Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁹ O fear the Lord, you His saints [revere and worship Him]! For there is no want to those who truly revere and worship Him with godly fear.

¹⁰ The young lions lack food and suffer hunger, but they who seek (inquire of and require) the Lord [by right of their need and on the authority of His Word], none of them shall lack any beneficial thing.

¹¹ Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you to revere and worshipfully fear the Lord.

¹² What man is he who desires life and longs for many days, that he may see good?

¹³ Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.

¹⁴ Depart from evil and do good; seek, inquire for, and crave peace and pursue (go after) it!

11 Then Zophar the Naamathite replied,

² Should not the multitude of words be answered? And should a man full of talk [and making such great professions] be pronounced free from guilt or blame?

³ Should your boastings and babble make men keep silent? And when you mock and scoff, shall no man make you ashamed?

⁴ For you have said, My doctrine [that God afflicts the righteous knowingly] is pure, and I am clean in [God’s] eyes.^(A)

⁵ But oh, that God would speak, and open His lips against you,

⁶ And that He would show you the secrets of wisdom! For He is manifold in understanding! Know therefore that God exacts of you less than your guilt and iniquity [deserve].

⁷ Can you find out the deep things of God, or can you by searching find out the limits of the Almighty [explore His depths, ascend to His heights, extend to His breadths, and comprehend His infinite perfection]?

⁸ His wisdom is as high as the heights of heaven! What can you do? It is deeper than Sheol (the place of the dead)! What can you know?

⁹ Longer in measure [and scope] is it than the earth, and broader than the sea.

¹⁰ If [God] sweeps in and arrests and calls into judgment, who can hinder Him? [If He is against a man, who shall call Him to account for it?]

¹¹ For He recognizes and knows hollow, wicked, and useless men (men of falsehood); when He sees iniquity, will He not consider it?

¹² But a stupid man will get wisdom [only] when a wild donkey’s colt is born a man [as when he thinks himself free because he is lifted up in pride].

¹³ If you set your heart aright and stretch out your hands to [God],

¹⁴ If you put sin out of your hand and far away from you and let not evil dwell in your tents;

¹⁵ Then can you lift up your face to Him without stain [of sin, and unashamed]; yes, you shall be steadfast and secure; you shall not fear.

¹⁶ For you shall forget your misery; you shall remember it as waters that pass away.

¹⁷ And [your] life shall be clearer than the noonday and rise above it; though there be darkness, it shall be as the morning.

¹⁸ And you shall be secure and feel confident because there is hope; yes, you shall search about you, and you shall take your rest in safety.

¹⁹ You shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid; yes, many shall sue for your favor.

²⁰ But the eyes of the wicked shall look [for relief] in vain, and they shall not escape [the justice of God]; and their hope shall be to give up the ghost.

⁸ Now Stephen, full of grace (divine blessing and favor) and power (strength and ability) worked great wonders and signs (miracles) among the people.

⁹ However, some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (freed Jewish slaves), as it was called, and [of the synagogues] of the Cyrenians and of the Alexandrians and of those from Cilicia and [the province of] Asia, arose [and undertook] to debate and dispute with Stephen.

¹⁰ But they were not able to resist the intelligence and the wisdom and [the inspiration of] the Spirit with which and by Whom he spoke.

¹¹ So they [secretly] instigated and instructed men to say, We have heard this man speak, using slanderous and abusive and blasphemous language against Moses and God.

¹² [Thus] they incited the people as well as the elders and the scribes, and they came upon Stephen and arrested him and took him before the council (Sanhedrin).

¹³ And they brought forward false witnesses who asserted, This man never stops making statements against this sacred place and the Law [of Moses];

¹⁴ For we have heard him say that this Jesus the Nazarene will tear down and destroy this place, and will alter the institutions and usages which Moses transmitted to us.

¹⁵ Then all who sat in the council (Sanhedrin), as they gazed intently at Stephen, saw that his face had the appearance of the face of an angel.