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Round One: Bildad’s Speech
8 Then Bildad the Shuhite responded:
2 How long will you say such things?
How long will the words of your mouth be like a blustery wind?
3 Does God pervert justice?
Does the Almighty pervert what is right?
4 When your children sinned against him,
he handed them over to the consequences of their rebellion.
5 But if you will eagerly seek God
and plead for compassion from the Almighty,
6 if you are pure and upright,
then even now he will rouse himself on your behalf,
and he will restore your rightful dwelling place.
7 Then, though your beginnings were small,
your final days will be very great!
8 Yes, ask the previous generations,
and consider the discoveries of their fathers,
9 because we were born only yesterday and know nothing.
Our days on earth are nothing but a shadow.
10 Aren’t our ancestors the ones who should teach you and inform you,
the ones who brought forth words from their hearts?
11 Does papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh?
Do reeds thrive where there is no water?
12 While they are still growing and uncut,
they can wither faster than any other plant.
13 This is the way it will be for all those who forget God.
The hope of the godless man perishes.
14 His source of confidence is fragile.
He trusts in something as fragile as a spider’s web.
15 He leans on his web, but it does not support him.
He grasps it, but it does not hold him up.
16 He is a thriving plant flourishing in the sunshine,
spreading its shoots over the garden.
17 It wraps its roots around a heap of rocks.
It finds a home among the stones.
18 But if it is uprooted from its place,
that place disowns it, saying, “I have never seen you!”
19 Yes, the only good thing that comes from this situation is that
from the dust another plant sprouts.[a]
20 Certainly God does not reject a blameless man
or strengthen the hand of evildoers.
21 He will again fill your mouth with laughter
and your lips with a joyful shout.
22 Your enemies will be clothed with shame,
and the tents of the wicked will be no more.
Round One: Job’s Third Speech
9 Then Job responded:
2 Of course I know that this is true.
But how can a man be justified before God?
3 If someone wants to argue with God,
he could not refute one charge out of a thousand.[b]
4 God has a wise heart and great power,
so who can resist God and come out of it unharmed?
5 God removes mountains from their position,
and they don’t even realize it.
He overturns mountains in his anger.
6 He shakes the earth off its foundation.
He causes its pillars to quake.
7 He speaks to the sun, and it does not rise,
and he seals up the stars.
8 He alone stretches out the heavens.
He treads on the crests of the sea.
9 He made the Bear, Orion, the Pleiades,[c]
and the constellations in the southern sky.
10 He does great things that are beyond investigation.
He does miracles that are too many to be counted.
11 Though he passes by me, I do not see him.
He moves past me, but I do not detect him.
12 If he snatches something away, who can make him bring it back?
Who can say to him, “What are you doing?”
13 God does not hold back his anger.
Even Rahab’s[d] helpers bow down beneath him.
14 How much less, then, will I be able to answer him?
I want to match words with him,
15 but even if I am in the right, I cannot answer him.
I can only plead to my judge for grace.
16 If I called and he responded to me,
I do not believe that he would listen to my voice.
17 With a violent storm he would crush me,
and he would inflict many wounds on me for no reason.
18 He would not allow me to catch my breath.
Instead, he would fill me with bitter experiences.
19 If it is a question of strength, he definitely is the strong one.
If it is a question of jurisdiction, who can summon him?[e]
20 Even if I am righteous, my mouth would still condemn me.
If I am blameless, it would pronounce me crooked.
21 Although I am blameless, I cannot evaluate[f] myself.
I reject my own life.
22 Here is why I say, “It makes no difference.”
Blameless or wicked, he brings them all to the same end.
23 If a whip suddenly kills people,
he makes fun of[g] the despair of the innocent.
24 When a land is handed over to a wicked man,
God blinds the eyes of its judges.
If he is not the one, then who does it?
25 My days are swifter than a runner.
They fly away without bringing any happiness.
26 They glide by like reed boats,
like an eagle that swoops down on its prey.
27 If I say, “I will forget my complaint.
I will put on a happy face and smile,”
28 even then I dread all my pain,
because I know that you will not acquit me.
29 I have already been declared guilty,
so why should I struggle for nothing.
30 If I wash myself with snow,
if I cleanse my hands with strong soap,
31 then you will plunge me into a cesspool,
and my clothes will detest me.
32 For he is not a man as I am,
so that I am able to answer him,
so that we may meet in court.
33 There is no one to mediate[h] between us,
no one who can lay his hand on both of us.
34 No one can make him take his rod away from me,
so that the dread of him would not fill me with terror!
35 If that happened, I would speak up and not be afraid.
But I have no such mediator. I am left on my own.
10 With all my heart I am weary of my life,
so I will express my complaint freely.
I will speak from the bitterness of my heart.
2 I will say this to God: Do not condemn me.
Tell me why you are pressing charges against me.
3 Is it good that you are oppressing me,
that you are rejecting what your hands have made,
at the same time that you favor the plans of the wicked?
4 Do you have eyes made of flesh?
Do you see things the way a man does?
5 Are your days like a man’s days?
Are your years like the life span of a human?
6 You do, in fact, investigate guilt,
and you do search carefully for sin.
7 Although you know that I am not guilty,
there is no one who can rescue me from your hand.
8 Your hands shaped me and made me,
but now you swallow me up completely.
9 Please remember that it was you who shaped me like a clay pot.
Will you now return me to the dust?
10 Aren’t you the one who poured me out like milk,
who thickened me like a curd of cheese?
11 You clothed me with skin and flesh.
You wove me together with bones and tendons.
12 You provided me with life and mercy,
and your watchful care has guarded my spirit.
13 You hid these things in your heart,
but I know that this is what you had in mind:
14 If I sinned and you were watching me,
you would not acquit me of my guilt.
15 If I was wicked, I would be cursed!
But even if I was righteous, I could not lift up my head,
because I am filled with shame and aware of[i] my misery.
16 If I lift myself up,[j] you hunt me down like a lion.
You turn and display amazing power against me.
17 You produce new witnesses to oppose me,
and you become more irritated with me.
You attack me with reinforcements.
18 Why, then, did you bring me out from the womb?
I wish I had died. Then no eye would have seen me.
19 I wish I had been like someone who never lived.
Then I would have been carried from the womb to the tomb.
20 Don’t I have only a few days?
Stop! Leave me alone, so that I can be happy for a short time,
21 before I walk into the land of darkness
and into the shadow of death, never to return,
22 into the land of gloom, as dark as the shadow of death,
into the land of chaos, where even light is darkness.
Round One: Zophar’s Speech
11 Then Zophar the Na’amathite spoke up and responded:
2 Doesn’t this gush of words call for an answer?
Can this man’s bold talk be justified?
3 Should your empty words reduce men to silence?
Can you be allowed to scoff without anyone putting you in your place?
4 You say, “What I teach is untainted,
and I am pure in your eyes.”
5 Oh how I wish that God would speak up,
open his lips against you,
6 and show you the secret of wisdom,
because sound judgment must look at both sides.
Then you would know that God has even forgotten some of your guilt!
7 Can you explore the essence of God?
Can you find a limit to the perfections of the Almighty?
8 They are as high as the heavens. What can you do?
They are deeper than hell.[k] What can you know?
9 His dimensions are greater than the earth
and wider than the sea.
10 If God comes and arrests someone and puts him on trial,
who can overrule him?
11 Certainly he recognizes deceitful men for what they are.
He sees evil, and he recognizes it for what it is.
12 Before an empty-headed man gets understanding,
a wild donkey colt will be born as a man.
13 But you, if you make your heart steadfast,
and you spread out your hands to him,
14 if you put away the sin you are holding in your hand,
and you do not allow injustice to dwell in your tents,
15 then you will lift up your face and be blameless.
You will be solid and fearless.
16 You will certainly forget your trouble.
Your memory of it will be like water that has flowed away.
17 The rest of your life will be brighter than noon.
Darkness will become like morning.
18 You will be confident that there is hope.
When you look around, you will go to bed confidently.
19 You will lie down, and no one will make you tremble.
Many will seek your favor.
20 The eyes of the wicked will fail,
and their place of refuge will disappear.
Their hope will vanish with their dying breath.[l]
Christ’s Resurrection Is Foundational
15 Brothers, I am going to call your attention to the gospel that I preached to you. You received it, and you took your stand on it. 2 You are also being saved by that gospel that was expressed in the words I preached to you, if you keep your hold on it—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received:
that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,
4 that he was buried,
that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
5 and that he appeared to Cephas,[a] then to the Twelve.
6 After that he appeared to over five hundred brothers at the same time, most of whom are still alive, but some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, and then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, he appeared also to me, the stillborn child, so to speak. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, and I am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted God’s church. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not ineffective. On the contrary, I worked more than all of them (and yet it wasn’t my doing, but it was the grace of God, which was with me, that did it). 11 So whether it is I or they, that is what we preach, and that is what you believed.
12 Now if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how is it that some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is pointless, and your faith is pointless too. 15 Then we are even guilty of giving false testimony about God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise, if it were true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then it also follows that those who fell asleep in Christ perished. 19 If our hope in Christ applies only to this life, we are the most pitiful people of all.
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came by a man, the resurrection of the dead also is going to come by a man. 22 For as in Adam they all die, so also in Christ they all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ as the firstfruits and then Christ’s people, at his coming. 24 Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has done away with every other ruler and every other authority and power. 25 For he must reign “until he has put all his enemies under his feet.”[b] 26 Death is the last enemy to be done away with. 27 Certainly, “he has put all things in subjection under his feet.”[c] Now when it says that all things have been put in subjection, obviously that does not include the one who subjected all things to him. 28 But when all things have been subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected[d] to the one who subjected all things to him, in order that God may be all in all.
Psalm 38
Do Not Rebuke Me in Your Anger
Heading
A psalm by David. To bring to remembrance.
Opening Plea
1 Lord, do not rebuke me in anger.
Do not discipline me in wrath.
The Greatness of David’s Burden
2 Indeed, your arrows have stuck in me.
Your hand has come down on me.
3 There is no health in my flesh because of your rage.
There is no wellness in my bones because of my sin,
4 because my guilt has gone over my head.
Like a heavy burden, it is too heavy for me.
5 My wounds stink and ooze because of my folly.
6 I am drooping. I am completely bent over.
All day long I go around mourning.
7 Even my back burns with pain.[a]
My whole body[b] is unhealthy.
8 I have become numb. I am totally crushed.
I groan loudly because of my anxious thoughts.
9 Lord, all my needs lie before you.
My sighs are not hidden from you.
10 My heart beats quickly. My strength leaves me.
Even the light of my eyes is gone from me.
11 My loved ones and my friends stand far away
because of the blow I have suffered.
My neighbors stand at a distance.
12 Those who pursue my life set traps.
Those who seek to harm me talk about my ruin.
All day long they plot deception.
13 I am deaf. I cannot hear.
Like a mute person, I cannot open my mouth.
14 I am like a man who cannot hear.
No response comes from his mouth.
David’s Confidence of Delivery
15 Yet I wait for you, Lord.
You will answer, O Lord my God.
16 So I said, “Do not let them celebrate because of me.
Do not let them gloat when my foot slips.”
17 Look! I am about to fall,
and I am always in pain,
18 so I declare my guilt,
and I am troubled by my sin.
19 My aggressive enemies are numerous.
Those who hate me for no reason are many.
20 Those who repay evil for good
slander me because I pursue what is good.
Closing Plea
21 Do not forsake me, O Lord.
My God, do not be far from me.
22 Hurry to help me, O Lord, my salvation.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.