The Daily Audio Bible
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Bildad: God Restores the Righteous
8 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:
2 “How long will you say these things?
The words of your mouth are like a mighty wind.
3 Does God pervert justice?
Does Shaddai pervert justice?
4 If your children sinned against Him,
He handed them over to their rebellion.
5 If you would seek God
and plead with Shaddai,
6 if you are pure and upright,
even now He will awaken for you
and restore your righteous abode.
7 And though your beginning was small,
your future would flourish.
8 Now ask the previous generation;
consider the findings of their fathers;
9 for we were born yesterday
and know nothing,
and our days on earth are but a shadow.
10 Will they not teach you and tell you?
Will they not bring forth words from their hearts?
11 “Can papyrus grow tall without a marsh?
Can reeds flourish without water?
12 When still in bloom and uncut,
it withers more quickly than other grass.
13 Such are the ways of all who forget God;
the hope of the godless perishes—
14 whose confidence is snapped off,
his trust is a spider’s web.
15 He leans against his house but it does not stand,
He holds fast to it, but it does not hold up.
16 He is a well-watered plant in the sun,
spreading his shoots over his garden;
17 he entwines his roots around a heap of stones,
and looks for a place between the rocks.
18 If he is uprooted from his place,
it denies him saying, ‘I never saw you.’
19 Such is his joyous course,
and from the earth others spring up.
20 Surely God does not spurn the blameless
or strengthen the hand of evildoers.
21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughter
and your lips with shouts of joy.
22 Those who hate you will be clothed with shame.
The tent of the wicked will be no more!”
Job: Who is Righteous Before God?
9 Job responded and said:
2 “Truly I know it is so,
but how can one be righteous before God?[a]
3 If anyone wished to contend with Him,
he could not answer Him once in a thousand.
4 He is wise in heart and mighty in strength.
Who has resisted Him and come out whole?
5 “He who moves mountains,
yet they do not know it,
who overthrows them in His anger;
6 who shakes the earth from its place
until its pillars tremble;
7 who speaks to the sun so it does not rise,
and seals up the stars;
8 He alone spreads out the heavens,
and treads on the waves of the sea;
9 He makes the Bear, Orion and Pleiades,
and the constellations of the south;
10 He does great and unfathomable things,
wonders beyond number.
11 If He were to pass by me,
I would not see Him!
Were He to move past me,
I would not perceive Him.
12 If He were to snatch away,
who could restrain Him?
Who could say to Him,
‘What are You doing?’
13 “God does not restrain His anger;
under Him the helpers of Rahab cower.
14 How then can I answer Him
or choose my words with Him?
15 Even if I were right, I would not answer;
I would implore the mercy of my Judge.
16 Even if I called and He answered me,
I would not believe that He would listen to my voice.
17 He who crushes me with a storm
and multiplies my wounds for no reason.
18 He does not allow me to catch my breath,
but fills me with bitterness.
19 If it is a question of strength—
certainly, He is the mighty One!
If it is a matter of justice—
who will summon me?
20 Even if I were innocent,
my mouth would condemn me.
If I were guiltless,
it will declare me perverse.
21 “I am guiltless.
I have no concern for myself.
I despise my life.
22 It is all the same, therefore I say,
‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’
23 If a scourge smites suddenly,
He mocks the despair of the innocent.
24 If the land falls into the hand of the wicked
He blindfolds the faces of its judges.
If it is not He, then who is it?
25 “My days are swifter than a runner;
they flee away without seeing goodness.
26 They slip by like reed boats,
like an eagle swooping down on its prey.
27 If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint,
I will put off my sad face and be cheerful,’
28 I still dread all my pains,
for I know You will not find me innocent.
29 If I am condemned—
why should I struggle in vain?
30 If I wash myself with melted snow
and cleanse my hands with lye,
31 then You would plunge me into a pit
and my own clothes would detest me.
32 For He is not a human being, like I am,
that I could answer Him,
that we could go to court together.
33 There is no arbitrator between us,
who could lay his hand on us both;
34 who could remove His rod from me,
so that His terror would not frighten me.
35 Then I would speak and not fear Him
—except it is not so with me.”
Do Not Condemn Me!
10 “I loathe my own life;
I will give full vent to my complaint;
I will speak out of the bitterness of my soul.
2 I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me;
tell me why You contend with me.’
3 Is it good for You to oppress,
to despise the work of Your hands,
while You smile on the plans of the wicked?
4 Do You have eyes of flesh?
Do You see as a human being sees?
5 Are Your days like those of a mortal,
or Your years like those of a strong man,
6 that You should seek out my iniquity
and search out my sin,
7 though You know that I am not guilty,
yet there is no one to deliver from Your hand?
8 “Your hands molded and fashioned me,
will You now destroy me completely?
9 Remember You fashioned me like clay;
will You return me to dust?
10 Did You not pour me out like milk
and curdle me like cheese,
11 clothe me with skin and flesh
and knit me together with bones and sinews?
12 You gave me life and steadfast love,
and Your care has preserved my spirit.
13 “Yet these things You have hid in Your heart,
for I know that this is with You.
14 If I sinned, You would watch me,
and not acquit me of my iniquity.
15 If I am guilty, woe to me!
Even if I am innocent,
I cannot lift my head.
I am full of shame
and conscious of my affliction.
16 If my head is held high,
You hunt me like a lion,
and again work wonders against me.
17 You renew Your witnesses against me,
and increase Your anger toward me,
change and warfare are with me.
18 “Why then did You bring me out from the womb?
I should have died so no eye would have seen me.
19 If only I had never come into being,
or been carried from womb to grave.
20 Are not my days few?
Then stop, leave me alone
so I might have a little joy,
21 before I depart, and never return,
to the land of darkness
and the shadow of death,
22 the land of utter darkness,
like the deepest darkness and disorder,
where even the light is like darkness.”
Zophar: God Sees Iniquity
11 Then, Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:
2 “Should so many words go unanswered?
Is a man justified by his lips?
3 Will your idle talk silence men
and will no one rebuke you when you mock?
4 For you have said,
‘My teaching is flawless’
and ‘I am pure in Your eyes!’
5 But if only God would speak
and open His lips against you,
6 and show you the secrets of wisdom—
for sound wisdom has two sides.
Know that God has forgotten some of your iniquity.
7 “Can you discover the mysteries of God?
Can you find the limits of Shaddai?
8 They are higher than the heavens
—what can you do?
They are deeper than Sheol
—what can you know?
9 Its measure is longer than the earth
and wider than the sea.
10 “If He comes by and imprisons, or convenes a court,
who can prevent Him?
11 For He knows deceitful men;
when He sees wickedness, does he not consider it?
12 But a witless man will gain understanding
when a wild donkey’s colt is born a human being?
13 “If you devote your heart to Him
and spread out your hands to Him,
14 if you put away the wickedness that is in your hand,
and allow no iniquity to abide in your tent,
15 then you will lift up your face without reproach;
you will stand firm and without fear.
16 You will forget your trouble;
you will remember it like water that has flowed away.
17 Life will be brighter than noonday;
darkness like the morning.
18 You will be confident, because there is hope;
you will look about you and lie down in safety.
19 You will lie down with no one to make you afraid,
many will seek your favor.
20 But the eyes of the wicked will fail,
and escape will elude them;
their only hope is their dying breath.”[b]
The Victory of the Resurrection
15 Now I make known to you, brothers and sisters, the Good News which I proclaimed to you. You also received it, and you took your stand on it, 2 and by it you are being saved if you hold firm to the word I proclaimed to you—unless you believed without proper consideration. 3 For I also passed on to you first of all what I also received—
that Messiah died for our sins
according to the Scriptures,[a]
4 that He was buried,
that He was raised on the third day
according to the Scriptures,
5 and that He appeared to Kefa,
then to the Twelve.
6 Then He appeared to over five hundred
brothers and sisters at one time—
most of them are still alive,
though some have died.[b]
7 Then He appeared to Jacob,
then to all the emissaries,
8 and last of all, as to one untimely born,
He also appeared to me.
9 For I am the least of the emissaries, unworthy to be called an emissary because I persecuted God’s community. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am. His grace toward me was not in vain. No, I worked harder than them all—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11 Whether then it is I or they, so we proclaim, and so you believed.
12 Now if Messiah is proclaimed—that He has been raised from the dead—how can some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Messiah has been raised! 14 And if Messiah has not been raised, then our proclaiming is meaningless and your faith also is meaningless. 15 Moreover, we are found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified about God that He raised up Messiah—whom He did not raise up, if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Messiah has been raised. 17 And if Messiah has not been raised, your faith is futile—you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Messiah have perished. 19 If we have hoped in Messiah in this life alone, we are to be pitied more than all people.
20 But now Messiah has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also has come through a Man. [c] 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Messiah will all be made alive.
23 But each in its own order: Messiah the firstfruits; then, at His coming, those who belong to Messiah; 24 then the end, when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father after He has destroyed all rule and all authority and power. [d] 25 For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. [e] 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For God has “put all things in subjection underneath His feet.”[f] But when the psalmist says that “all” has been put in subjection, it is clear that this does not include God Himself, who put all things under Messiah. 28 Now when all things become subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also become subject to the One who put all things under Him, so that God may be all in all.
A Burden Too Heavy for Me
Psalm 38
1 A psalm of David, for a memorial.
2 Adonai, do not rebuke me in Your anger
or discipline me in Your wrath.
3 For Your arrows have sunk deep into me
and Your hand has pressed down on me.
4 There is no health in my flesh because of Your indignation.
There is no wholeness in my bones because of my sin.
5 For my iniquities are on my head—
like a burden too heavy for me.
6 My wounds are foul and festering
because of my foolishness.
7 I am bent over, bowed down greatly.
All day I walk about in mourning.
8 For my heart is filled with burning pain,
and there is no health in my body.
9 I am numb and utterly crushed.
I groan because of anguish in my heart.
10 My Lord, all my longing is before You,
and my sighing is not hidden from You.
11 My heart pounds, my strength fails me.
The light of my eyes—also, not with me.
12 My friends and my companions stay away from my wound,
and my kinsmen stand far off.
13 They who seek my life set traps.
Those who seek my hurt threaten destruction, uttering lies all day.
14 But I, like someone deaf, hear nothing,
like a mute, not opening his mouth.
15 Yes, I am like one who cannot hear,
whose mouth has no arguments.
16 But I wait for You, Adonai—
You will answer, O Lord my God.
17 For I said: “Don’t let them gloat over me
or exalt themselves over me, when my foot slips.”
18 For I am about to fall,
and my pain is before me constantly.
19 So I confess my guilt.
I am troubled because of my sin.
20 My lively enemies are numerous.
Many hate me wrongfully.
21 Those who repay evil for good oppose me
because I pursue what is good.
22 Do not forsake me, Adonai.
O my God, be not far from me.
23 Hurry to my aid, my Lord, my salvation.
28 A false witness will perish,
but a man who hears will speak forever.
29 A wicked man puts on a bold face,
but the upright man considers his ways.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.