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

1 After this, Job opened his mouth, and cursed his day,

2 And he said:

3 Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said: A man child is conceived.

4 Let that day be turned into darkness, let not God regard it from above, and let not the light shine upon it.

5 Let darkness, and the shadow of death, cover it, let a mist overspread it, and let it be wrapped up in bitterness.

6 Let a darksome whirlwind seize upon that night, let it not be counted in the days of the year, nor numbered in the months.

7 Let that night be solitary, and not worthy of praise.

8 Let them curse it who curse the day, who are ready to raise up a leviathan:

9 Let the stars be darkened with the mist thereof: let it expect light, and not see it, nor the rising of the dawning of the day:

10 Because it shut not up the doors of the womb that bore me, nor took away evils from my eyes.

11 Why did I not die in the womb? why did I not perish when I came out of the belly?

12 Why received upon the knees? why suckled at the breasts?

13 For now I should have been asleep and still, and should have rest in my sleep:

14 With kings and consuls of the earth, who build themselves solitudes:

15 Or with princes, that possess gold, and fill their houses with silver:

16 Or as a hidden untimely birth, I should not be; or as they that, being conceived, have not seen the light.

17 There the wicked cease from tumult, and there the wearied in strength are at rest.

18 And they sometime bound together without disquiet, have not heard 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 that is in misery, and life to them that are in bitterness of soul?

21 That look for death, and it cometh not, as they that dig for a treasure:

22 And they rejoice exceedingly when they have found the grave?

23 To a man whose way is hidden, and God hath surrounded him with darkness?

24 Before I eat I sigh: and as overflowing waters, so is my roaring:

25 For the fear which I feared, hath come upon me: and that which I was afraid of, hath befallen me.

26 Have I not dissembled? have I not kept silence? have I not been quiet? and indignation is come upon me.

1 Then Eliphaz, the Themanite, answered, and said:

2 If we begin to speak to thee, perhaps thou wilt take it ill; but who can withhold the words he hath conceived?

3 Behold thou hast taught many, and thou hast strengthened the weary hands:

4 Thy words have confirmed them that were staggering, and thou hast strengthened the trembling knees:

5 But now the scourge is come upon thee, and thou faintest: It hath touched thee, and thou art troubled.

6 Where is thy fear, thy fortitude, thy patience, and the perfection of thy ways?

7 Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished being innocent? or when were the just destroyed?

8 On the contrary, I have seen those who work iniquity, and sow sorrows, and reap them,

9 Perishing by the blast of God, and consumed by the spirit of his wrath.

10 The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the lioness, and the teeth of the whelps of lions, are broken:

11 The tiger hath perished for want of prey, and the young lions are scattered abroad.

12 Now there was a word spoken to me in private, and my ears by stealth, as it were, received the veins of its whisper.

13 In the horror of a vision by night, when deep sleep is wont to hold men,

14 Fear seized upon me, and trembling, and all my bones were affrighted:

15 And when a spirit passed before me, the hair of my flesh stood up.

16 There stood one whose countenance I knew not, an image before my eyes, and I heard the voice, as it were, of a gentle wind.

17 Shall man be justified in comparison of God, or shall a man be more pure than his maker?

18 Behold, they that serve him are not steadfast, and in his angels he found wickedness:

19 How much more shall they that dwell in houses of clay, who have an earthly foundation, be consumed as with the moth?

20 From morning till evening they shall be cut down: and because no one understandeth, they shall perish for ever.

21 And they that shall be left, shall be taken away from them: they shall die, and not in wisdom.

44 The tabernacle of the testimony was with our fathers in the desert, as God ordained for them, speaking to Moses, that he should make it according to the form which he had seen.

45 Which also our fathers receiving, brought in with Jesus, into the possession of the Gentiles: whom God drove out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David,

46 Who found grace before God and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.

47 But Solomon built him a house,

48 Yet the most High dwelleth not in houses made by hands, as the prophet saith:

49 Heaven is my throne and the earth my footstool. What house will you build me (saith the Lord)? Or what is the place of my resting?

50 Hath not my hand made all these things?

51 You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Ghost. As your fathers did, so do you also.

52 Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? And they have slain them who foretold of the coming of the Just One: of whom you have been now the betrayers and murderers.

53 Who have received the law by the disposition of angels and have not kept it.

54 Now hearing these things, they were cut to the heart: and they gnashed with their teeth at him.

55 But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looking up steadfastly to heaven, saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God.

56 (7-55) And he said: Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.

57 (7-56) And they, crying out with a loud voice, stopped their ears and with one accord ran violently upon him.

58 (7-57) And casting him forth without the city. they stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man, whose name was Saul.

59 (7-58) And they stoned Stephen, invoking and saying: Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

60 (7-59) And falling on his knees, he cried with a loud voice, saying: Lord, lay not his sin to their charge: And when he had said this, he fell asleep in the Lord. And Saul was consenting to his death.