Old/New Testament
14 “We are all human beings.[a]
Our life is short and full of trouble.
2 Our life is like a flower that grows quickly and then dies away.
Our life is like a shadow that is here for a short time and then is gone.
3 God, do you need to keep an eye on something so small?
Why bother to bring charges against me?
4 “No one can make something clean from something so dirty.
5 The length of our life has been decided.
You alone know how long that is.
You have set the limits for us and nothing can change them.
6 So stop watching us; leave us alone,
and let us enjoy this hard life until we have put in our time.
7 “There is always hope for a tree.
If it is cut down, it can grow again.
It will keep sending out new branches.
8 Its roots might grow old in the ground
and its stump die in the dirt,
9 but with water, it will grow again.
It will grow branches like a new plant.
10 But when a man dies,
he becomes weak and sick, and then he is gone!
11 Like a lake that goes dry
or a river that loses its source,
12 so people lose their lives,
never to live again.
The skies will all pass away
before they rise from death.
The skies will all disappear before
anyone wakes up from that sleep!
13 “I wish you would hide me in my grave.
I wish you would hide me there, until your anger is gone.
Then you could pick a time to remember me.
14 If a man dies, will he live again?
If so, I would gladly suffer through this time waiting for my release.[b]
15 God, you would call me,
and I would answer you.
Then I, the one you made,
would be important to you.
16 You would still watch every step I take,
but you would not remember my sins.
17 It would be as if you had sealed my sins in a bag.
It would be as if you had covered my guilt with plaster.
18 “Mountains fall and crumble away.
Large rocks break loose and fall.
19 Water flowing over stones wears them down.
Floods wash away the soil on the ground.
In the same way, God, you destroy the hope people have.
20 You defeat them completely
and then they are gone.
You change the way they look
and send them away forever to the place of death.
21 If their sons are honored, they will never know it.
If their sons do wrong, they will never see it.
22 They only feel the pain in their bodies,
and they alone cry for themselves.”
Eliphaz Answers Job
15 Then Eliphaz from Teman answered Job:
2 “If you were really wise,
you would not answer with your worthless personal opinions!
A wise man would not be so full of hot air.
3 Do you think a wise man would use empty words
and meaningless speeches to win his arguments?
4 If you had your way,
no one would respect God and pray to him.
5 What you say clearly shows your sin.
Job, you are trying to hide your sin by using clever words.
6 I don’t need to prove to you that you are wrong.
The words from your own mouth show that you are wrong.
Your own lips speak against you.
7 “Do you think you were the first person ever to be born?
Were you born before the hills?
8 Did you listen to God’s secret plans?
Do you think you are the only wise person?
9 We know as much as you do!
We understand as well as you.
10 The old, gray-haired men agree with us.
People older than your father are on our side.
11 God tries to comfort you, but that is not enough for you.
We have spoken his message to you in a gentle way.
12 Why will you not understand?
Why can you not see the truth?
13 You are expressing your anger against God
when you say these things.
14 “People cannot really be pure.
They[c] cannot be more right than God!
15 God does not even trust his angels.[d]
He does not even think the sky is pure.
16 People are even worse.
They are disgusting and dirty.
They drink up evil like water.
17 “Listen to me, and I will explain it to you.
Let me tell you what I have seen.
18 I will tell you what wise men would say,
things they heard from their fathers and then freely passed on.
They didn’t hide any secrets from me.
19 These are important people in our country!
Everyone knows who they are.
20 And they said that an evil man suffers all his life.
A cruel man suffers all his numbered years.
21 Every noise scares him.
His enemy will attack him when he thinks he is safe.
22 An evil man has no hope of escaping the darkness.
There is a sword somewhere waiting to kill him.
23 He wanders from place to place, looking for food.
But he knows a dark day is coming, which he brought on himself.
24 He lives in fear, with worry and suffering threatening him
like a king ready to attack.
25 That is because that evil man shook his fist at God, refusing to obey.
He dared to attack God All-Powerful,
26 like a soldier with a thick, strong shield
who runs at his enemy to strike him in the neck.
27 He might be rich and fat,
28 but his town will be ruined;
his home will be destroyed;
his house will be empty.
29 He will not be rich for long.
His wealth will not last.
His crops will not grow large.
30 He will not escape the darkness.
He will be like a tree whose leaves die from disease
and are blown away by the wind.
31 That evil man should not fool himself by trusting in worthless things,
because he will keep nothing.
32 He will die before his time,
like a tree whose top branches have already begun to die.
33 He will be like a vine that loses its grapes before they ripen.
He will be like an olive tree that loses its buds.
34 That is because people without God have nothing.
Those who take bribes will have their homes destroyed by fire.
35 They are always thinking of ways to do evil and cause trouble.
They are always planning how they might cheat others.”
Job Answers Eliphaz
16 Then Job answered:
2 “I have heard all these things before.
You men give me trouble, not comfort.
3 Your long speeches never end!
Why do you continue arguing?
4 I also could say the same things you say,
if you had my troubles.
I could say wise things against you
and shake my head at you.
5 But I would say things to encourage you
and give you hope.
6 “Nothing I say makes my pain go away.
But keeping quiet does not help either.
7 God, you surely took away my strength.
You destroyed my whole family.
8 You have made me thin and weak,
and people think that means I am guilty.
9 “God attacks me;
he is angry with me and tears my body apart.
He grinds his teeth against me.
My enemy looks at me with hate.
10 People have crowded around me.
They make fun of me and slap my face.
11 God has given me to evil people.
He let the wicked hurt me.
12 I was enjoying a quiet, peaceful life,
but then God crushed me.
Yes, he took me by the neck
and broke me into pieces.
He has made me his target.
13 With his archers all around me,
he shoots arrows into my kidneys.
He shows no mercy
and spills my gall[e] on the ground.
14 Again and again he attacks me.
He runs at me like a soldier in battle.
15 “I am very sad, so I wear this sackcloth.
I sit here in dust and ashes, feeling defeated.
16 My face is red from crying.
There are dark rings around my eyes.
17 I was never cruel to anyone,
and my prayers are pure.
18 “Earth, don’t hide the wrong things that were done to me.[f]
Don’t let my begging for fairness be stopped.
19 Even now there is someone in heaven who will speak for me.
There is someone above who will testify for me.
20 My friend speaks for me,
while my eyes pour out tears to God.
21 He speaks to God for me,
like someone[g] presenting an argument for a friend.
22 “In only a few years
I will go to that place of no return.
22 But Saul became more and more powerful in proving that Jesus is the Messiah. His proofs were so strong that the Jews who lived in Damascus could not argue with him.
Saul Escapes From Some Jews
23 After many days, some Jews made plans to kill Saul. 24 They were watching the city gates day and night. They wanted to kill Saul, but he learned about their plan. 25 One night some followers that Saul had taught helped him leave the city. They put him in a basket and lowered it down through a hole in the city wall.
Saul in Jerusalem
26 Then Saul went to Jerusalem. He tried to join the group of followers, but they were all afraid of him. They did not believe that he was really a follower of Jesus. 27 But Barnabas accepted Saul and took him to the apostles. He told them how Saul had seen the Lord on the road and how the Lord had spoken to Saul. Then he told them how boldly Saul had spoken for the Lord in Damascus.
28 And so Saul stayed with the followers and went all around Jerusalem speaking boldly for the Lord. 29 He often had arguments with the Greek-speaking Jews, who began making plans to kill him. 30 When the believers learned about this, they took Saul to Caesarea, and from there they sent him to the city of Tarsus.
31 The church in Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had a time of peace. And with the help of the Holy Spirit, these groups of believers became stronger in faith and showed their respect for the Lord by the way they lived. So the church everywhere grew in numbers.
Peter in Lydda and Joppa
32 Peter was traveling through all the areas around Jerusalem, and he stopped to visit the believers[a] who lived in Lydda. 33 There he met a man named Aeneas, who was paralyzed and had not been able to get out of bed for the past eight years. 34 Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and make your bed!” He stood up immediately. 35 All the people living in Lydda and on the plain of Sharon saw him, and they decided to follow the Lord.
36 In the city of Joppa there was a follower of Jesus named Tabitha. Her Greek name, Dorcas, means “a deer.” She was always doing good things for people and giving money to those in need. 37 While Peter was in Lydda, Tabitha became sick and died. They washed her body and put it in an upstairs room. 38 The followers in Joppa heard that Peter was in Lydda, which was not far away. So they sent two men, who begged him, “Hurry, please come quickly!”
39 Peter got ready and went with them. When he arrived, they took him to the upstairs room. All the widows stood around him. They were crying and showing him the coats and other clothes that Tabitha had made during her time with them. 40 Peter sent all the people out of the room. He knelt down and prayed. Then he turned to Tabitha’s body and said, “Tabitha, stand up!” She opened her eyes. When she saw Peter, she sat up. 41 He gave her his hand and helped her stand up. Then he called the believers and the widows into the room. He showed them Tabitha; she was alive!
42 People everywhere in Joppa learned about this, and many believed in the Lord. 43 Peter stayed in Joppa for many days at the home of a man named Simon, who was a leatherworker.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International