Job 8; Job 9; Job 10; Acts 8:26-40

Job 8

1 Then Baldad, the Suhite, answered, and said:

2 How long wilt thou speak these things, and how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong wind?

3 Doth God pervert judgment, or doth the Almighty overthrow that which is just?

4 Although thy children have sinned against him, and he hath left them in the hand of their iniquity:

5 Yet if thou wilt arise early to God, and wilt beseech the Almighty:

6 If thou wilt walk clean and upright, he will presently awake unto thee, and will make the dwelling of thy justice peaceable:

7 In so much, that if thy former things were small thy latter things would be multiplied exceedingly.

8 For inquire of the former generation, and search diligently into the memory of the fathers:

9 (For we are but of yesterday, and are ignorant that our days upon earth are but a shadow

10 And they shall teach thee: they shall speak to thee, and utter words out of their hearts.

11 Can the rush be green without moisture? or sedge bush grow without water?

12 When it is yet in flower, and is not plucked u with the hand, it withereth before all herbs.

13 Even so are the ways of all that forget God, an the hope of the hypocrite shall perish:

14 His folly shall not please him, and his trust shall be like the spider’s web.

15 He shall lean upon his house, and it shall no stand: he shall prop it up, and it shall not rise:

16 He seemeth to have moisture before the sun cometh; and at his rising, his blossom shall shoot forth.

17 His roots shall be thick upon a heap of stones; and among the stones he shall abide.

18 If one swallow him up out of his place, he shall deny him, and shall say: I know thee not.

19 For this is the joy of his way, that others may spring again out of the earth.

20 God will not cast away the simple, nor reach out his hand to the evil doer:

21 Until thy mouth be filled with laughter, and thy lips with rejoicing.

22 They that hate thee, shall be clothed with confusion: and the dwelling of the wicked shall not stand.

Job 9

1 And Job answered, and said:

2 Indeed I know it is so, and that man cannot be justified, compared with God.

3 If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one for a thousand.

4 He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath resisted him, and hath had peace?

5 Who hath removed mountains, and they whom he overthrew in his wrath, knew it not.

6 Who shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof tremble.

7 Who commandeth the sun, and it riseth not: and shutteth up the stars, as it were, under a seal:

8 Who alone spreadeth out the heavens, and walketh upon the waves of the sea

9 Who maketh Arcturus, and Orion, and Hyades, and the inner parts of the south.

10 Who doth things great and incomprehensible, and wonderful, of which there is no number.

11 If he come to me, I shall not see him: if he depart, I shall not understand.

12 If he examine on a sudden, who shall answer him? or who can say: Why dost thou so?

13 God, whose wrath no man can resist, and under whom they stoop that bear up the world.

14 What am I then, that I should answer him, and have words with him?

15 I, who although I should have any just thing, would not answer, but would make supplication to my judge.

16 And if he should hear me when I call, I should not believe that he had heard my voice.

17 For he shall crush me in a whirlwind, and multiply my wounds even without cause.

18 He alloweth not my spirit to rest, and he filleth me with bitterness.

19 If strength be demanded, he is most strong: if equity of judgment, no man dare bear witness for me.

20 If I would justify myself, my own mouth shall condemn me: if I would shew myself innocent, he shall prove me wicked.

21 Although I should be simple, even this my soul shall be ignorant of, and I shall be weary of my life.

22 One thing there is that I have spoken, both the innocent and the wicked he consumeth.

23 If he scourge, let him kill at once, and not laugh at the pains of the innocent.

24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked, he covereth the face of the judges thereof: and if it be not he, who is it then?

25 My days have been swifter than a post: they have fled away and have not seen good.

26 They have passed by as ships carrying fruits, as an eagle flying to the prey.

27 If I say: I will not speak so: I change my face, and am tormented with sorrow.

28 I feared all my works, knowing that thou didst not spare the offender.

29 But if so also I am wicked, why have I laboured in vain?

30 If I be washed, as it were, with snow waters, and my hands shall shine ever clean:

31 Yet thou shalt plunge me in filth, and my garments shall abhor me.

32 For I shall not answer a man that is like myself: nor one that may be heard with me equally in judgment.

33 There is none that may be able to reprove both, and to put his hand between both.

34 Let him take his rod away from me, and let not his fear terrify me.

35 I will speak, and will not fear him: for I cannot answer while I am in fear.

Job 10

1 My soul is weary of my life, I will let go my speech against myself, I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

2 I will say to God: Do not condemn me: tell me why thou judgest me so?

3 Doth it seem good to thee that thou shouldst calumniate me, and oppress me, the work of thy own hands, and help the counsel of the wicked?

4 Hast thou eyes of flesh: or, shalt thou see as man seeth?

5 Are thy days as the days of man, and are thy years as the times of men:

6 That thou shouldst inquire after my iniquity, and search after my sin?

7 And shouldst know that I have done no wicked thing, whereas there is no man that can deliver out of thy hand?

8 Thy hands have made me, and fashioned me wholly round about, and dost thou thus cast me down headlong on a sudden?

9 Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay, and thou wilt bring me into dust

10 Hast thou not milked me as milk, and curdled me like cheese?

11 Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh: thou hast put me together with bones and sinews:

12 Thou hast granted me life and mercy, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.

13 Although thou conceal these things in thy heart, yet I know that thou rememberest all things.

14 If I have sinned, and thou hast spared me for an hour: why dost thou not suffer me to be clean from my iniquity?

15 And if I be wicked, woe unto me: and if just, I shall not lift up my head, being filled with affliction and misery.

16 And for pride thou wilt take me as a lioness, and returning, thou tormentest me wonderfully.

17 Thou renewest thy witnesses against me, and multipliest thy wrath upon me, and pains war against me.

18 Why didst thou bring me forth out of the womb? O that I had been consumed, that eye might not see me l

19 I should have been as if I had not been, carried from the womb to the grave.

20 Shall not the fewness of my days be ended shortly? Suffer me, therefore, that I may lament my sorrow a little:

21 Before I go and return no more, to a land that is dark and covered with the mist of death:

22 A land of misery and darkness, where the shadow of death, and no order, but everlasting horror dwelleth.

Acts 8:26-40

26 Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying: Arise, go towards the south, to the way that goeth down from Jerusalem into Gaza: this is desert.

27 And rising up, he went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch, of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge over all her treasures, had come to Jerusalem to adore.

28 And he was returning, sitting in his chariot and reading Isaias the prophet.

29 And the Spirit said to Philip: Go near and join thyself to this chariot.

30 And Philip running thither, heard him reading the prophet Isaias. And he said: Thinkest thou that thou understandest what thou readest?

31 Who said: And how can I, unless some man shew me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.

32 And the place of the scripture which he was reading was this: He was led as a sheep to the slaughter: and like a lamb without voice before his shearer, so openeth he not his mouth.

33 In humility his judgment was taken away. His generation who shall declare, for his life shall be taken from the earth?

34 And the eunuch answering Philip, said: I beseech thee, of whom doth the prophet speak this? Of himself, or of some other man?

35 Then Philip, opening his mouth and beginning at this scripture, preached unto him Jesus.

36 And as they went on their way, they came to a certain water. And the eunuch said: See, here is water: What doth hinder me from being baptized?

37 And Philip said: If thou believest with all thy heart, thou mayest. And he answering, said: I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

38 And he commanded the chariot to stand still. And they went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch. And he baptized him.

39 And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord took away Philip: and the eunuch saw him no more. And he went on his way rejoicing.

40 But Philip was found in Azotus: and passing through, he preached the gospel to all the cities, till he came to Caesarea.