom Is Harder

¹²“But ^(AC)where can wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
¹³^(AD)Mankind does not know its value,
Nor is it found in the land of the living.
¹⁴The ocean depth says, ‘It is not in me’;
And the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
¹⁵^(AE)Pure gold cannot be given in exchange for it,
Nor can silver be weighed as its price.
¹⁶It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
In precious onyx, or sapphire.
¹⁷^(AF)Gold or glass cannot equal it,
Nor can it be exchanged for articles of pure gold.
¹⁸Coral and crystal are not to be mentioned;
And the acquisition of ^(AG)wisdom is more valuable than pearls.
¹⁹The topaz of ^[v]Cush cannot equal it,
Nor can it be valued in ^(AH)pure gold.
²⁰^(AI)Where then does wisdom come from?
And where is this place of understanding?
²¹It is hidden from the eyes of every living creature,
And concealed from the birds of the sky.
²²^[w]^(AJ)Abaddon and Death say,
‘With our ears we have heard a report of it.’

²³“^(AK)God understands its way,
And He knows its place.
²⁴For He ^(AL)looks to the ends of the earth;
He sees everything under the heavens.
²⁵When He imparted ^(AM)weight to the wind,
And ^(AN)assessed the waters by measure,
²⁶When He made a ^(AO)limit for the rain,
And a course for the ^(AP)thunderbolt,
²⁷Then He saw it and declared it;
He established it and also searched it out.
²⁸And to mankind He said, ‘Behold, the ^(AQ)fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;
And to turn away from evil is understanding.’”

Footnotes

Job 27:3 Lit breath
Job 27:3 Or spirit
Job 27:5 Lit remove from me
Job 27:7 Lit one who rises up against me
Job 27:8 Or soul
Job 27:11 Lit hand
Job 27:14 Lit the sword is for them
Job 27:15 As in ancient versions; Heb his
Job 27:18 As in ancient versions; Heb moth
Job 27:19 As in ancient versions; Heb will be gathered
Job 27:22 Lit hand
Job 27:23 I.e., mock and ridicule him
Job 28:1 Lit source
Job 28:1 Lit for gold they refine
Job 28:4 Lit breaks open
Job 28:4 Lit sojourning
Job 28:5 Lit Earth, from it
Job 28:6 Or place
Job 28:8 Lit sons of pride
Job 28:9 Lit root
Job 28:11 Lit weeping
Job 28:19 Or Ethiopia
Job 28:22 I.e., Destruction

1 Corinthians 5-6

New American Standard Bible

Sexual Immorality Rebuked

5 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and sexual immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, namely, that someone has ^(A)his father’s wife. ²^[a]You ^(B)have become ^[b]arrogant and ^[c]have not ^(C)mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be ^(D)removed from your midst.

³For I, on my part, though ^(E)absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present. ⁴^(F)In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and ^[d]I with you in spirit, ^(G)with the power of our Lord Jesus, ⁵I have decided ^[e]to ^(H)turn such a person over to ^(I)Satan for the destruction of his ^[f]body, so that his spirit may be saved on ^(J)the day of the ^[g]Lord.

⁶^(K)Your boasting is not good. ^(L)Do you not know that ^(M)a little ^[h]leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? ⁷Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new lump, just as you are in fact unleavened. For Christ our ^(N)Passover also has been sacrificed. ⁸Therefore let’s celebrate the feast, ^(O)not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

⁹I wrote to you in my letter ^(P)not to associate with sexually immoral people; ¹⁰I did not at all mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the greedy and swindlers, or with ^(Q)idolaters, for then you would have to leave the world. ¹¹But ^[i]actually, I ^[j]wrote to you not to associate ^[k]with any so-called ^(R)brother if he is a sexually immoral person, or a greedy person, or ^(S)an idolater, or is verbally abusive, or habitually drunk, or a swindler—not even to eat with such a person. ¹²For what business of mine is it to judge ^(T)outsiders? ^(U)Do you not judge those who are within the church? ¹³But those who are outside, God ^[l]judges. ^(V)Remove the evil person from among yourselves.

Lawsuits Discouraged

6 Does any one of you, when he has a ^[m]case against ^[n]his neighbor, dare to go to law before the unrighteous and ^(W)not before the ^[o]saints? ²Or ^(X)do you not know that ^(Y)the ^[p]saints will judge ^(Z)the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to form the smallest ^[q]law courts? ³^(AA)Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life? ⁴So if you have law courts dealing with matters of this life, ^[r]do you appoint them as judges who are of no account in the church? ⁵^(AB)I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not among you anyone wise who will be able to decide between his ^(AC)brothers and sisters, ⁶but brother goes to law with brother, and that before ^(AD)unbelievers?

⁷Actually, then, it is already a defeat for you, that you have lawsuits with one another. ^(AE)Why not rather suffer the wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? ⁸On the contrary, you yourselves do wrong and defraud. And this to your ^(AF)brothers and sisters!

⁹Or ^(AG)do you not know that the unrighteous will not ^(AH)inherit the kingdom of God? ^(AI)Do not be deceived; ^(AJ)neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor ^[s]homosexuals, ¹⁰nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor those habitually drunk, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will ^(AK)inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹^(AL)Such were some of you; but you were ^(AM)washed, but you were ^(AN)sanctified, but you were ^(AO)justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and ^[t]in the Spirit of our God.

The Body Is the Lord’s

¹²^(AP)All things are permitted for me, but not all things are of benefit. All things are permitted for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. ¹³^(AQ)Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, however God will ^(AR)do away with both ^[u]of them. But the body is not for sexual immorality, but ^(AS)for the Lord, and ^(AT)the Lord is for the body. ¹⁴Now God has not only ^(AU)raised the Lord, but ^(AV)will also raise us up through His power. ¹⁵^(AW)Do you not know that ^(AX)your bodies are parts of Christ? Shall I then take away the parts of Christ and make them parts of a prostitute? ^[v]^(AY)Far from it! ¹⁶Or ^(AZ)do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, “^(BA)The two shall become one flesh.” ¹⁷But the one who joins himself to the Lord is ^(BB)one spirit with Him. ¹⁸^(BC)Flee sexual immorality. Every other sin that a person commits is outside the body, but the ^[w]sexually immoral person sins against his own body. ¹⁹Or ^(BD)do you not know that ^(BE)your body is a ^[x]temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from ^[y]God, and that ^(BF)you are not your own? ²⁰For ^(BG)you have been bought for a price: therefore glorify God in ^(BH)your body.