Old/New Testament
14 “How frail is man, how few his days, how full of trouble! 2 He blossoms for a moment like a flower—and withers; as the shadow of a passing cloud, he quickly disappears. 3 Must you be so harsh with frail men and demand an accounting from them? 4 How can you demand purity in one born impure? 5 You have set mankind so brief a span of life—months is all you give him! Not one bit longer may he live. 6 So give him a little rest, won’t you? Turn away your angry gaze and let him have a few moments of relief before he dies.
7 “For there is hope for a tree—if it’s cut down, it sprouts again and grows tender, new branches. 8-9 Though its roots have grown old in the earth, and its stump decays, it may sprout and bud again at the touch of water, like a new seedling. 10 But when a man dies and is buried, where does his spirit go? 11-12 As water evaporates from a lake, as a river disappears in drought, so a man lies down for the last time and does not rise again until the heavens are no more; he shall not awaken, nor be roused from his sleep. 13 Oh, that you would hide me with the dead and forget me there until your anger ends; but mark your calendar to think of me again!
14 “If a man dies, shall he live again? This thought gives me hope, so that in all my anguish I eagerly await sweet death! 15 You would call and I would come, and you would reward all I do. 16 But now, instead, you give me so few steps upon the stage of life and notice every mistake I make. 17 You bundle them all together as evidence against me.
18-19 “Mountains wear away and disappear. Water grinds the stones to sand. Torrents tear away the soil. So every hope of man is worn away. 20-21 Always you are against him, and then he passes off the scene. You make him old and wrinkled, then send him away. He never knows it if his sons are honored; or they may fail and face disaster, but he knows it not. 22 For him there is only sorrow and pain.”
15 The answer of Eliphaz the Temanite:
2 “You are supposed to be a wise man, and yet you give us all this foolish talk. You are nothing but a windbag. 3 It isn’t right to speak so foolishly. What good do such words do? 4-5 Have you no fear of God? No reverence for him? Your sins are telling your mouth what to say! Your words are based on clever deception, 6 but why should I condemn you? Your own mouth does!
7-8 “Are you the wisest man alive? Were you born before the hills were made? Have you heard the secret counsel of God? Are you called into his counsel room? Do you have a monopoly on wisdom? 9 What do you know more than we do? What do you understand that we don’t? 10 On our side are aged men much older than your father! 11 Is God’s comfort too little for you? Is his gentleness too rough?
12 “What is this you are doing, getting carried away by your anger, with flashing eyes? 13 And you turn against God and say all these evil things against him. 14 What man in all the earth can be as pure and righteous as you claim to be? 15 Why, God doesn’t even trust the angels! Even the heavens can’t be absolutely pure compared with him! 16 How much less someone like you, who is corrupt and sinful, drinking in sin as a sponge soaks up water!
17-19 “Listen, and I will answer you from my own experience, confirmed by the experience of wise men who have been told this same thing from their fathers—our ancestors to whom alone the land was given—and they have passed this wisdom to us:
20 “A wicked man is always in trouble throughout his life. 21 He is surrounded by terrors, and if there are good days, they will soon be gone. 22 He dares not go out into the darkness lest he be murdered. 23-24 He wanders around begging for food. He lives in fear, distress, and anguish. His enemies conquer him as a king defeats his foes. 25-26 Armed with his tin shield, he clenches his fist against God, defying the Almighty, stubbornly assaulting him.
27-28 “This wicked man is fat and rich, and has lived in conquered cities after killing off their citizens. 29 But he will not continue to be rich, or to extend his possessions. 30 No, darkness shall overtake him forever; the breath of God shall destroy him; the flames shall burn up all he has.
31 “Let him no longer trust in foolish riches;[a] let him no longer deceive himself, for the money he trusts in will be his only reward. 32 Before he dies, all this futility will become evident to him. For all he counted on will disappear 33 and fall to the ground like a withered grape.[b] How little will come of his hopes! 34 For the godless are barren: they can produce nothing truly good. God’s fire consumes them with all their possessions. 35 The only thing they can ‘conceive’ is sin, and their hearts give birth only to wickedness.”
16 Job’s reply:
2 “I have heard all this before. What miserable comforters all of you are. 3 Won’t you ever stop your flow of foolish words? What have I said that makes you speak so endlessly? 4 But perhaps I’d sermonize the same as you—if you were I and I were you. I would spout off my criticisms against you and shake my head at you. 5 But no! I would speak in such a way that it would help you. I would try to take away your grief.
6 “But now my grief remains no matter how I defend myself; nor does it help if I refuse to speak. 7 For God has ground me down and taken away my family. 8 O God, you have turned me to skin and bones—as a proof, they say, of my sins. 9 God hates me and angrily tears at my flesh; he has gnashed upon me with his teeth and watched to snuff out any sign of life. 10 These ‘comforters’ have gaping jaws to swallow me; they slap my cheek. My enemies gather themselves against me. 11 And God has delivered me over to sinners, into the hands of the wicked.
12 “I was living quietly until he broke me apart. He has taken me by the neck and dashed me to pieces, then hung me up as his target. 13 His archers surround me, letting fly their arrows, so that the ground is wet from my blood. 14 Again and again he attacks me, running upon me like a giant. 15 Here I sit in sackcloth; and have laid all hope in the dust. 16 My eyes are red with weeping, and on my eyelids is the shadow of death.
17 “Yet I am innocent, and my prayer is pure. 18 O Earth, do not conceal my blood. Let it protest on my behalf.
19 “Yet even now the witness to my innocence is there in heaven; my advocate is there on high. 20 My friends scoff at me, but I pour out my tears to God, 21 pleading that he will listen as a man would listen to his neighbor. 22 For all too soon I must go down that road from which I shall never return.
22 Paul became more and more fervent in his preaching, and the Damascus Jews couldn’t withstand his proofs that Jesus was indeed the Christ.
23 After a while the Jewish leaders determined to kill him. 24 But Paul was told about their plans, that they were watching the gates of the city day and night prepared to murder him. 25 So during the night some of his converts let him down in a basket through an opening in the city wall!
26 Upon arrival in Jerusalem he tried to meet with the believers, but they were all afraid of him. They thought he was faking! 27 Then Barnabas brought him to the apostles and told them how Paul had seen the Lord on the way to Damascus, what the Lord had said to him, and all about his powerful preaching in the name of Jesus. 28 Then they accepted him, and after that he was constantly with the believers 29 and preached boldly in the name of the Lord. But then some Greek-speaking Jews with whom he had argued plotted to murder him. 30 However, when the other believers heard about his danger, they took him to Caesarea and then sent him to his home in Tarsus.
31 Meanwhile, the church had peace throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria, and grew in strength and numbers. The believers learned how to walk in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit.
32 Peter traveled from place to place to visit them,[a] and in his travels came to the believers in the town of Lydda. 33 There he met a man named Aeneas, paralyzed and bedridden for eight years.
34 Peter said to him, “Aeneas! Jesus Christ has healed you! Get up and make your bed.” And he was healed instantly. 35 Then the whole population of Lydda and Sharon turned to the Lord when they saw Aeneas walking around.
36 In the city of Joppa there was a woman named Dorcas (“Gazelle”), a believer who was always doing kind things for others, especially for the poor. 37 About this time she became ill and died. Her friends prepared her for burial and laid her in an upstairs room. 38 But when they learned that Peter was nearby at Lydda, they sent two men to beg him to return with them to Joppa. 39 This he did; as soon as he arrived, they took him upstairs where Dorcas lay. The room was filled with weeping widows who were showing one another the coats and other garments Dorcas had made for them. 40 But Peter asked them all to leave the room; then he knelt and prayed. Turning to the body he said, “Get up, Dorcas,”[b] and she opened her eyes! And when she saw Peter, she sat up! 41 He gave her his hand and helped her up and called in the believers and widows, presenting her to them.
42 The news raced through the town, and many believed in the Lord. 43 And Peter stayed a long time in Joppa, living with Simon, the tanner.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.