The Daily Audio Bible
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Bildad defends God
8 Bildad from Shuah responded:
2 How long will you mouth such things
such that your utterances become a strong wind?
3 Does God pervert justice,
or does the Almighty distort what is right?
4 If your children sinned against him,
then he delivered them into the power of their rebellion.
5 If you will search eagerly for God,
plead with the Almighty.
6 If you are pure and do the right thing,
then surely he will become active on your behalf
and reward your innocent dwelling.
7 Although your former state was ordinary,
your future will be extraordinary.
Tradition
8 Ask a previous generation
and verify the findings of your ancestors,
9 for we are only recently here and don’t know
because our days on earth are a shadow.
10 Won’t they instruct you and tell you;
will words not[a] proceed from their hearts?
Examples from nature
11 Does papyrus grow apart from a marsh?
Does a reed flourish without water?
12 While still tender, uncut,
it will wither before every other grass.
13 So are the paths of all who forget God.
Hope perishes for the godless,
14 whose confidence is a fragile thing,[b]
their trust, a spider’s web.
15 He leans on its web, and it doesn’t stand;
grasps it, and it can’t remain in place.
16 It’s like a well-watered plant in the sun;
its runners spread over its gardens.
17 Its roots are entwined over a pile of rocks,
for it sees a home among stones.
18 If it’s uprooted from its place,
it lies, saying, “I can’t see you.”
19 Surely its way is a joy,
for from the dust other plants[c] sprout.
God’s faithfulness
20 Surely God won’t reject integrity,
won’t strengthen the hand of the wicked.
21 He will still fill your mouth with joy,
your lips with a victorious shout.
22 Those who hate you will be clothed with shame,
and the tent of the wicked will vanish.
Hymnic praise
9 Job responded:
2 I know for certain that this is so;
and how can anyone be innocent before God?
3 If one wants to contend with him,
he won’t answer one in a thousand.
4 He is wise[d] and powerful;
who can resist him and prosper?
5 Who removes mountains, and they are unaware;
who overthrows them in anger?
6 Who shakes the earth from its place,
and its pillars shudder?
7 Who commands the sun, and it does not rise,
even seals up the stars;
8 stretched out the heavens alone
and trod on the waves of the Sea;[e]
9 made the Bear and Orion, Pleiades
and the southern constellations;
10 does great and unsearchable things,
wonders beyond number?
A mismatch
11 If God goes by me, I can’t see him;
he glides past, and I can’t perceive him.
12 If he seizes, who can bring back?
Who can say to him, “What are you doing?”
13 God won’t retract his anger;
the helpers of Rahab bow beneath him.
14 Yet I myself will answer him;
I’ll choose my words in a contest[f] with him.
15 Even if I’m innocent, I can’t answer;
I must plead for justice.
16 If I were to call and he answered me,
I couldn’t believe that he heard my voice.
17 Who bruises me with a tempest
and multiplies my wounds for no reason?
18 He doesn’t let me catch my breath,
for he fills me with bitterness.
19 If the issue is strength—behold power!
If justice—who calls God to meet me?
There is no justice
20 If I’m innocent, my mouth condemns me;
I have integrity; but God declares me perverse.
21 I’m blameless, yet don’t know myself;
I reject my life.
22 It’s all the same;
therefore, I say God destroys the blameless and the sinners.
23 If calamity suddenly kills,
he mocks at the slaying[g] of innocents.
24 The earth is handed over to the wicked;
he covers the faces of its judges.
If not God, then who does?
Job wants an arbitrator
25 My days are swifter than a runner;
they flee and don’t experience good.
26 They sweep by like ships made of reeds,
as an eagle swoops on prey.
27 If I say, “I’ll forget my lament,
put on a different face so I can smile,”
28 I’m still afraid of all my suffering;
I know that you won’t declare me innocent.
29 I myself am thought guilty;
why have I tried so hard in vain?
30 If I wash myself with snow,
purify my hands with soap,
31 then you’ll hurl me into a slimy pit
so that my clothes detest me.
32 God is not a man like me—someone I could answer—
so that we could come together in court.
33 Oh, that[h] there were a mediator between us;
he would lay his hand on both of us,
34 remove his rod from me,
so his fury wouldn’t frighten me.
35 Then I would speak—unafraid—
for I’m not that way.
Complaint to God
10 I loathe my life; I will let loose my complaint;
I will speak out of my own bitterness.
2 I will say to God, Don’t declare me guilty;
tell me what you are accusing me of doing.
3 Does it seem good to you that you oppress me,
that you reject the work of your hands
and cause the purpose of sinners to shine?
4 Do you have physical eyes;
do you see like a human?
5 Are your days like those of a human,
your years like years of a human,
6 that you search for my wrongdoing
and seek my sin?
7 You know that I’m not guilty,
yet no one delivers me from your power.
Creator
8 Your hands fashioned and made me;
yet you want to destroy me utterly.
9 Remember that you made me from[i] clay,
and you will return me to dust.
10 Didn’t you pour me out like milk,
curdle me like cheese?
11 You clothed me with skin and flesh,
wove me from bones and sinews.
12 Life and kindness you gave me,
and you oversaw and preserved my breath.
No hiding place
13 These things you hid in your heart;
I know this is the case with you.
14 If I sin and you observe me,
you won’t consider me innocent of wrongdoing.
15 If I were guilty, doom to me;
I’m innocent, but can’t lift my head,
full of shame and facing my misery.
16 I could boast like a lion, and you would hunt me;
you would do awesome things to me again.
17 You continue to send your witnesses against me
and increase your anger toward me,
a swift army against me.[j]
Death wish
18 Why did you let me emerge from the womb?
I wish I had died without any eye seeing me.
19 Then I would be just as if I hadn’t existed,
taken from the belly to the grave.
20 Aren’t my few days coming to an end?
Look away from me so I can brighten up a little
21 before I go and don’t return
to a land of deepest darkness,
22 a land whose light is like gloom,
utter darkness and confusion,
such that light shines like gloom.
Zophar’s rebuke
11 Zophar from Naamah responded:
2 Should all these words go unanswered
or a wordy man be justified?
3 Will your idle talk silence everyone;
will you mock and not be put to shame?
4 You’ve said, “My teaching is pure,
and I’m clean in God’s[k] eyes.”
Divine secrecy
5 But oh, that God would speak,
open his lips against you
6 and tell you secrets of wisdom;
for sound insight has two sides.
Know that God lets some of your sin be forgotten.
7 Can you find the secret of God
or find the extent of the Almighty?
8 They are higher than the heavens—what can you do?
Deeper than the underworld[l]—what can you know?
9 Its measurement is longer than the earth
and broader than the sea.
10 If God passes by, imprisons someone, and calls a trial,
who can stop him?
11 He knows worthless people,
sees sin, and certainly[m] takes note.
12 A stupid person becomes intelligent
when a wild ass of a person is born tame.[n]
Abiding hope
13 If you make your mind resolute
and spread your palms to him,
14 if you throw out the sin in your hands
and don’t let injustice dwell in your tents,
15 then you will lift up your face without blemish;
you will be secure and not fear.
16 You will forget trouble;
you will remember it as water that flows past.
17 A life span will rise brighter than noon;
darkness will be like morning.
18 You will be secure, for there is hope;
you will look around and rest safely.
19 You will lie down without anyone to scare you;
many will beg for your favor.
20 The eyes of the wicked will grow faint;
flight has vanished from them;
their hope is a dying gasp.
The resurrection
15 Brothers and sisters, I want to call your attention to the good news that I preached to you, which you also received and in which you stand. 2 You are being saved through it if you hold on to the message I preached to you, unless somehow you believed it for nothing. 3 I passed on to you as most important what I also received: Christ died for our sins in line with the scriptures, 4 he was buried, and he rose on the third day in line with the scriptures. 5 He appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve, 6 and then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at once—most of them are still alive to this day, though some have died. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me, as if I were born at the wrong time. 9 I’m the least important of the apostles. I don’t deserve to be called an apostle, because I harassed God’s church. 10 I am what I am by God’s grace, and God’s grace hasn’t been for nothing. In fact, I have worked harder than all the others—that is, it wasn’t me but the grace of God that is with me. 11 So then, whether you heard the message from me or them, this is what we preach and this is what you have believed.
12 So if the message that is preached says that Christ has been raised from the dead, then how can some of you say, “There’s no resurrection of the dead”? 13 If there’s no resurrection of the dead, then Christ hasn’t been raised either. 14 If Christ hasn’t been raised, then our preaching is useless and your faith is useless. 15 We are found to be false witnesses about God, because we testified against God that he raised Christ, when he didn’t raise him if it’s the case that the dead aren’t raised. 16 If the dead aren’t raised, then Christ hasn’t been raised either. 17 If Christ hasn’t been raised, then your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins, 18 and what’s more, those who have died in Christ are gone forever. 19 If we have a hope in Christ only in this life, then we deserve to be pitied more than anyone else.
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead. He’s the first crop of the harvest[a] of those who have died. 21 Since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead came through one too. 22 In the same way that everyone dies in Adam, so also everyone will be given life in Christ. 23 Each event will happen in the right order: Christ, the first crop of the harvest,[b] then those who belong to Christ at his coming, 24 and then the end, when Christ hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he brings every form of rule, every authority and power to an end. 25 It is necessary for him to rule until he puts all enemies under his feet.[c] 26 Death is the last enemy to be brought to an end, 27 since he has brought everything under control under his feet. When it says that everything has been brought under his control, this clearly means everything except for the one who placed everything under his control. 28 But when all things have been brought under his control, then the Son himself will also be under the control of the one who gave him control over everything so that God may be all in all.
Psalm 38
A psalm of David. For the memorial offering.
38 Please, Lord, don’t punish me when you are mad;
don’t discipline me when you are furious.
2 Your arrows have pierced me;
your fist has come down hard on me.
3 There’s nothing in my body that isn’t broken
because of your rage;
there’s no health in my bones
because of my sin.
4 My wrongdoings are stacked higher than my head;
they are a weight that’s way too heavy for me.
5 My wounds reek; they are all infected
because of my stupidity.
6 I am hunched over, completely down;
I wander around all day long, sad.
7 My insides are burning up;
there’s nothing in my body that isn’t broken.
8 I’m worn out, completely crushed;
I groan because of my miserable heart.
9 Everything I long for is laid out before you, my Lord;
my sighs aren’t hidden from you.
10 My heart pounds; my strength abandons me.
Even the light of my eyes is gone.
11 My loved ones and friends keep their distance
from me in my sickness;
those who were near me now stay far away.
12 Those who want me dead lay traps;
those who want me harmed utter threats,
muttering lies all day long.
13 But I’m like someone who is deaf,
who can’t hear;
like someone who can’t speak,
whose mouth won’t open.
14 I’ve become like a person
who doesn’t hear what is being said,
whose mouth has no good comeback.
15 But I wait for you, Lord!
You will answer, my Lord, my God!
16 Because I prayed:
“Don’t let them celebrate over me
or exalt themselves over me when my foot slips,”
17 because I’m very close to falling,
and my pain is always with me.
18 Yes, I confess my wrongdoing;
I’m worried about my sin.
19 But my mortal enemies are so strong;
those who hate me for no reason seem countless.
20 Those who give, repay good with evil;
they oppose me for pursuing good.
21 Don’t leave me all alone, Lord!
Please, my God, don’t be far from me!
22 Come quickly and help me,
my Lord, my salvation!
28 A lying witness will perish,
but one who listens will testify successfully.
29 The wicked person appears brash,
but the virtuous think about the path ahead.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible