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

Job 17

1 The end of my life is near. I can hardly breathe; there is nothing left for me but the grave.

2 I watch how bitterly everyone mocks me.

3 I am being honest, God. Accept my word. There is no one else to support what I say.

4 You have closed their minds to reason; don't let them triumph over me now.

5 In the old proverb someone betrays his friends for money, and his children suffer for it.

6 And now people use this proverb against me; they come and spit in my face.

7 My grief has almost made me blind; my arms and legs are as thin as shadows.

8 Those who claim to be honest are shocked, and they all condemn me as godless.

9 Those who claim to be respectable are more and more convinced they are right.

10 But if all of them came and stood before me, I would not find even one of them wise.

11 My days have passed; my plans have failed; my hope is gone.

12 But my friends say night is daylight; they say that light is near, but I know I remain in darkness.

13 My only hope is the world of the dead, where I will lie down to sleep in the dark.

14 I will call the grave my father, and the worms that eat me I will call my mother and my sisters.

15 Where is there any hope for me? Who sees any?

16 Hope will not go with me when I go down to the world of the dead.

Job 18

1 Job, can't people like you ever be quiet?

2 If you stopped to listen, we could talk to you.

3 What makes you think we are as stupid as cattle?

4 You are only hurting yourself with your anger. Will the earth be deserted because you are angry? Will God move mountains to satisfy you?

5 The light of the wicked will still be put out; its flame will never burn again.

6 The lamp in their tents will be darkened.

7 Their steps were firm, but now they stumble; they fall - victims of their own advice.

8 They walk into a net, and their feet are caught;

9 a trap catches their heels and holds them.

10 On the ground a snare is hidden; a trap has been set in their path.

11 All around them terror is waiting; it follows them at every step.

12 They used to be rich, but now they go hungry; disaster stands and waits at their side.

13 A deadly disease spreads over their bodies and causes their arms and legs to rot.

14 They are torn from the tents where they lived secure, and are dragged off to face King Death.

15 Now anyone may live in their tents - after sulfur is sprinkled to disinfect them!

16 Their roots and branches are withered and dry.

17 Their fame is ended at home and abroad; no one remembers them any more.

18 They will be driven out of the land of the living, driven from light into darkness.

19 They have no descendants, no survivors.

20 From east to west, all who hear of their fate shudder and tremble with fear.

21 That is the fate of evil people, the fate of those who care nothing for God.

Job 19

1 Why do you keep tormenting me

2 with words?

3 Time after time you insult me and show no shame for the way you abuse me.

4 Even if I have done wrong, how does that hurt you?

5 You think you are better than I am, and regard my troubles as proof of my guilt.

6 Can't you see it is God who has done this? He has set a trap to catch me.

7 I protest his violence, but no one is listening; no one hears my cry for justice.

8 God has blocked the way, and I can't get through; he has hidden my path in darkness.

9 He has taken away all my wealth and destroyed my reputation.

10 He batters me from every side. He uproots my hope and leaves me to wither and die.

11 God is angry and rages against me; he treats me like his worst enemy.

12 He sends his army to attack me; they dig trenches and lay siege to my tent.

13 God has made my own family forsake me; I am a stranger to those who knew me;

14 my relatives and friends are gone.

15 Those who were guests in my house have forgotten me; my servant women treat me like a stranger and a foreigner.

16 When I call a servant, he doesn't answer - even when I beg him to help me.

17 My wife can't stand the smell of my breath, and my own brothers won't come near me.

18 Children despise me and laugh when they see me.

19 My closest friends look at me with disgust; those I loved most have turned against me.

20 My skin hangs loose on my bones; I have barely escaped with my life.

21 You are my friends! Take pity on me! The hand of God has struck me down.

22 Why must you persecute me the way God does? Haven't you tormented me enough?

23 How I wish that someone would remember my words and record them in a book!

24 Or with a chisel carve my words in stone and write them so that they would last forever.

25 But I know there is someone in heaven who will come at last to my defense.

26 Even after my skin is eaten by disease, while still in this body I will see God.

27 I will see him with my own eyes, and he will not be a stranger. My courage failed because you said,

28 "How can we torment him?" You looked for some excuse to attack me.

29 But now, be afraid of the sword - the sword that brings God's wrath on sin, so that you will know there is one who judges.

Acts 10:1-23

1 There was a man in Caesarea named Cornelius, who was a captain in the Roman army regiment called "The Italian Regiment."

2 He was a religious man; he and his whole family worshiped God. He also did much to help the Jewish poor people and was constantly praying to God.

3 It was about three o'clock one afternoon when he had a vision, in which he clearly saw an angel of God come in and say to him, "Cornelius!"

4 He stared at the angel in fear and said, "What is it, sir?" The angel answered, "God is pleased with your prayers and works of charity, and is ready to answer you.

5 And now send some men to Joppa for a certain man whose full name is Simon Peter.

6 He is a guest in the home of a tanner of leather named Simon, who lives by the sea."

7 Then the angel went away, and Cornelius called two of his house servants and a soldier, a religious man who was one of his personal attendants.

8 He told them what had happened and sent them off to Joppa.

9 The next day, as they were on their way and coming near Joppa, Peter went up on the roof of the house about noon in order to pray.

10 He became hungry and wanted something to eat; while the food was being prepared, he had a vision.

11 He saw heaven opened and something coming down that looked like a large sheet being lowered by its four corners to the earth.

12 In it were all kinds of animals, reptiles, and wild birds.

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

14 But Peter said, "Certainly not, Lord! I have never eaten anything ritually unclean or defiled."

15 The voice spoke to him again, "Do not consider anything unclean that God has declared clean."

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

17 While Peter was wondering about the meaning of this vision, the men sent by Cornelius had learned where Simon's house was, and they were now standing in front of the gate.

18 They called out and asked, "Is there a guest here by the name of Simon Peter?"

19 Peter was still trying to understand what the vision meant, when the Spirit said, "Listen! Three men are here looking for you.

20 So get ready and go down, and do not hesitate to go with them, for I have sent them."

21 So Peter went down and said to the men, "I am the man you are looking for. Why have you come?"

22 "Captain Cornelius sent us," they answered. "He is a good man who worships God and is highly respected by all the Jewish people. An angel of God told him to invite you to his house, so that he could hear what you have to say."

23 Peter invited the men in and had them spend the night there. The next day he got ready and went with them; and some of the believers from Joppa went along with him.