The Daily Audio Bible
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Bildad Speaks
8 Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:
2 How long will you go on saying these things?
Your words(A) are a blast of wind.(B)
3 Does God pervert justice?(C)
Does the Almighty pervert what is right?(D)
4 Since your children sinned against Him,
He gave them over to their rebellion.
5 But if you earnestly seek(E) God
and ask the Almighty for mercy,(F)
6 if you are pure and upright,
then He will move even now on your behalf
and restore the home where your righteousness dwells.(G)
7 Then, even if your beginnings were modest,
your final days will be full of prosperity.(H)
8 For ask the previous generation,
and pay attention to what their fathers discovered,(I)
9 since we were born only yesterday and know nothing.
Our days on earth are but a shadow.(J)
10 Will they not teach you and tell you
and speak from their understanding?
11 Does papyrus grow where there is no marsh?
Do reeds flourish without water?
12 While still uncut shoots,
they would dry up quicker than any other plant.
13 Such is the destiny[a] of all who forget God;
the hope of the godless(K) will perish.
14 His source of confidence is fragile;[b]
what he trusts in is a spider’s web.(L)
15 He leans on his web, but it doesn’t stand firm.
He grabs it, but it does not hold up.
16 He is a well-watered plant in the sunshine;
his shoots spread out over his garden.
17 His roots are intertwined around a pile of rocks.
He looks for a home among the stones.
18 If he is uprooted[c] from his place,
it will deny knowing him, saying, “I never saw you.”(M)
19 Surely this is the joy of his way of life;
yet others will sprout from the dust.
20 Look, God does not reject a person of integrity,
and He will not support evildoers.(N)
21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughter
and your lips with a shout of joy.(O)
22 Your enemies will be clothed with shame;(P)
the tent(Q) of the wicked will exist no longer.
Job’s Reply to Bildad
9 Then Job answered:
2 Yes, I know what you’ve said is true,
but how can a person be justified before God?(R)
3 If one wanted to take(S) Him to court,
he could not answer God[d] once in a thousand times.(T)
4 God is wise(U) and all-powerful.
Who has opposed Him and come out unharmed?
5 He removes mountains without their knowledge,
overturning them in His anger.(V)
6 He shakes the earth from its place
so that its pillars tremble.
7 He commands the sun not to shine
and seals off the stars.(W)
8 He alone stretches out the heavens(X)
and treads on the waves of the sea.[e]
9 He makes the stars: the Bear,[f] Orion,
the Pleiades,(Y) and the constellations[g] of the southern sky.
10 He does great and unsearchable things,
wonders without number.(Z)
11 If He passes by me, I wouldn’t see Him;(AA)
if He goes right by, I wouldn’t recognize Him.
12 If He snatches something, who can stop[h] Him?
Who can ask Him, “What are You doing?”(AB)
13 God does not hold back His anger;
Rahab’s(AC) assistants cringe in fear beneath Him!
14 How then can I answer Him
or choose my arguments against Him?
15 Even if I were in the right, I could not answer.
I could only beg my Judge for mercy.(AD)
16 If I summoned Him and He answered me,
I do not believe He would pay attention to what I said.
17 He batters me with a whirlwind(AE)
and multiplies my wounds without cause.
18 He doesn’t let me catch my breath
but soaks me with bitter experiences.
19 If it is a matter of strength, look, He is the Mighty One!(AF)
If it is a matter of justice, who can summon(AG) Him?[i]
20 Even if I were in the right, my own mouth would condemn me;(AH)
if I were blameless, my mouth would declare me guilty.
21 Though I am blameless,
I no longer care about myself;
I renounce my life.(AI)
22 It is all the same. Therefore I say,
“He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.”(AJ)
23 When disaster brings sudden death,
He mocks the despair of the innocent.
24 The earth[j] is handed over to the wicked;
He blindfolds[k] its judges.(AK)
If it isn’t He, then who is it?
25 My days fly by faster than a runner;[l](AL)
they flee without seeing any good.(AM)
26 They sweep by like boats made of papyrus,
like an eagle swooping down on its prey.(AN)
27 If I said, “I will forget my complaint,
change my expression, and smile,”
28 I would still live in terror of all my pains.(AO)
I know You will not acquit me.(AP)
29 Since I will be found guilty,(AQ)
why should I labor in vain?
30 If I wash myself with snow,
and cleanse my hands with lye,
31 then You dip me in a pit of mud,
and my own clothes despise me!
32 For He is not a man like me, that I can answer Him,(AR)
that we can take each other to court.
33 There is no one to judge between us,
to lay his hand on both of us.
34 Let Him take His rod away from me
so His terror will no longer frighten me.(AS)
35 Then I would speak and not fear Him.
But that is not the case; I am on my own.
10 I am disgusted with my life.(AT)
I will express my complaint
and speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2 I will say to God:
“Do not declare me guilty!
Let me know why You prosecute me.
3 Is it good for You to oppress,
to reject the work of Your hands,
and favor[m] the plans of the wicked?
4 Do You have eyes of flesh,
or do You see as a human sees?
5 Are Your days like those of a human,
or Your years like those of a man,(AU)
6 that You look for my wrongdoing(AV)
and search for my sin,
7 even though You know that I am not wicked
and that there is no one who can deliver from Your hand?
8 “Your hands shaped me and formed me.
Will You now turn and destroy me?
9 Please remember that You formed me like clay.
Will You now return me to dust?(AW)
10 Did You not pour me out like milk
and curdle me like cheese?
11 You clothed me with skin and flesh,
and wove me together with bones and tendons.
12 You gave me life and faithful love,
and Your care has guarded my life.
13 “Yet You concealed these thoughts in Your heart;
I know that this was Your hidden plan:[n]
14 if I sin, You would notice,[o]
and would not acquit me of my wrongdoing.(AX)
15 If I am wicked, woe to me!
And even if I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head.
I am filled with shame
and aware of my affliction.(AY)
16 If I am proud,[p] You hunt me like a lion
and again display Your miraculous power against me.(AZ)
17 You produce new witnesses[q] against me
and multiply Your anger toward me.
Hardships assault me, wave after wave.[r]
18 “Why did You bring me out of the womb?(BA)
I should have died and never been seen.
19 I wish[s] I had never existed
but had been carried from the womb to the grave.(BB)
20 Are my days not few? Stop it![t]
Leave me alone, so that I can smile a little
21 before I go to a land of darkness and gloom,(BC)
never to return.
22 It is a land of blackness like the deepest darkness,
gloomy and chaotic,
where even the light is like[u] the darkness.”
Zophar Speaks
11 Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:
2 Should this stream of words(BD) go unanswered
and such a talker[v] be acquitted?
3 Should your babbling put others to silence,
so that you can keep on ridiculing
with no one to humiliate you?
4 You have said, “My teaching(BE) is sound,
and I am pure in Your sight.”
5 But if only God would speak
and declare His case[w] against you,
6 He would show you the secrets of wisdom,(BF)
for true wisdom has two sides.
Know then that God has chosen to overlook some of your sin.(BG)
7 Can you fathom the depths of God
or discover the limits of the Almighty?(BH)
8 They are higher than the heavens—what can you do?
They are deeper than Sheol—what can you know?(BI)
9 Their measure is longer than the earth
and wider than the sea.
10 If He passes by and throws someone in prison
or convenes a court, who can stop Him?(BJ)
11 Surely He knows which people are worthless.
If He sees iniquity, will He not take note of it?(BK)
12 But a stupid man will gain understanding
as soon as a wild donkey is born a man!
13 As for you, if you redirect your heart
and lift up your hands to Him in prayer—
14 if there is iniquity in your hand, remove it,
and don’t allow injustice to dwell in your tents—
15 then you will hold your head high, free from fault.
You will be firmly established and unafraid.(BL)
16 For you will forget your suffering,
recalling it only as waters that have flowed by.
17 Your life will be brighter than noonday;
its darkness[x] will be like the morning.(BM)
18 You will be confident, because there is hope.(BN)
You will look carefully about and lie down in safety.(BO)
Resurrection Essential to the Gospel
15 Now brothers, I want to clarify[a] for you the gospel I proclaimed to you; you received it and have taken your stand(A) on it. 2 You are also saved by it, if you hold to the message I proclaimed to you—unless you believed for no purpose.[b](B) 3 For I passed on to you(C) as most important what I also received:
that Christ died(D) for our sins
according to the Scriptures,(E)
4 that He was buried,(F)
that He was raised on the third day(G)
according to the Scriptures,(H)
5 and that He appeared to Cephas,(I)
then to the Twelve.(J)
6 Then He appeared to over 500 brothers at one time;(K)
most of them are still alive,
but some have fallen asleep.
7 Then He appeared to James,(L)
then to all the apostles.(M)
8 Last of all, as to one abnormally born,[c](N)
He also appeared to me.(O)
9 For I am the least of the apostles,(P) unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted(Q) the church of God. 10 But by God’s grace I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not ineffective. However, I worked more than any of them, yet not I, but God’s grace that was with me.(R) 11 Therefore, whether it is I or they, so we proclaim and so you have believed.
Resurrection Essential to the Faith
12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead,(S) how can some of you say, “There is no resurrection of the dead”?(T) 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; 14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is without foundation, and so is your faith.[d] 15 In addition, we are found to be false witnesses(U) about God, because we have testified(V) about God that He raised up Christ—whom He did not raise up if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, Christ has not been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. 18 Therefore, those who have fallen asleep in Christ(W) have also perished. 19 If we have put our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone.
Christ’s Resurrection Guarantees Ours
20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits(X) of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death(Y) came through a man,(Z) the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man.(AA) 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.(AB) 23 But each in his own order:(AC) Christ, the firstfruits; afterward, at His coming, those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end,(AD) when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father,(AE) when He abolishes all rule and all authority and power.(AF) 25 For He must reign(AG) until He puts all His enemies under His feet.(AH) 26 The last enemy to be abolished is death.(AI) 27 For God has put everything under His feet.(AJ)[e] But when it says “everything” is put under Him, it is obvious that He who puts everything under Him is the exception. 28 And when everything is subject to Christ, then the Son(AK) Himself will also be subject to the One who subjected everything to Him, so that God may be all in all.(AL)
Psalm 38
Prayer of a Suffering Sinner
A Davidic psalm for remembrance.(A)
1 Lord, do not punish me in Your anger
or discipline me in Your wrath.(B)
2 For Your arrows have sunk into me,
and Your hand has pressed down on me.(C)
3 There is no health in my body
because of Your indignation;
there is no strength[a] in my bones
because of my sin.(D)
4 For my sins have flooded over my head;
they are a burden too heavy for me to bear.(E)
5 My wounds are foul and festering
because of my foolishness.(F)
6 I am bent over and brought low;
all day long I go around in mourning.(G)
7 For my loins are full of burning pain,
and there is no health in my body.(H)
8 I am faint and severely crushed;
I groan because of the anguish of my heart.(I)
9 Lord, my every desire is known to[b] You;
my sighing is not hidden from You.(J)
10 My heart races, my strength leaves me,
and even the light of my eyes has faded.[c](K)
11 My loved ones and friends stand back from my affliction,
and my relatives stand at a distance.(L)
12 Those who seek my life set traps,
and those who want to harm me threaten to destroy me;
they plot treachery all day long.(M)
13 I am like a deaf person; I do not hear.
I am like a speechless person
who does not open his mouth.(N)
14 I am like a man who does not hear
and has no arguments in his mouth.(O)
15 I put my hope in You, Lord;
You will answer, Lord my God.(P)
16 For I said, “Don’t let them rejoice over me—
those who are arrogant toward me when I stumble.”(Q)
17 For I am about to fall,
and my pain is constantly with me.(R)
18 So I confess my guilt;
I am anxious because of my sin.(S)
19 But my enemies are vigorous and powerful;[d]
many hate me for no reason.(T)
20 Those who repay evil for good
attack me for pursuing good.(U)
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