Job 23; Job 24; Job 25; Acts 10:24-48

Job 23

1 Then Job replied:

2 “Even today my complaint is bitter; his hand is heavy in spite of my groaning.

3 If only I knew where to find him; if only I could go to his dwelling!

4 I would state my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments.

5 I would find out what he would answer me, and consider what he would say to me.

6 Would he vigorously oppose me? No, he would not press charges against me.

7 There the upright can establish their innocence before him, and there I would be delivered forever from my judge.

8 “But if I go to the east, he is not there; if I go to the west, I do not find him.

9 When he is at work in the north, I do not see him; when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him.

10 But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.

11 My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside.

12 I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.

13 “But he stands alone, and who can oppose him? He does whatever he pleases.

14 He carries out his decree against me, and many such plans he still has in store.

15 That is why I am terrified before him; when I think of all this, I fear him.

16 God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me.

17 Yet I am not silenced by the darkness, by the thick darkness that covers my face.

Job 24

1 “Why does the Almighty not set times for judgment? Why must those who know him look in vain for such days?

2 There are those who move boundary stones; they pasture flocks they have stolen.

3 They drive away the orphan’s donkey and take the widow’s ox in pledge.

4 They thrust the needy from the path and force all the poor of the land into hiding.

5 Like wild donkeys in the desert, the poor go about their labor of foraging food; the wasteland provides food for their children.

6 They gather fodder in the fields and glean in the vineyards of the wicked.

7 Lacking clothes, they spend the night naked; they have nothing to cover themselves in the cold.

8 They are drenched by mountain rains and hug the rocks for lack of shelter.

9 The fatherless child is snatched from the breast; the infant of the poor is seized for a debt.

10 Lacking clothes, they go about naked; they carry the sheaves, but still go hungry.

11 They crush olives among the terraces ; they tread the winepresses, yet suffer thirst.

12 The groans of the dying rise from the city, and the souls of the wounded cry out for help. But God charges no one with wrongdoing.

13 “There are those who rebel against the light, who do not know its ways or stay in its paths.

14 When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up, kills the poor and needy, and in the night steals forth like a thief.

15 The eye of the adulterer watches for dusk; he thinks, ‘No eye will see me,’ and he keeps his face concealed.

16 In the dark, thieves break into houses, but by day they shut themselves in; they want nothing to do with the light.

17 For all of them, midnight is their morning; they make friends with the terrors of darkness.

18 “Yet they are foam on the surface of the water; their portion of the land is cursed, so that no one goes to the vineyards.

19 As heat and drought snatch away the melted snow, so the grave snatches away those who have sinned.

20 The womb forgets them, the worm feasts on them; the wicked are no longer remembered but are broken like a tree.

21 They prey on the barren and childless woman, and to the widow they show no kindness.

22 But God drags away the mighty by his power; though they become established, they have no assurance of life.

23 He may let them rest in a feeling of security, but his eyes are on their ways.

24 For a little while they are exalted, and then they are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are cut off like heads of grain.

25 “If this is not so, who can prove me false and reduce my words to nothing?”

Job 25

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

2 “Dominion and awe belong to God; he establishes order in the heights of heaven.

3 Can his forces be numbered? On whom does his light not rise?

4 How then can a mortal be righteous before God? How can one born of woman be pure?

5 If even the moon is not bright and the stars are not pure in his eyes,

6 how much less a mortal, who is but a maggot— a human being, who is only a worm!”

Acts 10:24-48

24 The following day he arrived in Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends.

25 As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence.

26 But Peter made him get up. “Stand up,” he said, “I am only a man myself.”

27 While talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people.

28 He said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile. But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean.

29 So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me?”

30 Cornelius answered: “Three days ago I was in my house praying at this hour, at three in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me

31 and said, ‘Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor.

32 Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the tanner, who lives by the sea.’

33 So I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us.”

34 Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism

35 but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.

36 You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.

37 You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached—

38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.

39 “We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross,

40 but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen.

41 He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.

42 He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead.

43 All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message.

45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles.

46 For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. Then Peter said,

47 “Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.”

48 So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.