Job 1; Job 2; Acts 7:22-43

Job 1

1 There was a man named Job, living in the land of Uz, who worshiped God and was faithful to him. He was a good man, careful not to do anything evil.

2 He had seven sons and three daughters,

3 and owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, one thousand head of cattle, and five hundred donkeys. He also had a large number of servants and was the richest man in the East.

4 Job's sons used to take turns giving a feast, to which all the others would come, and they always invited their three sisters to join them.

5 The morning after each feast, Job would get up early and offer sacrifices for each of his children in order to purify them. He always did this because he thought that one of them might have sinned by insulting God unintentionally.

6 When the day came for the heavenly beings to appear before the Lord, Satan was there among them.

7 The Lord asked him, "What have you been doing?" Satan answered, "I have been walking here and there, roaming around the earth."

8 "Did you notice my servant Job?" the Lord asked. "There is no one on earth as faithful and good as he is. He worships me and is careful not to do anything evil."

9 Satan replied, "Would Job worship you if he got nothing out of it?

10 You have always protected him and his family and everything he owns. You bless everything he does, and you have given him enough cattle to fill the whole country.

11 But now suppose you take away everything he has - he will curse you to your face!"

12 "All right," the Lord said to Satan, "everything he has is in your power, but you must not hurt Job himself." So Satan left.

13 One day when Job's children were having a feast at the home of their oldest brother,

14 a messenger came running to Job. "We were plowing the fields with the oxen," he said, "and the donkeys were in a nearby pasture.

15 Suddenly the Sabeans attacked and stole them all. They killed every one of your servants except me. I am the only one who escaped to tell you."

16 Before he had finished speaking, another servant came and said, "Lightning struck the sheep and the shepherds and killed them all. I am the only one who escaped to tell you."

17 Before he had finished speaking, another servant came and said, "Three bands of Chaldean raiders attacked us, took away the camels, and killed all your servants except me. I am the only one who escaped to tell you."

18 Before he had finished speaking, another servant came and said, "Your children were having a feast at the home of your oldest son,

19 when a storm swept in from the desert. It blew the house down and killed them all. I am the only one who escaped to tell you."

20 Then Job got up and tore his clothes in grief. He shaved his head and threw himself face downward on the ground.

21 He said, "I was born with nothing, and I will die with nothing. The Lord gave, and now he has taken away. May his name be praised!"

22 In spite of everything that had happened, Job did not sin by blaming God.

Job 2

1 When the day came for the heavenly beings to appear before the Lord again, Satan was there among them.

2 The Lord asked him, "Where have you been?" Satan answered, "I have been walking here and there, roaming around the earth."

3 "Did you notice my servant Job?" the Lord asked. "There is no one on earth as faithful and good as he is. He worships me and is careful not to do anything evil. You persuaded me to let you attack him for no reason at all, but Job is still as faithful as ever."

4 Satan replied, "A person will give up everything in order to stay alive.

5 But now suppose you hurt his body - he will curse you to your face!"

6 So the Lord said to Satan, "All right, he is in your power, but you are not to kill him."

7 Then Satan left the Lord's presence and made sores break out all over Job's body.

8 Job went and sat by the garbage dump and took a piece of broken pottery to scrape his sores.

9 His wife said to him, "You are still as faithful as ever, aren't you? Why don't you curse God and die?"

10 Job answered, "You are talking nonsense! When God sends us something good, we welcome it. How can we complain when he sends us trouble?" Even in all this suffering Job said nothing against God.

11 Three of Job's friends were Eliphaz, from the city of Teman, Bildad, from the land of Shuah, and Zophar, from the land of Naamah. When they heard how much Job had been suffering, they decided to go and comfort him.

12 While they were still a long way off they saw Job, but did not recognize him. When they did, they began to weep and wail, tearing their clothes in grief and throwing dust into the air and on their heads.

13 Then they sat there on the ground with him for seven days and nights without saying a word, because they saw how much he was suffering.

Acts 7:22-43

22 He was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians and became a great man in words and deeds.

23 "When Moses was forty years old, he decided to find out how his fellow Israelites were being treated.

24 He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his help and took revenge on the Egyptian by killing him

25 (He thought that his own people would understand that God was going to use him to set them free, but they did not understand.)

26 The next day he saw two Israelites fighting, and he tried to make peace between them. "Listen, men,' he said, "you are fellow Israelites; why are you fighting like this?'

27 But the one who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside. "Who made you ruler and judge over us?' he asked.

28 "Do you want to kill me, just as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?'

29 When Moses heard this, he fled from Egypt and went to live in the land of Midian. There he had two sons.

30 "After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai.

31 Moses was amazed by what he saw, and went near the bush to get a better look. But he heard the Lord's voice:

32 "I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.' Moses trembled with fear and dared not look.

33 The Lord said to him, "Take your sandals off, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.

34 I have seen the cruel suffering of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groans, and I have come down to set them free. Come now; I will send you to Egypt.'

35 "Moses is the one who was rejected by the people of Israel. "Who made you ruler and judge over us?' they asked. He is the one whom God sent to rule the people and set them free with the help of the angel who appeared to him in the burning bush.

36 He led the people out of Egypt, performing miracles and wonders in Egypt and at the Red Sea and for forty years in the desert.

37 Moses is the one who said to the people of Israel, "God will send you a prophet, just as he sent me, and he will be one of your own people.'

38 He is the one who was with the people of Israel assembled in the desert; he was there with our ancestors and with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and he received God's living messages to pass on to us.

39 "But our ancestors refused to obey him; they pushed him aside and wished that they could go back to Egypt.

40 So they said to Aaron, "Make us some gods who will lead us. We do not know what has happened to that man Moses, who brought us out of Egypt.'

41 It was then that they made an idol in the shape of a bull, offered sacrifice to it, and had a feast in honor of what they themselves had made.

42 So God turned away from them and gave them over to worship the stars of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: "People of Israel! It was not to me that you slaughtered and sacrificed animals for forty years in the desert.

43 It was the tent of the god Molech that you carried, and the image of Rephan, your star god; they were idols that you had made to worship. And so I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.'