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Job Reproves His Friends
16 Job answered, saying:
2 “I have heard many things like these;
you are miserable comforters, all of you!
3 Is there no end to your futile words?
What compels you to answer?
4 I too could speak like you,
if you were in my place;
I could compose words against you
and shake my head at you.
5 But I would strengthen you with my mouth
and comfort from my lips would bring you relief.
6 “Yet, if I speak, my pain is not relieved,
and if I refrain, does it not go away from me?
7 Surely now He has exhausted me;
You have devastated my entire household.
8 You have seized me—
it has become a witness;
my leanness rises against me
and testifies to my face.
9 His anger has torn and tormented me;
He gnashes at me with his teeth;
my enemy looks at me with daggers in his eyes.
10 People open their mouths against me;
they strike my cheek in contempt;
they unite together against me.
11 God has handed me over to the ungodly,
and tossed me into the hands of the wicked.
12 I was at ease, but He shattered me;
He grabbed me by the neck and crushed me.
He has made me His target;
13 His archers surround me.
Without mercy He pierces my kidneys
and spills my gall on the ground.
14 He breaks through against me, breach after breach.
He runs after me like a warrior.
15 “I have sewn sackcloth over my skin
and sunk my horn in the dust;
16 my face is red from weeping,
and on my eyelids are deep darkness;
17 yet no violence is in my hands
and my prayer is pure.
18 “Earth, do not cover my blood,
and let my cry find no resting place!
19 Even now my witness is in heaven,[a]
my advocate is on high.
20 My intercessor is my friend;
as my eyes pour out tears to God;
21 he contends with God on behalf of man
as one pleads for a friend.
22 “For the number of years will come to pass,
and then I will go the way of no return.
Hope in Sheol?
17 “My spirit is broken, my days have cut short,
the graveyard awaits me.
2 Surely mockers are with me,
my eyes must gaze on their hostility.
3 “Make then a pledge for me with You.
Who else would strike hands with me?
4 Because You have closed their heart to understanding,
therefore You will not exalt them.
5 If anyone denounces his friends for profit
the eyes of his children will fail.
6 He has made me a byword to people,
I am the one in whose face people spit.
7 My eyes have grown dim with grief
and all my limbs are like a shadow.
8 The upright are appalled at this;
the innocent are stirred up against the ungodly.
9 But the righteous one holds to his way,
and the one with clean hands grows stronger.
10 “But turn, all of you, come now!
I will not find a wise man among you.
11 My days have passed, my plans are torn apart.
Yet the desires of my heart
12 turn night into day;
in the face of darkness light is near.
13 If I hope for Sheol as my home,
if I make my bed in darkness,
14 if I say to the pit, ‘You are my father,’
and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’
15 where then is my hope?
And my hope, who sees it?
16 Will it go down to the gates of Sheol?
Will we descend together into the dust?”
Bildad Rebukes Job
18 Then, Bildad the Shuhite replied, saying:
2 “How long until you end these words?
Consider, and then we will talk.
3 Why are we regarded as beasts,
and stupid in your eyes?
4 You, who tear yourself to pieces in anger,
will the earth be abandoned for your sake?
Or must a rock be moved from its place?
5 Indeed, the light of the wicked is snuffed out;
the flame of his fire does not shine.
6 The light in his tent grows dark;
the lamp above him goes out.
7 His vigorous stride is shortened,
and his own scheme throws him down.
8 For he is cast into a net by his feet;
he wanders into its mesh.
9 A trap seizes him by the heel;
a snare holds him fast.
10 A rope is hidden for him on the ground,
and a trap for him lies on the path.
11 On every side terrors frighten him
and harass his every step.
12 Calamity is hungry for him;
disaster is ready for his fall.
13 It eats away pieces of his skin;
death’s firstborn devours his limbs.
14 He is torn from the security of his tent,
and marched off to the king of terrors.
15 Nothing of his dwells in his tent;
brimstone is scattered over his dwelling.
16 Below his roots dry up,
and above his branches wither.
17 His memory perishes from the earth
and he has no name in the land.
18 He is driven from light into darkness
and is banished from the world.
19 He has no offspring or descendant among his people,
no survivor where he once dwelt.
20 People of the west are appalled at his fate;
people of the east are seized with horror.
21 Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked;
such is the place of one who does not know God.”
Job: Have Pity on Me
19 Job responded, saying:
2 “How long will you torment my soul
and crush me with words?
3 Ten times now you have reproached me;
you attack me shamelessly.
4 But even if it is true that I have erred,
my error remains with me.
5 If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me
and prove my humiliation against me,
6 then know that God has wronged me
and encircled me with His net.
7 “Though I cry out, ‘Violence!’ I get no response.
I cry for help, but there is no justice.
8 He has blocked my way so I cannot pass,
and has shrouded my path in darkness.
9 He has stripped me of my honor,
and removed the crown from my head.
10 He tears me down on every side until I am gone;
He uproots my hope like a tree.
11 His anger burns against me,
and He considers me among His enemies.
12 His troops advance together;
they build a siege ramp against me
and encamp around my tent.
13 “He removed my brothers far from me;
my acquaintances are only strangers to me.
14 My relatives have gone away and my close friends
have forgotten me.
15 My houseguests and my maidservants consider me a stranger.
I have become a foreigner in their eyes.
16 I call my servant but he does not reply
though I beg him with my own mouth.
17 My breath is repulsive to my wife;
I am loathsome to my children.
18 Even young children despise me;
when I stand, they speak against me.[b]
19 All my close friends despise me;
those I love have turned against me.
20 My bones cling to my skin and my flesh;
I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.
21 “Have pity on me my friends, have pity,
for the hand of God has struck me.
22 Why do you pursue me—like God?
Are you not satisfied with my flesh?
23 Oh that my words were written,
that they were recorded in a scroll
24 that with an iron pen and lead,
they were engraved in stone forever!
My Redeemer Lives!
25 “Yet I know that my Redeemer lives,
and in the end, He will stand on earth.
26 Even after my skin has been destroyed,
yet in my flesh I will see God;[c]
27 I myself will see Him with my own eyes,
I and not a stranger.
My heart[d] grows weak within me.
28 “If you say, ‘How we will pursue him,
since the root of the matter is found in him;’
29 then you should fear the sword for yourselves;
for wrath brings the punishments of the sword—
so that you may know judgment!”
Collection for Jerusalem and Final Greetings
16 Now concerning the collection for the kedoshim, as I directed Messiah’s communities in Galatia, you do likewise. 2 On the first day of the week, let each of you set something aside, saving up whatever is gained, so no collections take place when I come. 3 Then whenever I arrive, I will send whomever you approve with letters of introduction to carry your gift to Jerusalem. 4 If it is advisable for me to go also, they will go with me.
5 But I will come to you after I have passed through Macedonia—for I am passing through Macedonia. 6 Perhaps I will stay with you, or even spend the winter, so that you can help me on my journey—wherever I go. 7 For I do not wish to see you now just in passing—for I hope to stay on with you for a while, if the Lord permits. 8 But I will stay on at Ephesus until Shavuot, 9 for a great door has opened wide for me, though many are in opposition.
10 Now if Timothy comes, see that he has nothing to fear among you—for he is doing the Lord’s work, just as I am. 11 No one, then, should treat him with disrespect. But set him on his way in shalom, so that he might come to me; for I am expecting him, along with the brothers.
12 Now about our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to come to you with the brothers and sisters, and he was quite unwilling to come now—but he will come when he has an opportunity.
13 Be on the alert! Stand firm in the faith! Be men of courage! Be strong! [a] 14 Let all that you do be done in love.
15 Now I urge you, brothers and sisters (you know the household of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves in service to the kedoshim), 16 also to submit to people such as these, and to everyone working together and laboring. 17 I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, for they made up for your absence. 18 For they refreshed my spirit and yours. Therefore acknowledge such men.
19 Messiah’s communities in Asia[b] greet you. Aquila and Prisca[c] greet you warmly in the Lord, with the community that meets in their house. 20 All the brothers and sisters greet you. Greet one another with a holy kiss.
21 This greeting is in my own hand—Paul’s. 22 If anyone does not love the Lord, let him be cursed. Marana, tha! Our Lord, come![d]
23 The grace of the Lord Yeshua be with you. 24 My love be with you all in Messiah Yeshua.
Written About Me in the Scroll
Psalm 40
1 For the music director, a psalm of David.
2 I waited patiently for Adonai.
He bent down to me and heard my cry.
3 He brought me up out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire.
Then He set my feet on a rock.
He made my steps firm.
4 He put a new song in my mouth—
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
and trust in Adonai.
5 Blessed is the one
who put his confidence in Adonai,
who has not turned to the arrogant,
nor to those who fall into falsehood.
6 Many things You have done, Adonai my God
—Your plans for us are wonderful—
there is none to be compared to You!
If I were to speak and tell of them,
they would be too many to count!
7 Sacrifice and offering You did not desire
—my ears You have opened—
burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.
8 Then I said: “Here I am, I have come—
in the scroll of a book it is written about me.
9 I delight to do Your will, O my God.
Yes, Your Torah is within my being.”
10 I proclaim good news of righteousness in the great assembly.
Behold, I am not shutting my lips—
Adonai, You know!
22 A good name is to be chosen rather than great wealth,
and grace rather than silver or gold.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.