Job 36; Job 37; Acts 15:22-41

Job 36

1 Then Elihu continued, saying:

2 Be patient with me a little longer, and I will inform you, for there is still more to be said on God's behalf.

3 I will get my knowledge from afar and ascribe righteousness to my Maker.

4 For my arguments are without flaw; one who has perfect knowledge is with you.

5 Yes, God is mighty, but He despises [no one]; He understands all things.

6 He does not keep the wicked alive, but He gives justice to the afflicted.

7 He does not remove His gaze from the righteous, but He seats them forever with enthroned kings, and they are exalted.

8 If people are bound with chains and trapped by the cords of affliction,

9 God tells them what they have done and how arrogantly they have transgressed.

10 He opens their ears to correction and insists they repent from iniquity.

11 If they serve Him obediently, they will end their days in prosperity and their years in happiness.

12 But if they do not obey, they will cross the river [of death] and die without knowledge.

13 Those who have a godless heart harbor anger; even when God binds them, they do not cry for help.

14 They die in their youth; their life [ends] among male cult prostitutes.

15 God rescues the afflicted by afflicting them; He instructs them by means of their torment.

16 Indeed, He lured you from the jaws of distress to a spacious and unconfined place. Your table was spread with choice food.

17 Yet [now] you are obsessed with the judgment due the wicked; judgment and justice have seized you.

18 Be careful that no one lures you with riches; do not let a large ransom lead you astray.

19 Can your wealth or all [your] physical exertion keep [you] from distress?

20 Do not long for the night when nations will disappear from their places.

21 Be careful that you do not turn to iniquity, for that is why you have been tested by affliction.

22 Look, God shows Himself exalted by His power. Who is a teacher like Him?

23 Who has appointed His way for Him, and who has declared, "You have done wrong"?

24 Remember that you should praise His work, which people have sung about.

25 All mankind has seen it; people have looked at it from a distance.

26 Look, God is exalted beyond our knowledge; the number of His years cannot be counted.

27 For He makes waterdrops evaporate; they distill the rain into its mist,

28 which the clouds pour out and shower abundantly on mankind.

29 Can anyone understand how the clouds spread out or how the thunder roars from God's pavilion?

30 Look, He spreads His lightning around Him and covers the depths of the sea.

31 For He judges the nations with these; He gives food in abundance.

32 He covers [His] hands with lightning and commands it to hit its mark.

33 The thunder declares His presence; the cattle also, the approaching [storm].

Job 37

1 My heart pounds at this and leaps from my chest.

2 Just listen to His thunderous voice and the rumbling that comes from His mouth.

3 He lets it loose beneath the entire sky; His lightning to the ends of the earth.

4 Then there comes a roaring sound; God thunders with His majestic voice. He does not restrain the lightning when His [rumbling] voice is heard.

5 God thunders marvelously with His voice; He does great things that we cannot comprehend.

6 For He says to the snow, "Fall to the earth," and the torrential rains, His mighty torrential rains,

7 serve as His signature to all mankind, so that all men may know His work.

8 The wild animals enter [their] lairs and stay in their dens.

9 The windstorm comes from its chamber, and the cold from the driving north winds.

10 Ice is formed by the breath of God, and watery expanses are frozen.

11 He saturates clouds with moisture; He scatters His lightning through them.

12 They swirl about, turning round and round at His direction, accomplishing everything He commands them over the surface of the inhabited world.

13 He causes this to happen for punishment, for His land, or for His faithful love.

14 Listen to this, Job. Stop and consider God's wonders.

15 Do you know how God directs His clouds or makes their lightning flash?

16 Do you understand how the clouds float, those wonderful works of Him who has perfect knowledge?

17 You whose clothes get hot when the south wind brings calm to the land,

18 can you help God spread out the skies as hard as a cast metal mirror?

19 Teach us what we should say to Him; we cannot prepare [our case] because of our darkness.

20 Should He be told that I want to speak? Can a man speak when he is confused?

21 Now men cannot [even] look at the sun when it is in the skies, after a wind has swept through and cleared them away.

22 Yet out of the north He comes, [shrouded] in a golden [glow]; awesome majesty surrounds Him.

23 The Almighty-we cannot reach Him- He is exalted in power! In His justice and righteousness, He will not oppress.

24 Therefore, men fear Him. He does not look favorably on any who are wise in heart.

Acts 15:22-41

22 Then the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, decided to select men from among them and to send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas: Judas, called Barsabbas, and Silas, both leading men among the brothers.

23 They wrote this letter to be delivered by them: From the apostles and the elders, your brothers, To the brothers from among the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: Greetings.

24 Because we have heard that some to whom we gave no authorization went out from us and troubled you with their words and unsettled your hearts,

25 we have unanimously decided to select men and send them to you along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,

26 who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

27 Therefore we have sent Judas and Silas, who will personally report the same things by word of mouth.

28 For it was the Holy Spirit's decision-and ours-to put no greater burden on you than these necessary things:

29 that you abstain from food offered to idols, from blood, from eating anything that has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these things, you will do well. Farewell.

30 Then, being sent off, they went down to Antioch, and after gathering the assembly, they delivered the letter.

31 When they read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement.

32 Both Judas and Silas, who were also prophets themselves, encouraged the brothers and strengthened them with a long message.

33 After spending some time there, they were sent back in peace by the brothers to those who had sent them.

35 But Paul and Barnabas, along with many others, remained in Antioch teaching and proclaiming the message of the Lord.

36 After some time had passed, Paul said to Barnabas, "Let's go back and visit the brothers in every town where we have preached the message of the Lord, and see how they're doing."

37 Barnabas wanted to take along John Mark.

38 But Paul did not think it appropriate to take along this man who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone on with them to the work.

39 There was such a sharp disagreement that they parted company, and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed off to Cyprus.

40 Then Paul chose Silas and departed, after being commended to the grace of the Lord by the brothers.

41 He traveled through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.