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Job Replies: You Are Miserable Comforters
16 Then Job answered:
2 “I have heard many such things;
miserable comforters are you all!
3 Will windy words have an end?
Or what provokes you that you answer?
4 I also could speak as you do,
if your soul were in my place.
I could heap up words against you
and shake my head at you;
5 but I would strengthen you with my mouth,
and the moving of my lips would relieve your grief.
6 “Though I speak, my grief is not relieved;
and though I stop, how am I eased?
7 But now He has made me weary;
You have made desolate all my company.
8 You have filled me with wrinkles, which is a witness against me;
and my leanness has risen up and bears witness to my face.
9 He has torn me in His wrath, and He has carried a grudge against me.
He has gnashed me with His teeth;
my enemy sharpens His gaze upon me.
10 They have gaped upon me with their mouth;
they have struck me upon the cheek with reproach;
they have gathered themselves together against me.
11 God has delivered me to the ungodly
and turned me over into the hands of the wicked.
12 I was at ease, but He has shattered me.
He also has taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces,
and set me up for His target.
13 His archers surround me;
He splits open my kidneys and does not pity;
He pours out my gall upon the ground.
14 He pierces me with thrust after thrust;
He rushes upon me like a warrior.
15 “I have sewn sackcloth over my skin
and thrust my horn into the dust.
16 My face is inflamed with weeping,
and on my eyelids is the shadow of death,
17 though not for any violence in my hands,
and my prayer is pure.
18 “O earth, do not cover my blood,
and let my cry have no resting place.
19 Also now, look, my witness is in heaven,
and my record is on high.
20 My friends scorn me;
my eyes pour out tears unto God.
21 Oh, that one might plead for a man with God,
as a man pleads for his neighbor!
22 “For when a few years have passed,
I will go the way from which I will not return.
Job Prays for Relief
17 “My spirit is broken,
my days are extinguished,
the grave is ready for me.
2 Are not mockers with me?
And does not my eye dwell on their provocation?
3 “Now put down a pledge for me with Yourself.
Who is he who will shake hands with me?
4 For You have hidden their heart from understanding.
Therefore will You not exalt them.
5 He who speaks flattery to his friends,
even the eyes of his children will fail.
6 “And He has made me a byword of the people,
someone in whose face they spit.
7 My eye also is dim because of sorrow,
and all my members are like a shadow.
8 Upright men will be astonished at this,
and the innocent will stir up himself against the hypocrite.
9 The righteous also will hold to his way,
and he who has clean hands will be stronger and stronger.
10 “But as for you all, return and come now,
for I cannot find one wise man among you.
11 My days are past, my purposes are broken off,
even the thoughts of my heart.
12 They change the night into day;
the light is short because of darkness.
13 If I wait, the grave is my house;
I have made my bed in the darkness.
14 I have said to the pit, ‘You are my father’;
to the worm, ‘You are my mother and my sister.’
15 Where now is my hope?
As for my hope, who will see it?
16 Will they go down to the gates of Sheol?
Will we descend together in the dust?”
Bildad Speaks: God Punishes the Wicked
18 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:
2 “How long will it be until you put an end to words?
Gain understanding, and afterwards we will speak.
3 Why are we counted as beasts
and regarded as stupid in your sight?
4 You who tear yourself in anger,
will the earth be forsaken for you?
And will the rock be removed from its place?
5 “Yes, the light of the wicked will be put out,
and the spark of his fire will not shine.
6 The light will be dark in his tent,
and his candle beside him will be put out.
7 The steps of his strength will be shortened,
and his own counsel will cast him down.
8 For he is cast into a net by his own feet,
and he walks upon a snare.
9 The trap will take him by the heel,
and the snare will prevail against him.
10 The snare is laid for him in the ground,
and a trap for him in the path.
11 Terrors will make him afraid on every side
and will drive him to his feet.
12 His strength will be hungry,
and destruction will be ready at his side.
13 It will devour the parts of his skin;
the firstborn of death will devour his limbs.
14 His confidence will be rooted out of his tent,
and it will bring him to the king of terrors.
15 They dwell in his tent who have no part with him;
brimstone will be scattered upon his habitation.
16 His roots will be dried up beneath,
and above his branch will dry up.
17 The memory of him will perish from the earth,
and he will have no name in the street.
18 He will be driven from light into darkness,
and chased out of the world.
19 He has neither descendant nor posterity among his people,
nor anyone remaining in his dwellings.
20 They who come after him will be astonished at his day,
as they who went before were seized with fright.
21 Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked,
and this is the place of him who does not know God.”
Job Replies: My Redeemer Lives
19 Then Job answered:
2 “How long will you torment my soul
and break me in pieces with words?
3 These ten times you have reproached me;
you are not ashamed that you have wronged me.
4 And if indeed I have erred,
my error remains with me.
5 If indeed you exalt yourselves against me
and plead against me with my disgrace,
6 know now that God has bent me
and has surrounded me with His net.
7 “Look, I cry out concerning wrong, but I am not heard;
I cry aloud, but there is no justice.
8 He has fenced up my way that I cannot pass,
and He has set darkness in my paths.
9 He has stripped me of my glory
and taken the crown from my head.
10 He has destroyed me on every side, and I am gone;
my hope He has uprooted like a tree.
11 He has also kindled His wrath against me,
and He counts me as one of His enemies.
12 His troops come together
and build up their road against me;
they set up camp all around my tent.
13 “He has removed my brothers far from me,
and my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.
14 My relatives have failed,
and my close friends have forgotten me.
15 Those who dwell in my house, and my maidservants,
count me for a stranger;
I am a foreigner in their sight.
16 I called my servant, but he gave me no answer;
I begged him with my mouth.
17 My breath is offensive to my wife;
I am loathsome to the children of my own body.
18 Yes, young children despise me;
I arose, and they spoke against me.
19 All my close friends abhorred me,
and they whom I love are turned against me.
20 My bones cling to my skin and to my flesh,
and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
21 “Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O you my friends,
for the hand of God has struck me!
22 Why do you persecute me as God does,
and are not satisfied with my flesh?
23 “Oh, that my words were written!
Oh, that they were inscribed in a book!
24 That they were engraved with an iron pen
and lead in the rock forever!
25 For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and He will stand at last on the earth;
26 and after my skin is destroyed,
yet in my flesh I will see God,
27 whom I will see for myself,
and my eyes will behold, and not another.
How my heart yearns within me.
28 “If you should say, ‘How shall we persecute him?’
since the root of the matter is found in me,
29 be afraid of the sword for yourselves;
for wrath brings the punishments of the sword,
that you may know there is a judgment.”
The Contribution for the Saints
16 Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given instruction to the churches of Galatia, so even you must do. 2 On the first day of the week let every one of you lay in store, as God has prospered him, so that no collections be made when I come. 3 And when I come, I will send whomever you approve with your letters to take your generous gifts to Jerusalem. 4 If it is fitting that I go also, they will go with me.
Paul’s Plans for Travel
5 Now I will come to you after I pass through Macedonia. For I will pass through Macedonia. 6 It may be that I will remain, of course, and spend the winter with you, that you may send me on my journey wherever I go. 7 For I do not wish to see you now in passing. Instead, I trust to remain a while with you, if the Lord permits. 8 But I will remain at Ephesus until Pentecost. 9 For a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.
10 Now if Timothy comes, see that he may remain with you without fear, for he does the work of the Lord, as I also do. 11 Therefore let no one despise him. But send him on his way in peace, that he may come to me. I am expecting him with the brothers.
12 As for our brother Apollos, I greatly wanted him to come to you with the brothers. But he was not willing at all to come at this time. However, he will come when he has a convenient time.
13 Watch, stand fast in the faith, be bold like men, and be strong. 14 Let all that you do be done with love.
15 You know the house of Stephanas, that it is the first fruits of Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to the ministry of the saints. So I ask you, brothers, 16 that you submit yourselves to such people, and to everyone who helps and labors with us. 17 I am happy about the arrival of Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus, for they supplied what was lacking on your part. 18 They have refreshed my spirit and yours. Therefore acknowledge these men.
Final Request and Greetings
19 The churches of Asia greet you. Aquila and Priscilla greet you heartily in the Lord, with the church that is in their house. 20 All the brothers greet you. Greet one another with a holy kiss.
21 I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand.
22 If anyone does not love the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be accursed. Come, O Lord!
23 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
24 My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Psalm 40(A)
For the Music Director. A Psalm of David.
1 I waited patiently for the Lord,
and He turned to me, and heard my cry.
2 He also brought me up out of a horrible pit,
out of the miry clay,
and set my feet on a rock,
and established my steps.
3 He has put a new song in my mouth,
even praise to our God;
many will see it, and fear,
and will trust in the Lord.
4 Blessed is the man
who places trust in the Lord,
but does not turn toward the proud,
nor those falling away to falsehood.
5 O Lord my God,
You have done many wonderful works,
and Your thoughts toward us
cannot be compared;
if I would declare and speak of them,
they are more than can be numbered.
6 Sacrifice and offering You did not desire;
You have opened up my ears to listen.
Burnt offering and sin offering
You have not required.
7 Then I said, “Behold, I have come;
in the scroll of the book it is written of me,
8 I delight to do Your will, O my God;
Your law is within my inward parts.”
9 I have proclaimed righteousness in the great congregation;
I have not held back my lips,
O Lord, You know.
10 I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart;
I have declared Your faithfulness and Your salvation;
I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth
from the great congregation.
22 A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches,
and loving favor rather than silver and gold.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.