Old/New Testament
5 ¶ Call now, if there shall be anyone to answer thee; and if there shall be any of the saints for thee to look unto?
2 It is certain that wrath kills the foolish man, and envy consumes the covetous one.
3 I have seen the foolish taking root, but at the same time I cursed his habitation.
4 His sons are far from saving health, and they shall be crushed in the gate, and there shall be no one to deliver them.
5 The hungry shall eat up his harvest, and even take it out from among the thorns, and the thirsty shall drink up their substance.
6 ¶ For the iniquity does not come forth out of the dust; neither does chastisement spring up out of the ground;
7 yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.
8 I would certainly seek God, and unto God would I commit my affairs;
9 who does great things that no one can understand, and marvels that have no explanation;
10 who gives rain upon the earth and sends waters abroad;
11 who sets up the humble on high, that those who mourn may be lifted up with saving health.
12 He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.
13 He takes the wise in their own prudence, and the counsel of his adversaries is turned to folly.
14 They meet with darkness in the daytime and grope in the noonday as in the night.
15 But he saves the poor from the sword, from the mouth of the wicked, and from the hand of the violent.
16 Who is the hope of the poor, and iniquity closes her mouth.
17 ¶ Behold, blessed is the man whom God chastens; therefore, do not despise not the correction of the Almighty.
18 For he makes sore, and binds up; he wounds, and his hands make whole.
19 He shall deliver thee in six tribulations, and in the seventh no evil shall touch thee.
20 In famine he shall ransom thee from death, and in war from the power of the sword.
21 Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue; neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it comes.
22 At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh; neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth;
23 for thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field; and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.
24 And thou shalt know that there is peace in thy tent, and thou shalt visit thy habitation and shalt not sin.
25 Thou shalt know that thy seed is great and thine offspring as the grass of the earth.
26 Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like a shock of wheat that is gathered in its season.
27 Behold that which we have searched out, so it is; hear it and judge it for thyself.
6 ¶ And Job answered and said,
2 Oh that my grief and calamity were justly weighed and laid equally in the balances!
3 For it would be heavier than the sand of the sea; therefore, my words are swallowed up.
4 For the arrows of the Almighty are within me; my spirit drinks of the poison; and terrors of God combat me.
5 Does the wild ass bray when he has grass? Does the ox low over his fodder?
6 Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?
7 The things that my soul refused to touch before, now by my sorrow are my food.
8 ¶ Oh, that I might have my request and that God would grant me the thing that I long for!
9 Even that it would please God to destroy me, that he would let loose his hand and cut me off!
10 Then should my comfort grow; I would hold on to sorrow without mercy; for I have not contradicted the words of the Holy One.
11 What is my strength that I should hope? What is my end that I should prolong my life?
12 Is my strength the strength of stones? Or is my flesh of steel?
13 Am I not doing all that I can, and even with all this I lack the power to do anything?
14 ¶ He that is afflicted deserves mercy from his friend; but he has forsaken the fear of the Almighty.
15 My brethren have lied to me as a brook; they passed away as an impetuous stream,
16 which was hidden by ice and covered by snow.
17 Which in the time of heat, they vanish; when they are heated, they disappear out of their place;
18 they turn aside out of the paths of their way; they go to nothing and perish.
19 The travelers of Tema looked; the traveling companies of Sheba waited for them.
20 They were put to shame because of their hope; they came there and found them confused.
21 Now ye are certainly as they; ye have seen the torment and are afraid.
22 ¶ Did I say, Bring unto me and pay for me out of your substance
23 and deliver me from the enemy’s hand and ransom me from the hand of the mighty?
24 Teach me, and I will be silent; and cause me to understand in what I have erred.
25 How forcible are the words of rectitude! But what does your argument reprove?
26 Are ye not thinking up words of reproof and throw to the wind words that are lost?
27 Ye also overwhelm the fatherless and dig a pit before your friend.
28 Now, therefore, if ye desire, look upon me and see if I shall lie in your presence.
29 Turn now, and there is no iniquity; return again to look for my righteousness in this.
30 If there is iniquity in my tongue or if my taste cannot discern the torments.
7 ¶ Man certainly has an appointed amount of time upon earth, and his days are like the days of a hireling.
2 As a slave earnestly desires the shade and as a hireling waits for rest from his work,
3 so I am made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me.
4 When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise? I measure the night, and I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day.
5 My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken and abominable.
6 My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle and are spent without hope.
7 ¶ Remember thou that my life is wind and that my eyes shall not return to see good.
8 The eyes of those that see me now shall not see me again; thine eyes shall be upon me, and I will cease to be.
9 As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away, so he that goes down to Sheol, who shall not come up again;
10 he shall return no more to his house; neither shall his place know him any more.
11 Therefore, I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
12 Am I a sea, or a dragon, that thou settest a watch over me?
13 When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint;
14 then thou dost scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions.
15 And my soul thought it better to be strangled and desired death more than my bones.
16 I loathed life; I do not desire to live for ever; let me alone; for my days are vanity.
17 ¶ What is man that thou should magnify him and that thou should set thine heart upon him
18 and that thou should visit him every morning and try him every moment?
19 For how long wilt thou not depart from me, nor let me alone until I swallow down my spittle?
20 If I have sinned, what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? Why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so that I am a burden to myself?
21 And why dost thou not take away my rebellion and pass over my iniquity? For now I shall sleep in the dust; and if thou shalt seek me in the morning, I shall not be found.
8 ¶ And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the congregation {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} which was at Jerusalem, and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.
2 And devout men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him.
3 As for Saul, he made havoc of the congregation; {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} entering into the houses and dragging out men and women, he committed them to prison.
4 ¶ But those that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word of the gospel.
5 Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached the Christ unto them.
6 And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spoke, hearing and seeing the signs which he did.
7 For many unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of those who were possessed with them, and many paralytics and that were lame were healed.
8 And there was great joy in that city.
9 But there was a certain man called Simon, who before this in the same city used magic arts and amazed the people of Samaria, giving out that he himself was some great one,
10 to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This is the great virtue of God.
11 And to him they had regard because for a long time he had amazed them with magic arts.
12 But when they believed Philip preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
13 Then Simon himself believed also; and when he was baptized, he continued with Philip and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were being done.
14 ¶ Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John unto them,
15 who, when they were come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit.
16 (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them; they were baptized only in the name of the Lord Jesus.)
17 Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
18 And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money,
19 saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy Spirit.
20 But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.
21 Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight of God.
22 Repent therefore of this thy wickedness and pray God, if perhaps this thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee.
23 For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness and in the prison of iniquity.
24 Then Simon answered and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me that none of these things which ye have spoken come upon me.
25 And they, when they had testified and preached the word of God, returned to Jerusalem and preached the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.
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