Job 3; Job 4; Acts 7:44-60

1 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.

2 And Job spoke, and said:

3 "May the day perish on which I was born, And the night in which it was said, 'A male child is conceived.'

4 May that day be darkness; May God above not seek it, Nor the light shine upon it.

5 May darkness and the shadow of death claim it; May a cloud settle on it; May the blackness of the day terrify it.

6 As for that night, may darkness seize it; May it not rejoice among the days of the year, May it not come into the number of the months.

7 Oh, may that night be barren! May no joyful shout come into it!

8 May those curse it who curse the day, Those who are ready to arouse Leviathan.

9 May the stars of its morning be dark; May it look for light, but have none, And not see the dawning of the day;

10 Because it did not shut up the doors of my mother's womb, Nor hide sorrow from my eyes.

11 "Why did I not die at birth? Why did I not perish when I came from the womb?

12 Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?

13 For now I would have lain still and been quiet, I would have been asleep; Then I would have been at rest

14 With kings and counselors of the earth, Who built ruins for themselves,

15 Or with princes who had gold, Who filled their houses with silver;

16 Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, Like infants who never saw light?

17 There the wicked cease from troubling, And there the weary are at rest.

18 There the prisoners rest together; They do not hear the voice of the oppressor.

19 The small and great are there, And the servant is free from his master.

20 "Why is light given to him who is in misery, And life to the bitter of soul,

21 Who long for death, but it does not come, And search for it more than hidden treasures;

22 Who rejoice exceedingly, And are glad when they can find the grave?

23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, And whom God has hedged in?

24 For my sighing comes before I eat, And my groanings pour out like water.

25 For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, And what I dreaded has happened to me.

26 I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, for trouble comes."

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

2 "If one attempts a word with you, will you become weary? But who can withhold himself from speaking?

3 Surely you have instructed many, And you have strengthened weak hands.

4 Your words have upheld him who was stumbling, And you have strengthened the feeble knees;

5 But now it comes upon you, and you are weary; It touches you, and you are troubled.

6 Is not your reverence your confidence? And the integrity of your ways your hope?

7 "Remember now, who ever perished being innocent? Or where were the upright ever cut off?

8 Even as I have seen, Those who plow iniquity And sow trouble reap the same.

9 By the blast of God they perish, And by the breath of His anger they are consumed.

10 The roaring of the lion, The voice of the fierce lion, And the teeth of the young lions are broken.

11 The old lion perishes for lack of prey, And the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

12 "Now a word was secretly brought to me, And my ear received a whisper of it.

13 In disquieting thoughts from the visions of the night, When deep sleep falls on men,

14 Fear came upon me, and trembling, Which made all my bones shake.

15 Then a spirit passed before my face; The hair on my body stood up.

16 It stood still, But I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; There was silence; Then I heard a voice saying:

17 'Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker?

18 If He puts no trust in His servants, If He charges His angels with error,

19 How much more those who dwell in houses of clay, Whose foundation is in the dust, Who are crushed before a moth?

20 They are broken in pieces from morning till evening; They perish forever, with no one regarding.

21 Does not their own excellence go away? They die, even without wisdom.'

44 "Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as He appointed, instructing Moses to make it according to the pattern that he had seen,

45 which our fathers, having received it in turn, also brought with Joshua into the land possessed by the Gentiles, whom God drove out before the face of our fathers until the days of David,

46 who found favor before God and asked to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob.

47 But Solomon built Him a house.

48 However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands, as the prophet says:

49 'Heaven is My throne, And earth is My footstool. What house will you build for Me? says the Lord, Or what is the place of My rest?

50 Has My hand not made all these things?'

51 "You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.

52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers,

53 who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it."

54 When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth.

55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God,

56 and said, "Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!"

57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord;

58 and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.

59 And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."

60 Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not charge them with this sin." And when he had said this, he fell asleep.