Job 16; Job 17; Job 18; Acts 9:1-22

1 Then Job replied:

2 “I have heard many things like these; you are miserable comforters, all of you!

3 Will your long-winded speeches never end? What ails you that you keep on arguing?

4 I also could speak like you, if you were in my place; I could make fine speeches against you and shake my head at you.

5 But my mouth would encourage you; comfort from my lips would bring you relief.

6 “Yet if I speak, my pain is not relieved; and if I refrain, it does not go away.

7 Surely, God, you have worn me out; you have devastated my entire household.

8 You have shriveled me up—and it has become a witness; my gauntness rises up and testifies against me.

9 God assails me and tears me in his anger and gnashes his teeth at me; my opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes.

10 People open their mouths to jeer at me; they strike my cheek in scorn and unite together against me.

11 God has turned me over to the ungodly and thrown me into the clutches of the wicked.

12 All was well with me, but he shattered me; he seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has made me his target;

13 his archers surround me. Without pity, he pierces my kidneys and spills my gall on the ground.

14 Again and again he bursts upon me; he rushes at me like a warrior.

15 “I have sewed sackcloth over my skin and buried my brow in the dust.

16 My face is red with weeping, dark shadows ring my eyes;

17 yet my hands have been free of violence and my prayer is pure.

18 “Earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry never be laid to rest!

19 Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high.

20 My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God;

21 on behalf of a man he pleads with God as one pleads for a friend.

22 “Only a few years will pass before I take the path of no return.

1 My spirit is broken, my days are cut short, the grave awaits me.

2 Surely mockers surround me; my eyes must dwell on their hostility.

3 “Give me, O God, the pledge you demand. Who else will put up security for me?

4 You have closed their minds to understanding; therefore you will not let them triumph.

5 If anyone denounces their friends for reward, the eyes of their children will fail.

6 “God has made me a byword to everyone, a man in whose face people spit.

7 My eyes have grown dim with grief; my whole frame is but a shadow.

8 The upright are appalled at this; the innocent are aroused against the ungodly.

9 Nevertheless, the righteous will hold to their ways, and those with clean hands will grow stronger.

10 “But come on, all of you, try again! I will not find a wise man among you.

11 My days have passed, my plans are shattered. Yet the desires of my heart

12 turn night into day; in the face of the darkness light is near.

13 If the only home I hope for is the grave, if I spread out my bed in the realm of darkness,

14 if I say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother’ or ‘My sister,’

15 where then is my hope— who can see any hope for me?

16 Will it go down to the gates of death? Will we descend together into the dust?”

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

2 “When will you end these speeches? Be sensible, and then we can talk.

3 Why are we regarded as cattle and considered stupid in your sight?

4 You who tear yourself to pieces in your anger, is the earth to be abandoned for your sake? Or must the rocks be moved from their place?

5 “The lamp of a wicked man is snuffed out; the flame of his fire stops burning.

6 The light in his tent becomes dark; the lamp beside him goes out.

7 The vigor of his step is weakened; his own schemes throw him down.

8 His feet thrust him into a net; he wanders into its mesh.

9 A trap seizes him by the heel; a snare holds him fast.

10 A noose is hidden for him on the ground; a trap lies in his path.

11 Terrors startle him on every side and dog his every step.

12 Calamity is hungry for him; disaster is ready for him when he falls.

13 It eats away parts 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 Fire resides in his tent; burning sulfur is scattered over his dwelling.

16 His roots dry up below and his branches wither above.

17 The memory of him perishes from the earth; he has no name in the land.

18 He is driven from light into the realm of darkness and is banished from the world.

19 He has no offspring or descendants among his people, no survivor where once he lived.

20 People of the west are appalled at his fate; those of the east are seized with horror.

21 Surely such is the dwelling of an evil man; such is the place of one who does not know God.”

1 Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest

2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.

3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.

4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

5 “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied.

6 “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

7 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone.

8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus.

9 For three days he was blind, and did not eat or drink anything.

10 In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”“Yes, Lord,” he answered.

11 The Lord told him, “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying.

12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.”

13 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem.

14 And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”

15 But the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel.

16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

17 Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

18 Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up and was baptized,

19 and after taking some food, he regained his strength. Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus.

20 At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.

21 All those who heard him were astonished and asked, “Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?”

22 Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.