Job 34

New King James Version

Elihu Proclaims God’s Justice

34 Elihu further answered and said:

²“Hear my words, you wise men;
Give ear to me, you who have knowledge.
³^(A)For the ear tests words
As the palate tastes food.
⁴Let us choose justice for ourselves;
Let us know among ourselves what is good.

⁵“For Job has said, ^(B)‘I am righteous,
But ^(C)God has taken away my justice;
⁶^(D)Should I lie concerning my right?
My ^[a]wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.’
⁷What man is like Job,
^(E)Who drinks ^[b]scorn like water,
⁸Who goes in company with the workers of iniquity,
And walks with wicked men?
⁹For ^(F)he has said, ‘It profits a man nothing
That he should delight in God.’

¹⁰“Therefore listen to me, you ^[c]men of understanding:
^(G)Far be it from God to do wickedness,
And from the Almighty to commit iniquity.
¹¹^(H)For He repays man according to his work,
And makes man to find a reward according to his way.
¹²Surely God will never do wickedly,
Nor will the Almighty ^(I)pervert justice.
¹³Who gave Him charge over the earth?
Or who appointed Him over the whole world?
¹⁴If He should set His heart on it,
If He should ^(J)gather to Himself His Spirit and His breath,
¹⁵^(K)All flesh would perish together,
And man would return to dust.

¹⁶“If you have understanding, hear this;
Listen to the sound of my words:
¹⁷^(L)Should one who hates justice govern?
Will you ^(M)condemn Him who is most just?
¹⁸^(N)Is it fitting to say to a king, ‘You are worthless,’
And to nobles, ‘You are wicked’?
¹⁹Yet He ^(O)is not partial to princes,
Nor does He regard the rich more than the poor;
For ^(P)they are all the work of His hands.
²⁰In a moment they die, ^(Q)in the middle of the night;
The people are shaken and pass away;
The mighty are taken away without a hand.

²¹“For^(R) His eyes are on the ways of man,
And He sees all his steps.
²²^(S)There is no darkness nor shadow of death
Where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.
²³For He need not further consider a man,
That he should go before God in judgment.
²⁴^(T)He breaks in pieces mighty men without inquiry,
And sets others in their place.
²⁵Therefore He knows their works;
He overthrows them in the night,
And they are crushed.
²⁶He strikes them as wicked men
In the open sight of others,
²⁷Because they ^(U)turned back from Him,
And ^(V)would not consider any of His ways,
²⁸So that they ^(W)caused the cry of the poor to come to Him;
For He ^(X)hears the cry of the afflicted.
²⁹When He gives quietness, who then can make trouble?
And when He hides His face, who then can see Him,
Whether it is against a nation or a man alone?—
³⁰That the hypocrite should not reign,
Lest the people be ensnared.

³¹“For has anyone said to God,
‘I have borne chastening;
I will offend no more;
³²Teach me what I do not see;
If I have done iniquity, I will do no more’?
³³Should He repay it according to your terms,
Just because you disavow it?
You must choose, and not I;
Therefore speak what you know.

³⁴“Men of understanding say to me,
Wise men who listen to me:
³⁵‘Job^(Y) speaks without knowledge,
His words are without wisdom.’
³⁶Oh, that Job were tried to the utmost,
Because his answers are like those of wicked men!
³⁷For he adds ^(Z)rebellion to his sin;
He claps his hands among us,
And multiplies his words against God.”

Footnotes

Job 34:6 Lit. arrow
Job 34:7 derision
Job 34:10 men of heart

1 Corinthians 4-6

New King James Version

Stewards of the Mysteries of God

4 Let a man so consider us, as ^(A)servants of Christ ^(B)and stewards of the mysteries of God. ²Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful. ³But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human ^[a]court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. ⁴For I know of nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this; but He who judges me is the Lord. ⁵^(C)Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to ^(D)light the hidden things of darkness and ^(E)reveal the ^[b]counsels of the hearts. ^(F)Then each one’s praise will come from God.

Fools for Christ’s Sake

⁶Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that you may learn in us not to think beyond what is written, that none of you may be ^[c]puffed up on behalf of one against the other. ⁷For who ^[d]makes you differ from another? And ^(G)what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?

⁸You are already full! ^(H)You are already rich! You have reigned as kings without us—and indeed I could wish you did reign, that we also might reign with you! ⁹For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a ^(I)spectacle ^[e]to the world, both to angels and to men. ¹⁰We are ^(J)fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ! ^(K)We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are dishonored! ¹¹To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless. ¹²^(L)And we labor, working with our own hands. ^(M)Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; ¹³being defamed, we ^[f]entreat. ^(N)We have been made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now.

Paul’s Paternal Care

¹⁴I do not write these things to shame you, but ^(O)as my beloved children I warn you. ¹⁵For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for ^(P)in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. ¹⁶Therefore I urge you, ^(Q)imitate me. ¹⁷For this reason I have sent ^(R)Timothy to you, ^(S)who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord, who will ^(T)remind you of my ways in Christ, as I ^(U)teach everywhere ^(V)in every church.

¹⁸^(W)Now some are ^[g]puffed up, as though I were not coming to you. ¹⁹^(X)But I will come to you shortly, ^(Y)if the Lord wills, and I will know, not the word of those who are puffed up, but the power. ²⁰For ^(Z)the kingdom of God is not in word but in ^(AA)power. ²¹What do you want? ^(AB)Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of gentleness?

Immorality Defiles the Church

5 It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even ^[h]named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s ^(AC)wife! ²^(AD)And you are ^[i]puffed up, and have not rather ^(AE)mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you. ³^(AF)For I indeed, as absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged (as though I were present) him who has so done this deed. ⁴In the ^(AG)name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, ^(AH)with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁵^(AI)deliver such a one to ^(AJ)Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord ^[j]Jesus.

⁶^(AK)Your glorying is not good. Do you not know that ^(AL)a little leaven leavens the whole lump? ⁷Therefore ^[k]purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed ^(AM)Christ, our ^(AN)Passover, was sacrificed ^[l]for us. ⁸Therefore ^(AO)let us keep the feast, ^(AP)not with old leaven, nor ^(AQ)with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Immorality Must Be Judged

⁹I wrote to you in my epistle ^(AR)not to ^[m]keep company with sexually immoral people. ¹⁰Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go ^(AS)out of the world. ¹¹But now I have written to you not to keep company ^(AT)with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—^(AU)not even to eat with such a person.

¹²For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? ¹³But those who are outside God judges. Therefore ^(AV)“put away from yourselves the evil person.”

Do Not Sue the Brethren

6 Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the ^(AW)saints? ²Do you not know that ^(AX)the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? ³Do you not know that we shall ^(AY)judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life? ⁴If then you have ^[n]judgments concerning things pertaining to this life, do you appoint those who are least esteemed by the church to judge? ⁵I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren? ⁶But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers!

⁷Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. ^(AZ)Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated? ⁸No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren! ⁹Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. ^(BA)Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor ^[o]homosexuals, nor ^[p]sodomites, ¹⁰nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹And such were ^(BB)some of you. ^(BC)But you were washed, but you were ^[q]sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

Glorify God in Body and Spirit

¹²^(BD)All things are lawful for me, but all things are not ^[r]helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of ^[s]any. ¹³^(BE)Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for ^(BF)sexual immorality but ^(BG)for the Lord, ^(BH)and the Lord for the body. ¹⁴And ^(BI)God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up ^(BJ)by His power.

¹⁵Do you not know that ^(BK)your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! ¹⁶Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For ^(BL)“the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.” ¹⁷^(BM)But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.

¹⁸^(BN)Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins ^(BO)against his own body. ¹⁹Or ^(BP)do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, ^(BQ)and you are not your own? ²⁰For ^(BR)you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body ^[t]and in your spirit, which are God’s.