Old/New Testament
Bildad: Justified With God?
25 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:
2 “Dominion and awe are with Him;
He establishes shalom in His heights.
3 Can His armies be counted?
On whom does His light not rise?
4 How then can a man be righteous with God?
How can one born of a woman be pure?
5 If even the moon is not bright
and the stars are not pure in His eyes,
6 how much less man who is but a maggot—
a son of man who is a worm!”
Job: God is Awesome
26 Then Job responded and said:
2 “How you have helped the powerless!
How you have saved the arm without strength!
3 How you have counseled the one without wisdom
and revealed your abundant insights!
4 To whom have you uttered words?
Whose spirit has come from your mouth?
5 “The dead tremble—those beneath the water
and all that live in them.
6 Sheol is naked before Him;
Abaddon has no covering.[a]
7 He stretches out the north over the void;
He suspendsthe earth over nothing.
8 He wraps up the waters in His clouds,
yet the clouds do not burst under them.
9 He covers the face of the full moon,
spreading His clouds over it.
10 He marks out the horizon on the face of the waters,
for a boundary between light and dark.
11 The pillars of heaven tremble,
astounded at His rebuke!
12 By His power He churns up the sea;
by His understanding He smashed Rahab.
13 By His Ruach the heavens are clear;
His hand pierced the fleeing serpent.
14 Indeed, these are but glimpses of His ways; how faint the whisper, we hear of Him!
Who then can understand the thunder of His might?”
What Hope has the Godless?
27 And Job took up his discourse again, saying:
2 “As God lives, who has deprived me of justice,
Shaddai who has made my soul bitter,
3 as long as my breath is still in me,
the Ruach of God in my nostrils,
4 my lips will speak no injustice,
nor will my tongue mutter deceit.
5 Far be it from me to say that you are just;
until I die, I will not set aside my integrity!
6 I will maintain my righteousness, and not let it go;
my conscience will not reproach me for any of my days.
7 “May my enemy be like the wicked
my enemy like the unrighteous.
8 For what hope has the godless,
when he is cut off,
when God takes his soul?[b]
9 Will God hear his cry
when trouble comes upon him?
10 Will he delight in Shaddai?
Will he call upon God at all times?
11 I will teach you about the hand of God;
I will not conceal the ways of Shaddai.
12 Look, you have all seen this yourselves.
Why then this meaningless talk?
13 “This is the portion of a wicked man with God,
the inheritance that ruthless men receive from Shaddai.
14 If his children increase—
it is for the sword.
His offspring will never
have enough to eat.
15 Those who survive him will be buried by the plague,
and their widows will not weep.
16 Though he piles up silver like dust,
and clothing like heaps of mortar,
17 what he lays up, the righteous will wear,
and the upright will divide the silver.
18 The house he built is like a moth’s cocoon,
like a hut made for a watchman.
19 “He lies down wealthy,
but will gather no more.
When he opens his eyes,
all is gone!
20 Terrors overtake him like a flood;
a storm sweeps him away at night.
21 The east wind picks him up and he is gone;
it sweeps him out of his place.
22 It hurls itself at him without pity
as he flees headlong from its hand.
23 It claps its hands at him in derision,
and hisses him out of his place.”
Persecution and Deliverance
12 Now at that time Herod the king seized some from Messiah’s community to do them harm. 2 He had Jacob, John’s brother, put to death with the sword. 3 Seeing it pleased the Judean leaders, he proceeded to capture Peter as well. This was during the Days of Matzah. 4 After seizing him, he put him in prison, handing him over to four squads with four soldiers each to guard him. He was intending to bring him before the people after Passover. 5 So Peter was kept in prison, but prayer for him was being offered fervently to God by Messiah’s community.
6 Now that very night when Herod was about to bring him out, Peter was sleeping—bound with two chains between two soldiers, while guards before the gate were keeping watch over the prison. 7 Suddenly an angel of the Lord appeared, and a light shone in the cell. He poked Peter on the side and woke him up, saying, “Get up! Quick!” And the chains fell off his hands. 8 Then the angel said to him, “Get dressed and put on your sandals,” and he did so. Then he tells him, “Put on your cloak and follow me.” 9 Peter went out and kept following him—he didn’t know that what was happening with the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. 10 After they passed a first guard and a second, they came to the iron gate leading into the city. It opened for them by itself. They went out and walked along a narrow street. Suddenly the angel left him.
11 When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know for real that the Lord has sent His angel[a] and delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Judean people were expecting.” 12 When he realized this, he went to the house of Miriam, the mother of John (also called Mark), where many were assembled together and praying. 13 When he knocked on the door of the entrance gate, a maid named Rhoda came to answer. 14 Although she recognized Peter’s voice, out of joy she did not open the gate but ran in and announced that Peter was standing in front of the gate. 15 They said to her, “You’re crazy!” But she kept insisting it was so. But they were saying, “It is his angel.”
16 But Peter kept on knocking. When they opened the gate, they saw him and were amazed! 17 But he motioned with his hand for them to be silent, and he explained to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. He said, “Go tell these things to Jacob and the brothers.” Then he left and went to another place.
18 When day came, there was no small commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter. 19 After Herod made a search for him and did not find him, he interrogated the guards and commanded that they be led away to execution. Then he went down from Judea and stayed in Caesarea.
Herod Gets His Due
20 Now it happened that Herod was furious with the people of Tyre and Sidon. So they came to him, united. Having won over Blastus, the king’s personal aide, they began asking for peace—because their country was supplied with food from the king’s country.
21 On an appointed day, Herod donned his royal robes and, taking his seat upon the throne, began to make a speech to them. 22 The people were shouting, “The voice of a god and not a human!” 23 Immediately, an angel of the Lord struck him down—because he did not give God the glory. And he was eaten by worms and died.
24 But the word of God kept on growing and multiplying. 25 And Barnabas and Saul returned to Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their service, taking along John (who was also called Mark).
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.