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16 Then Job answered,
2 I have heard many such things; wearisome and miserable comforters are you all!
3 Will your futile words of wind have no end? Or what makes you so bold to answer [me like this]?
4 I also could speak as you do, if you were in my stead; I could join words together against you and shake my head at you.
5 [But] I would strengthen and encourage you with [the words of] my mouth, and the consolation of my lips would soothe your suffering.
6 If I speak [to you miserable comforters], my sorrow is not soothed or lessened; and if I refrain [from speaking], in what way am I eased? [I hardly know whether to answer you or be silent.]
7 But now [God] has taken away my strength. You [O Lord] have made desolate all my family and associates.
8 You have laid firm hold on me and have shriveled me up, which is a witness against me; and my leanness [and wretched state of body] are further evidence [against me]; [they] testify to my face.
9 [[a]My adversary Satan] has torn [me] in his wrath and hated and persecuted me; he has gnashed upon me with his teeth; my adversary sharpens his eyes against me.
10 [The forces of evil] have gaped at me with their mouths; they have struck me upon the cheek insolently; they massed themselves together and conspired unanimously against me.(A)
11 God has delivered me to the ungodly (to the evil one) and cast me [headlong] into the hands of the wicked (Satan’s host).
12 I was living at ease, but [Satan] crushed me and broke me apart; yes, he seized me by the neck and dashed me in pieces; then he set me up for his target.
13 [Satan’s] arrows whiz around me. He slashes open my vitals and does not spare; he pours out my gall on the ground.
14 [Satan] stabs me, making breach after breach and attacking again and again; he runs at me like a giant and irresistible warrior.
15 I have sewed sackcloth over my skin [as a sign of mourning] and have defiled my horn (my insignia of strength) in the dust.
16 My face is red and swollen with weeping, and on my eyelids is the shadow of death [my eyes are dimmed],
17 Although there is no guilt or violence in my hands and my prayer is pure.
18 O earth, cover not my blood, and let my cry have no resting-place [where it will cease being heard].
19 Even now, behold, my Witness is in heaven, and He who vouches for me is on high.(B)
20 My friends scorn me, but my eye pours out tears to God.
21 Oh, that there might be one who would plead for a man with God and that he would maintain his right with Him, as a son of man pleads with or for his neighbor!(C)
22 For when a few years are come, I shall go the way from which I shall not return.
17 My spirit is broken, my days are spent (snuffed out); the grave is ready for me.
2 Surely there are mockers and mockery around me, and my eye dwells on their obstinacy, insults, and resistance.
3 Give me a pledge with Yourself [acknowledge my innocence before my death]; who is there that will give security for me?
4 But their hearts [Lord] You have closed to understanding; therefore You will not let them triumph [by giving them a verdict against me].
5 He who denounces his friends [in order to make them] a prey and get a share, the eyes of his children shall fail [to find food].
6 But He has made me a byword among the people, and they spit before my face.
7 My eye has grown dim because of grief, and all my members are [wasted away] like a shadow.
8 Upright men shall be astonished and appalled at this, and the innocent shall stir himself up against the godless and polluted.
9 Yet shall the righteous (those upright and in right standing with God) hold to their ways, and he who has clean hands shall grow stronger and stronger.(D)
10 But as for you, come on again, all of you, though I find not a wise man among you.
11 My days are past, my purposes and plans are frustrated; even the thoughts (desires and possessions) of my heart [are broken off].
12 These [thoughts] extend from the night into the day, [so that] the light is short because of darkness.
13 But if I look to Sheol (the unseen state) as my abode, if I spread my couch in the darkness,
14 If I say to the grave and corruption, You are my father, and to the worm [that feeds on decay], You are my mother and my sister [because I will soon be closest to you],
15 Where then is my hope? And if I have hope, who will see [its fulfillment]?
16 [My hope] shall go down to the bars of Sheol (the unseen state) when once there is rest in the dust.
18 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered,
2 How long will you lay snares for words and have to hunt for your argument? Do some clear thinking, and then we will reply.
3 Why are we counted as beasts [as if we had no sense]? Why are we unclean in your sight?
4 You who tear yourself in your anger, shall the earth be forsaken for you, or the rock be removed out of its place?
5 Yes, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the flame of his fire shall not shine.(E)
6 The light shall be dark in his dwelling, and his lamp beside him shall be put out.(F)
7 The steps of his strength shall be shortened, and his own counsel and the plans in which he trusted shall bring about his downfall.
8 For the wicked is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walks upon a lattice-covered pit.
9 A trap will catch him by the heel, and a snare will lay hold on him.
10 A noose is hidden for him on the ground and a trap for him in the way.
11 Terrors shall make him afraid on every side and shall chase him at his heels.
12 The strength [of the wicked] shall be hunger-bitten, and calamity is ready at his side [if he halts].
13 By disease his strength and his skin shall be devoured; the firstborn of death [the worst of diseases] shall consume his limbs.
14 He shall be rooted out of his dwelling place in which he trusted, and he shall be brought to the king of terrors [death].
15 There shall dwell in his tent that which is none of his [family]; sulphur shall be scattered over his dwelling [to purify it after his going].
16 The roots [of the wicked] shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off and wither.
17 His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street.
18 He shall be thrust from light into darkness and driven out of the world.
19 He shall neither have son nor grandson among his people, nor any remaining where he sojourned.
20 They [of the west] that come after [the wicked man] shall be astonished and appalled at his day, as they [of the east] that went before were seized with horror.
21 Surely such are the dwellings of the ungodly, and such is the place of him who knows not (recognizes not and honors not) God.
19 Then Job answered:
2 How long will you vex and torment me and break me in pieces with words?
3 These ten times you have reproached me; you are not ashamed that you make yourselves strange [harden yourselves against me and deal severely with me].
4 And if it were true that I have erred, my error would remain with me [I would be conscious of it].
5 If indeed you magnify yourselves against me and plead against me my reproach and humiliation,
6 Know that God has overthrown and put me in the wrong and has closed His net about me.
7 Behold, I cry out, Violence! but I am not heard; I cry aloud for help, but there is no justice.
8 He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass, and He has set darkness upon my paths.
9 He has stripped me of my glory and taken the crown from my head.
10 He has broken me down on every side, and I am gone; my hope has He pulled up like a tree.
11 He has also kindled His wrath against me, and He counts me as one of His adversaries.
12 His troops come together and cast up their way and siege works against me and encamp round about my tent.
13 He has put my brethren far from me, and my acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.
14 My kinsfolk have failed me, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.
15 Those who live temporarily in my house and my maids count me as a stranger; I am an alien in their sight.
16 I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer, though I beseech him with words.
17 I am repulsive to my wife and loathsome to the children of my own mother.
18 Even young children despise me; when I get up, they speak against me.
19 All the men of my council and my familiar friends abhor me; those whom I loved are turned against me.
20 My bone clings to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped with the skin or gums of my teeth.
21 Have pity on me! Have pity on me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me!
22 Why do you, as if you were God, pursue and persecute me? [Acting like wild beasts] why are you not satisfied with my flesh?
23 Oh, that the words I now speak were written! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book [carved on a tablet of stone]!
24 That with an iron pen and [molten] lead they were graven in the rock forever!
25 For I know that my Redeemer and Vindicator lives, and at last He [the Last One] will stand upon the earth.(G)
26 And after my skin, even this body, has been destroyed, then from my flesh or without it I shall see God,
27 Whom I, even I, shall see for myself and on my side! And my eyes shall behold Him, and not as a stranger! My heart pines away and is consumed within me.
28 If you say, How we will pursue him! [and continue to persecute me with the claim] that the root [cause] of all these [afflictions] is found in me,
29 Then beware and be afraid of the sword [of divine vengeance], for wrathful are the punishments of that sword, that you may know there is a judgment.
16 Now concerning the money contributed for [the relief of] the saints (God’s people): you are to do the same as I directed the churches of Galatia to do.
2 On the first [day] of each week, let each one of you [personally] put aside something and save it up as he has prospered [in proportion to what he is given], so that no collections will need to be taken after I come.
3 And when I arrive, I will send on those whom you approve and authorize with credentials to carry your gift [of charity] to Jerusalem.
4 If it seems worthwhile that I should go too, they will accompany me.
5 After passing through Macedonia, I will visit you, for I intend [only] to pass through Macedonia;
6 But it may be that I will stay with you [for a while], perhaps even spend the winter, so that you may bring me forward [on my journey] to wherever I may go.
7 For I am unwilling to see you right now [just] in passing, but I hope later to remain for some time with you, if the Lord permits.
8 I will remain in Ephesus [however] until Pentecost,
9 For a wide door of opportunity for effectual [service] has opened to me [there, a great and promising one], and [there are] many adversaries.
10 When Timothy arrives, see to it that [you put him at ease, so that] he may be fearless among you, for he is [devotedly] doing the Lord’s work, just as I am.
11 So [see to it that] no one despises him or treats him as if he were of no account or slights him. But send him off [cordially, speed him on his way] in peace, that he may come to me, for I am expecting him [to come along] with the other brethren.
12 As for our brother Apollos, I have urgently encouraged him to visit you with the other brethren, but it was not at all his will or [a]God’s will that he should go now. He will come when he has opportunity.
13 Be alert and on your guard; stand firm in your faith ([b]your conviction respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, keeping the trust and holy fervor born of faith and a part of it). Act like men and be courageous; grow in strength!(A)
14 Let everything you do be done in love (true love to God and man as inspired by God’s love for us).
15 Now, brethren, you know that the household of Stephanas were the first converts and our firstfruits in Achaia (most of Greece), and how they have consecrated and devoted themselves to the service of the saints (God’s people).
16 I urge you to pay all deference to such leaders and to enlist under them and be subject to them, as well as to everyone who joins and cooperates [with you] and labors earnestly.
17 I am happy because Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus have come [to me], for they have made up for your absence.
18 For they gave me [c]respite from labor and rested me and refreshed my spirit as well as yours. Deeply appreciate and thoroughly know and fully recognize such men.
19 The churches of Asia send greetings and best wishes. Aquila and Prisca, together with the church [that meets] in their house, send you their hearty greetings in the Lord.
20 All the brethren wish to be remembered to you and wish you well. Greet one another with a holy kiss.
21 I, Paul, [add this final] greeting with my own hand.
22 If anyone does not love the Lord [does not have a friendly affection for Him and is not kindly disposed toward Him], he shall be accursed! Our Lord will come! (Maranatha!)
23 The grace (favor and spiritual blessing) of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
24 My love (that true love growing out of sincere devotion to God) be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen (so be it).
Psalm 40
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
1 I waited patiently and expectantly for the Lord; and He inclined to me and heard my cry.
2 He drew me up out of a horrible pit [a pit of tumult and of destruction], out of the miry clay (froth and slime), and set my feet upon a rock, steadying my steps and establishing my goings.
3 And He has put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many shall see and fear (revere and worship) and put their trust and confident reliance in the Lord.(A)
4 Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man who makes the Lord his refuge and trust, and turns not to the proud or to followers of false gods.
5 Many, O Lord my God, are the wonderful works which You have done, and Your thoughts toward us; no one can compare with You! If I should declare and speak of them, they are too many to be numbered.
6 Sacrifice and offering You do not desire, nor have You delight in them; You have given me the capacity to hear and obey [Your law, a more valuable service than] burnt offerings and sin offerings [which] You do not require.
7 Then said I, Behold, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of me;
8 I delight to do Your will, O my God; yes, Your law is within my heart.(B)
9 I have proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness in the great assembly [tidings of uprightness and right standing with God]. Behold, I have not restrained my lips, as You know, O Lord.
10 I have not concealed Your righteousness within my heart; I have proclaimed Your faithfulness and Your salvation. I have not hid away Your steadfast love and Your truth from the great assembly.(C)
22 A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold.
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