Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
9 All you people who belong to the Lord,
continue to obey him.
People who respect the Lord
will have the things that they need.
10 Even young lions may not have food,
so that they become hungry.
But people who trust the Lord for help
will receive every good thing that they need.
11 Children, come and listen to me!
I will teach you how to respect the Lord.
12 Do you want to live a good life?
Do you want your life to be long and happy?
13 If so, do not speak any evil words.
Do not tell lies to deceive people.
14 Do good things instead of evil things.
Try to bring peace into people's lives.
Job's friend Zophar speaks to him[a]
11 Job's friend Zophar, who came from Naamah, decided to speak. He said this to Job:
2 ‘Someone must answer all these words that you have spoken.
You have talked a lot,
but that does not mean that you are right.
3 Your proud words will not cause other people to say nothing.
We must make you ashamed when you laugh at us.
4 You have said, “The things that I teach are true.
God knows that I am a good man.”
5 So God himself should answer you.
He should tell you what he thinks.
6 He would show you the secret of wisdom.
True wisdom is not easy to understand.
But you must understand this:
God is punishing you less than you deserve.
7 You cannot discover everything about God.
You cannot know how powerful he is.
8 His power goes higher than the sky.
You cannot do anything about that.
His power goes deeper than the place of death.
You cannot know all about that.
9 The truth about God is wider than the whole earth.
It goes far beyond the sea.
10 God may catch you and put you in prison.
He may accuse you in a court.
Nobody can stop him doing that.
11 God knows the people who are not honest.
He sees the evil things that they do.
12 Wild donkeys never give birth to human children.
And foolish people never become wise!
13 As for you, Job, you should be faithful to God.
Raise your hands and pray to God.
14 If you want to do an evil thing,
stop yourself from doing it.
Do not let people do wrong things in your home.
15 Do what I say. Then you will not be ashamed any more.
Instead, you will be strong. You will not be afraid.
16 You will forget about your trouble.
It will be like water that has disappeared.
You will not remember it.
17 You will have a happy life
that is brighter than the sun at noon.
Even if trouble makes it dark,
it will still seem like a bright morning.
18 You will be safe as you trust God.
God will protect you.
You will be able to rest safely.
19 When you lie down to sleep,
you will not be afraid of anyone.
Many people will ask you to help them.
20 But wicked people will not find any help.
They cannot escape from their troubles.
They can only hope to die.’
The important Jews take hold of Stephen
8 God helped Stephen in many special ways. God's power was with him. He did many miracles among the people which showed that God was with him. 9 But some men spoke against Stephen. They did not agree with what he taught people. These men were from one of the Jewish meeting places in Jerusalem. People called them, ‘The Group of Free Men’. These men were Jews from the cities called Cyrene and Alexandria. Some of them were from towns in Cilicia and Asia. They began to argue with Stephen. 10 But the Holy Spirit helped Stephen to be very wise when he spoke. So these men could not say that he was wrong.
11 Then those men secretly gave money to some bad men. They told them to say to the Jewish leaders, ‘We heard this man, Stephen, say bad things against Moses and against God.’
12 This made the people become angry against Stephen. The important Jews and the teachers of God's Law also became very angry. So they took hold of Stephen. They took him to stand in front of the group of Jewish leaders. 13 Then they brought in some men to say bad things about Stephen. The things that these men said were not true. They said about Stephen, ‘This man is always saying bad things about the temple. He says bad things against God's Law. 14 We also heard him talk about Jesus, the man who comes from Nazareth. He said that Jesus will destroy this place. He also said that Jesus will change the way that Moses taught us to live.’
15 All the Jewish leaders who sat there in the meeting looked carefully at Stephen. They saw that his face was very bright, like the face of an angel.
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