Job 41; Job 42; Acts 16:22-40

1 "Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook or press down his tongue with a cord?

2 Can you put a rope in his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook?

3 Will he make many pleas to you? Will he speak to you soft words?

4 Will he make a covenant with you to take him for your servant forever?

5 Will you play with him as with a bird, or will you put him on a leash for your girls?

6 Will traders bargain over him? Will they divide him up among the merchants?

7 Can you fill his skin with harpoons or his head with fishing spears?

8 Lay your hands on him; remember the battle--you will not do it again!

9 Behold, the hope of a man is false; he is laid low even at the sight of him.

10 No one is so fierce that he dares to stir him up. Who then is he who can stand before me?

11 Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine.

12 "I will not keep silence concerning his limbs, or his mighty strength, or his goodly frame.

13 Who can strip off his outer garment? Who would come near him with a bridle?

14 Who can open the doors of his face? Around his teeth is terror.

15 His back is made of rows of shields, shut up closely as with a seal.

16 One is so near to another that no air can come between them.

17 They are joined one to another; they clasp each other and cannot be separated.

18 His sneezings flash forth light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.

19 Out of his mouth go flaming torches; sparks of fire leap forth.

20 Out of his nostrils comes forth smoke, as from a boiling pot and burning rushes.

21 His breath kindles coals, and a flame comes forth from his mouth.

22 In his neck abides strength, and terror dances before him.

23 The folds of his flesh stick together, firmly cast on him and immovable.

24 His heart is hard as a stone, hard as the lower millstone.

25 When he raises himself up the mighty are afraid; at the crashing they are beside themselves.

26 Though the sword reaches him, it does not avail, nor the spear, the dart, or the javelin.

27 He counts iron as straw, and bronze as rotten wood.

28 The arrow cannot make him flee; for him sling stones are turned to stubble.

29 Clubs are counted as stubble; he laughs at the rattle of javelins.

30 His underparts are like sharp potsherds; he spreads himself like a threshing sledge on the mire.

31 He makes the deep boil like a pot; he makes the sea like a pot of ointment.

32 Behind him he leaves a shining wake; one would think the deep to be white-haired.

33 On earth there is not his like, a creature without fear.

34 He sees everything that is high; he is king over all the sons of pride."

1 Then Job answered the LORD and said:

2 "I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.

3 'Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?' Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.

4 'Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.'

5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you;

6 therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes."

7 After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite: "My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.

8 Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has."

9 So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the LORD had told them, and the LORD accepted Job's prayer.

10 And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.

11 Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house. And they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him. And each of them gave him a piece of money and a ring of gold.

12 And the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning. And he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys.

13 He had also seven sons and three daughters.

14 And he called the name of the first daughter Jemimah, and the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-happuch.

15 And in all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job's daughters. And their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.

16 And after this Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, four generations.

17 And Job died, an old man, and full of days.

22 The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods.

23 And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely.

24 Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them,

26 and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bonds were unfastened.

27 When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped.

28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, "Do not harm yourself, for we are all here."

29 And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas.

30 Then he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"

31 And they said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household."

32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house.

33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family.

34 Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.

35 But when it was day, the magistrates sent the police, saying, "Let those men go."

36 And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, "The magistrates have sent to let you go. Therefore come out now and go in peace."

37 But Paul said to them, "They have beaten us publicly, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and do they now throw us out secretly? No! Let them come themselves and take us out."

38 The police reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens.

39 So they came and apologized to them. And they took them out and asked them to leave the city.

40 So they went out of the prison and visited Lydia. And when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them and departed.