Job 30; Job 31; Acts 13:26-52

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Job 30

1 "But now they make sport of me, men who are younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.

2 What could I gain from the strength of their hands, men whose vigor is gone?

3 Through want and hard hunger they gnaw the dry and desolate ground;

4 they pick mallow and the leaves of bushes, and to warm themselves the roots of the broom.

5 They are driven out from among men; they shout after them as after a thief.

6 In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell, in holes of the earth and of the rocks.

7 Among the bushes they bray; under the nettles they huddle together.

8 A senseless, a disreputable brood, they have been whipped out of the land.

9 "And now I have become their song, I am a byword to them.

10 They abhor me, they keep aloof from me; they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.

11 Because God has loosed my cord and humbled me, they have cast off restraint in my presence.

12 On my right hand the rabble rise, they drive me forth, they cast up against me their ways of destruction.

13 They break up my path, they promote my calamity; no one restrains them.

14 As through a wide breach they come; amid the crash they roll on.

15 Terrors are turned upon me; my honor is pursued as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.

16 "And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction have taken hold of me.

17 The night racks my bones, and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.

18 With violence it seizes my garment; it binds me about like the collar of my tunic.

19 God has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.

20 I cry to thee and thou dost not answer me; I stand, and thou dost not heed me.

21 Thou hast turned cruel to me; with the might of thy hand thou dost persecute me.

22 Thou liftest me up on the wind, thou makest me ride on it, and thou tossest me about in the roar of the storm.

23 Yea, I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.

24 "Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand, and in his disaster cry for help?

25 Did not I weep for him whose day was hard? Was not my soul grieved for the poor?

26 But when I looked for good, evil came; and when I waited for light, darkness came.

27 My heart is in turmoil, and is never still; days of affliction come to meet me.

28 I go about blackened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help.

29 I am a brother of jackals, and a companion of ostriches.

30 My skin turns black and falls from me, and my bones burn with heat.

31 My lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.

Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Job 31

1 "I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I look upon a virgin?

2 What would be my portion from God above, and my heritage from the Almighty on high?

3 Does not calamity befall the unrighteous, and disaster the workers of iniquity?

4 Does not he see my ways, and number all my steps?

5 "If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot has hastened to deceit;

6 (Let me be weighed in a just balance, and let God know my integrity!)

7 if my step has turned aside from the way, and my heart has gone after my eyes, and if any spot has cleaved to my hands;

8 then let me sow, and another eat; and let what grows for me be rooted out.

9 "If my heart has been enticed to a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbor's door;

10 then let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down upon her.

11 For that would be a heinous crime; that would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges;

12 for that would be a fire which consumes unto Abaddon, and it would burn to the root all my increase.

13 "If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant, when they brought a complaint against me;

14 what then shall I do when God rises up? When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him?

15 Did not he who made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb?

16 "If I have withheld anything that the poor desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

17 or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it

18 (for from his youth I reared him as a father, and from his mother's womb I guided him);

19 if I have seen any one perish for lack of clothing, or a poor man without covering;

20 if his loins have not blessed me, and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep;

21 if I have raised my hand against the fatherless, because I saw help in the gate;

22 then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder, and let my arm be broken from its socket.

23 For I was in terror of calamity from God, and I could not have faced his majesty.

24 "If I have made gold my trust, or called fine gold my confidence;

25 if I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, or because my hand had gotten much;

26 if I have looked at the sun when it shone, or the moon moving in splendor,

27 and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my mouth has kissed my hand;

28 this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges, for I should have been false to God above.

29 "If I have rejoiced at the ruin of him that hated me, or exulted when evil overtook him

30 (I have not let my mouth sin by asking for his life with a curse);

31 if the men of my tent have not said, 'Who is there that has not been filled with his meat?'

32 (the sojourner has not lodged in the street; I have opened my doors to the wayfarer);

33 if I have concealed my transgressions from men, by hiding my iniquity in my bosom,

34 because I stood in great fear of the multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and did not go out of doors--

35 Oh, that I had one to hear me! (Here is my signature! let the Almighty answer me!) Oh, that I had the indictment written by my adversary!

36 Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; I would bind it on me as a crown;

37 I would give him an account of all my steps; like a prince I would approach him.

38 "If my land has cried out against me, and its furrows have wept together;

39 if I have eaten its yield without payment, and caused the death of its owners;

40 let thorns grow instead of wheat, and foul weeds instead of barley." The words of Job are ended.

Acts 13:26-52

26 "Brethren, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you that fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation.

27 For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets which are read every sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning him.

28 Though they could charge him with nothing deserving death, yet they asked Pilate to have him killed.

29 And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a tomb.

30 But God raised him from the dead;

31 and for many days he appeared to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people.

32 And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers,

33 this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus; as also it is written in the second psalm, 'Thou art my Son, today I have begotten thee.'

34 And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he spoke in this way, 'I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.'

35 Therefore he says also in another psalm, 'Thou wilt not let thy Holy One see corruption.'

36 For David, after he had served the counsel of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid with his fathers, and saw corruption;

37 but he whom God raised up saw no corruption.

38 Let it be known to you therefore, brethren, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you,

39 and by him every one that believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.

40 Beware, therefore, lest there come upon you what is said in the prophets:

41 'Behold, you scoffers, and wonder, and perish; for I do a deed in your days, a deed you will never believe, if one declares it to you.'"

42 As they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next sabbath.

43 And when the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who spoke to them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.

44 The next sabbath almost the whole city gathered together to hear the word of God.

45 But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with jealousy, and contradicted what was spoken by Paul, and reviled him.

46 And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, "It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.

47 For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, 'I have set you to be a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the uttermost parts of the earth.'"

48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of God; and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.

49 And the word of the Lord spread throughout all the region.

50 But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, and stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district.

51 But they shook off the dust from their feet against them, and went to Ico'nium.

52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.