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Job Reaffirms His Innocence
16 Then Job answered:
2 “I have heard many such things;
miserable comforters are you all.
3 Shall windy words have an end?
Or what provokes you that you answer?
4 I also could speak as you do,
if you were in my place;
I could join words together against you,
and shake my head at you.
5 I could strengthen you with my mouth,
and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain.
6 “If I speak, my pain is not assuaged,
and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me?
7 Surely now God has worn me out;
he has[a] made desolate all my company.
8 And he has[b] shriveled me up,
which is a witness against me;
and my leanness has risen up against me,
it testifies to my face.
9 He has torn me in his wrath, and hated me;
he has gnashed his teeth at me;
my adversary sharpens his eyes against me.
10 Men have gaped at me with their mouth,
they have struck me insolently upon the cheek,
they mass themselves together against me.
11 God gives me up to the ungodly,
and casts me into the hands of the wicked.
12 I was at ease, and he broke me asunder;
he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces;
he set me up as his target,
13 his archers surround me.
He slashes open my kidneys, and does not spare;
he pours out my gall on the ground.
14 He breaks me with breach upon breach;
he runs upon me like a warrior.
15 I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin,
and have laid my strength in the dust.
16 My face is red with weeping,
and on my eyelids is deep darkness;
17 although there is no violence in my hands,
and my prayer is pure.
18 “O earth, cover not my blood,
and let my cry find no resting place.
19 Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven,
and he that vouches for me is on high.
20 My friends scorn me;
my eye pours out tears to God,
21 that he would maintain the right of a man with God,
like[c] that of a man with his neighbor.
22 For when a few years have come
I shall go the way whence I shall not return.
Job Prays for Relief
17 My spirit is broken, my days are extinct,
the grave is ready for me.
2 Surely there are mockers about me,
and my eye dwells on their provocation.
3 “Lay down a pledge for me with thyself;
who is there that will give surety for me?
4 Since thou hast closed their minds to understanding,
therefore thou wilt not let them triumph.
5 He who informs against his friends to get a share of their property,
the eyes of his children will fail.
6 “He has made me a byword of the peoples,
and I am one before whom men spit.
7 My eye has grown dim from grief,
and all my members are like a shadow.
8 Upright men are appalled at this,
and the innocent stirs himself up against the godless.
9 Yet the righteous holds to his way,
and he that has clean hands grows stronger and stronger.
10 But you, come on again, all of you,
and I shall not find a wise man among you.
11 My days are past, my plans are broken off,
the desires of my heart.
12 They make night into day;
‘The light,’ they say, ‘is near to the darkness.’[d]
13 If I look for Sheol as my house,
if I spread my couch 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?
Who will see my hope?
16 Will it go down to the bars of Sheol?
Shall we descend together into the dust?”
Bildad Speaks: God Punishes the Wicked
18 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:
2 “How long will you hunt for words?
Consider, and then we will speak.
3 Why are we counted as cattle?
Why are we stupid 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 “Yea, the light of the wicked is put out,
and the flame of his fire does not shine.
6 The light is dark in his tent,
and his lamp above him is put out.
7 His strong steps are shortened
and his own schemes throw him down.
8 For he is cast into a net by his own feet,
and he walks on a pitfall.
9 A trap seizes him by the heel,
a snare lays hold of him.
10 A rope is hid for him in the ground,
a trap for him in the path.
11 Terrors frighten him on every side,
and chase him at his heels.
12 His strength is hunger-bitten,
and calamity is ready for his stumbling.
13 By disease his skin is consumed,[e]
the first-born of death consumes his limbs.
14 He is torn from the tent in which he trusted,
and is brought to the king of terrors.
15 In his tent dwells that which is none of his;
brimstone is scattered upon his habitation.
16 His roots dry up beneath,
and his branches wither above.
17 His memory perishes from the earth,
and he has no name in the street.
18 He is thrust from light into darkness,
and driven out of the world.
19 He has no offspring or descendant among his people,
and no survivor where he used to live.
20 They of the west are appalled at his day,
and horror seizes them of the east.
21 Surely such are the dwellings of the ungodly,
such is the place of him who knows not God.”
Job Replies: I Know That My Redeemer Lives
19 Then Job answered:
2 “How long will you torment me,
and break me in pieces with words?
3 These ten times you have cast reproach upon me;
are you not ashamed to wrong me?
4 And even if it be true that I have erred,
my error remains with myself.
5 If indeed you magnify yourselves against me,
and make my humiliation an argument against me,
6 know then that God has put me in the wrong,
and closed his net about me.
7 Behold, I cry out, ‘Violence!’ but I am not answered;
I call aloud, 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 from me my glory,
and taken the crown from my head.
10 He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone,
and my hope has he pulled up like a tree.
11 He has kindled his wrath against me,
and counts me as his adversary.
12 His troops come on together;
they have cast up siegeworks[f] 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 and my close friends have failed me;
15 the guests in my house have forgotten me;
my maidservants count me as a stranger;
I have become an alien in their eyes.
16 I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer;
I must beseech him with my mouth.
17 I am repulsive to my wife,
loathsome to the sons of my own mother.
18 Even young children despise me;
when I rise they talk against me.
19 All my intimate friends abhor me,
and those whom I loved have turned against me.
20 My bones cleave to my skin and to my flesh,
and I have escaped by the skin 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, like God, pursue me?
Why are you not satisfied with my flesh?
23 “Oh that my words were written!
Oh that they were inscribed in a book!
24 Oh that with an iron pen and lead
they were graven in the rock for ever!
25 For I know that my Redeemer[g] lives,
and at last he will stand upon the earth;[h]
26 and after my skin has been thus destroyed,
then from[i] my flesh I shall see God,[j]
27 whom I shall see on my side,[k]
and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
My heart faints within me!
28 If you say, ‘How we will pursue him!’
and, ‘The root of the matter is found in him’;
29 be afraid of the sword,
for wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
that you may know there is a judgment.”
The Collection for the Saints
16 Now concerning the contribution for the saints:[a] as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. 2 On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that contributions need not be made when I come. 3 And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem. 4 If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me.
Plans for Travel
5 I will visit you after passing through Macedo′nia, for I intend to pass through Macedo′nia, 6 and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may speed me on my journey, wherever I go. 7 For I do not want to see you now just in passing; I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. 8 But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, 9 for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.
10 When Timothy comes, see that you put him at ease among you, for he is doing the work of the Lord, as I am. 11 So let no one despise him. Speed him on his way in peace, that he may return to me; for I am expecting him with the brethren.
12 As for our brother Apol′los, I strongly urged him to visit you with the other brethren, but it was not at all his will[b] to come now. He will come when he has opportunity.
Final Messages and Greetings
13 Be watchful, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. 14 Let all that you do be done in love.
15 Now, brethren, you know that the household of Steph′anas were the first converts in Acha′ia, and they have devoted themselves to the service of the saints; 16 I urge you to be subject to such men and to every fellow worker and laborer. 17 I rejoice at the coming of Steph′anas and Fortuna′tus and Acha′icus, because they have made up for your absence; 18 for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. Give recognition to such men.
19 The churches of Asia send greetings. Aq′uila and Prisca, together with the church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord. 20 All the brethren send greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss.
21 I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. 22 If any one has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come![c] 23 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. 24 My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Thanksgiving for Deliverance and Prayer for Help
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
40 I waited patiently for the Lord;
he inclined to me and heard my cry.
2 He drew me up from the desolate pit,[a]
out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
making my steps secure.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
and put their trust in the Lord.
4 Blessed is the man who makes
the Lord his trust,
who does not turn to the proud,
to those who go astray after false gods!
5 Thou hast multiplied, O Lord my God,
thy wondrous deeds and thy thoughts toward us;
none can compare with thee!
Were I to proclaim and tell of them,
they would be more than can be numbered.
6 Sacrifice and offering thou dost not desire;
but thou hast given me an open ear.[b]
Burnt offering and sin offering
thou hast not required.
7 Then I said, “Lo, I come;
in the roll of the book it is written of me;
8 I delight to do thy will, O my God;
thy law is within my heart.”
9 I have told the glad news of deliverance
in the great congregation;
lo, I have not restrained my lips,
as thou knowest, O Lord.
10 I have not hid thy saving help within my heart,
I have spoken of thy faithfulness and thy salvation;
I have not concealed thy steadfast love and thy faithfulness
from the great congregation.
22 A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,
and favor is better than silver or gold.
The Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1965, 1966 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.