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Job Replies: I Am a Laughingstock
12 Then Job answered:
2 “No doubt you are the people,
and wisdom will die with you.
3 But I have understanding as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
Who does not know such things as these?
4 I am a laughingstock to my friends;
I, who called upon God and he answered me,
a just and blameless man, I am a laughingstock.(A)
5 Those at ease have contempt for misfortune,[a]
but it is ready for those whose feet are unstable.(B)
6 The tents of robbers are at peace,
and those who provoke God are secure,
who bring their god in their hands.[b](C)
7 “But ask the animals, and they will teach you,
the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
8 ask the plants of the earth,[c] and they will teach you,
and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
9 Who among all these does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this?(D)
10 In his hand is the life of every living thing
and the breath of every human being.(E)
11 Does not the ear test words
as the palate tastes food?(F)
12 Is wisdom with the aged
and understanding in length of days?(G)
13 “With God[d] are wisdom and strength;
he has counsel and understanding.(H)
14 If he tears down, no one can rebuild;
if he shuts someone in, no one can open up.(I)
15 If he withholds the waters, they dry up;
if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.(J)
16 With him are strength and wisdom;
the deceived and the deceiver are his.(K)
17 He leads counselors away stripped
and makes fools of judges.(L)
18 He looses the sash of kings
and binds a waistcloth on their loins.(M)
19 He leads priests away stripped
and overthrows the mighty.
20 He deprives of speech those who are trusted
and takes away the discernment of the elders.(N)
21 He pours contempt on princes
and looses the belt of the strong.(O)
22 He uncovers deep things from the darkness
and brings deep darkness to light.(P)
23 He makes nations great, then destroys them;
he enlarges nations, then leads them away.(Q)
24 He strips understanding from the leaders[e] of the earth
and makes them wander in a pathless waste.(R)
25 They grope in the dark without light;
he makes them stagger like a drunkard.(S)
13 “Look, my eye has seen all this;
my ear has heard and understood it.
2 What you know, I also know;
I am not inferior to you.
3 But I would speak to the Almighty,[f]
and I desire to argue my case with God.(T)
4 As for you, you whitewash with lies;
all of you are worthless physicians.(U)
5 If you would only keep silent,
that would be your wisdom!(V)
6 Hear now my reasoning,
and listen to the pleadings of my lips.
7 Will you speak falsely for God
and speak deceitfully for him?
8 Will you show partiality toward him;
will you plead the case for God?
9 Will it be well with you when he searches you out?
Or can you deceive him as one person deceives another?(W)
10 He will surely rebuke you
if in secret you show partiality.
11 Will not his majesty terrify you
and the dread of him fall upon you?
12 Your maxims are proverbs of ashes;
your defenses are defenses of clay.(X)
13 “Let me have silence, and I will speak,
and let come on me what may.
14 I will take my flesh in my teeth
and put my life in my hand.[g](Y)
15 See, he will kill me; I have no hope;[h]
but I will defend my ways to his face.(Z)
16 This will be my salvation,
that the godless shall not come before him.(AA)
17 Listen carefully to my words,
and let my declaration be in your ears.(AB)
18 I have indeed prepared my case;
I know that I shall be vindicated.
19 Who is there who will contend with me?
For then I would be silent and die.(AC)
Job’s Despondent Prayer
20 “Only grant two things to me;
then I will not hide myself from your face:
21 withdraw your hand far from me,
and do not let dread of you terrify me.(AD)
22 Then call, and I will answer;
or let me speak, and you reply to me.(AE)
23 How many are my iniquities and my sins?
Make me know my transgression and my sin.(AF)
24 Why do you hide your face
and count me as your enemy?(AG)
25 Will you frighten a windblown leaf
and pursue dry chaff?(AH)
26 For you write bitter things against me
and make me reap[i] the iniquities of my youth.(AI)
27 You put my feet in the stocks
and watch all my paths;
you set a bound to the soles of my feet.
28 One wastes away like a rotten thing,
like a garment that is moth-eaten.(AJ)
14 “A mortal, born of woman, few of days and full of trouble,(AK)
2 comes up like a flower and withers,
flees like a shadow and does not last.(AL)
3 Do you fix your eyes on such a one?
Do you bring me into judgment with you?(AM)
4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?
No one can.(AN)
5 Since their days are determined,
and the number of their months is known to you,
and you have appointed the bounds that they cannot pass,(AO)
6 look away from them and desist,[j]
that they may enjoy, like laborers, their days.(AP)
7 “For there is hope for a tree,
if it is cut down, that it will sprout again
and that its shoots will not cease.
8 Though its root grows old in the earth
and its stump dies in the ground,
9 yet at the scent of water it will bud
and put forth branches like a young plant.(AQ)
10 But mortals die and are laid low;
humans expire, and where are they?(AR)
11 As waters fail from a lake
and a river wastes away and dries up,(AS)
12 so mortals lie down and do not rise again;
until the heavens are no more, they will not awake
or be roused out of their sleep.(AT)
13 O that you would hide me in Sheol,
that you would conceal me until your wrath is past,
that you would appoint me a set time and remember me!(AU)
14 If mortals die, will they live again?
All the days of my service I would wait
until my release should come.(AV)
15 You would call, and I would answer you;
you would long for the work of your hands.
16 For then you would not[k] number my steps;
you would not keep watch over my sin;(AW)
17 my transgression would be sealed up in a bag,
and you would cover over my iniquity.(AX)
18 “But the mountain falls and crumbles away,
and the rock is removed from its place;(AY)
19 the waters wear away the stones;
the torrents wash away the soil of the earth;
so you destroy the hope of mortals.
20 You prevail forever against them, and they pass away;
you change their countenance and send them away.(AZ)
21 Their children come to honor, and they do not know it;
they are brought low, and it goes unnoticed.(BA)
22 They feel only the pain of their own bodies
and mourn only for themselves.”
Eliphaz Speaks: Job Undermines Religion
15 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
2 “Should the wise answer with windy knowledge
and fill themselves with the east wind?(BB)
3 Should they argue in unprofitable talk
or in words that can do no good?
4 But you are doing away with the fear of God
and hindering meditation before God.
5 For your iniquity teaches your mouth,
and you choose the tongue of the crafty.(BC)
6 Your own mouth condemns you, not I;
your own lips testify against you.(BD)
7 “Are you the firstborn of the human race?
Were you brought forth before the hills?(BE)
8 Have you listened in the council of God?
And do you limit wisdom to yourself?(BF)
9 What do you know that we do not know?
What do you understand that is not clear to us?(BG)
10 The gray-haired and the aged are on our side,
those older than your father.(BH)
11 Are the consolations of God too small for you
or the word that deals gently with you?(BI)
12 Why does your heart carry you away,
and why do your eyes flash,[l]
13 so that you turn your spirit against God,
and let such words go out of your mouth?(BJ)
14 What are mortals, that they can be clean?
Or those born of woman, that they can be righteous?(BK)
15 God puts no trust even in his holy ones,
and the heavens are not clean in his sight;(BL)
16 how much less one who is abominable and corrupt,
one who drinks iniquity like water!(BM)
17 “I will show you; listen to me;
what I have seen I will declare—
18 what sages have told
and their ancestors have not hidden,(BN)
19 to whom alone the land was given,
and no stranger passed among them.
20 The wicked writhe in pain all their days,
through all the years that are laid up for the ruthless.(BO)
21 Terrifying sounds are in their ears;
in prosperity the destroyer will come upon them.(BP)
22 They despair of returning from darkness,
and they are destined for the sword.(BQ)
23 They wander abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’
They know that a day of darkness is ready at hand;(BR)
24 distress and anguish terrify them;
they prevail against them like a king prepared for battle.
25 Because they stretched out their hands against God
and bid defiance to the Almighty,[m](BS)
26 running stubbornly against him
with a thickly bossed shield;
27 because they have covered their faces with their fat
and gathered fat upon their loins,(BT)
28 they will live in desolate cities,
in houses that no one should inhabit,
houses destined to become heaps of ruins;
29 they will not be rich, and their wealth will not endure,
nor will they strike root in the earth;[n](BU)
30 they will not escape from darkness;
the flame will dry up their shoots,
and their blossom[o] will be swept away by the wind.(BV)
31 Let them not trust in emptiness, deceiving themselves,
for emptiness will be their recompense.(BW)
32 It will be paid in full before their time,
and their branch will not be green.(BX)
33 They will shake off their unripe grape, like the vine,
and cast off their blossoms, like the olive tree.(BY)
34 For the company of the godless is barren,
and fire consumes the tents of bribery.(BZ)
35 They conceive mischief and bring forth evil,
and their belly prepares deceit.”(CA)
29 Otherwise, what will those people do who receive baptism on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf?
30 And why are we putting ourselves in danger every hour?(A) 31 I die every day! That is as certain, brothers and sisters, as my boasting of you—a boast that I make in Christ Jesus our Lord.(B) 32 If I fought with wild animals at Ephesus with a merely human perspective, what would I have gained by it? If the dead are not raised,
“Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die.”(C)
33 Do not be deceived:
“Bad company ruins good morals.”
34 Sober up, as you rightly ought to, and sin no more, for some people have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.(D)
The Resurrection Body
35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36 Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.(E) 37 And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen and to each kind of seed its own body. 39 Not all flesh is alike, but there is one flesh for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40 There are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one thing, and that of the earthly is another. 41 There is one glory of the sun and another glory of the moon and another glory of the stars; indeed, star differs from star in glory.
42 So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.(F) 44 It is sown a physical body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 Thus it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.(G) 46 But it is not the spiritual that is first but the physical and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, made of dust; the second man is[a] from heaven.(H) 48 As one of dust, so are those who are of the dust, and as one of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the one of dust, we will[b] also bear the image of the one of heaven.(I)
50 What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.(J) 51 Look, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die,[c] but we will all be changed,(K) 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.(L) 53 For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When this perishable body puts on imperishability and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled:
“Death has been swallowed up in victory.”(M)
55 “Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.(N) 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.(O)
Psalm 39
Prayer for Wisdom and Forgiveness
To the leader: to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.
1 I said, “I will guard my ways
that I may not sin with my tongue;
I will keep a muzzle on my mouth
as long as the wicked are in my presence.”(A)
2 I was silent and still;
I held my peace to no avail;
my distress grew worse;(B)
3 my heart became hot within me.
While I mused, the fire burned;
then I spoke with my tongue:
4 “Lord, let me know my end
and what is the measure of my days;
let me know how fleeting my life is.(C)
5 You have made my days a few handbreadths,
and my lifetime is as nothing in your sight.
Surely everyone stands as a mere breath. Selah(D)
6 Surely everyone goes about like a shadow.
Surely for nothing they are in turmoil;
they heap up and do not know who will gather.(E)
7 “And now, O Lord, what do I wait for?
My hope is in you.(F)
8 Deliver me from all my transgressions.
Do not make me the scorn of the fool.(G)
9 I am silent; I do not open my mouth,
for it is you who have done it.(H)
10 Remove your stroke from me;
I am worn down by the blows[a] of your hand.(I)
11 “You chastise mortals
in punishment for sin,
consuming like a moth what is dear to them;
surely everyone is a mere breath. Selah(J)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.