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Job Replies
12 And Job answered:
2 “No doubt but you are the people,
and wisdom will die with you!
3 But I have understanding as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
Yes, who does not know such things as these?
4 “I am a laughingstock to my neighbor,
who calls upon God, and He answers him;
the righteous, upright man is a laughingstock.
5 He whose foot is unsteady
is despised in the thoughts of him who is at ease.
6 The tents of robbers are at peace,
and those who provoke God are secure,
into whose hand they bring their own god.
7 “But now ask the beasts, and let them teach you;
and the birds of the air, and let them tell you;
8 or speak to the earth, let it teach you;
and let the fish of the sea declare to you.
9 Who among all these does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this,
10 in whose hand is the soul of every living thing
and the breath of all mankind?
11 Does not the ear test words
and the mouth taste its food?
12 Wisdom is with the elderly,
and understanding comes with long life.
13 “With Him are wisdom and strength;
He has counsel and understanding.
14 Surely, He tears down, and it cannot be built again;
He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.
15 Surely, He withholds the waters, and they dry up;
also He sends them out, and they overthrow the earth.
16 With Him are strength and wisdom.
The deceived and the deceiver are His.
17 He leads counselors away stripped
and makes fools of judges.
18 He has loosened the bonds imposed by kings
and bound their waist with a belt.
19 He leads away priests stripped
and overthrows the mighty.
20 He removes speech from the trusted ones
and takes away the understanding of the aged.
21 He pours contempt upon princes
and loosens the belt of the mighty.
22 He uncovers deep things out of darkness
and brings the shadow of death to light.
23 He increases the nations and destroys them;
He enlarges the nations and guides them.
24 He takes away the understanding of the chiefs of the people of the earth,
and causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way.
25 They grope in the dark without light,
and He makes them to stagger like a drunk man.
13 “Notice, my eye has seen all this;
my ear has heard and understood it.
2 What you know, I also know the same;
I am not inferior to you.
3 Surely I would speak to the Almighty,
and I desire to reason with God.
4 But you are plasterers of falsehood;
you are all physicians of no value.
5 Oh, that you would altogether hold your peace,
and it would be your wisdom!
6 Hear now my reasoning,
and listen to the pleadings of my lips.
7 Will you speak wickedly for God?
And talk deceitfully for Him?
8 Will you take His side?
Will you plead for God?
9 Is it good that He would search you out?
Or as one man mocks another, do you so mock Him?
10 He will surely rebuke you,
if you secretly show partiality.
11 Will not His excellence make you afraid,
and the dread of Him fall upon you?
12 Your reminders are parables made of ashes;
your answers are answers made of clay.
13 “Hold your peace; leave me alone, that I may speak,
and let come on me what may!
14 Why do I take my flesh in my teeth
and put my life in my hand?
15 Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him,[a]
but I will defend my own ways before Him.
16 He also will be my salvation,
for a hypocrite could not come before Him.
17 Listen carefully to my speech,
and to my declaration with your ears.
18 See now, I have prepared my case;
I know that I will be justified.
19 Who is he who will plead with me?
For now, if I hold my tongue, I will give up my breath.
20 “Only grant me two things,
then I will not hide myself from You:
21 Withdraw Your hand far from me,
and let not the dread of You make me afraid.
22 Then call, and I will answer;
or let me speak, and You answer me.
23 How many are my iniquities and sins?
Make known to me my transgression and my sin.
24 Why do You hide Your face
and regard me as Your enemy?
25 Will You frighten a leaf driven to and fro?
And will You pursue dry stubble?
26 For You write bitter things against me
and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth.
27 You put my feet in the stocks
and watch closely all my paths;
You draw a line around the soles of my feet.
28 “Man, as a rotten thing, decays,
as a garment that is moth eaten.
14 “Man who is born of a woman
is of few days and full of trouble.
2 He comes forth like a flower and withers;
he flees like a shadow and does not continue.
3 Do You open Your eyes on such a one,
and bring me into judgment with You?
4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?
There is no one.
5 Seeing his days are determined,
the number of his months are with You;
You have appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;
6 turn from him, that he may rest,
until he, as a hired man, finishes his day.
7 “For there is hope for a tree,
if it is cut down, that it will sprout again,
and that its tender shoots will not cease.
8 Though its root may grow old in the earth,
and its stump may die in the ground,
9 yet at the scent of water it will bud
and bring forth boughs like a plant.
10 But man dies and wastes away;
yes, man gives up his breath, and where is he?
11 As the waters disappear from the sea,
and the flood shrivels and dries up,
12 so man lies down and does not rise;
until the heavens are no more, he will not awake,
nor be raised out of his sleep.
13 “Oh, that You would hide me in the grave,
that You would conceal me until Your wrath is past,
that You would appoint me a set time
and remember me!
14 If a man dies, will he live again?
All the days of my service I will wait,
until my relief comes.
15 You will call, and I will answer You;
You will long for the work of Your hands.
16 For now You number my steps;
do You not observe my sin?
17 My transgression is sealed up in a bag,
and You plaster over my iniquity.
18 “Surely the mountain falling comes to nothing,
and the rock is removed out of its place.
19 The waters wear away the stones;
its overflow washes away the dust of the earth;
and You destroy the hope of man.
20 You prevail forever against him, and he passes on;
changing his countenance, You send him away.
21 His sons come to honor, and he does not know it;
and they are brought low, but he does not perceive it.
22 But his flesh on him will have pain,
and his soul within him will mourn.”
Eliphaz Speaks: Job Does Not Fear God
15 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
2 “Should a wise man reply with empty knowledge
and fill his lungs with the east wind?
3 Should he reason with unprofitable talk
or with speeches with which he can do no good?
4 Yes, you cast off reverence
and hinder prayer before God.
5 For your mouth utters your iniquity,
and you choose the tongue of the crafty.
6 Your own mouth condemns you, and not I;
yes, your own lips testify against you.
7 “Are you the first man who was born?
Or were you made before the hills?
8 Have you heard the counsel of God?
And do you restrict wisdom to yourself?
9 What do you know that we do not know?
What do you understand that is not in us?
10 Both the gray-haired and very aged are among us—
much older than your father.
11 Are the consolations of God too small for you?
Or the word spoken gently to you?
12 Why does your heart carry you away?
And what do your eyes wink at,
13 that you turn your spirit against God,
and let such words go out of your mouth?
14 “What is man that he should be pure?
And he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
15 Behold, He puts no trust in His holy ones,
and the heavens are not pure in His sight.
16 How much more abhorred and corrupt is man,
who drinks iniquity like water!
17 “I will tell you; hear me,
and what I have seen I will declare,
18 what wise men have told,
not hiding anything received from their fathers,
19 to whom alone the land was given,
and no foreigner passed among them:
20 The wicked man travails with pain all his days,
and numbered are the years stored up for the oppressor.
21 A dreadful sound is in his ears;
in prosperity the destroyer will come upon him.
22 He does not believe that he will return from darkness,
and a sword awaits him.
23 He wanders about for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’
He knows that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
24 Trouble and anguish will make him afraid;
they will prevail against him as a king ready to the battle.
25 For he stretches out his hand against God,
and strengthens himself against the Almighty.
26 He rushes upon Him, even on His neck,
with his thick embossed shield.
27 “He has covered his face with his fatness
and gathered fat upon his waist.
28 He dwells in desolate cities
and in houses which no man inhabits,
which are ready to become heaps.
29 He will not be rich, nor will his wealth continue,
nor will his possessions spread over the earth.
30 He will not depart out of darkness;
the flame will dry out his branches,
and by the breath of His mouth he will go away.
31 Let him who is deceived not trust in futility,
for futility will be his reward.
32 It will be accomplished before his time,
and his branch will not be green.
33 He will shake off his unripe grape like the vine,
and will cast off his blossom like the olive.
34 For the company of hypocrites will be desolate,
and fire will consume the tents of bribery.
35 They conceive mischief, and give birth to futility;
their womb prepares deceit.”
29 Otherwise, what will they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead do not rise at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead? 30 And why do we stand in danger every hour? 31 I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. 32 If, in the manner of men, I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantage is it to me if the dead do not rise?
“Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die.”[a]
33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.” 34 Awake to righteousness and do not sin, for some do not have the knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.
The Resurrection Body
35 But someone will say, “How are the dead raised up? With what body do they come?” 36 You fool! What you sow is not made alive unless it dies. 37 When you sow, you do not sow the body that shall be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38 Then God gives it a body as He pleases, and to each seed its own body. 39 All flesh is not the same flesh. There is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fish, and another of birds. 40 There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies. The glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars. One star differs from another star in glory.
42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption. 43 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. 45 So it is written, “The first man Adam was made a living soul.”[b] The last Adam was made a life-giving spirit. 46 However, that which is spiritual is not first, but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second man was the Lord from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so are those who are of dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. 49 As we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
50 Now this I say, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible will put on incorruption, and this mortal will put on immortality. 54 When this corruptible will have put on incorruption, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then the saying that is written shall come to pass: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”[c]
55 “O death, where is your sting?
O grave, where is your victory?”[d]
56 The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!
58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
Psalm 39
For the Music Director. To Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.
1 I said, “I will take heed of my ways
so that I do not sin with my tongue;
I will keep my mouth muzzled
while the wicked are before me.”
2 I was speechless in silence;
I was silent to no avail,
but my anguish was stirred up.
3 My heart was hot within me;
while I was musing, the fire burned,
then I spoke with my tongue:
4 “Lord, make me to know my end,
and what is the measure of my days,
that I may know how transient I am.
5 Indeed, You have made my days as a handbreadth,
and my age is as nothing before You;
indeed every man at his best is as a breath.” Selah
6 Surely every man walks in a mere shadow;
surely he goes as a breath;
he heaps up riches, and does not know who will gather them.
7 Now, Lord, what do I wait for?
My hope is in You.
8 Deliver me from all my transgressions;
do not make me the reproach of the foolish.
9 I was speechless, I did not open my mouth,
because You did it.
10 Remove Your blow from me;
I am consumed by the hostility of Your hand.
11 When with rebukes You correct a man for iniquity,
You consume like a moth what is dear to him;
surely every man is vapor. Selah
12 Hear my prayer, O Lord,
and give ear to my cry;
do not be silent at my tears,
for I am a stranger with You,
and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.
13 Turn Your gaze of displeasure from me, that I may smile,
before I go away and am no more.
30 There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel
against the Lord.
31 The horse is prepared against the day of battle,
but victory is of the Lord.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.