Old/New Testament
Eliphaz Answers Job
22 Then Eliphaz from Teman answered:
2 “Does God need our help?
Even the wisest of us is not really useful to him.
3 Does your living right benefit him?
Does God All-Powerful gain anything if you follow him?
4 Why does God blame and punish you?
Is it because you worship him?
5 No, it is because you sin so much.
You never stop sinning.
6 Maybe to guarantee loans you took things from people for no reason.
Maybe you took a poor man’s clothes to make sure he paid you back.[a]
7 Maybe you failed to give water or food
to people who were tired or hungry.
8 You have a lot of farmland,
and people respect you.
9 But maybe you sent widows away without giving them anything.
And maybe you took advantage of orphans.
10 That is why traps are all around you,
and sudden trouble makes you afraid.
11 That is why it is so dark you cannot see,
and why a flood of water covers you.
12 “God lives in the highest part of heaven
and looks down on the highest stars.
13 But you might say, ‘What does God know?
Can he see through the dark clouds to judge us?
14 Thick clouds hide us from his eyes,
so he cannot see us as he walks around the edge of the sky.’
15 “Job, you are walking on the old path
that evil people walked on long ago.
16 They were destroyed before it was their time to die.
They were washed away by the flood.
17 They told God, ‘Leave us alone!’
and said, ‘God All-Powerful cannot do anything to us!’
18 And it was God who filled their houses with good things.
No, I would never follow the advice of evil people.
19 Those who do what is right are happy to see them destroyed.
The innocent laugh at them and say,
20 ‘Surely our enemies are destroyed!
Their wealth burned up in the fire!’
21 “Now, Job, give yourself to God and make peace with him.
Do this, and you will get many good things.
22 Accept his teaching.
Pay attention to what he says.
23 If you return to God All-Powerful, you will be restored.
But remove the evil from your house.
24 Think of your gold as nothing but dirt.
Think of your finest gold as rocks from a stream.
25 And let God All-Powerful be your gold.
Let him be your pile of silver.
26 Then you will enjoy God All-Powerful,
and you will look up to him.
27 When you pray, he will hear you.
And you will be able to do all that you promised him.
28 If you decide to do something, it will be successful.
And your future will be very bright!
29 When people are brought down and you ask God to help them,
he will rescue those who have been humbled.
30 Even those who are guilty will be forgiven.
They will be saved because you did what was right.”
Job Answers
23 Then Job answered:
2 “I am still complaining today.
I groan because God is still making me suffer.
3 I wish I knew where to find him.
I wish I knew how to go to where he lives.
4 I would present my case to him.
I would make my arguments to show that I am innocent.
5 He could give his response, and I would understand.
I would listen closely to what he says.
6 Would God use his power against me?
No, he would listen to me!
7 Since I am an honest man, he would let me tell my story.
Then my Judge would set me free!
8 “If I go to the east, God is not there.
If I go to the west, I still don’t see him.
9 When he is working in the north, I don’t see him.
When he turns to the south, I still don’t see him.
10 But God knows me.
He is testing me and will see that I am as pure as gold.
11 I have always lived the way God wants.
I have never stopped following him.
12 I always obey his commands.
I love the words from his mouth more than I love my food.
13 “But God never changes,
and who can stand against him?
He does anything he wants.
14 He will do to me what he planned,
and he has many other plans for me.
15 That is why I am terrified to stand before him.
Just thinking about it makes me afraid.
16 The fear of God has made me lose my courage.
God All-Powerful makes me afraid.
17 What has happened to me is like a dark cloud over my face.
But the darkness will not keep me quiet.
24 “Why doesn’t God All-Powerful set times for judgment?
And why can’t his followers know when those times will be?
2 “People move property markers to get more of their neighbor’s land.
People steal flocks and lead them to other grasslands.
3 They steal a donkey that belongs to an orphan.
They take a widow’s cow until she pays what she owes them.
9 [b] They take a nursing baby from its mother.
They take a poor person’s child to guarantee a loan.
4 They force the poor to move out of their way
and to get off the road.
5 “The poor are like wild donkeys that go out to the desert to find food.
From morning to night they work to gather food for their children.
6 They have to work in the fields, harvesting grain.
They work for the rich,[c] gathering grapes in their vineyards.
7 They must sleep all night without clothes.
They have no covers to protect them from the cold.
8 They are soaked with rain in the mountains.
They stay close to the large rocks for shelter.
10 They have no clothes, so they work naked.
They carry piles of grain for others, but they go hungry.
11 They press out olive oil
and walk on grapes in the winepress, but they have nothing to drink.
12 In the city you can hear the sad sounds of dying people.
Those who are hurt cry out for help, but God does not listen.
13 “Some people rebel against the light.
They don’t know what God wants.
They don’t live the way he wants.
14 A murderer gets up at dawn and kills poor, helpless people.
And at night he becomes a thief.
15 A man who commits adultery waits for the night to come.
He thinks, ‘No one will see me,’ but still, he covers his face.
16 When it is dark, evil people go out and break into houses.
But during the day they lock themselves in their homes to avoid the light.
17 The darkest night is their morning.
They are friends with the terrors of darkness.
18 “You say, ‘Evil people are taken away like things carried away in a flood.
The land they own is cursed, so no one goes to work in their vineyards.
19 As hot, dry weather melts away the winter snows,
so the grave takes away those who have sinned.
20 Their own mothers will forget them.
Only the worms will want them.
No one will remember them.
They will be broken like a rotten stick!
21 These evil people hurt women who have no children to protect them,
and they refuse to help widows.
22 By his power God removes the powerful.
Even if they have a high position, they cannot be sure of their lives.
23 They might feel safe and secure,
but God is watching how they live.
24 They might be successful for a while, but then they will be gone.
Like everyone else, they will be cut down like grain.’
25 “I swear these things are true!
Who can prove that I lied?
Who can show that I am wrong?”
Peter Returns to Jerusalem
11 The apostles and the believers in Judea heard that non-Jewish people had accepted God’s teaching too. 2 But when Peter came to Jerusalem, some Jewish believers[a] argued with him. 3 They said, “You went into the homes of people who are not Jews and are not circumcised, and you even ate with them!”
4 So Peter explained the whole story to them. 5 He said, “I was in the city of Joppa. While I was praying, I had a vision. I saw something coming down from heaven. It looked like a big sheet being lowered to the ground by its four corners. It came down close to me, 6 and I looked inside. I saw all kinds of animals, including wild ones, as well as reptiles and birds. 7 I heard a voice say to me, ‘Get up, Peter. Kill anything here and eat it!’
8 “But I said, ‘I can’t do that, Lord! I have never eaten anything that is not pure or fit to be used for food.’
9 “But the voice from heaven answered again, ‘God has made these things pure. Don’t say they are unfit to eat!’
10 “This happened three times. Then the whole thing was taken back into heaven. 11 Suddenly there were three men standing outside the house where I was staying. They had been sent from Caesarea to get me. 12 The Spirit told me to go with them without wondering if it was all right. These six brothers here also went with me, and we went to the house of Cornelius. 13 He told us about the angel he had seen standing in his house. The angel said, ‘Send some men to Joppa to get Simon, the one who is also called Peter. 14 He will speak to you, and what he tells you will save you and everyone living in your house.’
15 “After I began speaking, the Holy Spirit came on them just as he came on us at the beginning.[b] 16 Then I remembered the words of the Lord Jesus: ‘John baptized people in water, but you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit.’ 17 God gave these people the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. So how could I object to what God wanted to do?”
18 When the Jewish believers heard this, they stopped arguing. They praised God and said, “So God is also allowing even those who are not Jews to change their hearts so that they can have the life he gives!”
The Good News Comes to Antioch
19 The believers were scattered by the persecution[c] that began when Stephen was killed. Some of them went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch. They told the Good News in these places, but only to Jews. 20 Some of these believers were men from Cyprus and Cyrene. When these men came to Antioch, they began speaking to people who were not Jews.[d] They told them the Good News about the Lord Jesus. 21 The Lord was helping these men, and a large number of people believed and decided to follow the Lord.
22 When the church in Jerusalem heard about this, they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23-24 Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith. When he went to Antioch and saw how God had blessed the believers there, he was very happy. He encouraged them all, saying, “Always be faithful to the Lord. Serve him with all your heart.” Many more people became followers of the Lord.
25 Then Barnabas went to the city of Tarsus to look for Saul. 26 When he found him, he brought him to Antioch. They stayed there a whole year. Every time the church came together, Barnabas and Saul met with them and taught many people. It was in Antioch that the followers of the Lord Jesus were called “Christ-followers” for the first time.
27 About that same time some prophets went from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 One of them, named Agabus, stood up and spoke with the help of the Spirit. He said, “A very bad time is coming to the whole world. There will be no food for people to eat.” (This time of famine happened when Claudius was emperor.) 29 The Lord’s followers decided that they would each send as much as they could to help their brothers and sisters who lived in Judea. 30 They gathered the money and gave it to Barnabas and Saul, who took it to the elders in Judea.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International