Job 17; Job 18; Job 19; Acts 10:1-23

Job 17

1 My spirit is broken. My days are extinguished. A graveyard awaits me.

2 Surely mockers surround me and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion.

3 Make arrangements! Put up security for me. Who [else] will be my sponsor?

4 You have closed their minds to understanding, therefore You will not honor [them].

5 If a man informs on his friends for a price, the eyes of his children will fail.

6 He has made me an object of scorn to the people; I have become a man people spit at.

7 My eyes have grown dim from grief, and my whole body has become but a shadow.

8 The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent are roused against the godless.

9 Yet the righteous person will hold to his way, and the one whose hands are clean will grow stronger.

10 But come back [and try] again, all of you. I will not find a wise man among you.

11 My days have slipped by; my plans have been ruined, even the things dear to my heart.

12 They turned night into day and [made] light [seem] near in the face of darkness.

13 If I await Sheol as my home, spread out my bed in darkness,

14 and say to the Pit: You are my father, and to the worm: My mother or my sister,

15 where then is my hope? Who can see [any] hope for me?

16 Will it go down to the gates of Sheol, or will we descend together to the dust?

Job 18

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

2 How long until you stop talking? Show some sense, and then we can talk.

3 Why are we regarded as cattle, as stupid in your sight?

4 You who tear yourself in anger- should the earth be abandoned on your account, or a rock be removed from its place?

5 Yes, the light of the wicked is extinguished; the flame of his fire does not glow.

6 The light in his tent grows dark, and the lamp beside him is put out.

7 His powerful stride is shortened, and his own schemes trip him up.

8 For his own feet lead him into a net, and he strays into its mesh.

9 A trap catches [him] by the heel; a noose seizes him.

10 A rope lies hidden for him on the ground, and a snare [waits] for him along the path.

11 Terrors frighten him on every side and harass him at every step.

12 His strength is depleted; disaster lies ready for him to stumble.

13 Parts of his skin are eaten away; death's firstborn consumes his limbs.

14 He is ripped from the security of his tent and marched away to the king of terrors.

15 Nothing he owned remains in his tent. Burning sulfur is scattered over his home.

16 His roots below dry up, and his branches above wither away.

17 [All] memory of him perishes from the earth; he has no name abroad.

18 He is driven from light to darkness and chased from the inhabited world.

19 He has no children or descendants among his people, no survivor where he used to live.

20 Those in the west are appalled at his fate, while those in the east tremble in horror.

21 Indeed, such is the dwelling of the wicked, and this is the place of the one who does not know God.

Job 19

1 Then Job answered:

2 How long will you torment me and crush me with words?

3 You have humiliated me ten times now, and you mistreat me without shame.

4 Even if it is true that I have sinned, my mistake concerns only me.

5 If you really want to appear superior to me and would use my disgrace as evidence against me,

6 then understand that it is God who has wronged me and caught me in His net.

7 I cry out: Violence! but get no response; I call for help, but there is no justice.

8 He has blocked my way so that I cannot pass through; He has veiled my paths with darkness.

9 He has stripped me of my honor and removed the crown from my head.

10 He tears me down on every side so that I am ruined. He uproots my hope like a tree.

11 His anger burns against me, and He regards me as [one of] His enemies.

12 His troops advance together; they construct a ramp against me and camp around my tent.

13 He has removed my brothers from me; my acquaintances have abandoned me.

14 My relatives stop coming by, and my close friends have forgotten me.

15 My house guests and female servants regard me as a stranger; I am a foreigner in their sight.

16 I call for my servant, but he does not answer, even if I beg him with my own mouth.

17 My breath is offensive to my wife, and my own children find me repulsive.

18 Even young boys scorn me. When I stand up, they mock me.

19 All of my best friends despise me, and those I love have turned against me.

20 My skin and my flesh cling to my bones; I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

21 Have mercy on me, my friends, have mercy, for God's hand has struck me.

22 Why do you persecute me as God [does]? Will you never get enough of my flesh?

23 I wish that my words were written down, that they were recorded on a scroll

24 or were inscribed in stone forever by an iron stylus and lead!

25 But I know my living Redeemer, and He will stand on the dust at last.

26 Even after my skin has been destroyed, yet I will see God in my flesh.

27 I will see Him myself; my eyes will look at [Him], and not as a stranger. My heart longs within me.

28 If you say, "How will we pursue him, since the root of the problem lies with him?"

29 be afraid of the sword, because wrath [brings] punishment by the sword, so that you may know there is a judgment.

Acts 10:1-23

1 There was a man in Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment.

2 He was a devout man and feared God along with his whole household. He did many charitable deeds for the [Jewish] people and always prayed to God.

3 At about three in the afternoon he distinctly saw in a vision an angel of God who came in and said to him, "Cornelius!"

4 Looking intently at him, he became afraid and said, "What is it, Lord?" And he told him, "Your prayers and your acts of charity have come up as a memorial offering before God.

5 Now send men to Joppa and call for Simon, who is also named Peter.

6 He is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea."

7 When the angel who spoke to him had gone, he called two of his household slaves and a devout soldier, who was one of those who attended him.

8 After explaining everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.

9 The next day, as they were traveling and nearing the city, Peter went up to pray on the housetop at about noon.

10 Then he became hungry and wanted to eat, but while they were preparing something he went into a visionary state.

11 He saw heaven opened and an object coming down that resembled a large sheet being lowered to the earth by its four corners.

12 In it were all the four-footed animals and reptiles of the earth, and the birds of the sky.

13 Then a voice said to him, "Get up, Peter; kill and eat!"

14 "No, Lord!" Peter said. "For I have never eaten anything common and unclean!"

15 Again, a second time, a voice said to him, "What God has made clean, you must not call common."

16 This happened three times, and then the object was taken up into heaven.

17 While Peter was deeply perplexed about what the vision he had seen might mean, the men who had been sent by Cornelius, having asked directions to Simon's house, stood at the gate.

18 They called out, asking if Simon, who was also named Peter, was lodging there.

19 While Peter was thinking about the vision, the Spirit told him, "Three men are here looking for you.

20 Get up, go downstairs, and accompany them with no doubts at all, because I have sent them."

21 Then Peter went down to the men and said, "Here I am, the one you're looking for. What is the reason you're here?"

22 They said, "Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who has a good reputation with the whole Jewish nation, was divinely directed by a holy angel to call you to his house and to hear a message from you."

23 Peter then invited them in and gave them lodging. The next day he got up and set out with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa went with him.