Old/New Testament
Zophar: Death and Hell for the Wicked
20 Then Zophar the Naamathite responded and said:
2 “In truth, my troubled thoughts urge me to answer
because of my feelings within me.
3 I hear a rebuke that dishonors me
and my understanding inspires me to reply.
4 Do you not know that it has been from old,
since mankind was put on earth,
5 that the triumph of the wicked is short
and the joy of the godless is but for a moment?
6 Though his pride reaches to the heavens,
and his head touches the clouds,
7 he perishes forever like his own dung.
Those who have seen him will say,
‘Where is he?’
8 Like a dream, he flies away
and they cannot find him;
like a vision of the night,
he is chased away.
9 The eye that saw him will not see him again;
his place will look on him no more.
10 His children must recompense the poor;
his own hands must give back his wealth.
11 His bones were full of his youthful vigor
but it will lie down with him in the dust.
12 Though evil is sweet in his mouth,
though he hides it under his tongue,
13 though he cannot bear to let it go
and holds it in his mouth,
14 his food turns sour in his stomach;
it becomes the venom of serpents within him.
15 He swallows riches and vomits them up;
God empties it out of his stomach.
16 He sucks the poison of serpents;
fangs of a viper kill him.
17 He will not look at streams,
rivers flowing with honey and butter.
18 He gives back what he toiled for without swallowing it;
he will not enjoy the riches of his trade.
19 For he has oppressed and abandoned the poor.
He has seized a house he did not build.
20 For he knows no satisfaction from his greed,
he cannot save himself by his desires.
21 Nothing remains for him to devour;
therefore his prosperity will not last.
22 In the fullness of his plenty, he will be distressed;
the full force of misery will come upon him.
23 While he is filling his belly,
He will send the anger of His wrath against him,
and rain it down it on him, on his flesh.
24 Though he flees from an iron weapon,
a bronze bow pierces him through.
25 He pulls and it comes out of his back,
the gleaming point out of his liver.
Terrors come upon him!
26 Total darkness waits for his treasures;
A fire not fanned will devour him;
it will consume what is left in his tent.
27 The heavens will expose his iniquity;
the earth will rise up against him.
28 A flood will carry off his house,
rushing waters on the day of His wrath.
29 Such is the wicked man’s lot from God,
the heritage appointed to him by God.”
Job’s Dialogue on the Wicked
21 Then Job replied:
2 “Listen carefully to my words;
let this be your consolation.
3 Bear with me as I speak,
and after I have spoken, mock on.
4 As for me, is my complaint against man?
If so, why should I not be impatient?
5 Look at me and be appalled;
put your hand over your mouth.
6 When I think of it, I am terrified
and my flesh shudders.
7 Why do the wicked go on living,
growing old and increasing in power?
8 Their children are established in their presence,
their offspring before their eyes.
9 Their homes have peace and are free from fear;
no rod of God is on them.
10 His bull breeds without fail;
his cow calves and do not miscarry.
11 They send out their little ones like a flock
and their children dance.
12 They sing to the tambourine and harp
and rejoice at the sound of the flute.
13 They spend their days in prosperity,
and in a moment go down to Sheol.
14 Yet they say to God, ‘Leave us alone!
We have no desire to know Your ways.
15 Who is Shaddai that we should serve Him?
What would we gain if we pray to Him?’
16 Look, their prosperity is not in their own hands;
the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
17 “How often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out
or calamity fallen on them?
How often does He allot pain in His anger?
18 How often are they like straw before the wind;
like chaff swept away by a storm?
19 You say, ‘God stores up the punishment for his children.’
Let Him repay the wicked so he may know it!
20 Let his own eyes see his ruin;
let him drink the wrath of Shaddai.
21 For what does he care for his family that he leaves behind,
when the number of his months has come to an end?
22 “Can anyone teach God knowledge,
since He judges even the highest.
23 One dies in his full strength,[a]
completely secure and at ease.
24 His pails are full of milk;
His bones are moist with marrow.
25 Yet another dies in bitterness of soul,
never having tasted goodness.
26 Together they lie in the dust
and worms cover over them.
27 “Behold, I know your thoughts,
the schemes by which you wrong me.
28 For you ask, ‘Where is the nobleman’s house
and the tent where the wicked lived?’
29 Have you not asked travelers?
Do you not recognize their accounts
30 that the wicked are spared for the day of calamity
that they are brought to the day of wrath?
31 Who declares his conduct to his face?
Who repays him for what he has done?
32 He is brought to the grave,
and watch is kept over his tomb.
33 The soil in the valley is sweet to him;
everyone follows after him,
and countless are those before him.
34 “So how will your futility comfort me,
for your answers remain nothing but falsehood?”
Peter Goes to Cornelius
24 The following day he entered Caesarea. Cornelius was waiting for them and had called together his relatives and close friends. 25 As Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him.
26 But Peter pulled him up, saying, “Stand up! I too am just a man.”
27 Talking with him, Peter went inside and found many people gathered. 28 He said to them, “You yourselves know that it is not permitted for a Jewish man to associate with a non-Jew or to visit him. Yet God has shown me that I should call no one unholy or unclean. 29 So I came without objection when I was sent for. I ask, then, what is the reason why you sent for me?”
30 Cornelius declared, “Four days ago at this hour, I was praying minchah[a] in my house. Suddenly, a man stood in front of me in shining clothes. 31 He says, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your tzedakah remembered before God. 32 Therefore send to Joppa and ask for Simon, who is also called Peter. He is staying in the house of Simon the tanner, by the sea.’ 33 So I sent for you immediately, and you have been kind enough to come. Now then, we are all here before God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.”
34 Then Peter opened his mouth and said, “I truly understand that God is not one to show favoritism, [b] 35 but in every nation the one who fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him. 36 You know the message He sent to Bnei-Yisrael, proclaiming shalom through Messiah Yeshua—He is Lord of all. 37 You know the message that has spread throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the immersion that John proclaimed. 38 You know how God anointed Yeshua of Natzeret with the Ruach ha-Kodesh and power—how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, because God was with Him. 39 We are witnesses to all He did, both in the Judean countryside and in Jerusalem. They put Him to death by hanging Him on a tree, 40 but God raised Him up on the third day and caused Him to be visible— 41 not to all the people, but to us, witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God. We ate and drank with Him after He rose from the dead. 42 And He commanded us to proclaim to the people and to testify that He is the One ordained by God as Judge of the living and the dead. 43 All the prophets testify about Him—that everyone who puts his trust in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name.”
The Ruach Falls on the Gentiles
44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Ruach ha-Kodesh fell on all those hearing the message. 45 All the circumcised believers who came with Peter were astonished, because the gift of the Ruach ha-Kodesh had been poured out even on the Gentiles. 46 For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and magnifying God.
Then Peter answered, 47 “Can anyone refuse water for these to be immersed, who have received the Ruach ha-Kodesh just as we did?” 48 So he commanded them to be immersed in the name of Messiah Yeshua. Then they asked him to stay for a few days.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.