30 But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock.

² Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished?

³ For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.

⁴ Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat.

⁵ They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief;)

⁶ To dwell in the cliffs of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks.

⁷ Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together.

⁸ They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.

⁹ And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword.

¹⁰ They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.

¹¹ Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me.

¹² Upon my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction.

¹³ They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper.

¹⁴ They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me.

¹⁵ Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud.

¹⁶ And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me.

¹⁷ My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.

¹⁸ By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.

¹⁹ He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.

²⁰ I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not.

²¹ Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.

²² Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance.

²³ For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.

²⁴ Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.

²⁵ Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor?

²⁶ When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.

²⁷ My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me.

²⁸ I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.

²⁹ I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.

³⁰ My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.

³¹ My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.

31 I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid?

² For what portion of God is there from above? and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high?

³ Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity?

⁴ Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps?

⁵ If I have walked with vanity, or if my foot hath hasted to deceit;

⁶ Let me be weighed in an even balance that God may know mine integrity.

⁷ If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath cleaved to mine hands;

⁸ Then let me sow, and let another eat; yea, let my offspring be rooted out.

⁹ If mine heart have been deceived by a woman, or if I have laid wait at my neighbour's door;

¹⁰ Then let my wife grind unto another, and let others bow down upon her.

¹¹ For this is an heinous crime; yea, it is an iniquity to be punished by the judges.

¹² For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase.

¹³ If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me;

¹⁴ What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him?

¹⁵ Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb?

¹⁶ If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail;

¹⁷ Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof;

¹⁸ (For from my youth he was brought up with me, as with a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb;)

¹⁹ If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering;

²⁰ If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;

²¹ If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate:

²² Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.

²³ For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure.

²⁴ If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence;

²⁵ If I rejoice because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much;

²⁶ If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness;

²⁷ And my heart hath been secretly enticed, or my mouth hath kissed my hand:

²⁸ This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above.

²⁹ If I rejoice at the destruction of him that hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him:

³⁰ Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by wishing a curse to his soul.

³¹ If the men of my tabernacle said not, Oh that we had of his flesh! we cannot be satisfied.

³² The stranger did not lodge in the street: but I opened my doors to the traveller.

³³ If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom:

³⁴ Did I fear a great multitude, or did the contempt of families terrify me, that I kept silence, and went not out of the door?

³⁵ Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book.

³⁶ Surely I would take it upon my shoulder, and bind it as a crown to me.

³⁷ I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I go near unto him.

³⁸ If my land cry against me, or that the furrows likewise thereof complain;

³⁹ If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life:

⁴⁰ Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.

14 And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed.

² But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, and made their minds evil affected against the brethren.

³ Long time therefore abode they speaking boldly in the Lord, which gave testimony unto the word of his grace, and granted signs and wonders to be done by their hands.

⁴ But the multitude of the city was divided: and part held with the Jews, and part with the apostles.

⁵ And when there was an assault made both of the Gentiles, and also of the Jews with their rulers, to use them despitefully, and to stone them,

⁶ They were ware of it, and fled unto Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and unto the region that lieth round about:

⁷ And there they preached the gospel.

⁸ And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother's womb, who never had walked:

⁹ The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed,

¹⁰ Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked.

¹¹ And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men.

¹² And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker.

¹³ Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people.

¹⁴ Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out,

¹⁵ And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:

¹⁶ Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways.

¹⁷ Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.

¹⁸ And with these sayings scarce restrained they the people, that they had not done sacrifice unto them.

¹⁹ And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, who persuaded the people, and having stoned Paul, drew him out of the city, supposing he had been dead.

²⁰ Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up, and came into the city: and the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe.

²¹ And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra, and to Iconium, and Antioch,

²² Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.

²³ And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.

²⁴ And after they had passed throughout Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia.

²⁵ And when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down into Attalia:

²⁶ And thence sailed to Antioch, from whence they had been recommended to the grace of God for the work which they fulfilled.

²⁷ And when they were come, and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.

²⁸ And there they abode long time with the disciples.

15 And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.

² When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question.

³ And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles: and they caused great joy unto all the brethren.

⁴ And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them.

⁵ But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.

⁶ And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter.

⁷ And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.

⁸ And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us;

⁹ And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.

¹⁰ Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?

¹¹ But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.

¹² Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them.

¹³ And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me:

¹⁴ Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.

¹⁵ And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written,

¹⁶ After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up:

¹⁷ That the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.

¹⁸ Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.

¹⁹ Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God:

²⁰ But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.

²¹ For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.

²² Then pleased it the apostles and elders with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas and Silas, chief men among the brethren:

²³ And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia.

²⁴ Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment:

²⁵ It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,

²⁶ Men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

²⁷ We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth.

²⁸ For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;

²⁹ That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.

³⁰ So when they were dismissed, they came to Antioch: and when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the epistle:

³¹ Which when they had read, they rejoiced for the consolation.

³² And Judas and Silas, being prophets also themselves, exhorted the brethren with many words, and confirmed them.

³³ And after they had tarried there a space, they were let go in peace from the brethren unto the apostles.

³⁴ Notwithstanding it pleased Silas to abide there still.

³⁵ Paul also and Barnabas continued in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.

³⁶ And some days after Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they do.

³⁷ And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark.

³⁸ But Paul thought not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work.

³⁹ And the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other: and so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto Cyprus;

⁴⁰ And Paul chose Silas, and departed, being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God.

⁴¹ And he went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches.