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

1 "My spirit is broken. My days have been snuffed out. The cemetery [is waiting] for me.

2 Certainly, mockers are around me. My eyes are focused on their opposition.

3 Please guarantee my bail yourself. Who else will guarantee it with a handshake?

4 You have closed their minds so that they cannot understand. That is why you will not honor them.

5 (Whoever turns in friends to get their property should have his children's eyesight fail.)

6 "Now he has made me a laughingstock for many people. Now they spit in my face.

7 Now my eyes are blurred from grief. Now all my limbs are like a shadow.

8 Decent people are shocked by this, and it stirs up the innocent against godless people.

9 Yet, the righteous person clings to his way, and the one with clean hands grows stronger.

10 "But now, all of you, come and try again! I won't find one wise man among you.

11 My days are passing by. My plans are broken. My dreams [are shattered].

12 You say that night is day. Light has nearly become darkness.

13 If I look for the grave as my home and make my bed in the darkness,

14 if I say to the pit, 'You are my father,' and to the worm, 'You are my mother and sister,'

15 then where is my hope? Can you see any hope left in me?

16 Will hope go down with me to the gates of the grave? Will my hope rest with me in the dust?"

1 Then Bildad from Shuah replied [to Job],

2 "How long before your words will end? Think it through, and then we'll talk.

3 Why do you think of us as cattle? Why are we considered stupid in your eyes?

4 Why do you rip yourself apart in anger? Should the earth be abandoned for your sake or a boulder be dislodged?

5 "Indeed, the light of the wicked is snuffed out. The flame of his fire stops glowing.

6 The light in his tent becomes dark, and the lamp above him is snuffed out.

7 "His healthy stride is shortened, and his own planning trips him up.

8 His own feet get him tangled in a net as he walks around on its webbing.

9 A trap catches his heel. A snare holds him.

10 A rope is hidden on the ground for him. A trap is on his path [to catch] him.

11 "Terrors suddenly pounce on him from every side and chase him every step he takes.

12 Hunger undermines his strength. Disaster is waiting beside him.

13 His skin is eaten away by disease. Death's firstborn son eats away at the limbs of his body.

14 He is dragged from the safety of his tent and marched off to the king of terrors.

15 Fire lives in his tent. Sulfur is scattered over his home.

16 His roots dry up under him. His branches wither over him.

17 All memory about him will vanish from the earth, and his reputation will not be known on the street corner.

18 He will be driven from the light into the dark and chased out of the world.

19 He will not have any children or descendants among his people or any survivor where he used to live.

20 People in the west are shocked by what happens to him. People in the east are seized with horror.

21 This is what happens to the homes of wicked people and to those who do not know God."

1 Then Job replied [to his friends],

2 "How long will you torment me and depress me with words?

3 You have insulted me ten times now. You're not even ashamed of mistreating me.

4 Even if it were true that I've made a mistake without realizing it, my mistake would affect only me.

5 If you are trying to make yourselves look better than me by using my disgrace as an argument against me,

6 then I want you to know that God has wronged me and surrounded me with his net.

7 Indeed, I cry, 'Help! I'm being attacked!' but I get no response. I call for help, but there is no justice.

8 "God has blocked my path so that I can't go on. He has made my paths dark.

9 He has stripped me of my honor. He has taken the crown off my head.

10 He beats me down on every side until I'm gone. He uproots my hope like a tree.

11 He is very angry at me. He considers me to be his enemy.

12 His troops assemble against me. They build a ramp to attack me and camp around my tent.

13 "My brothers stay far away from me. My friends are complete strangers to me.

14 My relatives and my closest friends have stopped coming. My house guests have forgotten me.

15 My female slaves consider me to be a stranger. I am like a foreigner to them.

16 I call my slave, but he doesn't answer, though I beg him.

17 My breath offends my wife. I stink to my own children.

18 Even young children despise me. If I stand up, they make fun of me.

19 All my closest friends are disgusted with me. Those I love have turned against me.

20 I am skin and bones, and I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.

21 "Have pity on me, my friends! Have pity on me because God's hand has struck me down.

22 Why do you pursue me as God does? Why are you never satisfied with my flesh?

23 "I wish now my words were written. I wish they were inscribed on a scroll.

24 I wish they were forever engraved on a rock with an iron stylus and lead.

25 But I know that my defender lives, and afterwards, he will rise on the earth.

26 Even after my skin has been stripped off my body, I will see God in my own flesh.

27 I will see him with my own eyes, not with someone else's. My heart fails inside me!

28 "You say, 'We will persecute him! The root of the problem is found in him.'

29 Fear death, because [your anger] is punishable by death. Then you will know there is a judge."

1 A man named Cornelius lived in the city of Caesarea. He was a Roman army officer in the Italian Regiment.

2 He and everyone in his home were devout and respected God. Cornelius gave many gifts to poor Jewish people and always prayed to God.

3 One day, about three in the afternoon, he had a vision. He clearly saw an angel from God come to him and say, "Cornelius!"

4 He stared at the angel and was terrified. Cornelius asked the angel, "What do you want, sir?" The angel answered him, "God is aware of your prayers and your gifts to the poor, and he has remembered you.

5 Send messengers now to the city of Joppa, and summon a man whose name is Simon Peter.

6 He is a guest of Simon, a leatherworker, whose house is by the sea."

7 After saying this, the angel left. Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier, one of those who served him regularly.

8 Cornelius explained everything to them and sent them to Joppa.

9 Around noon the next day, while Cornelius' men were on their way and coming close to Joppa, Peter went on the roof to pray.

10 He became hungry and wanted to eat. While the food was being prepared, he fell into a trance.

11 He saw the sky open and something like a large linen sheet being lowered by its four corners to the ground.

12 In the sheet were all kinds of four-footed animals, reptiles, and birds.

13 A voice told him, "Get up, Peter! Kill these animals, and eat them."

14 Peter answered, "I can't do that, Lord! I've never eaten anything that is impure or unclean."

15 A voice spoke to him a second time, "Don't say that the things which God has made clean are impure."

16 This happened three times. Then the sheet was quickly taken into the sky.

17 While Peter was puzzled by the meaning of the vision, the men sent by Cornelius found Simon's house and went to the gate.

18 They asked if Simon Peter was staying there.

19 Peter was still thinking about the vision when the Spirit said to him, "Three men are looking for you.

20 Get up, and go downstairs. Don't hesitate to go with these men. I have sent them."

21 So Peter went to the men. He said, "I'm the man you're looking for. Why are you here?"

22 The men replied, "Cornelius, a Roman army officer, sent us. He's a man who has God's approval and who respects God. Also, the Jewish people respect him. A holy angel told him to summon you to his home to hear what you have to say."

23 Peter asked the men to come into the house and had them stay overnight. The next day Peter left with them. Some disciples from Joppa went along.