Job 12; Job 13; Job 14; John 21; Acts 1

Job 12

1 Then Job replied:

2 “Doubtless you are the only people who matter, and wisdom will die with you!

3 But I have a mind as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know all these things?

4 “I have become a laughingstock to my friends, though I called on God and he answered— a mere laughingstock, though righteous and blameless!

5 Those who are at ease have contempt for misfortune as the fate of those whose feet are slipping.

6 The tents of marauders are undisturbed, and those who provoke God are secure— those God has in his hand.

7 “But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you;

8 or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish in the sea inform you.

9 Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this?

10 In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.

11 Does not the ear test words as the tongue tastes food?

12 Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding?

13 “To God belong wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are his.

14 What he tears down cannot be rebuilt; those he imprisons cannot be released.

15 If he holds back the waters, there is drought; if he lets them loose, they devastate the land.

16 To him belong strength and insight; both deceived and deceiver are his.

17 He leads rulers away stripped and makes fools of judges.

18 He takes off the shackles put on by kings and ties a loincloth around their waist.

19 He leads priests away stripped and overthrows officials long established.

20 He silences the lips of trusted advisers and takes away the discernment of elders.

21 He pours contempt on nobles and disarms the mighty.

22 He reveals the deep things of darkness and brings utter darkness into the light.

23 He makes nations great, and destroys them; he enlarges nations, and disperses them.

24 He deprives the leaders of the earth of their reason; he makes them wander in a trackless waste.

25 They grope in darkness with no light; he makes them stagger like drunkards.

Job 13

1 “My eyes have seen all this, my ears have heard and understood it.

2 What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you.

3 But I desire to speak to the Almighty and to argue my case with God.

4 You, however, smear me with lies; you are worthless physicians, all of you!

5 If only you would be altogether silent! For you, that would be wisdom.

6 Hear now my argument; listen to the pleas of my lips.

7 Will you speak wickedly on God’s behalf? Will you speak deceitfully for him?

8 Will you show him partiality? Will you argue the case for God?

9 Would it turn out well if he examined you? Could you deceive him as you might deceive a mortal?

10 He would surely call you to account if you secretly showed partiality.

11 Would not his splendor terrify you? Would not the dread of him fall on you?

12 Your maxims are proverbs of ashes; your defenses are defenses of clay.

13 “Keep silent and let me speak; then let come to me what may.

14 Why do I put myself in jeopardy and take my life in my hands?

15 Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face.

16 Indeed, this will turn out for my deliverance, for no godless person would dare come before him!

17 Listen carefully to what I say; let my words ring in your ears.

18 Now that I have prepared my case, I know I will be vindicated.

19 Can anyone bring charges against me? If so, I will be silent and die.

20 “Only grant me these two things, God, and then I will not hide from you:

21 Withdraw your hand far from me, and stop frightening me with your terrors.

22 Then summon me and I will answer, or let me speak, and you reply to me.

23 How many wrongs and sins have I committed? Show me my offense and my sin.

24 Why do you hide your face and consider me your enemy?

25 Will you torment a windblown leaf? Will you chase after dry chaff?

26 For you write down bitter things against me and make me reap the sins of my youth.

27 You fasten my feet in shackles; you keep close watch on all my paths by putting marks on the soles of my feet.

28 “So man wastes away like something rotten, like a garment eaten by moths.

Job 14

1 “Mortals, born of woman, are of few days and full of trouble.

2 They spring up like flowers and wither away; like fleeting shadows, they do not endure.

3 Do you fix your eye on them? Will you bring them before you for judgment?

4 Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one!

5 A person’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.

6 So look away from him and let him alone, till he has put in his time like a hired laborer.

7 “At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail.

8 Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil,

9 yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant.

10 But a man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more.

11 As the water of a lake dries up or a riverbed becomes parched and dry,

12 so he lies down and does not rise; till the heavens are no more, people will not awake or be roused from their sleep.

13 “If only you would hide me in the grave and conceal me till your anger has passed! If only you would set me a time and then remember me!

14 If someone dies, will they live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come.

15 You will call and I will answer you; you will long for the creature your hands have made.

16 Surely then you will count my steps but not keep track of my sin.

17 My offenses will be sealed up in a bag; you will cover over my sin.

18 “But as a mountain erodes and crumbles and as a rock is moved from its place,

19 as water wears away stones and torrents wash away the soil, so you destroy a person’s hope.

20 You overpower them once for all, and they are gone; you change their countenance and send them away.

21 If their children are honored, they do not know it; if their offspring are brought low, they do not see it.

22 They feel but the pain of their own bodies and mourn only for themselves.”

John 21

1 Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way:

2 Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus ), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together.

3 “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

4 Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

5 He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”“No,” they answered.

6 He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

7 Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water.

8 The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards.

9 When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.

10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.”

11 So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn.

12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord.

13 Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish.

14 This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

15 When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

16 Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”

17 The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.

18 Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.”

19 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

20 Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”)

21 When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?”

22 Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.”

23 Because of this, the rumor spread among the believers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; he only said, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?”

24 This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.

25 Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

Acts 1

1 In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach

2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.

3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.

4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.

5 For John baptized withwater, but in a few days you will be baptized withthe Holy Spirit.”

6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.

10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.

11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

12 Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city.

13 When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James.

14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

15 In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty)

16 and said, “Brothers and sisters, the Scripture had to be fulfilled in which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through David concerning Judas, who served as guide for those who arrested Jesus.

17 He was one of our number and shared in our ministry.”

18 (With the payment he received for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out.

19 Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)

20 “For,” said Peter, “it is written in the Book of Psalms: “ ‘May his place be deserted; let there be no one to dwell in it,’and, “ ‘May another take his place of leadership.’

21 Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus was living among us,

22 beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.”

23 So they nominated two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias.

24 Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen

25 to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.”

26 Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles.