Old/New Testament
Bildad’s Third Speech[a]
25 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:
2 “Dominion[b] and awesome might[c] belong to[d] God;
he establishes peace in his heights.[e]
3 Can his armies be numbered?[f]
On whom does his light[g] not rise?
4 How then can a human being be righteous before God?
How can one born of a woman be pure?[h]
5 If even the moon is not bright,
and the stars are not pure as far as he is concerned,[i]
6 how much less a mortal man, who is but a maggot[j]—
a son of man, who is only a worm!”
Job’s Reply to Bildad[k]
26 Then Job replied:
2 “How you have helped[l] the powerless![m]
How you have saved the person who has no strength![n]
3 How you have advised the one without wisdom,
and abundantly[o] revealed your insight!
4 To whom[p] did you utter these words?
And whose spirit has come forth from your mouth?[q]
A Better Description of God’s Greatness[r]
5 “The dead[s] tremble[t]—
those beneath the waters
and all that live in them.[u]
6 The underworld[v] is naked before God;[w]
the place of destruction lies uncovered.[x]
7 He spreads out the northern skies[y] over empty space;[z]
he suspends the earth on nothing.[aa]
8 He locks the waters in his clouds,
and the clouds do not burst with the weight of them.
9 He conceals[ab] the face of the full moon,[ac]
shrouding it with his clouds.
10 He marks out the horizon[ad] on the surface of the waters
as a boundary between light and darkness.
11 The pillars[ae] of the heavens tremble
and are amazed at his rebuke.[af]
12 By his power he stills[ag] the sea;
by his wisdom he cut Rahab the great sea monster[ah] to pieces.[ai]
13 By his breath[aj] the skies became fair;
his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.[ak]
14 Indeed, these are but the outer fringes of his ways![al]
How faint is the whisper[am] we hear of him!
But who can understand the thunder of his power?”
A Protest of Innocence
27 And Job took up his discourse again:[an]
2 “As surely as God lives,[ao] who has denied me justice,[ap]
the Almighty, who has made my life bitter[aq]—
3 for while[ar] my spirit[as] is still in me,
and the breath from God is in my nostrils,
4 my[at] lips will not speak wickedness,
and my tongue will whisper[au] no deceit.
5 I will never[av] declare that you three[aw] are in the right;
until I die, I will not set aside my integrity!
6 I will maintain my righteousness
and never let it go;
my conscience[ax] will not reproach me
for as long as I live.[ay]
The Condition of the Wicked
7 “May my enemy be like the wicked,[az]
my adversary[ba] like the unrighteous.[bb]
8 For what hope does the godless have when he is cut off,[bc]
when God takes away his life?[bd]
9 Does God listen to his cry
when distress overtakes him?
10 Will he find delight[be] in the Almighty?
Will he call out to God at all times?
11 I will teach you[bf] about the power[bg] of God;
what is on the Almighty’s mind[bh] I will not conceal.
12 If you yourselves have all seen this,
Why in the world[bi] do you continue this meaningless talk?[bj]
13 This is the portion of the wicked man
allotted by God,[bk]
the inheritance that evildoers receive
from the Almighty.
14 If his children increase—it is for the sword![bl]
His offspring never have enough to eat.[bm]
15 Those who survive him are buried by the plague,[bn]
and their[bo] widows do not mourn for them.
16 If he piles up silver like dust
and stores up clothing like mounds of clay,
17 what he stores up[bp] a righteous man will wear,
and an innocent man will inherit his silver.
18 The house he builds is as fragile as a moth’s cocoon,[bq]
like a hut[br] that a watchman has made.
19 He goes to bed wealthy, but will do so no more.[bs]
When he opens his eyes, it is all gone.[bt]
20 Terrors overwhelm him like a flood;[bu]
at night a whirlwind carries him off.
21 The east wind carries him away, and he is gone;
it sweeps him out of his place.
22 It hurls itself against him without pity[bv]
as he flees headlong from its power.
23 It claps[bw] its hands at him in derision
and hisses him away from his place.[bx]
James is Killed and Peter Imprisoned
12 About that time King Herod[a] laid hands on[b] some from the church to harm them.[c] 2 He had James, the brother of John, executed with a sword.[d] 3 When he saw that this pleased the Jews,[e] he proceeded to arrest Peter too. (This took place during the feast of Unleavened Bread.)[f] 4 When he had seized him, he put him in prison, handing him over to four squads[g] of soldiers to guard him. Herod[h] planned[i] to bring him out for public trial[j] after the Passover. 5 So Peter was kept in prison, but those in the church were earnestly[k] praying to God for him.[l] 6 On that very night before Herod was going to bring him out for trial,[m] Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, while[n] guards in front of the door were keeping watch[o] over the prison. 7 Suddenly[p] an angel of the Lord[q] appeared, and a light shone in the prison cell. He struck[r] Peter on the side and woke him up, saying, “Get up quickly!” And the chains fell off Peter’s[s] wrists.[t] 8 The angel said to him, “Fasten your belt[u] and put on your sandals.” Peter[v] did so. Then the angel[w] said to him, “Put on your cloak[x] and follow me.” 9 Peter[y] went out[z] and followed him;[aa] he did not realize that what was happening through the angel was real,[ab] but thought he was seeing a vision. 10 After they had passed the first and second guards,[ac] they came to the iron[ad] gate leading into the city. It[ae] opened for them by itself,[af] and they went outside and walked down one narrow street,[ag] when at once the angel left him. 11 When[ah] Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued[ai] me from the hand[aj] of Herod[ak] and from everything the Jewish people[al] were expecting to happen.”
12 When Peter[am] realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John Mark,[an] where many people had gathered together and were praying. 13 When he knocked at the door of the outer gate, a slave girl named Rhoda answered.[ao] 14 When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she did not open the gate, but ran back in and told[ap] them[aq] that Peter was standing at the gate. 15 But they said to her, “You’ve lost your mind!”[ar] But she kept insisting that it was Peter,[as] and they kept saying,[at] “It is his angel!”[au] 16 Now Peter continued knocking, and when they opened the door[av] and saw him, they were greatly astonished.[aw] 17 He motioned to them[ax] with his hand to be quiet and then related[ay] how the Lord had brought[az] him out of the prison. He said, “Tell James and the brothers these things,” and then he left and went to another place.[ba]
18 At daybreak[bb] there was great consternation[bc] among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. 19 When Herod[bd] had searched[be] for him and did not find him, he questioned[bf] the guards and commanded that they be led away to execution.[bg] Then[bh] Herod[bi] went down from Judea to Caesarea[bj] and stayed there.
20 Now Herod[bk] was having an angry quarrel[bl] with the people of Tyre[bm] and Sidon.[bn] So they joined together[bo] and presented themselves before him. And after convincing[bp] Blastus, the king’s personal assistant,[bq] to help them,[br] they asked for peace,[bs] because their country’s food supply was provided by the king’s country. 21 On a day determined in advance, Herod[bt] put on his royal robes,[bu] sat down on the judgment seat,[bv] and made a speech[bw] to them. 22 But the crowd[bx] began to shout,[by] “The voice of a god,[bz] and not of a man!” 23 Immediately an angel of the Lord[ca] struck[cb] Herod[cc] down because he did not give the glory to God, and he was eaten by worms and died.[cd] 24 But the word of God[ce] kept on increasing[cf] and multiplying.
25 So Barnabas and Saul returned to[cg] Jerusalem[ch] when they had completed[ci] their mission,[cj] bringing along with them John Mark.[ck]
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