Job 22; Job 23; Job 24; Acts 11 (New Living Translation)

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied: 2 "Can a person's actions be of benefit to God? Can even a wise person be helpful to him? 3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are righteous? Would it be any gain to him if you were perfect? 4 Is it because of your reverence for him that he accuses and judges you? 5 Not at all! It is because of your wickedness! Your guilt has no limit! 6 "For example, you must have lent money to your friend and then kept the clothing he gave you as a pledge. Yes, you stripped him to the bone. 7 You must have refused water for the thirsty and food for the hungry. 8 After all, you think the land belongs to the powerful and that those who are privileged have a right to it! 9 You must have sent widows away without helping them and crushed the strength of orphans. 10 That is why you are surrounded by traps and sudden fears. 11 That is why you cannot see in the darkness, and waves of water cover you. 12 "God is so great -- higher than the heavens, higher than the farthest stars. 13 But you reply, 'That's why God can't see what I am doing! How can he judge through the thick darkness? 14 For thick clouds swirl about him, and he cannot see us. He is way up there, walking on the vault of heaven.' 15 "Will you continue on the old paths where evil people have walked? 16 They were snatched away in the prime of life, and the foundations of their lives were washed away forever. 17 For they said to God, 'Leave us alone! What can the Almighty do for us?' 18 But they forgot that he had filled their homes with good things, so I will have nothing to do with that kind of thinking. 19 "Now the righteous will be happy to see the wicked destroyed, and the innocent will laugh them to scorn. 20 They will say, 'Surely our enemies have been destroyed. The last of them have been consumed in the fire.' 21 "Stop quarreling with God! If you agree with him, you will have peace at last, and things will go well for you. 22 Listen to his instructions, and store them in your heart. 23 If you return to the Almighty and clean up your life, you will be restored. 24 Give up your lust for money, and throw your precious gold into the river. 25 Then the Almighty himself will be your treasure. He will be your precious silver! 26 "Then you will delight yourself in the Almighty and look up to God. 27 You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows to him. 28 Whatever you decide to do will be accomplished, and light will shine on the road ahead of you. 29 If someone is brought low and you say, 'Help him up,' God will save the downcast. 30 Then even sinners will be rescued by your pure hands." 1 Then Job spoke again: 2 "My complaint today is still a bitter one, and I try hard not to groan aloud. 3 If only I knew where to find God, I would go to his throne and talk with him there. 4 I would lay out my case and present my arguments. 5 Then I would listen to his reply and understand what he says to me. 6 Would he merely argue with me in his greatness? No, he would give me a fair hearing. 7 Fair and honest people can reason with him, so I would be acquitted by my Judge. 8 "I go east, but he is not there. I go west, but I cannot find him. 9 I do not see him in the north, for he is hidden. I turn to the south, but I cannot find him. 10 But he knows where I am going. And when he has tested me like gold in a fire, he will pronounce me innocent. 11 "For I have stayed in God's paths; I have followed his ways and not turned aside. 12 I have not departed from his commands but have treasured his word in my heart. 13 Nevertheless, his mind concerning me remains unchanged, and who can turn him from his purposes? Whatever he wants to do, he does. 14 So he will do for me all he has planned. He controls my destiny. 15 No wonder I am so terrified in his presence. When I think of it, terror grips me. 16 God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me. 17 Darkness is all around me; thick, impenetrable darkness is everywhere. 1 "Why doesn't the Almighty open the court and bring judgment? Why must the godly wait for him in vain? 2 Evil people steal land by moving the boundary markers. They steal flocks of sheep, 3 and they even take donkeys from the poor and fatherless. A poor widow must surrender her valuable ox as collateral for a loan. 4 The poor are kicked aside; the needy must hide together for safety. 5 Like the wild donkeys in the desert, the poor must spend all their time just getting enough to keep body and soul together. They go into the desert to search for food for their children. 6 They harvest a field they do not own, and they glean in the vineyards of the wicked. 7 All night they lie naked in the cold, without clothing or covering. 8 They are soaked by mountain showers, and they huddle against the rocks for want of a home. 9 "The wicked snatch a widow's child from her breast; they take the baby as a pledge for a loan. 10 The poor must go about naked, without any clothing. They are forced to carry food while they themselves are starving. 11 They press out olive oil without being allowed to taste it, and they tread in the winepress as they suffer from thirst. 12 The groans of the dying rise from the city, and the wounded cry for help, yet God does not respond to their moaning. 13 "Wicked people rebel against the light. They refuse to acknowledge its ways. They will not stay in its paths. 14 The murderer rises in the early dawn to kill the poor and needy; at night he is a thief. 15 The adulterer waits for the twilight, for he says, 'No one will see me then.' He masks his face so no one will know him. 16 They break into houses at night and sleep in the daytime. They are not acquainted with the light. 17 The black night is their morning. They ally themselves with the terrors of the darkness. 18 "But they disappear from the earth as quickly as foam is swept down a river. Everything they own is cursed, so that no one enters their vineyard. 19 Death consumes sinners just as drought and heat consume snow. 20 Even the sinner's own mother will forget him. Worms will find him sweet to eat. No one will remember him. Wicked people are broken like a tree in the storm. 21 For they have taken advantage of the childless who have no protecting sons. They refuse to help the needy widows. 22 "God, in his power, drags away the rich. They may rise high, but they have no assurance in life. 23 They may be allowed to live in security, but God is always watching them. 24 And though they are great now, in a moment they will be gone like all others, withered like heads of grain. 25 "Can anyone claim otherwise? Who can prove me wrong?" 1 Soon the news reached the apostles and other believers in Judea that the Gentiles had received the word of God. 2 But when Peter arrived back in Jerusalem, some of the Jewish believers criticized him. 3 "You entered the home of Gentiles and even ate with them!" they said. 4 Then Peter told them exactly what had happened. 5 "One day in Joppa," he said, "while I was praying, I went into a trance and saw a vision. Something like a large sheet was let down by its four corners from the sky. And it came right down to me. 6 When I looked inside the sheet, I saw all sorts of small animals, wild animals, reptiles, and birds that we are not allowed to eat. 7 And I heard a voice say, 'Get up, Peter; kill and eat them.' 8 "'Never, Lord,' I replied. 'I have never eaten anything forbidden by our Jewish laws. ' 9 "But the voice from heaven came again, 'If God says something is acceptable, don't say it isn't.' 10 "This happened three times before the sheet and all it contained was pulled back up to heaven. 11 Just then three men who had been sent from Caesarea arrived at the house where I was staying. 12 The Holy Spirit told me to go with them and not to worry about their being Gentiles. These six brothers here accompanied me, and we soon arrived at the home of the man who had sent for us. 13 He told us how an angel had appeared to him in his home and had told him, 'Send messengers to Joppa to find Simon Peter. 14 He will tell you how you and all your household will be saved!' 15 "Well, I began telling them the Good News, but just as I was getting started, the Holy Spirit fell on them, just as he fell on us at the beginning. 16 Then I thought of the Lord's words when he said, 'John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' 17 And since God gave these Gentiles the same gift he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to argue?" 18 When the others heard this, all their objections were answered and they began praising God. They said, "God has also given the Gentiles the privilege of turning from sin and receiving eternal life." 19 Meanwhile, the believers who had fled from Jerusalem during the persecution after Stephen's death traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch of Syria. They preached the Good News, but only to Jews. 20 However, some of the believers who went to Antioch from Cyprus and Cyrene began preaching to Gentiles about the Lord Jesus. 21 The power of the Lord was upon them, and large numbers of these Gentiles believed and turned to the Lord. 22 When the church at Jerusalem heard what had happened, they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he arrived and saw this proof of God's favor, he was filled with joy, and he encouraged the believers to stay true to the Lord. 24 Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and strong in faith. And large numbers of people were brought to the Lord. 25 Then Barnabas went on to Tarsus to find Saul. 26 When he found him, he brought him back to Antioch. Both of them stayed there with the church for a full year, teaching great numbers of people. (It was there at Antioch that the believers were first called Christians.) 27 During this time, some prophets traveled from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 One of them named Agabus stood up in one of the meetings to predict by the Spirit that a great famine was coming upon the entire Roman world. (This was fulfilled during the reign of Claudius.) 29 So the believers in Antioch decided to send relief to the brothers and sisters in Judea, everyone giving as much as they could. 30 This they did, entrusting their gifts to Barnabas and Saul to take to the elders of the church in Jerusalem.