Old/New Testament
Job Laments and Prepares for Death
17 “My spirit is crushed,
my days are over;[a]
it’s the grave for me!
2 Mockers surround me;
I cannot stop staring at their hostility all through the night.
3 Offer, then, some collateral on my behalf.
Is there anyone who will be my guarantor?
4 “Because you’re the one who closed their hearts to compassion;[b]
therefore, you won’t let them triumph.
5 Now as for the one who testifies against his friends
to take their property,[c]
even the eyes of his children will fail.
6 “He has made me a byword among people;
I’m being spit on in the face.
7 My eyes have grown weak from grief;
and my whole body is as thin as a shadow.
8 The upright are appalled over this,
and the innocent person is troubled by the godless.
9 But the righteous person will hold to his way,
and those with clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.”
Job Prepares for Death
10 “Come here now, all of you,
and I won’t find a wise person among you.
11 My days are passed;
my plans have been shattered;
along with my heart’s desires.
12 They have transformed night into day—
‘The light,’ they say, ‘is about to become dark.’
13 “If my hope were that my house is the afterlife[d] itself,
if I were to make my bed in darkness,
14 if I call out to the Pit,[e] ‘You’re my father!’
or say to the worm,[f] ‘My mother!’ or ‘My sister!’
15 where would my hope be?
“And speaking of my hope, who would notice it?
16 Will it go down to the bars that lock the doors[g] of the afterlife?[h]
Will we descend together into the dust?”
Bildad Speaks Again
18 Bildad from Shuah replied, saying:
2 “When are you going to stop your word hunt?
Think first, and then we can talk.
3 Why do you think we’re like dumb animals?
Do you think we’re stupid?
4 You’re tearing yourself to pieces in your anger.
Will the land be abandoned because of you,
or the rock be moved from its place?”
The Wicked are Trapped
5 “Indeed, the light of the wicked is extinguished;
the flame from his fire doesn’t shine.
6 Light in his tent is dark,
and his lamp goes out above him.
7 His strong steps are restricted,
and his own advice trips him up.
8 “For he has stumbled into a net with his own feet;
he walked right into the network!
9 The trap seizes him by the heel;
a snare tightens its hold on him.
10 A rope lies hidden in the dirt;
a trap lies[i] waiting for him where he is walking.”
The Wicked Perish without Descendants
11 “He is petrified by terror that surrounds him on all sides;
they chase at his heels.
12 He is starved for strength;
and is ripe for a fall.
13 Something gnaws on his skin;
a deadly disease[j] consumes his limbs.
14 Torn from the security of his home,[k]
he is brought before the king of terrors.
15 “There’s nothing in his tent that belongs to him;
sulfur is scattered all over his dwelling place.
16 His roots wither underneath,
while his branches above are being cut off.
17 No one remembers him anywhere in the land;
no one names streets in his honor.
18 He is driven away from light to darkness,
made to wander the landscape.
19 He has no children or descendants within his own people;
and no survivors where he once lived.
20 People[l] who live west of him are appalled at his fate;[m]
those who live east of him are seized with terror.
21 Indeed, the residences of the wicked are like this;
and so are the homes of those who don’t know God.”
Job Responds to Bildad
19 In response, Job said:
2 “How long do you intend to keep torturing me
and trying to break me by what you’re saying?
3 Ten times you’ve tried to humiliate me!
You’re not ashamed to wrong me!
4 Even if it’s true that I’ve erred,
my error only affects me.
5 If you really intend to vaunt yourselves over me,
and make my problems the basis of your case against me,
6 then at least you must know that God has accused me of wrong,
and trapped me with his net.”
Job Accuses God of Being Angry
7 “Although I cried out ‘Violence!’
I received no answer;
I cried for help,
but there was no justice.
8 He blocked my path,
so I cannot pass;
and he turned out the lights on my pathways.
9 “He has stripped me of my honor;
he has stolen the crown off my head!
10 He is breaking me down on every side,
and now it’s too late for me;[n]
he has uprooted my hopes like a tree.
11 His anger burns against me;
he regards me as his adversary.
12 His troops march[o] in a column[p] against me,
erecting their siege ramps against me;
they surround my tent.”
Job’s Family and Friends Abandoned Him
13 “My brothers are alienated from me;
my acquaintances are estranged;
14 my relatives have failed me;
and my friends[q] have abandoned me.
15 Those who live in my house—
and my maidservants, too!—
treat me like a stranger;
they think I’m a foreigner.
16 “I call to my servant,
but he doesn’t respond,
even though I beg to him earnestly.[r]
17 My wife says my breath stinks;
even my children say I smell bad!
18 Even little children hate me;
when I get up, they mock me.
19 My closest friends[s] detest me;
even the ones I love have turned against me.
20 I’m a pile of skin and bones;
I have barely escaped by the skin of my teeth.”
Job Pleads with His Friends
21 “Be gracious to me, be gracious to me, my friends,
because God’s hand has struck me.
22 Why are you chasing me, as God has been doing?
Aren’t you satisfied that I’m sick?[t]
23 If only my words were written down;
if only they were inscribed in a book
24 using an iron stylus with lead for ink!
Then they’d be engraved in rock forever.
25 “As for me, I know that my Vindicator[u] is alive;
And he, the Last One,[v] will take his stand on the soil.[w]
26 Even after my skin has been destroyed,
clothed in my flesh I will see God,
27 whom I will see for myself.
My own eyes will look at him—
there won’t be anyone else for me!—
He is the culmination of my innermost desire.”
Job Reminds His Friends of Judgment
28 “When you’re thinking about asking yourselves,
‘How will we pursue him,
since the root of the problem is with him?’[x]
29 Make sure that you remain wary of God’s sword,
for God’s wrath brings with it the sword of punishment,
by which you’ll know there’s a judgment.”
Cornelius Has a Vision
10 Now in Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion[a] in what was known as the Italian Regiment. 2 He was a devout man who feared God, as did everyone in his home. He gave many gifts to the poor among the people and always prayed to God.
3 One day, about three in the afternoon,[b] he had a vision and clearly saw an angel of God coming to him and saying to him, “Cornelius!”
4 He stared at the angel[c] in terror and asked, “What is it, Lord?”
The angel[d] answered him, “Your prayers and your gifts to the poor have arisen as a reminder[e] to God. 5 Send men now to Joppa and summon Simon, who is called Peter. 6 He is a guest of Simon, a leatherworker, whose house is by the sea.”
7 When the angel who had spoken to him had gone, Cornelius[f] summoned two of his household servants and a devout soldier, one of those who served him regularly. 8 He explained everything to them and sent them to Joppa.
Peter Has a Vision
9 Around noon[g] the next day, while they were on their way and coming close to the town, Peter went up on the roof to pray. 10 He became very hungry and wanted to eat, and while the food[h] was being prepared, he fell into a trance 11 and saw heaven open and something like a large linen sheet coming down, being lowered by its four corners to the ground. 12 In it were all kinds of four-footed animals, reptiles, and birds of the air.
13 Then a voice told him,[i] “Get up, Peter! Kill something and eat it.”
14 But Peter said, “Absolutely not, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean!”
15 Again the voice came to him a second time, “You must stop calling unclean what God has made clean.” 16 This happened three times. Then the sheet[j] was quickly taken back into heaven.
17 While Peter was still at a loss to know what the vision he had seen could mean, the men sent by Cornelius asked for Simon’s house and went to the gate. 18 They called out and asked if Simon who was called Peter was staying there. 19 Peter was still thinking about the vision when the Spirit told him, “Look! Three men are looking for you. 20 Get up, go downstairs, and don’t hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them.”
21 So Peter went to the men and said, “I’m the man you’re looking for. Why are you here?”
22 The men replied, “Cornelius, a centurion and an upright and God-fearing man who is respected by the whole Jewish nation, was instructed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his home to hear what you have to say.”
23 So Peter[k] welcomed them as his guests. The next day, he got up and went with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa went along with him.
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