Old/New Testament
34 Moreover Elihu answered and said,
2 “Hear my words, you wise men. And listen to me, you who have knowledge.
3 “For the ear tests the words, as the mouth tastes food.
4 “Let us seek judgment among us. And let us know among ourselves what is good.
5 “For Job has said, ‘I am righteous, and God has taken away my judgment.
6 Should I lie regarding my right? My wound of the arrow is grievous, though without my sin.
7 “What man is like Job, who drinks scornfulness like water,
8 “who goes in the company of those who work iniquity, and walks with wicked men?
9 “For he has said, ‘It profits a man nothing that he should walk with God.’
10 “Therefore, listen to me, you men of wisdom. Far be it from God to do wickedness, or that there is iniquity in the Almighty.
11 “For He will render to man according to his work, and cause everyone to find it according to his way.
12 “And certainly God will not do wickedly. Nor will the Almighty pervert judgment.
13 “Whom has He appointed over the Earth besides Himself? Or who has made the whole world?
14 “If He sets His Heart upon it, and gathers to Himself His Spirit and His breath,
15 “all flesh shall perish together, and man shall return to dust.
16 “And if you have understanding, hear this. Listen to the voice of my words.
17 “Shall he who hates judgment, govern? And will you judge Him wicked Who is most just?
18 “Will you say to a king, ‘You are wicked,’ or to princes, ‘You are ungodly?’
19 “How much less to Him Who does not accept the persons of princes or regard the rich more than the poor? For they are all the work of His Hands.
20 “They shall die suddenly. And the people shall be troubled at midnight. And they shall pass forth and take away the mighty without power.
21 “For His Eyes are upon the ways of man, and He sees all his goings.
22 “There is no darkness or shadow of death, in which the workers of iniquity might be hidden.
23 “For He will not lay on man so much that he would enter into judgment with God.
24 “He shall break the mighty without seeking and shall set up others in their place.
25 “Therefore, He shall declare their works. He shall turn the night, and they shall be destroyed.
26 “He strikes them as wicked men, in the places of the seers,
27 “because they have turned back from Him, and would not consider all His ways,
28 “so that they have caused the voice of the poor to come to Him. And He has heard the cry of the afflicted.
29 “And when He gives quietness, who can make trouble? And when He hides His Face, who can behold Him, whether upon nations or upon a single man,
30 “so that the hypocrite does not reign and ensnare the people.
31 “Surely it is like God to say, ‘I have pardoned, I will not destroy.’
32 “So, if I do not see, teach me. If I have done wickedly, I will do no more.
33 “Yet, will He perform the thing through you simply because you have reproved it? You must choose, and not me. Therefore, say what you know.
34 “Let men of understanding tell me. And let a wise man listen to me.
35 “Job has not spoken of knowledge, nor were his words according to wisdom.
36 “I desire that Job may be tested to the utmost, because his answers are for wicked men!
37 “For he adds rebellion to his sin. He claps his hands among us and multiplies his words against God.”
35 Elihu spoke more, and said,
2 “Do you think this right, that you have said, ‘I am more righteous than God’?
3 “For you have said, ‘What does it profit You, and what does it avail me, to purge me from my sin?’
4 “I will answer you, and your companions with you.
5 “Look to the heaven and see and behold that the clouds are higher than you.
6 “If you sin, what have you done against Him? Indeed, when your sins are many, what have you done to Him?
7 “If you are righteous, what do you give to Him, or what does He receive from your hand?
8 “Your wickedness is for a man such as you, and your righteousness for a son of man.
9 “They cause many who are oppressed to cry, cry out for the violence of the mighty.
10 “But no one says, ‘Where is God Who made me, Who gives songs in the night,
11 ‘Who teaches us more than the beasts of the Earth, and gives us more wisdom than the birds of the heaven?’
12 “Then they cry because of the violence of the wicked. But He does not answer.
13 “Surely God will not hear vanity, nor will the Almighty regard it.
14 “Although you say, ‘You will not regard it’, judgment is still before Him. Trust in Him.
15 “But now, because His anger has not visited or called the evil to account with great extremity,
16 “therefore Job opens his mouth in vain, and multiplies words without knowledge.”
15 Then some from Judea came down and taught the brothers, saying, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”
2 And when there was great dissension and disputation by Paul and Barnabas against them, they ordained that Paul and Barnabas, and certain others of them, should go up to Jerusalem (to the apostles and elders) about this question.
3 Thus, being sent forth by the church, they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles. And they brought great joy to all the brothers.
4 And when they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church, and by the apostles and elders. And they told what things God had done through them.
5 “But,” they said, “some of the Pharisee sect who believed, rose up, saying that it was necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the Law of Moses.”
6 Then the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter.
7 And when there had been great disputation, Peter rose up, and said to them, “Men, brothers, you know that a good while ago, God chose me from among us. So that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the Word of the Gospel and believe.
8 “And God, Who knows the hearts, bore them witness in giving the Holy Ghost to them even as to us.
9 “And after He had purified their hearts by faith, He made no distinction between us and them.
10 “Now, therefore, why do you tempt God, to lay a yoke on the disciples’ necks which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
11 “But we believe we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, just as they are.”
12 Then all the multitude kept silent and heard Barnabas and Paul, who told what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.
13 And after their silence, James answered, saying, “Men, brothers, hear me.
14 “Simeon has declared how God first visited the Gentiles, to take a people to His Name.
15 “And the words of the Prophets agree with this. As it is written,
16 ‘After this I will return, and will rebuild the Tabernacle of David, which has fallen down. And I will rebuild the ruins thereof, and I will set it up.
17 ‘So that the remaining men - and all the Gentiles upon whom My Name is called - might seek after the Lord, says the Lord Who does all these things.’
18 “From the beginning of the world, God knows all His works.
19 “Therefore my judgment is that we do not trouble those of the Gentiles who have turned to God,
20 “but that we write to them to abstain from filthiness of idols, and from fornication, and from that which is strangled, and from blood.
21 “For Moses has, for generations, had those who preach him in every city (seeing he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath).”
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