Job Says He Longs for God

1Then Job replied,

2“Even today my complaint is rebellion;

His hand is heavy despite my groaning.

3Oh that I knew where I might find Him,

That I might come to His seat!

4I would present my case before Him

And fill my mouth with arguments.

5I would learn the words which He would answer,

And perceive what He would say to me.

6Would He contend with me by the greatness of His power?

No, surely He would pay attention to me.

7There the upright would reason with Him;

And I would be delivered forever from my Judge.

8“Behold, I go forward but He is not there,

And backward, but I cannot perceive Him;

9When He acts on the left, I cannot behold Him;

He turns on the right, I cannot see Him.

10But He knows the way I take;

When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

11My foot has held fast to His path;

I have kept His way and not turned aside.

12I have not departed from the command of His lips;

I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.

13But He is unique and who can turn Him?

And what His soul desires, that He does.

14For He performs what is appointed for me,

And many such decrees are with Him.

15Therefore, I would be dismayed at His presence;

When I consider, I am terrified of Him.

16It is God who has made my heart faint,

And the Almighty who has dismayed me,

17But I am not silenced by the darkness,

Nor deep gloom which covers me.

Job Says God Seems to Ignore Wrongs

1“Why are times not stored up by the Almighty,

And why do those who know Him not see His days?

2Some remove the landmarks;

They seize and devour flocks.

3They drive away the donkeys of the orphans;

They take the widow’s ox for a pledge.

4They push the needy aside from the road;

The poor of the land are made to hide themselves altogether.

5Behold, as wild donkeys in the wilderness

They go forth seeking food in their activity,

As bread for their children in the desert.

6They harvest their fodder in the field

And glean the vineyard of the wicked.

7They spend the night naked, without clothing,

And have no covering against the cold.

8They are wet with the mountain rains

And hug the rock for want of a shelter.

9Others snatch the orphan from the breast,

And against the poor they take a pledge.

10They cause the poor to go about naked without clothing,

And they take away the sheaves from the hungry.

11Within the walls they produce oil;

They tread wine presses but thirst.

12From the city men groan,

And the souls of the wounded cry out;

Yet God does not pay attention to folly.

13“Others have been with those who rebel against the light;

They do not want to know its ways

Nor abide in its paths.

14The murderer arises at dawn;

He kills the poor and the needy,

And at night he is as a thief.

15The eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight,

Saying, ‘No eye will see me.’

And he disguises his face.

16In the dark they dig into houses,

They shut themselves up by day;

They do not know the light.

17For the morning is the same to him as thick darkness,

For he is familiar with the terrors of thick darkness.

18“They are insignificant on the surface of the water;

Their portion is cursed on the earth.

They do not turn toward the vineyards.

19Drought and heat consume the snow waters,

So does Sheol those who have sinned.

20A mother will forget him;

The worm feeds sweetly till he is no longer remembered.

And wickedness will be broken like a tree.

21He wrongs the barren woman

And does no good for the widow.

22But He drags off the valiant by His power;

He rises, but no one has assurance of life.

23He provides them with security, and they are supported;

And His eyes are on their ways.

24They are exalted a little while, then they are gone;

Moreover, they are brought low and like everything gathered up;

Even like the heads of grain they are cut off.

25Now if it is not so, who can prove me a liar,

And make my speech worthless?”

Bildad Says Man Is Inferior

1Then Bildad the Shuhite answered,

2“Dominion and awe belong to Him

Who establishes peace in His heights.

3Is there any number to His troops?

And upon whom does His light not rise?

4How then can a man be just with God?

Or how can he be clean who is born of woman?

5If even the moon has no brightness

And the stars are not pure in His sight,

6How much less man, that maggot,

And the son of man, that worm!”

Job Rebukes Bildad

1Then Job responded,

2“What a help you are to the weak!

How you have saved the arm without strength!

3What counsel you have given to one without wisdom!

What helpful insight you have abundantly provided!

4To whom have you uttered words?

And whose spirit was expressed through you?

The Greatness of God

5“The departed spirits tremble

Under the waters and their inhabitants.

6Naked is Sheol before Him,

And Abaddon has no covering.

7He stretches out the north over empty space

And hangs the earth on nothing.

8He wraps up the waters in His clouds,

And the cloud does not burst under them.

9He obscures the face of the full moon

And spreads His cloud over it.

10He has inscribed a circle on the surface of the waters

At the boundary of light and darkness.

11The pillars of heaven tremble

And are amazed at His rebuke.

12He quieted the sea with His power,

And by His understanding He shattered Rahab.

13By His breath the heavens are cleared;

His hand has pierced the fleeing serpent.

14Behold, these are the fringes of His ways;

And how faint a word we hear of Him!

But His mighty thunder, who can understand?”

Job Affirms His Righteousness

1Then Job continued his discourse and said,

2“As God lives, who has taken away my right,

And the Almighty, who has embittered my soul,

3For as long as life is in me,

And the breath of God is in my nostrils,

4My lips certainly will not speak unjustly,

Nor will my tongue mutter deceit.

5Far be it from me that I should declare you right;

Till I die I will not put away my integrity from me.

6I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go.

My heart does not reproach any of my days.

The State of the Godless

7“May my enemy be as the wicked

And my opponent as the unjust.

8For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off,

When God requires his life?

9Will God hear his cry

When distress comes upon him?

10Will he take delight in the Almighty?

Will he call on God at all times?

11I will instruct you in the power of God;

What is with the Almighty I will not conceal.

12Behold, all of you have seen it;

Why then do you act foolishly?

13“This is the portion of a wicked man from God,

And the inheritance which tyrants receive from the Almighty.

14Though his sons are many, they are destined for the sword;

And his descendants will not be satisfied with bread.

15His survivors will be buried because of the plague,

And their widows will not be able to weep.

16Though he piles up silver like dust

And prepares garments as plentiful as the clay,

17He may prepare it, but the just will wear it

And the innocent will divide the silver.

18He has built his house like the spider’s web,

Or as a hut which the watchman has made.

19He lies down rich, but never again;

He opens his eyes, and it is no longer.

20Terrors overtake him like a flood;

A tempest steals him away in the night.

21The east wind carries him away, and he is gone,

For it whirls him away from his place.

22For it will hurl at him without sparing;

He will surely try to flee from its power.

23Men will clap their hands at him

And will hiss him from his place.

Paul’s Integrity

12For our proud confidence is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you. 13For we write nothing else to you than what you read and understand, and I hope you will understand until the end; 14just as you also partially did understand us, that we are your reason to be proud as you also are ours, in the day of our Lord Jesus.

15In this confidence I intended at first to come to you, so that you might twice receive a blessing; 16that is, to pass your way into Macedonia, and again from Macedonia to come to you, and by you to be helped on my journey to Judea. 17Therefore, I was not vacillating when I intended to do this, was I? Or what I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, so that with me there will be yes, yes and no, no at the same time? 18But as God is faithful, our word to you is not yes and no. 19For the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who was preached among you by us—by me and Silvanus and Timothy—was not yes and no, but is yes in Him. 20For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us. 21Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, 22who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.

23But I call God as witness to my soul, that to spare you I did not come again to Corinth. 24Not that we lord it over your faith, but are workers with you for your joy; for in your faith you are standing firm.

Reaffirm Your Love

1But I determined this for my own sake, that I would not come to you in sorrow again. 2For if I cause you sorrow, who then makes me glad but the one whom I made sorrowful? 3This is the very thing I wrote you, so that when I came, I would not have sorrow from those who ought to make me rejoice; having confidence in you all that my joy would be the joy of you all. 4For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears; not so that you would be made sorrowful, but that you might know the love which I have especially for you.

5But if any has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow not to me, but in some degree—in order not to say too much—to all of you. 6Sufficient for such a one is this punishment which was inflicted by the majority, 7so that on the contrary you should rather forgive and comfort him, otherwise such a one might be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. 8Wherefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him. 9For to this end also I wrote, so that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things. 10But one whom you forgive anything, I forgive also; for indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I did it for your sakes in the presence of Christ, 11so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.

PSALM 41

The Psalmist in Sickness Complains of Enemies and False Friends.

For the choir director. A Psalm of David.

1How blessed is he who considers the helpless;

The Lord will deliver him in a day of trouble.

2The Lord will protect him and keep him alive,

And he shall be called blessed upon the earth;

And do not give him over to the desire of his enemies.

3The Lord will sustain him upon his sickbed;

In his illness, You restore him to health.

4As for me, I said, “O Lord, be gracious to me;

Heal my soul, for I have sinned against You.”

5My enemies speak evil against me,

“When will he die, and his name perish?”

6And when he comes to see me, he speaks falsehood;

His heart gathers wickedness to itself;

When he goes outside, he tells it.

7All who hate me whisper together against me;

Against me they devise my hurt, saying,

8“A wicked thing is poured out upon him,

That when he lies down, he will not rise up again.”

9Even my close friend in whom I trusted,

Who ate my bread,

Has lifted up his heel against me.

10But You, O Lord, be gracious to me and raise me up,

That I may repay them.

11By this I know that You are pleased with me,

Because my enemy does not shout in triumph over me.

12As for me, You uphold me in my integrity,

And You set me in Your presence forever.

13Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,

From everlasting to everlasting.

Amen and Amen.

5Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse;

He who guards himself will be far from them.

6Train up a child in the way he should go,

Even when he is old he will not depart from it.