Old/New Testament
30 But now they who are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.
2 Yes, how could the strength of their hands profit me? They were men whose ripe age and vigor had perished.
3 They are gaunt with want and famine; they gnaw the dry and barren ground or flee into the wilderness, into the gloom of wasteness and desolation.
4 They pluck saltwort or mallows among the bushes, and roots of the broom for their food or to warm them.
5 They are driven from among men, who shout after them as after a thief.
6 They must dwell in the clefts of frightful valleys (gullies made by torrents) and in holes of the earth and of the rocks.
7 Among the bushes they bray and howl [like wild animals]; beneath the prickly scrub they fling themselves and huddle together.
8 Sons of the worthless and nameless, they have been scourged and crushed out of the land.
9 And now I have become their song; yes, I am a byword to them.
10 They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, and do not refrain from spitting in my face or at the sight of me.
11 For God has loosed my bowstring and afflicted and humbled me; they have cast off the bridle [of restraint] before me.
12 On my right hand rises the rabble brood; they jostle me and push away my feet, and they cast up against me their ways of destruction [like an advancing army].
13 They break up and clutter my path [embarrassing my plans]; they urge on my calamity, even though they have no helper [and are themselves helpless].
14 As through a wide breach they come in; amid the crash [of falling walls] they roll themselves upon me.
15 Terrors are turned upon me; my honor and reputation they chase away like the wind, and my welfare has passed away as a cloud.
16 And now my life is poured out within me; the days of affliction have gripped me.
17 My bones are pierced [with aching] in the night season, and the pains that gnaw me take no rest.
18 By the great force [of my disease] my garment is disguised and disfigured; it binds me about like the collar of my coat.
19 [God] has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.
20 I cry to You, [Lord,] and You do not answer me; I stand up, but You [only] gaze [indifferently] at me.
21 You have become harsh and cruel to me; with the might of Your hand You [keep me alive only to] persecute me.
22 You lift me up on the wind; You cause me to ride upon it, and You toss me about in the tempest.
23 For I know that You will bring me to death and to the house [of meeting] appointed for all the living.
24 However, does not one falling in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand? Or in his calamity will he not therefore cry for help?
25 Did not I weep for him who was in trouble? Was not my heart grieved for the poor and needy?
26 But when I looked for good, then evil came to me; and when I waited for light, there came darkness.
27 My heart is troubled and does not rest; days of affliction come to meet me.
28 I go about blackened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the congregation and cry for help.
29 I am a brother to jackals [which howl], and a companion to ostriches [which scream dismally].
30 My skin falls from me in blackened flakes, and my bones are burned with heat.
31 Therefore my lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of those who weep.
31 I dictated a covenant (an agreement) to my eyes; how then could I look [lustfully] upon a girl?
2 For what portion should I have from God above [if I were lewd], and what heritage from the Almighty on high?
3 Does not calamity [justly] befall the unrighteous, and disaster the workers of iniquity?
4 Does not [God] see my ways and count all my steps?
5 If I have walked with falsehood or vanity, or if my foot has hastened to deceit—
6 Oh, let me be weighed in a just balance and let Him weigh me, that God may know my integrity!
7 If my step has turned out of [God’s] way, and my heart has gone the way my eyes [covetously] invited, and if any spot has stained my hands with guilt,
8 Then let me sow and let another eat; yes, let the produce of my field or my offspring be rooted out.
9 If my heart has been deceived and I made a fool by a woman, or if I have [covetously] laid wait at my neighbor’s door [until his departure],
10 Then let my wife grind [meal, like a bondslave] for another, and let others bow down upon her.
11 For [adultery] is a heinous and chief crime, an iniquity [to demand action by] the judges and punishment.(A)
12 For [uncontrolled passion] is a fire which consumes to Abaddon (to destruction, ruin, and the place of final torment); [that fire once lighted would rage until all is consumed] and would burn to the root all my [life’s] increase.
13 If I have despised and rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant when they contended or brought a complaint against me,
14 What then shall I do when God rises up [to judge]? When He visits [to inquire of me], what shall I answer Him?(B)
15 Did not He Who made me in the womb make [my servant]? And did not One fashion us both in the womb?(C)
16 If I have withheld from the poor and needy what they desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to look in vain [for relief],
17 Or have eaten my morsel alone and have not shared it with the fatherless—
18 No, but from my youth [the fatherless] grew up with me as a father, and I have been [the widow’s] guide from my mother’s womb—
19 If I have seen anyone perish for want of clothing, or any poor person without covering,
20 If his loins have not blessed me [for clothing them], and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep,
21 If I have lifted my hand against the fatherless when I saw [that the judges would be favorable and be] my help at the [council] gate,
22 Then let my shoulder fall away from my shoulder blade, and my arm be broken from its socket.
23 For calamity from God was a terror to me, and because of His majesty I could not endure [to face Him] and could do nothing.(D)
24 If I have made gold my trust and hope or have said to fine gold, You are my confidence,
25 If I rejoiced because my wealth was great and because my [powerful] hand [alone] had gotten much,
26 If I beheld [as an object of worship] the sunlight when it shone or the moon walking in its brightness,
27 And my heart has been secretly enticed by them or my mouth has kissed my hand [in homage to them],
28 This also would have been [a heinous and principal] iniquity to demand the judges’ action and punishment, for I would have denied and been false to the God Who is above.(E)
29 If I rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me or lifted myself up [in malicious triumph] when evil overtook him—
30 No, I have let my mouth sin neither by cursing my enemy nor by praying that he might die—
31 [Just ask] if the men of my tent will not say, Who can find one in need who has not been satisfied with food he gave them?—
32 The temporary resident has not lodged in the street, but I have opened my door to the wayfaring man—
33 If like Adam or like [other] men I have concealed my transgressions, by hiding my iniquity in my bosom
34 Because I feared the great multitude and the contempt of families terrified me so that I kept silence and did not go out of the door—
35 Oh, for a hearing! Oh, for an answer from the Almighty! Let my adversary write out His indictment [and put His vague accusations in tangible form] in a book!
36 Surely I would [proudly] bear it on my shoulder and wind the scroll about my head as a diadem.
37 I would count out to Him the number of my steps [with every detail of my life], approaching His presence as a prince—
38 For if my land has cried out against me and its furrows have complained together with tears [that I have no right to them],
39 If I have eaten its fruits without paying for them or have caused its [rightful] owners to breathe their last,
40 Let thistles grow instead of wheat and cockleburs instead of barley. The [controversial] words of Job [with his friends] are ended.
26 Brethren, sons of the family of Abraham, and all those others among you who reverence and fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation [the salvation obtained through Jesus Christ].(A)
27 For those who dwell in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not know or recognize Him or understand the utterances of the prophets which are read every Sabbath, have actually fulfilled these very predictions by condemning and sentencing [Him].
28 And although they could find no cause deserving death with which to charge Him, yet they asked Pilate to have Him executed and put out of the way.
29 And when they had finished and fulfilled everything that was written about Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb.
30 But God raised Him from the dead.
31 And for many days He appeared to those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, and they are His witnesses to the people.
32 So now we are bringing you the good news (Gospel) that what God promised to our forefathers,
33 This He has [a]completely fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus, as it is written in the second psalm, You are My Son; today I have begotten You [[b]caused You to arise, to be born; [c]formally shown You to be the Messiah by the resurrection].(B)
34 And as to His having raised Him from among the dead, now no more to return to [undergo] putrefaction and dissolution [of the grave], He spoke in this way, I will fulfill and give to you the holy and sure mercy and blessings [that were promised and assured] to David.(C)
35 For this reason He says also in another psalm, You will not allow Your Holy One to see corruption [to undergo putrefaction and dissolution of the grave].(D)
36 For David, after he had served God’s will and purpose and counsel in his own generation, fell asleep [[d]in death] and was buried among his forefathers, and he did see corruption and undergo putrefaction and dissolution [of the grave].
37 But He Whom God raised up [to life] saw no corruption [did not experience putrefaction and dissolution of the grave].
38 So let it be clearly known and understood by you, brethren, that through this Man forgiveness and removal of sins is now proclaimed to you;
39 And that through Him everyone who believes [who [e]acknowledges Jesus as his Savior and devotes himself to Him] is absolved (cleared and freed) from every charge from which he could not be justified and freed by the Law of Moses and given right standing with God.
40 Take care, therefore, lest there come upon you what is spoken in the prophets:
41 Look, you scoffers and scorners, and marvel and perish and vanish away; for I am doing a deed in your days, a deed which you will never have confidence in or believe, [even] if someone [[f]clearly describing it in detail] declares it to you.(E)
42 As they [Paul and Barnabas] went out [of the synagogue], the people earnestly begged that these things might be told to them [further] the next Sabbath.
43 And when the congregation of the synagogue dispersed, many of the Jews and the devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who talked to them and urged them to continue [to trust themselves to and to stand fast] in the grace (the unmerited favor and blessing) of God.
44 The next Sabbath almost the entire city gathered together to hear the Word of God [concerning [g]the attainment through Christ of salvation in the kingdom of God].
45 But when the Jews saw the crowds, filled with envy and jealousy they contradicted what was said by Paul and talked abusively [reviling and slandering him].
46 And Paul and Barnabas spoke out plainly and boldly, saying, It was necessary that God’s message [concerning [h]salvation through Christ] should be spoken to you first. But since you thrust it from you, you pass this judgment on yourselves that you are unworthy of eternal life and out of your own mouth you will be judged. [Now] behold, we turn to the Gentiles (the heathen).
47 For so the Lord has charged us, saying, I have set you to be a light for the Gentiles (the heathen), that you may bring [eternal] salvation to the uttermost parts of the earth.(F)
48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they rejoiced and glorified (praised and gave thanks for) the Word of God; and as many as were destined (appointed and ordained) to eternal life believed (adhered to, trusted in, and relied on Jesus as the Christ and their Savior).
49 And so the Word of the Lord [concerning eternal salvation through Christ] scattered and spread throughout the whole region.
50 But the Jews stirred up the devout women of high rank and the outstanding men of the town, and instigated persecution against Paul and Barnabas and drove them out of their boundaries.
51 But [the apostles] shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium.
52 And the disciples were continually filled [throughout their souls] with joy and the Holy Spirit.
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation