Old/New Testament
Eliphaz’s Third Speech
22 Then[a] Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,
2 “Can a man be of use to God?
Yes, can the wise be of use to him?
3 Is it a pleasure to Shaddai if you are righteous,
or[b] a gain if you make your ways blameless?
4 Does he reprove you because of your reverence
or enter into judgment with you?
5 Is not your wickedness great,
and there is no end to your iniquities?
6 “Indeed, you have required a pledge from your family for nothing,
and you have stripped off the clothes of the naked.
7 You have given no water for the weary to drink,
and you withheld food from the hungry.
8 And the land belongs to the man of power,[c]
and the favored[d] lives in it.
9 You have sent widows away empty-handed,
and the arms of orphans were crushed.
10 Therefore trapping nets are all around you,
and panic suddenly terrifies you,
11 or it is so dark you cannot see,
and a flood of water covers you.
12 “Is not God in the height of the heavens?
But[e] see how lofty are the highest stars.[f]
13 And you ask, ‘What does God know?
Can he judge through deep gloom?
14 Thick clouds are a covering for him, so that he does not see;
and he walks about on the dome of heaven.’
15 Will you keep to the way of old
that the people of mischief have trod,
16 who were snatched away before their time,[g]
whose foundation was washed away by a current?
17 Those who said to God, ‘Turn away from us,’
and ‘What can Shaddai do to us?’
18 Yet[h] he himself[i] filled up their houses with good things,
but[j] the schemes of the wicked are repugnant to me.
19 The righteous see, and they rejoice,
but[k] the innocent one mocks at them.
20 Surely[l] our foe perishes,
and fire has consumed their remainder.[m]
21 “Please reconcile yourself with him,
and be at peace; in this way,[n] good will come to you.
22 Please receive instruction from his mouth,
and place his words in your heart.
23 If you return to Shaddai, you will be restored;
if you remove wickedness from your tent,
24 and if you put gold ore in the dust,
and the gold of Ophir in the rock of wadis,
25 then[o] Shaddai will be your gold ore
and your precious silver.[p]
26 Indeed, then you will delight yourself in Shaddai,
and you will expect that God will be good to you.[q]
27 You will pray to him, and he will hear you,
and you will pay your vows.
28 And you will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you,
and light will shine on your ways.
29 When they are humiliated, you say,[r] ‘It is pride,’
for[s] he saves the humble.[t]
30 He will deliver the guilty,
and he will escape because of the cleanness of your hands.”
Job’s Eighth Speech: A Response to Eliphaz
23 Then[u] Job answered and said,
2 “Even today my complaint is bitter;
my hand is heavy in addition to my groaning.
3 O that[v] I knew and that I might find him;
O that I might come to his dwelling.
4 I would lay my case before him,[w]
and I would fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I want to know the words with which he would answer me,
and I want to understand what he would say to me.
6 Would he contend with me in the greatness of his strength?
No, but he himself[x] would give heed to me.
7 There an upright person could reason with him,
and I would be acquitted forever by my judge.
8 “When I go forward, he is not there,[y]
or[z] backward, I cannot see him.[aa]
9 When he works[ab] on the left, I cannot perceive[ac] him;
he turns to the right, but[ad] I cannot see him.
10 But he knows the way that I take;[ae]
he tests me—I shall come out like gold.
11 My foot has held on to his steps;
I have kept his way, and I have not turned aside.
12 From the commandment of his lips, indeed[af] I have not departed;
I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily food.
13 “But[ag] he is alone,[ah] and who can dissuade him?
And whatever he desires,[ai] indeed,[aj] he does it.
14 For he will carry out what he appoints for me,[ak]
and many things like these are with him.
15 Therefore, I am horrified because of his presence;
when I consider, I tremble[al] because of him.
16 Indeed,[am] God has made my heart faint,
and Shaddai has terrified me.
17 Indeed, I have not been silenced because of darkness,[an]
and because of me he[ao] conceals thick darkness.
Job’s Eighth Speech, Continued
24 “Why are not times kept by Shaddai,
and why do not those who know him see his days?
2 They[ap] remove border stones;
they seize flocks, and they pasture them.
3 They drive away the donkey of orphans;
they take the widow’s ox as a pledge.
4 They thrust the poor off the road;
the needy of the earth hide themselves together.[aq]
5 “Look, like wild donkeys in the desert
they[ar] go out to their labor as searchers for the prey;
the wilderness is[as] their[at] food for the young.
6 They reap their[au] fodder in the field,
and they glean in the vineyard of the wicked.
7 They spend the night naked, without[av] clothing,
and they have no garment in the cold.
8 They are wet from the rainstorm of the mountains,[aw]
and they cling to the rock without[ax] refuge.
9 “They[ay] snatch the orphan from the breast,
and they take a pledge against the needy.[az]
10 They[ba] go about naked, without clothing,
and hungry, they carry the sheaves.[bb]
11 Between their terraces they press out oil;
they tread the presses, but[bc] they are thirsty.
12 From the city people groan,
and the throat[bd] of the wounded cries for help;
yet[be] God does not regard it as unseemly.[bf]
13 “Those are among the ones rebelling against the light;
they do not recognize his ways,
and they do not stay in his paths.
14 At dusk[bg] the murderer rises;
he kills the needy and the poor,
and in the night he is like a[bh] thief.
15 And the eye of the adulterer waits for dusk,
saying, ‘No eye will see me,’[bi]
and he places a covering on his face.
16 He digs through houses in the darkness;
by day they shut themselves in—
they do not know the light
17 because morning likewise is to them deep darkness;
indeed, they know about the terrors of deep darkness.
18 “He himself[bj] is swift on the water’s surface;
their portion is cursed in the land.
No one turns toward the path of their vineyards.[bk]
19 Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters,
like Sheol snatches away those[bl] who have sinned.
20 The womb forgets him.
The maggot feasts on him until he is no longer remembered,
and wickedness is broken like a[bm] tree.
21 He feeds on the barren, who does not have a child,
and does no good to the widow.
22 Yet[bn] he[bo] carries off the tyrants by his strength;
if he rises up, then[bp] he[bq] cannot be certain of life.[br]
23 He[bs] gives security to him, and he is[bt] supported,
but[bu] his eyes are upon their ways.
24 They are exalted a little while, then[bv] they are gone.[bw]
And they are brought low; they are cut off like all others,
and like the heads of grain they wither away.
25 “And if it is not so, then who can prove me a liar
and reduce my word to nothing?”
Peter’s Explanation to the Church in Jerusalem
11 Now the apostles and the brothers who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had accepted the word[a] of God. 2 So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision took issue with him, 3 saying, “You went to men who were uncircumcised[b] and ate with them!” 4 But Peter began and[c] explained it[d] to them in an orderly sequence, saying, 5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision—an object something like a large sheet coming down, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came to me. 6 As I[e] looked intently into it, I was considering it,[f] and I saw the four-footed animals of the earth and the wild animals and the reptiles and the birds of the sky. 7 And I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter, slaughter and eat!’ 8 But I said, ‘Certainly not, Lord! For nothing common or unclean has ever entered into my mouth!’ 9 But the voice replied from heaven for the second time, ‘The things which God has made clean, you must not consider unclean!’ 10 And this happened three times, and everything was pulled up into heaven again. 11 And behold, at once three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea approached the house in which we were staying.[g] 12 And the Spirit told me to accompany them, not hesitating at all. So these six brothers also went with me, and we entered into the man’s house. 13 And he reported to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and summon Simon, who is also called Peter, 14 who will speak words to you by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’ 15 And as I was beginning to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, just as also on us at the beginning. 16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’[h] 17 Therefore if God gave them the same gift as also to us when we[i] believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to be able to hinder God?” 18 And when they[j] heard these things, they became silent[k] and praised God, saying, “Then God has granted the repentance leading to life to the Gentiles also!”
Developments in the Church in Antioch
19 Now those who had been scattered because of the persecution that took place over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, proclaiming the message to no one except Jews alone. 20 But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who, when they[l] came to Antioch, began to speak[m] to the Hellenists[n] also, proclaiming the good news about the Lord Jesus. 21 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord. 22 And the report came to the attention[o] of the church that was in Jerusalem about them, and they sent out Barnabas as far as[p] Antioch, 23 who, when he[q] arrived and saw the grace of God, rejoiced and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with devoted hearts,[r] 24 because he was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a large number were added[s] to the Lord. 25 So he departed for Tarsus to look for Saul. 26 And when he[t] found him,[u] he brought him[v] to Antioch. And it happened to them also that they met together for a whole year with the church and taught a large number of people.[w] And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.
27 Now in those days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 And one of them named[x] Agabus stood up and[y] indicated by the Spirit that a great famine was about to come over the whole inhabited earth (which took place in the time of Claudius). 29 So from the disciples, according to their ability to give,[z] each one of them determined to send financial aid[aa] for support to the brothers who lived in Judea, 30 which they also did, sending the aid[ab] to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.
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