Old/New Testament
Cry of Great Agony
30 “But now they mock me—those younger than me,
whose fathers I would have disdained to put with my sheep dogs.
2 Moreover, what use was the strength of their hands to me,
since their vigor has gone from them.
3 Haggard from want and hunger,
they gnaw the parched land,
in former time desolate and waste.
4 In the brush they pluck salt herbs,
and their food was from the root of the broom tree.
5 They were banished from society,
shouted at as if they were thieves,
6 so they were forced to dwell in wadis,
in holes of the earth and among the rocks.
7 They brayed among the bushes
and huddled under the nettles.
8 A senseless and nameless brood,
they were cast out from the land.
9 “So now I have become their taunt song;
I have become a byword to them.
10 They despise me;
they keep their distance from me;
they do not hesitate to spit in my face.
11 Because He has loosened my cord and afflicted me,
they have cast off restraint in my presence
12 On my right the rabble rise up;
they entangle my feet
and build up their destructive paths against me.
13 They break up my path;
they succeed in destroying me without anyone helping them.
14 As through a wide breach they come;
amid the ruins they come rolling in.
15 Terrors are turned on me;
they chase away my honor like the wind,
and like a cloud my deliverance vanishes.
16 “And now my soul is poured out within me;
days of suffering have taken hold of me.
17 Night pierces my bones within me;
my gnawing pains never rest.
18 By great power He seizes my garment;
He binds me like the collar of my tunic.
19 He has cast me into the mud,
and I have become like dust and ashes.
20 “I cry out to You, but You do not answer me;
I stand up, but You only look at me.
21 You have turned on me cruelly;
You attack me with the might of Your hand.
22 You lift me up on the wind
and make me ride on it;
You toss me about in the storm.
23 For I know that you will bring me to death,
to the house appointed for all the living.
24 Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out His hand,
and in his distress cry for help?
25 Have I not wept for the unfortunate?
Was not my soul grieved for the poor?
26 Yet, when I hoped for good, evil came;
when I waited for light, then darkness came.
27 “My heart[a] seethes and never stops;
days of suffering confront me.
28 I walk about blackened, but not by the sun;
I stand in the assembly and cry for help.
29 I have become a brother to jackals,
and a companion to ostriches.
30 My skin has turned black on me;
my bones burn with heat.
31 My harp is for mourning
and my flute for the sound of weeping.
Job Asks for Judgment
31 “I made a covenant with my eyes
not to pay attention to a virgin.
2 For what is one’s lot from God above,
one’s heritage from Shaddai on high?
3 Is it not calamity for the unjust,
and disaster for workers of iniquity?
4 Does He not see my ways
and count all my steps?
5 “If I have walked in falsehood
or my foot has hurried to deceit,
6 then let Him weigh me with honest scales,
then God will know my integrity.
7 If my step has strayed from the way,
if my heart has walked after my eyes,
or if any defilement has stuck to my hands,
8 then let me sow and another eat,
and let my crops be uprooted.
9 If my heart has been enticed by a woman,
or I have lurked at my neighbor’s door,
10 then let my wife grind for another
and let others sleep with her.
11 For that would be a shameful act,
an iniquity to be judged.
12 For it is a fire that devours to destruction,
and uproots all my harvest.
13 “If I have denied justice to my male or female servant
when they disputed with me,
14 then what could I do when God rises up;
when He visits, how will I answer Him?
15 Did not He who made me in the womb, make him?
Did not the same one form us in the womb?
16 “If I withheld the desires of the poor
or let the eyes of the widow to fail,
17 if I ate my morsel of bread myself,
without letting an orphan eat of it
18 (but from my youth I reared him as a father,
and from my mother’s womb I guided her),
19 if I have seen anyone perishing for lack of clothing
or the needy without a covering,
20 if his heart did not bless me
as he warmed himself with the fleece of my sheep,
21 if I have raised my hand against the orphan,
when I saw my support in the gate,
22 then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder,
and let my arm be broken off at the joint.
23 For calamity from God was a terror to me,
and because of His majesty, I could do nothing.
24 “If I have put my confidence in gold
or said to fine gold, ‘You are my security,’
25 if I rejoiced because of my great wealth
or because of the abundance my hand acquired,
26 if I looked at the sun when it shines
or the moon moving in splendor,
27 so that my heart was secretly enticed,
and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth,
28 then this also would be iniquity to be judged,
for I would have denied God above.
29 “If I rejoiced at my enemy’s misfortune
or gloated because calamity found him—
30 I have not allowed my mouth to sin,
by asking for his life with a curse—
31 if anyone in my household has ever said,
‘Who has not been filled with his meat?’
32 —but no stranger had to spend the night outside
for my door was open to the traveler—
33 if I have I covered my transgressions like Adam,
by hiding my guilt in my bosom
34 because I feared a great multitude,
and the contempt of clans terrified me,
so that I kept silent
and would not go outside.
35 O, that I had someone to hear me!
Look, here is my signature,
let Shaddai answer me,
let the accuser write the indictment!
36 Surely I would carry it on my shoulder;
I would bind it on me as a crown.
37 I would give Him an account of my steps;
like a prince I would approach Him.
38 “If my land cries out against me,
and its furrows weep together,
39 if I have eaten its fruits without money,
or caused the death of its owners,
40 then let briars come up instead of wheat,
and stinkweed instead of barley.”
The words of Job are ended.
26 “Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham and those among you who are God-fearers, it is to us the message of this salvation has been sent. 27 For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers—not recognizing Him or the sayings of the Prophets that are read every Shabbat—fulfilled these words by condemning Him. 28 Though they found no charge worthy of a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have Him executed. 29 When they had carried out all that had been 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 For many days He appeared to those who had come up from the Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now His witnesses to the people.
32 “And we proclaim to you Good News—the promise to the fathers has arrived! 33 For God has fulfilled this promise to the children—to us—by raising up Yeshua, as it is also written in the second psalm:
‘You are My Son.
Today I have become Your Father.’[a]
34 “But since He raised Him up from the dead, never to return to decay, He has spoken in this way, ‘I will give you the holy and sure mercies of David.’ [b] 35 Therefore He also says in another psalm, ‘You will not permit Your Holy One to see decay.’ [c] 36 For after David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he went to sleep and was laid with his fathers and saw decay. 37 But the One whom God raised up did not see decay.
38 “Therefore, let it be known to you, brothers, that through this One is proclaimed to you the removal of sins, including all those from which you could not be set right by the Torah of Moses. 39 Through this One everyone who keeps trusting is made righteous.
40 “Be careful, then, so that what is said in the Prophets may not come upon you:
41 ‘Look, you scoffers,
be amazed and vanish away.
For I am doing a work in your days—
a work you will never believe,
even if someone tells it to you in detail.’[d]”
42 As Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people kept begging them to speak these things to them the next Shabbat. 43 When the synagogue meeting broke up, many of the Jewish people and God-fearing inquirers followed Paul and Barnabas, who were speaking with them and trying to persuade them to continue in the grace of God.
44 The following Shabbat, almost the entire city came together to hear the word of the Lord. 45 When the Jewish leaders saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and tried to contradict what Paul was saying by reviling him. 46 Both Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, “It was necessary for the word of God to be spoken to you first. Since you reject it and judge yourselves unfit for eternal life—behold, we turn to the Gentiles.
47 For so the Lord has commanded us,
‘I have placed you as a light to the nations,
so that you may bring salvation to the end of the earth.’[e]”
48 When the Gentiles heard this, they were thrilled and glorified the word of the Lord; and as many as had been inscribed for eternal life believed.[f]
49 Now the word of the Lord spread throughout the whole region. 50 But the Jewish leaders incited the God-fearing women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and they drove them out of their district. 51 But Paul and Barnabas shook the dust off their feet against them,[g] and they went on to Iconium. 52 And the disciples were filled with joy and the Ruach ha-Kodesh.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.