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3 episodes with job's three friends
3 episodes with job's three friends
3 episodes with job's three friends
3 episodes with job's three friends
2 episodes with job's three friends
2 episodes with job's three friends
2 episodes with job's three friends
2 episodes with job's three friends
2 episodes with job's three friends
The book of Job; the power of God; three friends and a man named Elihu. Elihu has peaked my interest from the book of Job. This episode is not about Job as much as it is about Elihu and Jesus.Linktr.ee/TriumphantVictorious_Reminders
Psalms and Wisdom: Psalm 119:89–176 Psalm 119:89–176 (Listen) Lamedh 89 Forever, O LORD, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens.90 Your faithfulness endures to all generations; you have established the earth, and it stands fast.91 By your appointment they stand this day, for all things are your servants.92 If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.93 I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have given me life.94 I am yours; save me, for I have sought your precepts.95 The wicked lie in wait to destroy me, but I consider your testimonies.96 I have seen a limit to all perfection, but your commandment is exceedingly broad. Mem 97 Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.98 Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me.99 I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation.100 I understand more than the aged,1 for I keep your precepts.101 I hold back my feet from every evil way, in order to keep your word.102 I do not turn aside from your rules, for you have taught me.103 How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!104 Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. Nun 105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.106 I have sworn an oath and confirmed it, to keep your righteous rules.107 I am severely afflicted; give me life, O LORD, according to your word!108 Accept my freewill offerings of praise, O LORD, and teach me your rules.109 I hold my life in my hand continually, but I do not forget your law.110 The wicked have laid a snare for me, but I do not stray from your precepts.111 Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart.112 I incline my heart to perform your statutes forever, to the end.2 Samekh 113 I hate the double-minded, but I love your law.114 You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in your word.115 Depart from me, you evildoers, that I may keep the commandments of my God.116 Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live, and let me not be put to shame in my hope!117 Hold me up, that I may be safe and have regard for your statutes continually!118 You spurn all who go astray from your statutes, for their cunning is in vain.119 All the wicked of the earth you discard like dross, therefore I love your testimonies.120 My flesh trembles for fear of you, and I am afraid of your judgments. Ayin 121 I have done what is just and right; do not leave me to my oppressors.122 Give your servant a pledge of good; let not the insolent oppress me.123 My eyes long for your salvation and for the fulfillment of your righteous promise.124 Deal with your servant according to your steadfast love, and teach me your statutes.125 I am your servant; give me understanding, that I may know your testimonies!126 It is time for the LORD to act, for your law has been broken.127 Therefore I love your commandments above gold, above fine gold.128 Therefore I consider all your precepts to be right; I hate every false way. Pe 129 Your testimonies are wonderful; therefore my soul keeps them.130 The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.131 I open my mouth and pant, because I long for your commandments.132 Turn to me and be gracious to me, as is your way with those who love your name.133 Keep steady my steps according to your promise, and let no iniquity get dominion over me.134 Redeem me from man's oppression, that I may keep your precepts.135 Make your face shine upon your servant, and teach me your statutes.136 My eyes shed streams of tears, because people do not keep your law. Tsadhe 137 Righteous are you, O LORD, and right are your rules.138 You have appointed your testimonies in righteousness and in all faithfulness.139 My zeal consumes me, because my foes forget your words.140 Your promise is well tried, and your servant loves it.141 I am small and despised, yet I do not forget your precepts.142 Your righteousness is righteous forever, and your law is true.143 Trouble and anguish have found me out, but your commandments are my delight.144 Your testimonies are righteous forever; give me understanding that I may live. Qoph 145 With my whole heart I cry; answer me, O LORD! I will keep your statutes.146 I call to you; save me, that I may observe your testimonies.147 I rise before dawn and cry for help; I hope in your words.148 My eyes are awake before the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promise.149 Hear my voice according to your steadfast love; O LORD, according to your justice give me life.150 They draw near who persecute me with evil purpose; they are far from your law.151 But you are near, O LORD, and all your commandments are true.152 Long have I known from your testimonies that you have founded them forever. Resh 153 Look on my affliction and deliver me, for I do not forget your law.154 Plead my cause and redeem me; give me life according to your promise!155 Salvation is far from the wicked, for they do not seek your statutes.156 Great is your mercy, O LORD; give me life according to your rules.157 Many are my persecutors and my adversaries, but I do not swerve from your testimonies.158 I look at the faithless with disgust, because they do not keep your commands.159 Consider how I love your precepts! Give me life according to your steadfast love.160 The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever. Sin and Shin 161 Princes persecute me without cause, but my heart stands in awe of your words.162 I rejoice at your word like one who finds great spoil.163 I hate and abhor falsehood, but I love your law.164 Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous rules.165 Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble.166 I hope for your salvation, O LORD, and I do your commandments.167 My soul keeps your testimonies; I love them exceedingly.168 I keep your precepts and testimonies, for all my ways are before you. Taw 169 Let my cry come before you, O LORD; give me understanding according to your word!170 Let my plea come before you; deliver me according to your word.171 My lips will pour forth praise, for you teach me your statutes.172 My tongue will sing of your word, for all your commandments are right.173 Let your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen your precepts.174 I long for your salvation, O LORD, and your law is my delight.175 Let my soul live and praise you, and let your rules help me.176 I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant, for I do not forget your commandments. Footnotes [1] 119:100 Or the elders [2] 119:112 Or statutes; the reward is eternal (ESV) Pentateuch and History: Job 2 Job 2 (Listen) Satan Attacks Job's Health 2 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD. 2 And the LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 3 And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.” 4 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. 5 But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” 6 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.” 7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes. 9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” 10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”1 In all this Job did not sin with his lips. Job's Three Friends 11 Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. 12 And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. 13 And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great. Footnotes [1] 2:10 Or disaster; also verse 11 (ESV) Chronicles and Prophets: Isaiah 23 Isaiah 23 (Listen) An Oracle Concerning Tyre and Sidon 23 The oracle concerning Tyre. Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for Tyre is laid waste, without house or harbor! From the land of Cyprus1 it is revealed to them.2 Be still, O inhabitants of the coast; the merchants of Sidon, who cross the sea, have filled you.3 And on many waters your revenue was the grain of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile; you were the merchant of the nations.4 Be ashamed, O Sidon, for the sea has spoken, the stronghold of the sea, saying: “I have neither labored nor given birth, I have neither reared young men nor brought up young women.”5 When the report comes to Egypt, they will be in anguish2 over the report about Tyre.6 Cross over to Tarshish; wail, O inhabitants of the coast!7 Is this your exultant city whose origin is from days of old, whose feet carried her to settle far away?8 Who has purposed this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the honored of the earth?9 The LORD of hosts has purposed it, to defile the pompous pride of all glory,3 to dishonor all the honored of the earth.10 Cross over your land like the Nile, O daughter of Tarshish; there is no restraint anymore.11 He has stretched out his hand over the sea; he has shaken the kingdoms; the LORD has given command concerning Canaan to destroy its strongholds.12 And he said: “You will no more exult, O oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon; arise, cross over to Cyprus, even there you will have no rest.” 13 Behold the land of the Chaldeans! This is the people that was not;4 Assyria destined it for wild beasts. They erected their siege towers, they stripped her palaces bare, they made her a ruin. 14 Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for your stronghold is laid waste. 15 In that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, like the days5 of one king. At the end of seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute: 16 “Take a harp; go about the city, O forgotten prostitute! Make sweet melody;
Old Testament: Job 2–4 Job 2–4 (Listen) Satan Attacks Job's Health 2 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD. 2 And the LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 3 And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.” 4 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. 5 But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” 6 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.” 7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes. 9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” 10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”1 In all this Job did not sin with his lips. Job's Three Friends 11 Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. 12 And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. 13 And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great. Job Laments His Birth 3 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 And Job said: 3 “Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, ‘A man is conceived.'4 Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, nor light shine upon it.5 Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.6 That night—let thick darkness seize it! Let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months.7 Behold, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry enter it.8 Let those curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up Leviathan.9 Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none, nor see the eyelids of the morning,10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb, nor hide trouble from my eyes. 11 “Why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb and expire?12 Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?13 For then I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept; then I would have been at rest,14 with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuilt ruins for themselves,15 or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.16 Or why was I not as a hidden stillborn child, as infants who never see the light?17 There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest.18 There the prisoners are at ease together; they hear not the voice of the taskmaster.19 The small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master. 20 “Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul,21 who long for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,22 who rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they find the grave?23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?24 For my sighing comes instead of2 my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water.25 For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me.26 I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, but trouble comes.” Eliphaz Speaks: The Innocent Prosper 4 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: 2 “If one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient? Yet who can keep from speaking?3 Behold, you have instructed many, and you have strengthened the weak hands.4 Your words have upheld him who was stumbling, and you have made firm the feeble knees.5 But now it has come to you, and you are impatient; it touches you, and you are dismayed.6 Is not your fear of God3 your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope? 7 “Remember: who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off?8 As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.9 By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his anger they are consumed.10 The roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion, the teeth of the young lions are broken.11 The strong lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered. 12 “Now a word was brought to me stealthily; my ear received the whisper of it.13 Amid thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men,14 dread came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake.15 A spirit glided past my face; the hair of my flesh stood up.16 It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; there was silence, then I heard a voice:17 ‘Can mortal man be in the right before4 God? Can a man be pure before his Maker?18 Even in his servants he puts no trust, and his angels he charges with error;19 how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like5 the moth.20 Between morning and evening they are beaten to pieces; they perish forever without anyone regarding it.21 Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them, do they not die, and that without wisdom?' Footnotes [1] 2:10 Or disaster; also verse 11 [2] 3:24 Or like; Hebrew before [3] 4:6 Hebrew lacks of God [4] 4:17 Or more than; twice in this verse [5] 4:19 Or before (ESV) Psalm: Psalm 44 Psalm 44 (Listen) Come to Our Help To the choirmaster. A Maskil1 of the Sons of Korah. 44 O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us, what deeds you performed in their days, in the days of old:2 you with your own hand drove out the nations, but them you planted; you afflicted the peoples, but them you set free;3 for not by their own sword did they win the land, nor did their own arm save them, but your right hand and your arm, and the light of your face, for you delighted in them. 4 You are my King, O God; ordain salvation for Jacob!5 Through you we push down our foes; through your name we tread down those who rise up against us.6 For not in my bow do I trust, nor can my sword save me.7 But you have saved us from our foes and have put to shame those who hate us.8 In God we have boasted continually, and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah 9 But you have rejected us and disgraced us and have not gone out with our armies.10 You have made us turn back from the foe, and those who hate us have gotten spoil.11 You have made us like sheep for slaughter and have scattered us among the nations.12 You have sold your people for a trifle, demanding no high price for them.13 You have made us the taunt of our neighbors, the derision and scorn of those around us.14 You have made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock2 among the peoples.15 All day long my disgrace is before me, and shame has covered my face16 at the sound of the taunter and reviler, at the sight of the enemy and the avenger. 17 All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten you, and we have not been false to your covenant.18 Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps departed from your way;19 yet you have broken us in the place of jackals and covered us with the shadow of death.20 If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god,21 would not God discover this? For he knows the secrets of the heart.22 Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. 23 Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever!24 Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our belly clings to the ground.26 Rise up; come to our help! Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love! Footnotes [1] 44:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term [2] 44:14 Hebrew a shaking of the head (ESV) New Testament: Luke 8 Luke 8 (Listen) Women Accompanying Jesus 8 Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him, 2 and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, 3 and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them1 out of their means. The Parable of the Sower 4 And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable, 5 “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. 6 And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. 8 And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” The Purpose of the Parables 9 And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, 10 he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.' 11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12 The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. 14 And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. 15 As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience. A Lamp Under a Jar 16 “No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. 17 For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light. 18 Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.” Jesus' Mother and Brothers 19 Then his mother and his brothers2 came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd. 20 And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you.” 21 But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.” Jesus Calms a Storm 22 One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they set out, 23 and as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. 24 And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. 25 He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?” Jesus Heals a Man with a Demon 26 Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes,3 which is opposite Galilee. 27 When Jesus4 had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.” 29 For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many a time it had seized him. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert.) 30 Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion,” for many demons had entered him. 31 And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss. 32 Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. 33 Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned. 34 When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. 35 Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. 36 And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed5 man had been healed. 37 Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. 38 The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him. Jesus Heals a Woman and Jairus's Daughter 40 Now when Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him. 41 And there came a man named Jairus, who was a ruler of the synagogue. And falling at Jesus' feet, he implored him to come to his house, 42 for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying. As Jesus went, the people pressed around him. 43 And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all her living on physicians,6 she could not be healed by anyone. 44 She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased. 45 And Jesus said, “Who was it that touched me?” When all denied it, Peter7 said, “Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing
Old Testament: Job 2–4 Job 2–4 (Listen) Satan Attacks Job's Health 2 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD. 2 And the LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 3 And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.” 4 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. 5 But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” 6 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.” 7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes. 9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” 10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”1 In all this Job did not sin with his lips. Job's Three Friends 11 Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. 12 And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. 13 And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great. Job Laments His Birth 3 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 And Job said: 3 “Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, ‘A man is conceived.'4 Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, nor light shine upon it.5 Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.6 That night—let thick darkness seize it! Let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months.7 Behold, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry enter it.8 Let those curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up Leviathan.9 Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none, nor see the eyelids of the morning,10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb, nor hide trouble from my eyes. 11 “Why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb and expire?12 Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?13 For then I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept; then I would have been at rest,14 with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuilt ruins for themselves,15 or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.16 Or why was I not as a hidden stillborn child, as infants who never see the light?17 There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest.18 There the prisoners are at ease together; they hear not the voice of the taskmaster.19 The small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master. 20 “Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul,21 who long for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,22 who rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they find the grave?23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?24 For my sighing comes instead of2 my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water.25 For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me.26 I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, but trouble comes.” Eliphaz Speaks: The Innocent Prosper 4 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: 2 “If one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient? Yet who can keep from speaking?3 Behold, you have instructed many, and you have strengthened the weak hands.4 Your words have upheld him who was stumbling, and you have made firm the feeble knees.5 But now it has come to you, and you are impatient; it touches you, and you are dismayed.6 Is not your fear of God3 your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope? 7 “Remember: who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off?8 As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.9 By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his anger they are consumed.10 The roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion, the teeth of the young lions are broken.11 The strong lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered. 12 “Now a word was brought to me stealthily; my ear received the whisper of it.13 Amid thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men,14 dread came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake.15 A spirit glided past my face; the hair of my flesh stood up.16 It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; there was silence, then I heard a voice:17 ‘Can mortal man be in the right before4 God? Can a man be pure before his Maker?18 Even in his servants he puts no trust, and his angels he charges with error;19 how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like5 the moth.20 Between morning and evening they are beaten to pieces; they perish forever without anyone regarding it.21 Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them, do they not die, and that without wisdom?' Footnotes [1] 2:10 Or disaster; also verse 11 [2] 3:24 Or like; Hebrew before [3] 4:6 Hebrew lacks of God [4] 4:17 Or more than; twice in this verse [5] 4:19 Or before (ESV) New Testament: Colossians 1:1–20 Colossians 1:1–20 (Listen) Greeting 1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2 To the saints and faithful brothers1 in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father. Thanksgiving and Prayer 3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant.2 He is a faithful minister of Christ on your3 behalf 8 and has made known to us your love in the Spirit. 9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; 12 giving thanks4 to the Father, who has qualified you5 to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. The Preeminence of Christ 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by6 him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. Footnotes [1] 1:2 Or brothers and sisters. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, the plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) may refer either to brothers or to brothers and sisters [2] 1:7 For the contextual rendering of the Greek word sundoulos, see Preface [3] 1:7 Some manuscripts our [4] 1:12 Or patience, with joy giving thanks [5] 1:12 Some manuscripts us [6] 1:16 That is, by means of; or in (ESV) Psalm: Psalm 44 Psalm 44 (Listen) Come to Our Help To the choirmaster. A Maskil1 of the Sons of Korah. 44 O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us, what deeds you performed in their days, in the days of old:2 you with your own hand drove out the nations, but them you planted; you afflicted the peoples, but them you set free;3 for not by their own sword did they win the land, nor did their own arm save them, but your right hand and your arm, and the light of your face, for you delighted in them. 4 You are my King, O God; ordain salvation for Jacob!5 Through you we push down our foes; through your name we tread down those who rise up against us.6 For not in my bow do I trust, nor can my sword save me.7 But you have saved us from our foes and have put to shame those who hate us.8 In God we have boasted continually, and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah 9 But you have rejected us and disgraced us and have not gone out with our armies.10 You have made us turn back from the foe, and those who hate us have gotten spoil.11 You have made us like sheep for slaughter and have scattered us among the nations.12 You have sold your people for a trifle, demanding no high price for them.13 You have made us the taunt of our neighbors, the derision and scorn of those around us.14 You have made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock2 among the peoples.15 All day long my disgrace is before me, and shame has covered my face16 at the sound of the taunter and reviler, at the sight of the enemy and the avenger. 17 All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten you, and we have not been false to your covenant.18 Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps departed from your way;19 yet you have broken us in the place of jackals and covered us with the shadow of death.20 If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god,21 would not God discover this? For he knows the secrets of the heart.22 Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. 23 Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever!24 Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our belly clings to the ground.26 Rise up; come to our help! Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love! Footnotes [1] 44:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term [2] 44:14 Hebrew a shaking of the head (ESV) Proverb: Proverbs 21:25–26 Proverbs 21:25–26 (Listen) 25 The desire of the sluggard kills him, for his hands refuse to labor.26 All day long he craves and craves, but the righteous gives and does not hold back. (ESV)
Morning: Job 1–3 Job 1–3 (Listen) Job's Character and Wealth 1 There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. 2 There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. 3 He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east. 4 His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed1 God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually. Satan Allowed to Test Job 6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan2 also came among them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 8 And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” 9 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? 10 Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” 12 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD. Satan Takes Job's Property and Children 13 Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house, 14 and there came a messenger to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, 15 and the Sabeans fell upon them and took them and struck down the servants3 with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 16 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 17 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The Chaldeans formed three groups and made a raid on the camels and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 18 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house, 19 and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 20 Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. 21 And he said, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” 22 In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong. Satan Attacks Job's Health 2 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD. 2 And the LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 3 And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.” 4 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. 5 But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” 6 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.” 7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes. 9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” 10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”4 In all this Job did not sin with his lips. Job's Three Friends 11 Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. 12 And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. 13 And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great. Job Laments His Birth 3 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 And Job said: 3 “Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, ‘A man is conceived.'4 Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, nor light shine upon it.5 Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.6 That night—let thick darkness seize it! Let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months.7 Behold, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry enter it.8 Let those curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up Leviathan.9 Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none, nor see the eyelids of the morning,10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb, nor hide trouble from my eyes. 11 “Why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb and expire?12 Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?13 For then I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept; then I would have been at rest,14 with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuilt ruins for themselves,15 or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.16 Or why was I not as a hidden stillborn child, as infants who never see the light?17 There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest.18 There the prisoners are at ease together; they hear not the voice of the taskmaster.19 The small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master. 20 “Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul,21 who long for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,22 who rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they find the grave?23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?24 For my sighing comes instead of5 my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water.25 For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me.26 I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, but trouble comes.” Footnotes [1] 1:5 The Hebrew word bless is used euphemistically for curse in 1:5, 11; 2:5, 9 [2] 1:6 Hebrew the Accuser or the Adversary; so throughout chapters 1–2 [3] 1:15 Hebrew the young men; also verses 16, 17 [4] 2:10 Or disaster; also verse 11 [5] 3:24 Or like; Hebrew before (ESV) Evening: Acts 7:1–19 Acts 7:1–19 (Listen) Stephen's Speech 7 And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” 2 And Stephen said: “Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.' 4 Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. 5 Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child. 6 And God spoke to this effect—that his offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them four hundred years. 7 ‘But I will judge the nation that they serve,' said God, ‘and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.' 8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs. 9 “And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him 10 and rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. 11 Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food. 12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit. 13 And on the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh. 14 And Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his kindred, seventy-five persons in all. 15 And Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, he and our fathers, 16 and they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem. 17 “But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt 18 until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph. 19 He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive. (ESV)
Job 1–3 Job 1–3 (Listen) Job's Character and Wealth 1 There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. 2 There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. 3 He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east. 4 His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed1 God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually. Satan Allowed to Test Job 6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan2 also came among them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 8 And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” 9 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? 10 Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” 12 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD. Satan Takes Job's Property and Children 13 Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house, 14 and there came a messenger to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, 15 and the Sabeans fell upon them and took them and struck down the servants3 with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 16 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 17 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The Chaldeans formed three groups and made a raid on the camels and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 18 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house, 19 and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 20 Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. 21 And he said, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” 22 In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong. Satan Attacks Job's Health 2 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD. 2 And the LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 3 And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.” 4 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. 5 But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” 6 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.” 7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes. 9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” 10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”4 In all this Job did not sin with his lips. Job's Three Friends 11 Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. 12 And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. 13 And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great. Job Laments His Birth 3 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 And Job said: 3 “Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, ‘A man is conceived.'4 Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, nor light shine upon it.5 Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.6 That night—let thick darkness seize it! Let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months.7 Behold, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry enter it.8 Let those curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up Leviathan.9 Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none, nor see the eyelids of the morning,10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb, nor hide trouble from my eyes. 11 “Why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb and expire?12 Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?13 For then I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept; then I would have been at rest,14 with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuilt ruins for themselves,15 or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.16 Or why was I not as a hidden stillborn child, as infants who never see the light?17 There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest.18 There the prisoners are at ease together; they hear not the voice of the taskmaster.19 The small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master. 20 “Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul,21 who long for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,22 who rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they find the grave?23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?24 For my sighing comes instead of5 my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water.25 For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me.26 I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, but trouble comes.” Footnotes [1] 1:5 The Hebrew word bless is used euphemistically for curse in 1:5, 11; 2:5, 9 [2] 1:6 Hebrew the Accuser or the Adversary; so throughout chapters 1–2 [3] 1:15 Hebrew the young men; also verses 16, 17 [4] 2:10 Or disaster; also verse 11 [5] 3:24 Or like; Hebrew before (ESV)
The First Speech of Elihu: God Is The Sovereign | Job32:1-33.33 ---------------------------- Sermon Outline-------------------------------- INTRODUCTION: What to Think of Elihu . . . I. Elihu's Introduction (Job 32) A. Ambition of Elihu (1-5, 16-22) 1. Elihu is Angry (1-5) 2. Elihu is Anxious (16-22) B. Awareness of Elihu (6-12) C. Argument of the Three (13-15) II. Elihu's First Speech (Job 33) A. Allegations Made by Job (33:1-11) 1. Job is faultless (9) 2. God is unfair (10) 3. God is aloof (11) B. Answers Given by Elihu (12-30) 1. God is the standard of righteousness (12) 2. God answers to no one (13) 3. God provides (14-30) a. He provides guidance (14-22) (1) He guides through revelation — dreams and visions (14-18) (2) He guides through affliction – pain and suffering (19-22) b. He provides a mediator (23-30) (1) Angel, Human Messenger, Messiah? C. Appeals for Job to Listen to Wisdom (31-33) CONCLUSION: 1. For the Believer Suffering is Not Punitive The teaching of Job's Three Friends—Not True of Us 2. For the Believer Suffering May be Corrective The Teaching of Elihu—Might Be True for Us 3. For the Believer Suffering is Always Instructive Teaching of Elihu—Always True for Us
The First Speech of Elihu: God Is The Sovereign | Job32:1-33.33 ---------------------------- Sermon Outline-------------------------------- INTRODUCTION: What to Think of Elihu . . . I. Elihu's Introduction (Job 32) A. Ambition of Elihu (1-5, 16-22) 1. Elihu is Angry (1-5) 2. Elihu is Anxious (16-22) B. Awareness of Elihu (6-12) C. Argument of the Three (13-15) II. Elihu's First Speech (Job 33) A. Allegations Made by Job (33:1-11) 1. Job is faultless (9) 2. God is unfair (10) 3. God is aloof (11) B. Answers Given by Elihu (12-30) 1. God is the standard of righteousness (12) 2. God answers to no one (13) 3. God provides (14-30) a. He provides guidance (14-22) (1) He guides through revelation — dreams and visions (14-18) (2) He guides through affliction – pain and suffering (19-22) b. He provides a mediator (23-30) (1) Angel, Human Messenger, Messiah? C. Appeals for Job to Listen to Wisdom (31-33) CONCLUSION: 1. For the Believer Suffering is Not Punitive The teaching of Job's Three Friends—Not True of Us 2. For the Believer Suffering May be Corrective The Teaching of Elihu—Might Be True for Us 3. For the Believer Suffering is Always Instructive Teaching of Elihu—Always True for Us
Job 1–3 Job 1–3 (Listen) Job's Character and Wealth 1 There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. 2 There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. 3 He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east. 4 His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed1 God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually. Satan Allowed to Test Job 6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan2 also came among them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 8 And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” 9 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? 10 Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” 12 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD. Satan Takes Job's Property and Children 13 Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house, 14 and there came a messenger to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, 15 and the Sabeans fell upon them and took them and struck down the servants3 with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 16 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 17 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The Chaldeans formed three groups and made a raid on the camels and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 18 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house, 19 and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 20 Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. 21 And he said, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” 22 In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong. Satan Attacks Job's Health 2 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD. 2 And the LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 3 And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.” 4 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. 5 But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” 6 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.” 7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes. 9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” 10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”4 In all this Job did not sin with his lips. Job's Three Friends 11 Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. 12 And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. 13 And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great. Job Laments His Birth 3 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 And Job said: 3 “Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, ‘A man is conceived.'4 Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, nor light shine upon it.5 Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.6 That night—let thick darkness seize it! Let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months.7 Behold, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry enter it.8 Let those curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up Leviathan.9 Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none, nor see the eyelids of the morning,10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb, nor hide trouble from my eyes. 11 “Why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb and expire?12 Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?13 For then I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept; then I would have been at rest,14 with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuilt ruins for themselves,15 or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.16 Or why was I not as a hidden stillborn child, as infants who never see the light?17 There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest.18 There the prisoners are at ease together; they hear not the voice of the taskmaster.19 The small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master. 20 “Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul,21 who long for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,22 who rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they find the grave?23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?24 For my sighing comes instead of5 my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water.25 For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me.26 I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, but trouble comes.” Footnotes [1] 1:5 The Hebrew word bless is used euphemistically for curse in 1:5, 11; 2:5, 9 [2] 1:6 Hebrew the Accuser or the Adversary; so throughout chapters 1–2 [3] 1:15 Hebrew the young men; also verses 16, 17 [4] 2:10 Or disaster; also verse 11 [5] 3:24 Or like; Hebrew before (ESV)
With family: Genesis 35–36; Mark 6 Genesis 35–36 (Listen) God Blesses and Renames Jacob 35 God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” 2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments. 3 Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.” 4 So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem. 5 And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. 6 And Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him, 7 and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel,1 because there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother. 8 And Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So he called its name Allon-bacuth.2 9 God appeared3 to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. 10 And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel. 11 And God said to him, “I am God Almighty:4 be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.5 12 The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.” 13 Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him. 14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it. 15 So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him Bethel. The Deaths of Rachel and Isaac 16 Then they journeyed from Bethel. When they were still some distance6 from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor. 17 And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for you have another son.” 18 And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni;7 but his father called him Benjamin.8 19 So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem), 20 and Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb. It is the pillar of Rachel's tomb, which is there to this day. 21 Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder. 22 While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine. And Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. 23 The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob's firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. 24 The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. 25 The sons of Bilhah, Rachel's servant: Dan and Naphtali. 26 The sons of Zilpah, Leah's servant: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram. 27 And Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, or Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned. 28 Now the days of Isaac were 180 years. 29 And Isaac breathed his last, and he died and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him. Esau's Descendants 36 These are the generations of Esau (that is, Edom). 2 Esau took his wives from the Canaanites: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, Oholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter9 of Zibeon the Hivite, 3 and Basemath, Ishmael's daughter, the sister of Nebaioth. 4 And Adah bore to Esau, Eliphaz; Basemath bore Reuel; 5 and Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan. 6 Then Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members of his household, his livestock, all his beasts, and all his property that he had acquired in the land of Canaan. He went into a land away from his brother Jacob. 7 For their possessions were too great for them to dwell together. The land of their sojournings could not support them because of their livestock. 8 So Esau settled in the hill country of Seir. (Esau is Edom.) 9 These are the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir. 10 These are the names of Esau's sons: Eliphaz the son of Adah the wife of Esau, Reuel the son of Basemath the wife of Esau. 11 The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz. 12 (Timna was a concubine of Eliphaz, Esau's son; she bore Amalek to Eliphaz.) These are the sons of Adah, Esau's wife. 13 These are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These are the sons of Basemath, Esau's wife. 14 These are the sons of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon, Esau's wife: she bore to Esau Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. 15 These are the chiefs of the sons of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau: the chiefs Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz, 16 Korah, Gatam, and Amalek; these are the chiefs of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Adah. 17 These are the sons of Reuel, Esau's son: the chiefs Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah; these are the chiefs of Reuel in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Basemath, Esau's wife. 18 These are the sons of Oholibamah, Esau's wife: the chiefs Jeush, Jalam, and Korah; these are the chiefs born of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, Esau's wife. 19 These are the sons of Esau (that is, Edom), and these are their chiefs. 20 These are the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, 21 Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan; these are the chiefs of the Horites, the sons of Seir in the land of Edom. 22 The sons of Lotan were Hori and Hemam; and Lotan's sister was Timna. 23 These are the sons of Shobal: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam. 24 These are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah; he is the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness, as he pastured the donkeys of Zibeon his father. 25 These are the children of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah. 26 These are the sons of Dishon: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran. 27 These are the sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan. 28 These are the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran. 29 These are the chiefs of the Horites: the chiefs Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, 30 Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan; these are the chiefs of the Horites, chief by chief in the land of Seir. 31 These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom, before any king reigned over the Israelites. 32 Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom, the name of his city being Dinhabah. 33 Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his place. 34 Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned in his place. 35 Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the country of Moab, reigned in his place, the name of his city being Avith. 36 Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his place. 37 Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth on the Euphrates10 reigned in his place. 38 Shaul died, and Baal-hanan the son of Achbor reigned in his place. 39 Baal-hanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar reigned in his place, the name of his city being Pau; his wife's name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, daughter of Mezahab. 40 These are the names of the chiefs of Esau, according to their clans and their dwelling places, by their names: the chiefs Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, 41 Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, 42 Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, 43 Magdiel, and Iram; these are the chiefs of Edom (that is, Esau, the father of Edom), according to their dwelling places in the land of their possession. Footnotes [1] 35:7 El-bethel means God of Bethel [2] 35:8 Allon-bacuth means oak of weeping [3] 35:9 Or had appeared [4] 35:11 Hebrew El Shaddai [5] 35:11 Hebrew from your loins [6] 35:16 Or about two hours' distance [7] 35:18 Ben-oni could mean son of my sorrow, or son of my strength [8] 35:18 Benjamin means son of the right hand [9] 36:2 Hebrew; Samaritan, Septuagint, Syriac son; also verse 14 [10] 36:37 Hebrew the River (ESV) Mark 6 (Listen) Jesus Rejected at Nazareth 6 He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. 2 And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. 4 And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.” 5 And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And he marveled because of their unbelief. And he went about among the villages teaching. Jesus Sends Out the Twelve Apostles 7 And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. 8 He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belts—9 but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics.1 10 And he said to them, “Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. 11 And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” 12 So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. 13 And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them. The Death of John the Baptist 14 King Herod heard of it, for Jesus'2 name had become known. Some3 said, “John the Baptist4 has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.” 15 But others said, “He is Elijah.” And others said, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” 16 But when Herod heard of it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.” 17 For it was Herod who had sent and seized John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because he had married her. 18 For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife.” 19 And Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death. But she could not, 20 for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly. 21 But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. 22 For when Herodias's daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests. And the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you.” 23 And he vowed to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half of my kingdom.” 24 And she went out and said to her mother, “For what should I ask?” And she said, “The head of John the Baptist.” 25 And she came in immediately with haste to the king and asked, saying, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” 26 And the king was exceedingly sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he did not want to break his word to her. 27 And immediately the king sent an executioner with orders to bring John's5 head. He went and beheaded him in the prison 28 and brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother. 29 When his disciples heard of it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb. Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand 30 The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. 31 And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 32 And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. 33 Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. 35 And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. 36 Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” 37 But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said to him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii6 worth of bread and give it to them to eat?” 38 And he said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” 39 Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. 41 And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. 42 And they all ate and were satisfied. 43 And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. 44 And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men. Jesus Walks on the Water 45 Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46 And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray. 47 And when evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land. 48 And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night7 he came to them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them, 49 but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out, 50 for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” 51 And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, 52 for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened. Jesus Heals the Sick in Gennesaret 53 When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored to the shore. 54 And when they got out of the boat, the people immediately recognized him 55 and ran about the whole region and began to bring the sick people on their beds to wherever they heard he was. 56 And wherever he came, in villages, cities, or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well. Footnotes [1] 6:9 Greek chiton, a long garment worn under the cloak next to the skin [2] 6:14 Greek his [3] 6:14 Some manuscripts He [4] 6:14 Greek baptizer; also verse 24 [5] 6:27 Greek his [6] 6:37 A denarius was a day's wage for a laborer [7] 6:48 That is, between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. (ESV) In private: Job 2; Romans 6 Job 2 (Listen) Satan Attacks Job's Health 2 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD. 2 And the LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 3 And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.” 4 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. 5 But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” 6 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.” 7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes. 9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” 10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”1 In all this Job did not sin with his lips. Job's Three Friends 11 Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. 12 And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. 13 And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great. Footnotes [1] 2:10 Or disaster; also verse 11 (ESV) Romans 6 (Listen) Dead to Sin, Alive to God 6 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self1 was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free2 from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. Slaves to Righteousness 15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves,3 you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. 20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Footnotes [1] 6:6 Greek man [2] 6:7 Greek has been justified [3] 6:16 For the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see Preface; twice in this verse; also verses 17, 19 (twice), 20 (ESV)
Psalms and Wisdom: Psalm 119:89–176 Psalm 119:89–176 (Listen) Lamedh 89 Forever, O LORD, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens.90 Your faithfulness endures to all generations; you have established the earth, and it stands fast.91 By your appointment they stand this day, for all things are your servants.92 If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.93 I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have given me life.94 I am yours; save me, for I have sought your precepts.95 The wicked lie in wait to destroy me, but I consider your testimonies.96 I have seen a limit to all perfection, but your commandment is exceedingly broad. Mem 97 Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.98 Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me.99 I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation.100 I understand more than the aged,1 for I keep your precepts.101 I hold back my feet from every evil way, in order to keep your word.102 I do not turn aside from your rules, for you have taught me.103 How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!104 Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. Nun 105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.106 I have sworn an oath and confirmed it, to keep your righteous rules.107 I am severely afflicted; give me life, O LORD, according to your word!108 Accept my freewill offerings of praise, O LORD, and teach me your rules.109 I hold my life in my hand continually, but I do not forget your law.110 The wicked have laid a snare for me, but I do not stray from your precepts.111 Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart.112 I incline my heart to perform your statutes forever, to the end.2 Samekh 113 I hate the double-minded, but I love your law.114 You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in your word.115 Depart from me, you evildoers, that I may keep the commandments of my God.116 Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live, and let me not be put to shame in my hope!117 Hold me up, that I may be safe and have regard for your statutes continually!118 You spurn all who go astray from your statutes, for their cunning is in vain.119 All the wicked of the earth you discard like dross, therefore I love your testimonies.120 My flesh trembles for fear of you, and I am afraid of your judgments. Ayin 121 I have done what is just and right; do not leave me to my oppressors.122 Give your servant a pledge of good; let not the insolent oppress me.123 My eyes long for your salvation and for the fulfillment of your righteous promise.124 Deal with your servant according to your steadfast love, and teach me your statutes.125 I am your servant; give me understanding, that I may know your testimonies!126 It is time for the LORD to act, for your law has been broken.127 Therefore I love your commandments above gold, above fine gold.128 Therefore I consider all your precepts to be right; I hate every false way. Pe 129 Your testimonies are wonderful; therefore my soul keeps them.130 The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.131 I open my mouth and pant, because I long for your commandments.132 Turn to me and be gracious to me, as is your way with those who love your name.133 Keep steady my steps according to your promise, and let no iniquity get dominion over me.134 Redeem me from man's oppression, that I may keep your precepts.135 Make your face shine upon your servant, and teach me your statutes.136 My eyes shed streams of tears, because people do not keep your law. Tsadhe 137 Righteous are you, O LORD, and right are your rules.138 You have appointed your testimonies in righteousness and in all faithfulness.139 My zeal consumes me, because my foes forget your words.140 Your promise is well tried, and your servant loves it.141 I am small and despised, yet I do not forget your precepts.142 Your righteousness is righteous forever, and your law is true.143 Trouble and anguish have found me out, but your commandments are my delight.144 Your testimonies are righteous forever; give me understanding that I may live. Qoph 145 With my whole heart I cry; answer me, O LORD! I will keep your statutes.146 I call to you; save me, that I may observe your testimonies.147 I rise before dawn and cry for help; I hope in your words.148 My eyes are awake before the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promise.149 Hear my voice according to your steadfast love; O LORD, according to your justice give me life.150 They draw near who persecute me with evil purpose; they are far from your law.151 But you are near, O LORD, and all your commandments are true.152 Long have I known from your testimonies that you have founded them forever. Resh 153 Look on my affliction and deliver me, for I do not forget your law.154 Plead my cause and redeem me; give me life according to your promise!155 Salvation is far from the wicked, for they do not seek your statutes.156 Great is your mercy, O LORD; give me life according to your rules.157 Many are my persecutors and my adversaries, but I do not swerve from your testimonies.158 I look at the faithless with disgust, because they do not keep your commands.159 Consider how I love your precepts! Give me life according to your steadfast love.160 The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever. Sin and Shin 161 Princes persecute me without cause, but my heart stands in awe of your words.162 I rejoice at your word like one who finds great spoil.163 I hate and abhor falsehood, but I love your law.164 Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous rules.165 Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble.166 I hope for your salvation, O LORD, and I do your commandments.167 My soul keeps your testimonies; I love them exceedingly.168 I keep your precepts and testimonies, for all my ways are before you. Taw 169 Let my cry come before you, O LORD; give me understanding according to your word!170 Let my plea come before you; deliver me according to your word.171 My lips will pour forth praise, for you teach me your statutes.172 My tongue will sing of your word, for all your commandments are right.173 Let your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen your precepts.174 I long for your salvation, O LORD, and your law is my delight.175 Let my soul live and praise you, and let your rules help me.176 I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant, for I do not forget your commandments. Footnotes [1] 119:100 Or the elders [2] 119:112 Or statutes; the reward is eternal (ESV) Pentateuch and History: Job 2 Job 2 (Listen) Satan Attacks Job's Health 2 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD. 2 And the LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 3 And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.” 4 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. 5 But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” 6 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.” 7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes. 9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” 10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”1 In all this Job did not sin with his lips. Job's Three Friends 11 Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. 12 And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. 13 And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great. Footnotes [1] 2:10 Or disaster; also verse 11 (ESV) Chronicles and Prophets: Isaiah 23 Isaiah 23 (Listen) An Oracle Concerning Tyre and Sidon 23 The oracle concerning Tyre. Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for Tyre is laid waste, without house or harbor! From the land of Cyprus1 it is revealed to them.2 Be still, O inhabitants of the coast; the merchants of Sidon, who cross the sea, have filled you.3 And on many waters your revenue was the grain of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile; you were the merchant of the nations.4 Be ashamed, O Sidon, for the sea has spoken, the stronghold of the sea, saying: “I have neither labored nor given birth, I have neither reared young men nor brought up young women.”5 When the report comes to Egypt, they will be in anguish2 over the report about Tyre.6 Cross over to Tarshish; wail, O inhabitants of the coast!7 Is this your exultant city whose origin is from days of old, whose feet carried her to settle far away?8 Who has purposed this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the honored of the earth?9 The LORD of hosts has purposed it, to defile the pompous pride of all glory,3 to dishonor all the honored of the earth.10 Cross over your land like the Nile, O daughter of Tarshish; there is no restraint anymore.11 He has stretched out his hand over the sea; he has shaken the kingdoms; the LORD has given command concerning Canaan to destroy its strongholds.12 And he said: “You will no more exult, O oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon; arise, cross over to Cyprus, even there you will have no rest.” 13 Behold the land of the Chaldeans! This is the people that was not;4 Assyria destined it for wild beasts. They erected their siege towers, they stripped her palaces bare, they made her a ruin. 14 Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for your stronghold is laid waste. 15 In that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, like the days5 of one king. At the end of seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute: 16 “Take a harp; go about the city, O forgotten prostitute! Make sweet melody;
The Book of Job Chapter 2-3: Satan Attacks Job's Health & Job's Three Friends by Shawn Ozbun
Proper 15 First Psalm: Psalm 140; Psalm 142 Psalm 140 (Listen) Deliver Me, O Lord, from Evil Men To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. 140 Deliver me, O LORD, from evil men; preserve me from violent men,2 who plan evil things in their heart and stir up wars continually.3 They make their tongue sharp as a serpent's, and under their lips is the venom of asps. Selah 4 Guard me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from violent men, who have planned to trip up my feet.5 The arrogant have hidden a trap for me, and with cords they have spread a net;1 beside the way they have set snares for me. Selah 6 I say to the LORD, You are my God; give ear to the voice of my pleas for mercy, O LORD!7 O LORD, my Lord, the strength of my salvation, you have covered my head in the day of battle.8 Grant not, O LORD, the desires of the wicked; do not further their2 evil plot, or they will be exalted! Selah 9 As for the head of those who surround me, let the mischief of their lips overwhelm them!10 Let burning coals fall upon them! Let them be cast into fire, into miry pits, no more to rise!11 Let not the slanderer be established in the land; let evil hunt down the violent man speedily! 12 I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and will execute justice for the needy.13 Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name; the upright shall dwell in your presence. Footnotes [1] 140:5 Or they have spread cords as a net [2] 140:8 Hebrew his (ESV) Psalm 142 (Listen) You Are My Refuge A Maskil1 of David, when he was in the cave. A Prayer. 142 With my voice I cry out to the LORD; with my voice I plead for mercy to the LORD.2 I pour out my complaint before him; I tell my trouble before him. 3 When my spirit faints within me, you know my way! In the path where I walk they have hidden a trap for me.4 Look to the right and see: there is none who takes notice of me; no refuge remains to me; no one cares for my soul. 5 I cry to you, O LORD; I say, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”6 Attend to my cry, for I am brought very low! Deliver me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me!7 Bring me out of prison, that I may give thanks to your name! The righteous will surround me, for you will deal bountifully with me. Footnotes [1] 142:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term (ESV) Second Psalm: Psalm 141; Psalm 143 Psalm 141 (Listen) Give Ear to My Voice A Psalm of David. 141 O LORD, I call upon you; hasten to me! Give ear to my voice when I call to you!2 Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice! 3 Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!4 Do not let my heart incline to any evil, to busy myself with wicked deeds in company with men who work iniquity, and let me not eat of their delicacies! 5 Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness; let him rebuke me—it is oil for my head; let my head not refuse it. Yet my prayer is continually against their evil deeds.6 When their judges are thrown over the cliff,1 then they shall hear my words, for they are pleasant.7 As when one plows and breaks up the earth, so shall our bones be scattered at the mouth of Sheol.2 8 But my eyes are toward you, O GOD, my Lord; in you I seek refuge; leave me not defenseless!39 Keep me from the trap that they have laid for me and from the snares of evildoers!10 Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I pass by safely. Footnotes [1] 141:6 Or When their judges fall into the hands of the Rock [2] 141:7 The meaning of the Hebrew in verses 6, 7 is uncertain [3] 141:8 Hebrew refuge; do not pour out my life! (ESV) Psalm 143 (Listen) My Soul Thirsts for You A Psalm of David. 143 Hear my prayer, O LORD; give ear to my pleas for mercy! In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness!2 Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you. 3 For the enemy has pursued my soul; he has crushed my life to the ground; he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead.4 Therefore my spirit faints within me; my heart within me is appalled. 5 I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that you have done; I ponder the work of your hands.6 I stretch out my hands to you; my soul thirsts for you like a parched land. Selah 7 Answer me quickly, O LORD! My spirit fails! Hide not your face from me, lest I be like those who go down to the pit.8 Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me know the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul. 9 Deliver me from my enemies, O LORD! I have fled to you for refuge.110 Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground! 11 For your name's sake, O LORD, preserve my life! In your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble!12 And in your steadfast love you will cut off my enemies, and you will destroy all the adversaries of my soul, for I am your servant. Footnotes [1] 143:9 One Hebrew manuscript, Septuagint; most Hebrew manuscripts To you I have covered (ESV) Old Testament: Job 2 Job 2 (Listen) Satan Attacks Job's Health 2 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD. 2 And the LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 3 And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.” 4 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. 5 But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” 6 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.” 7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes. 9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” 10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”1 In all this Job did not sin with his lips. Job's Three Friends 11 Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. 12 And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. 13 And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great. Footnotes [1] 2:10 Or disaster; also verse 11 (ESV) New Testament: Acts 9:1–9 Acts 9:1–9 (Listen) The Conversion of Saul 9 But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3 Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. 4 And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 5 And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6 But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” 7 The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. 8 Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9 And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank. (ESV) Gospel: John 6:27–40 John 6:27–40 (Listen) 27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” 28 Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” 30 So they said to him, “Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'” 32 Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” 34 They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” 35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (ESV)
Old Testament: Job 2–4 Job 2–4 (Listen) Satan Attacks Job's Health 2 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD. 2 And the LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 3 And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.” 4 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. 5 But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” 6 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.” 7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes. 9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” 10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”1 In all this Job did not sin with his lips. Job's Three Friends 11 Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. 12 And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. 13 And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great. Job Laments His Birth 3 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 And Job said: 3 “Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, ‘A man is conceived.'4 Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, nor light shine upon it.5 Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.6 That night—let thick darkness seize it! Let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months.7 Behold, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry enter it.8 Let those curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up Leviathan.9 Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none, nor see the eyelids of the morning,10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb, nor hide trouble from my eyes. 11 “Why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb and expire?12 Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?13 For then I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept; then I would have been at rest,14 with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuilt ruins for themselves,15 or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.16 Or why was I not as a hidden stillborn child, as infants who never see the light?17 There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest.18 There the prisoners are at ease together; they hear not the voice of the taskmaster.19 The small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master. 20 “Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul,21 who long for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,22 who rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they find the grave?23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?24 For my sighing comes instead of2 my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water.25 For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me.26 I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, but trouble comes.” Eliphaz Speaks: The Innocent Prosper 4 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: 2 “If one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient? Yet who can keep from speaking?3 Behold, you have instructed many, and you have strengthened the weak hands.4 Your words have upheld him who was stumbling, and you have made firm the feeble knees.5 But now it has come to you, and you are impatient; it touches you, and you are dismayed.6 Is not your fear of God3 your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope? 7 “Remember: who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off?8 As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.9 By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his anger they are consumed.10 The roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion, the teeth of the young lions are broken.11 The strong lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered. 12 “Now a word was brought to me stealthily; my ear received the whisper of it.13 Amid thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men,14 dread came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake.15 A spirit glided past my face; the hair of my flesh stood up.16 It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; there was silence, then I heard a voice:17 ‘Can mortal man be in the right before4 God? Can a man be pure before his Maker?18 Even in his servants he puts no trust, and his angels he charges with error;19 how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like5 the moth.20 Between morning and evening they are beaten to pieces; they perish forever without anyone regarding it.21 Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them, do they not die, and that without wisdom?' Footnotes [1] 2:10 Or disaster; also verse 11 [2] 3:24 Or like; Hebrew before [3] 4:6 Hebrew lacks of God [4] 4:17 Or more than; twice in this verse [5] 4:19 Or before (ESV) New Testament: Colossians 1:1–20 Colossians 1:1–20 (Listen) Greeting 1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2 To the saints and faithful brothers1 in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father. Thanksgiving and Prayer 3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant.2 He is a faithful minister of Christ on your3 behalf 8 and has made known to us your love in the Spirit. 9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; 12 giving thanks4 to the Father, who has qualified you5 to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. The Preeminence of Christ 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by6 him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. Footnotes [1] 1:2 Or brothers and sisters. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, the plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) may refer either to brothers or to brothers and sisters [2] 1:7 For the contextual rendering of the Greek word sundoulos, see Preface [3] 1:7 Some manuscripts our [4] 1:12 Or patience, with joy giving thanks [5] 1:12 Some manuscripts us [6] 1:16 That is, by means of; or in (ESV) Psalm: Psalm 44 Psalm 44 (Listen) Come to Our Help To the choirmaster. A Maskil1 of the Sons of Korah. 44 O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us, what deeds you performed in their days, in the days of old:2 you with your own hand drove out the nations, but them you planted; you afflicted the peoples, but them you set free;3 for not by their own sword did they win the land, nor did their own arm save them, but your right hand and your arm, and the light of your face, for you delighted in them. 4 You are my King, O God; ordain salvation for Jacob!5 Through you we push down our foes; through your name we tread down those who rise up against us.6 For not in my bow do I trust, nor can my sword save me.7 But you have saved us from our foes and have put to shame those who hate us.8 In God we have boasted continually, and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah 9 But you have rejected us and disgraced us and have not gone out with our armies.10 You have made us turn back from the foe, and those who hate us have gotten spoil.11 You have made us like sheep for slaughter and have scattered us among the nations.12 You have sold your people for a trifle, demanding no high price for them.13 You have made us the taunt of our neighbors, the derision and scorn of those around us.14 You have made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock2 among the peoples.15 All day long my disgrace is before me, and shame has covered my face16 at the sound of the taunter and reviler, at the sight of the enemy and the avenger. 17 All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten you, and we have not been false to your covenant.18 Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps departed from your way;19 yet you have broken us in the place of jackals and covered us with the shadow of death.20 If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god,21 would not God discover this? For he knows the secrets of the heart.22 Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. 23 Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever!24 Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our belly clings to the ground.26 Rise up; come to our help! Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love! Footnotes [1] 44:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term [2] 44:14 Hebrew a shaking of the head (ESV) Proverb: Proverbs 21:25–26 Proverbs 21:25–26 (Listen) 25 The desire of the sluggard kills him, for his hands refuse to labor.26 All day long he craves and craves, but the righteous gives and does not hold back. (ESV)
Old Testament: Job 2–4 Job 2–4 (Listen) Satan Attacks Job's Health 2 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD. 2 And the LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 3 And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.” 4 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. 5 But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” 6 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.” 7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes. 9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” 10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”1 In all this Job did not sin with his lips. Job's Three Friends 11 Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. 12 And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. 13 And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great. Job Laments His Birth 3 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 And Job said: 3 “Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, ‘A man is conceived.'4 Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, nor light shine upon it.5 Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.6 That night—let thick darkness seize it! Let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months.7 Behold, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry enter it.8 Let those curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up Leviathan.9 Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none, nor see the eyelids of the morning,10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb, nor hide trouble from my eyes. 11 “Why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb and expire?12 Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?13 For then I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept; then I would have been at rest,14 with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuilt ruins for themselves,15 or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.16 Or why was I not as a hidden stillborn child, as infants who never see the light?17 There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest.18 There the prisoners are at ease together; they hear not the voice of the taskmaster.19 The small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master. 20 “Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul,21 who long for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,22 who rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they find the grave?23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?24 For my sighing comes instead of2 my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water.25 For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me.26 I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, but trouble comes.” Eliphaz Speaks: The Innocent Prosper 4 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: 2 “If one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient? Yet who can keep from speaking?3 Behold, you have instructed many, and you have strengthened the weak hands.4 Your words have upheld him who was stumbling, and you have made firm the feeble knees.5 But now it has come to you, and you are impatient; it touches you, and you are dismayed.6 Is not your fear of God3 your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope? 7 “Remember: who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off?8 As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.9 By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his anger they are consumed.10 The roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion, the teeth of the young lions are broken.11 The strong lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered. 12 “Now a word was brought to me stealthily; my ear received the whisper of it.13 Amid thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men,14 dread came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake.15 A spirit glided past my face; the hair of my flesh stood up.16 It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; there was silence, then I heard a voice:17 ‘Can mortal man be in the right before4 God? Can a man be pure before his Maker?18 Even in his servants he puts no trust, and his angels he charges with error;19 how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like5 the moth.20 Between morning and evening they are beaten to pieces; they perish forever without anyone regarding it.21 Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them, do they not die, and that without wisdom?' Footnotes [1] 2:10 Or disaster; also verse 11 [2] 3:24 Or like; Hebrew before [3] 4:6 Hebrew lacks of God [4] 4:17 Or more than; twice in this verse [5] 4:19 Or before (ESV) Psalm: Psalm 44 Psalm 44 (Listen) Come to Our Help To the choirmaster. A Maskil1 of the Sons of Korah. 44 O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us, what deeds you performed in their days, in the days of old:2 you with your own hand drove out the nations, but them you planted; you afflicted the peoples, but them you set free;3 for not by their own sword did they win the land, nor did their own arm save them, but your right hand and your arm, and the light of your face, for you delighted in them. 4 You are my King, O God; ordain salvation for Jacob!5 Through you we push down our foes; through your name we tread down those who rise up against us.6 For not in my bow do I trust, nor can my sword save me.7 But you have saved us from our foes and have put to shame those who hate us.8 In God we have boasted continually, and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah 9 But you have rejected us and disgraced us and have not gone out with our armies.10 You have made us turn back from the foe, and those who hate us have gotten spoil.11 You have made us like sheep for slaughter and have scattered us among the nations.12 You have sold your people for a trifle, demanding no high price for them.13 You have made us the taunt of our neighbors, the derision and scorn of those around us.14 You have made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock2 among the peoples.15 All day long my disgrace is before me, and shame has covered my face16 at the sound of the taunter and reviler, at the sight of the enemy and the avenger. 17 All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten you, and we have not been false to your covenant.18 Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps departed from your way;19 yet you have broken us in the place of jackals and covered us with the shadow of death.20 If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god,21 would not God discover this? For he knows the secrets of the heart.22 Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. 23 Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever!24 Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our belly clings to the ground.26 Rise up; come to our help! Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love! Footnotes [1] 44:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term [2] 44:14 Hebrew a shaking of the head (ESV) New Testament: Luke 8 Luke 8 (Listen) Women Accompanying Jesus 8 Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him, 2 and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, 3 and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them1 out of their means. The Parable of the Sower 4 And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable, 5 “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. 6 And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. 8 And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” The Purpose of the Parables 9 And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, 10 he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.' 11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12 The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. 14 And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. 15 As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience. A Lamp Under a Jar 16 “No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. 17 For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light. 18 Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.” Jesus' Mother and Brothers 19 Then his mother and his brothers2 came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd. 20 And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you.” 21 But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.” Jesus Calms a Storm 22 One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they set out, 23 and as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. 24 And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. 25 He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?” Jesus Heals a Man with a Demon 26 Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes,3 which is opposite Galilee. 27 When Jesus4 had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.” 29 For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many a time it had seized him. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert.) 30 Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion,” for many demons had entered him. 31 And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss. 32 Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. 33 Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned. 34 When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. 35 Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. 36 And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed5 man had been healed. 37 Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. 38 The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him. Jesus Heals a Woman and Jairus's Daughter 40 Now when Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him. 41 And there came a man named Jairus, who was a ruler of the synagogue. And falling at Jesus' feet, he implored him to come to his house, 42 for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying. As Jesus went, the people pressed around him. 43 And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all her living on physicians,6 she could not be healed by anyone. 44 She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased. 45 And Jesus said, “Who was it that touched me?” When all denied it, Peter7 said, “Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing
Morning: Job 1–3 Job 1–3 (Listen) Job's Character and Wealth 1 There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. 2 There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. 3 He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east. 4 His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed1 God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually. Satan Allowed to Test Job 6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan2 also came among them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 8 And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” 9 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? 10 Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” 12 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD. Satan Takes Job's Property and Children 13 Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house, 14 and there came a messenger to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, 15 and the Sabeans fell upon them and took them and struck down the servants3 with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 16 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 17 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The Chaldeans formed three groups and made a raid on the camels and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 18 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house, 19 and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 20 Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. 21 And he said, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” 22 In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong. Satan Attacks Job's Health 2 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD. 2 And the LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 3 And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.” 4 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. 5 But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” 6 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.” 7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes. 9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” 10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”4 In all this Job did not sin with his lips. Job's Three Friends 11 Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. 12 And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. 13 And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great. Job Laments His Birth 3 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 And Job said: 3 “Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, ‘A man is conceived.'4 Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, nor light shine upon it.5 Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.6 That night—let thick darkness seize it! Let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months.7 Behold, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry enter it.8 Let those curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up Leviathan.9 Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none, nor see the eyelids of the morning,10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb, nor hide trouble from my eyes. 11 “Why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb and expire?12 Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?13 For then I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept; then I would have been at rest,14 with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuilt ruins for themselves,15 or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.16 Or why was I not as a hidden stillborn child, as infants who never see the light?17 There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest.18 There the prisoners are at ease together; they hear not the voice of the taskmaster.19 The small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master. 20 “Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul,21 who long for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,22 who rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they find the grave?23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?24 For my sighing comes instead of5 my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water.25 For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me.26 I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, but trouble comes.” Footnotes [1] 1:5 The Hebrew word bless is used euphemistically for curse in 1:5, 11; 2:5, 9 [2] 1:6 Hebrew the Accuser or the Adversary; so throughout chapters 1–2 [3] 1:15 Hebrew the young men; also verses 16, 17 [4] 2:10 Or disaster; also verse 11 [5] 3:24 Or like; Hebrew before (ESV) Evening: Acts 7:1–19 Acts 7:1–19 (Listen) Stephen's Speech 7 And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” 2 And Stephen said: “Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.' 4 Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. 5 Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child. 6 And God spoke to this effect—that his offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them four hundred years. 7 ‘But I will judge the nation that they serve,' said God, ‘and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.' 8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs. 9 “And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him 10 and rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. 11 Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food. 12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit. 13 And on the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh. 14 And Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his kindred, seventy-five persons in all. 15 And Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, he and our fathers, 16 and they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem. 17 “But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt 18 until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph. 19 He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive. (ESV)
Job 1–3 Job 1–3 (Listen) Job's Character and Wealth 1 There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. 2 There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. 3 He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east. 4 His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed1 God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually. Satan Allowed to Test Job 6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan2 also came among them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 8 And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” 9 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? 10 Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” 12 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD. Satan Takes Job's Property and Children 13 Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house, 14 and there came a messenger to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, 15 and the Sabeans fell upon them and took them and struck down the servants3 with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 16 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 17 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The Chaldeans formed three groups and made a raid on the camels and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 18 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house, 19 and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 20 Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. 21 And he said, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” 22 In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong. Satan Attacks Job's Health 2 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD. 2 And the LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 3 And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.” 4 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. 5 But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” 6 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.” 7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes. 9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” 10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”4 In all this Job did not sin with his lips. Job's Three Friends 11 Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. 12 And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. 13 And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great. Job Laments His Birth 3 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 And Job said: 3 “Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, ‘A man is conceived.'4 Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, nor light shine upon it.5 Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.6 That night—let thick darkness seize it! Let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months.7 Behold, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry enter it.8 Let those curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up Leviathan.9 Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none, nor see the eyelids of the morning,10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb, nor hide trouble from my eyes. 11 “Why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb and expire?12 Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?13 For then I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept; then I would have been at rest,14 with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuilt ruins for themselves,15 or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.16 Or why was I not as a hidden stillborn child, as infants who never see the light?17 There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest.18 There the prisoners are at ease together; they hear not the voice of the taskmaster.19 The small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master. 20 “Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul,21 who long for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,22 who rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they find the grave?23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?24 For my sighing comes instead of5 my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water.25 For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me.26 I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, but trouble comes.” Footnotes [1] 1:5 The Hebrew word bless is used euphemistically for curse in 1:5, 11; 2:5, 9 [2] 1:6 Hebrew the Accuser or the Adversary; so throughout chapters 1–2 [3] 1:15 Hebrew the young men; also verses 16, 17 [4] 2:10 Or disaster; also verse 11 [5] 3:24 Or like; Hebrew before (ESV)
Job 1–3 Job 1–3 (Listen) Job's Character and Wealth 1 There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. 2 There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. 3 He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east. 4 His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed1 God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually. Satan Allowed to Test Job 6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan2 also came among them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 8 And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” 9 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? 10 Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” 12 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD. Satan Takes Job's Property and Children 13 Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house, 14 and there came a messenger to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, 15 and the Sabeans fell upon them and took them and struck down the servants3 with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 16 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 17 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The Chaldeans formed three groups and made a raid on the camels and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 18 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house, 19 and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 20 Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. 21 And he said, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” 22 In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong. Satan Attacks Job's Health 2 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD. 2 And the LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 3 And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.” 4 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. 5 But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” 6 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.” 7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes. 9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” 10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”4 In all this Job did not sin with his lips. Job's Three Friends 11 Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. 12 And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. 13 And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great. Job Laments His Birth 3 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 And Job said: 3 “Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, ‘A man is conceived.'4 Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, nor light shine upon it.5 Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.6 That night—let thick darkness seize it! Let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months.7 Behold, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry enter it.8 Let those curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up Leviathan.9 Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none, nor see the eyelids of the morning,10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb, nor hide trouble from my eyes. 11 “Why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb and expire?12 Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?13 For then I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept; then I would have been at rest,14 with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuilt ruins for themselves,15 or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.16 Or why was I not as a hidden stillborn child, as infants who never see the light?17 There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest.18 There the prisoners are at ease together; they hear not the voice of the taskmaster.19 The small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master. 20 “Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul,21 who long for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,22 who rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they find the grave?23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?24 For my sighing comes instead of5 my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water.25 For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me.26 I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, but trouble comes.” Footnotes [1] 1:5 The Hebrew word bless is used euphemistically for curse in 1:5, 11; 2:5, 9 [2] 1:6 Hebrew the Accuser or the Adversary; so throughout chapters 1–2 [3] 1:15 Hebrew the young men; also verses 16, 17 [4] 2:10 Or disaster; also verse 11 [5] 3:24 Or like; Hebrew before (ESV)
A Tribute to Job's Three Friends #2.
A Tribute to Job's Three Friends.
With family: Genesis 35–36; Mark 6 Genesis 35–36 (Listen) God Blesses and Renames Jacob 35 God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” 2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you and purify yourselves and change your garments. 3 Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God who answers me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.” 4 So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree that was near Shechem. 5 And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. 6 And Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him, 7 and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel,1 because there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother. 8 And Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So he called its name Allon-bacuth.2 9 God appeared3 to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. 10 And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel. 11 And God said to him, “I am God Almighty:4 be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.5 12 The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.” 13 Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him. 14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it. 15 So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him Bethel. The Deaths of Rachel and Isaac 16 Then they journeyed from Bethel. When they were still some distance6 from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and she had hard labor. 17 And when her labor was at its hardest, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for you have another son.” 18 And as her soul was departing (for she was dying), she called his name Ben-oni;7 but his father called him Benjamin.8 19 So Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem), 20 and Jacob set up a pillar over her tomb. It is the pillar of Rachel's tomb, which is there to this day. 21 Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder. 22 While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine. And Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve. 23 The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob's firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. 24 The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. 25 The sons of Bilhah, Rachel's servant: Dan and Naphtali. 26 The sons of Zilpah, Leah's servant: Gad and Asher. These were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan-aram. 27 And Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, or Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had sojourned. 28 Now the days of Isaac were 180 years. 29 And Isaac breathed his last, and he died and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him. Esau's Descendants 36 These are the generations of Esau (that is, Edom). 2 Esau took his wives from the Canaanites: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, Oholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter9 of Zibeon the Hivite, 3 and Basemath, Ishmael's daughter, the sister of Nebaioth. 4 And Adah bore to Esau, Eliphaz; Basemath bore Reuel; 5 and Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These are the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan. 6 Then Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members of his household, his livestock, all his beasts, and all his property that he had acquired in the land of Canaan. He went into a land away from his brother Jacob. 7 For their possessions were too great for them to dwell together. The land of their sojournings could not support them because of their livestock. 8 So Esau settled in the hill country of Seir. (Esau is Edom.) 9 These are the generations of Esau the father of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir. 10 These are the names of Esau's sons: Eliphaz the son of Adah the wife of Esau, Reuel the son of Basemath the wife of Esau. 11 The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz. 12 (Timna was a concubine of Eliphaz, Esau's son; she bore Amalek to Eliphaz.) These are the sons of Adah, Esau's wife. 13 These are the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These are the sons of Basemath, Esau's wife. 14 These are the sons of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon, Esau's wife: she bore to Esau Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. 15 These are the chiefs of the sons of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz the firstborn of Esau: the chiefs Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz, 16 Korah, Gatam, and Amalek; these are the chiefs of Eliphaz in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Adah. 17 These are the sons of Reuel, Esau's son: the chiefs Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah; these are the chiefs of Reuel in the land of Edom; these are the sons of Basemath, Esau's wife. 18 These are the sons of Oholibamah, Esau's wife: the chiefs Jeush, Jalam, and Korah; these are the chiefs born of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, Esau's wife. 19 These are the sons of Esau (that is, Edom), and these are their chiefs. 20 These are the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, 21 Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan; these are the chiefs of the Horites, the sons of Seir in the land of Edom. 22 The sons of Lotan were Hori and Hemam; and Lotan's sister was Timna. 23 These are the sons of Shobal: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam. 24 These are the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah; he is the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness, as he pastured the donkeys of Zibeon his father. 25 These are the children of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah. 26 These are the sons of Dishon: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran. 27 These are the sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan. 28 These are the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran. 29 These are the chiefs of the Horites: the chiefs Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, 30 Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan; these are the chiefs of the Horites, chief by chief in the land of Seir. 31 These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom, before any king reigned over the Israelites. 32 Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom, the name of his city being Dinhabah. 33 Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his place. 34 Jobab died, and Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned in his place. 35 Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the country of Moab, reigned in his place, the name of his city being Avith. 36 Hadad died, and Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his place. 37 Samlah died, and Shaul of Rehoboth on the Euphrates10 reigned in his place. 38 Shaul died, and Baal-hanan the son of Achbor reigned in his place. 39 Baal-hanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar reigned in his place, the name of his city being Pau; his wife's name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, daughter of Mezahab. 40 These are the names of the chiefs of Esau, according to their clans and their dwelling places, by their names: the chiefs Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, 41 Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, 42 Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, 43 Magdiel, and Iram; these are the chiefs of Edom (that is, Esau, the father of Edom), according to their dwelling places in the land of their possession. Footnotes [1] 35:7 El-bethel means God of Bethel [2] 35:8 Allon-bacuth means oak of weeping [3] 35:9 Or had appeared [4] 35:11 Hebrew El Shaddai [5] 35:11 Hebrew from your loins [6] 35:16 Or about two hours' distance [7] 35:18 Ben-oni could mean son of my sorrow, or son of my strength [8] 35:18 Benjamin means son of the right hand [9] 36:2 Hebrew; Samaritan, Septuagint, Syriac son; also verse 14 [10] 36:37 Hebrew the River (ESV) Mark 6 (Listen) Jesus Rejected at Nazareth 6 He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. 2 And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. 4 And Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.” 5 And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And he marveled because of their unbelief. And he went about among the villages teaching. Jesus Sends Out the Twelve Apostles 7 And he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. 8 He charged them to take nothing for their journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belts—9 but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics.1 10 And he said to them, “Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. 11 And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” 12 So they went out and proclaimed that people should repent. 13 And they cast out many demons and anointed with oil many who were sick and healed them. The Death of John the Baptist 14 King Herod heard of it, for Jesus'2 name had become known. Some3 said, “John the Baptist4 has been raised from the dead. That is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.” 15 But others said, “He is Elijah.” And others said, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” 16 But when Herod heard of it, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.” 17 For it was Herod who had sent and seized John and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because he had married her. 18 For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife.” 19 And Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death. But she could not, 20 for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, and yet he heard him gladly. 21 But an opportunity came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. 22 For when Herodias's daughter came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests. And the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you.” 23 And he vowed to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half of my kingdom.” 24 And she went out and said to her mother, “For what should I ask?” And she said, “The head of John the Baptist.” 25 And she came in immediately with haste to the king and asked, saying, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” 26 And the king was exceedingly sorry, but because of his oaths and his guests he did not want to break his word to her. 27 And immediately the king sent an executioner with orders to bring John's5 head. He went and beheaded him in the prison 28 and brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother. 29 When his disciples heard of it, they came and took his body and laid it in a tomb. Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand 30 The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. 31 And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 32 And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. 33 Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. 35 And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. 36 Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” 37 But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said to him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii6 worth of bread and give it to them to eat?” 38 And he said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” 39 Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. 41 And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. 42 And they all ate and were satisfied. 43 And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. 44 And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men. Jesus Walks on the Water 45 Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46 And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray. 47 And when evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land. 48 And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night7 he came to them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them, 49 but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out, 50 for they all saw him and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.” 51 And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, 52 for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened. Jesus Heals the Sick in Gennesaret 53 When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored to the shore. 54 And when they got out of the boat, the people immediately recognized him 55 and ran about the whole region and began to bring the sick people on their beds to wherever they heard he was. 56 And wherever he came, in villages, cities, or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment. And as many as touched it were made well. Footnotes [1] 6:9 Greek chiton, a long garment worn under the cloak next to the skin [2] 6:14 Greek his [3] 6:14 Some manuscripts He [4] 6:14 Greek baptizer; also verse 24 [5] 6:27 Greek his [6] 6:37 A denarius was a day's wage for a laborer [7] 6:48 That is, between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. (ESV) In private: Job 2; Romans 6 Job 2 (Listen) Satan Attacks Job's Health 2 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD. 2 And the LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 3 And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.” 4 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. 5 But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” 6 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.” 7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes. 9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” 10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”1 In all this Job did not sin with his lips. Job's Three Friends 11 Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. 12 And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. 13 And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great. Footnotes [1] 2:10 Or disaster; also verse 11 (ESV) Romans 6 (Listen) Dead to Sin, Alive to God 6 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self1 was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free2 from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. Slaves to Righteousness 15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves,3 you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. 20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Footnotes [1] 6:6 Greek man [2] 6:7 Greek has been justified [3] 6:16 For the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see Preface; twice in this verse; also verses 17, 19 (twice), 20 (ESV)
Psalms and Wisdom: Psalm 119:89–176 Psalm 119:89–176 (Listen) Lamedh 89 Forever, O LORD, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens.90 Your faithfulness endures to all generations; you have established the earth, and it stands fast.91 By your appointment they stand this day, for all things are your servants.92 If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.93 I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have given me life.94 I am yours; save me, for I have sought your precepts.95 The wicked lie in wait to destroy me, but I consider your testimonies.96 I have seen a limit to all perfection, but your commandment is exceedingly broad. Mem 97 Oh how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.98 Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies, for it is ever with me.99 I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation.100 I understand more than the aged,1 for I keep your precepts.101 I hold back my feet from every evil way, in order to keep your word.102 I do not turn aside from your rules, for you have taught me.103 How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!104 Through your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. Nun 105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.106 I have sworn an oath and confirmed it, to keep your righteous rules.107 I am severely afflicted; give me life, O LORD, according to your word!108 Accept my freewill offerings of praise, O LORD, and teach me your rules.109 I hold my life in my hand continually, but I do not forget your law.110 The wicked have laid a snare for me, but I do not stray from your precepts.111 Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart.112 I incline my heart to perform your statutes forever, to the end.2 Samekh 113 I hate the double-minded, but I love your law.114 You are my hiding place and my shield; I hope in your word.115 Depart from me, you evildoers, that I may keep the commandments of my God.116 Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live, and let me not be put to shame in my hope!117 Hold me up, that I may be safe and have regard for your statutes continually!118 You spurn all who go astray from your statutes, for their cunning is in vain.119 All the wicked of the earth you discard like dross, therefore I love your testimonies.120 My flesh trembles for fear of you, and I am afraid of your judgments. Ayin 121 I have done what is just and right; do not leave me to my oppressors.122 Give your servant a pledge of good; let not the insolent oppress me.123 My eyes long for your salvation and for the fulfillment of your righteous promise.124 Deal with your servant according to your steadfast love, and teach me your statutes.125 I am your servant; give me understanding, that I may know your testimonies!126 It is time for the LORD to act, for your law has been broken.127 Therefore I love your commandments above gold, above fine gold.128 Therefore I consider all your precepts to be right; I hate every false way. Pe 129 Your testimonies are wonderful; therefore my soul keeps them.130 The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.131 I open my mouth and pant, because I long for your commandments.132 Turn to me and be gracious to me, as is your way with those who love your name.133 Keep steady my steps according to your promise, and let no iniquity get dominion over me.134 Redeem me from man's oppression, that I may keep your precepts.135 Make your face shine upon your servant, and teach me your statutes.136 My eyes shed streams of tears, because people do not keep your law. Tsadhe 137 Righteous are you, O LORD, and right are your rules.138 You have appointed your testimonies in righteousness and in all faithfulness.139 My zeal consumes me, because my foes forget your words.140 Your promise is well tried, and your servant loves it.141 I am small and despised, yet I do not forget your precepts.142 Your righteousness is righteous forever, and your law is true.143 Trouble and anguish have found me out, but your commandments are my delight.144 Your testimonies are righteous forever; give me understanding that I may live. Qoph 145 With my whole heart I cry; answer me, O LORD! I will keep your statutes.146 I call to you; save me, that I may observe your testimonies.147 I rise before dawn and cry for help; I hope in your words.148 My eyes are awake before the watches of the night, that I may meditate on your promise.149 Hear my voice according to your steadfast love; O LORD, according to your justice give me life.150 They draw near who persecute me with evil purpose; they are far from your law.151 But you are near, O LORD, and all your commandments are true.152 Long have I known from your testimonies that you have founded them forever. Resh 153 Look on my affliction and deliver me, for I do not forget your law.154 Plead my cause and redeem me; give me life according to your promise!155 Salvation is far from the wicked, for they do not seek your statutes.156 Great is your mercy, O LORD; give me life according to your rules.157 Many are my persecutors and my adversaries, but I do not swerve from your testimonies.158 I look at the faithless with disgust, because they do not keep your commands.159 Consider how I love your precepts! Give me life according to your steadfast love.160 The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever. Sin and Shin 161 Princes persecute me without cause, but my heart stands in awe of your words.162 I rejoice at your word like one who finds great spoil.163 I hate and abhor falsehood, but I love your law.164 Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous rules.165 Great peace have those who love your law; nothing can make them stumble.166 I hope for your salvation, O LORD, and I do your commandments.167 My soul keeps your testimonies; I love them exceedingly.168 I keep your precepts and testimonies, for all my ways are before you. Taw 169 Let my cry come before you, O LORD; give me understanding according to your word!170 Let my plea come before you; deliver me according to your word.171 My lips will pour forth praise, for you teach me your statutes.172 My tongue will sing of your word, for all your commandments are right.173 Let your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen your precepts.174 I long for your salvation, O LORD, and your law is my delight.175 Let my soul live and praise you, and let your rules help me.176 I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant, for I do not forget your commandments. Footnotes [1] 119:100 Or the elders [2] 119:112 Or statutes; the reward is eternal (ESV) Pentateuch and History: Job 2 Job 2 (Listen) Satan Attacks Job's Health 2 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD. 2 And the LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 3 And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.” 4 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. 5 But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” 6 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.” 7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes. 9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” 10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”1 In all this Job did not sin with his lips. Job's Three Friends 11 Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. 12 And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. 13 And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great. Footnotes [1] 2:10 Or disaster; also verse 11 (ESV) Chronicles and Prophets: Isaiah 23 Isaiah 23 (Listen) An Oracle Concerning Tyre and Sidon 23 The oracle concerning Tyre. Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for Tyre is laid waste, without house or harbor! From the land of Cyprus1 it is revealed to them.2 Be still, O inhabitants of the coast; the merchants of Sidon, who cross the sea, have filled you.3 And on many waters your revenue was the grain of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile; you were the merchant of the nations.4 Be ashamed, O Sidon, for the sea has spoken, the stronghold of the sea, saying: “I have neither labored nor given birth, I have neither reared young men nor brought up young women.”5 When the report comes to Egypt, they will be in anguish2 over the report about Tyre.6 Cross over to Tarshish; wail, O inhabitants of the coast!7 Is this your exultant city whose origin is from days of old, whose feet carried her to settle far away?8 Who has purposed this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the honored of the earth?9 The LORD of hosts has purposed it, to defile the pompous pride of all glory,3 to dishonor all the honored of the earth.10 Cross over your land like the Nile, O daughter of Tarshish; there is no restraint anymore.11 He has stretched out his hand over the sea; he has shaken the kingdoms; the LORD has given command concerning Canaan to destroy its strongholds.12 And he said: “You will no more exult, O oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon; arise, cross over to Cyprus, even there you will have no rest.” 13 Behold the land of the Chaldeans! This is the people that was not;4 Assyria destined it for wild beasts. They erected their siege towers, they stripped her palaces bare, they made her a ruin. 14 Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for your stronghold is laid waste. 15 In that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, like the days5 of one king. At the end of seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute: 16 “Take a harp; go about the city, O forgotten prostitute! Make sweet melody;
Reading of...The Holy BibleJob 32Elihu Rebukes Job's Three FriendsRead by Sir StoneSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/sir-reads/exclusive-contentAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Old Testament: Job 2–4 Job 2–4 (Listen) Satan Attacks Job's Health 2 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD. 2 And the LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 3 And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.” 4 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. 5 But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” 6 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.” 7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes. 9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” 10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”1 In all this Job did not sin with his lips. Job's Three Friends 11 Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. 12 And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. 13 And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great. Job Laments His Birth 3 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 And Job said: 3 “Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, ‘A man is conceived.'4 Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, nor light shine upon it.5 Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.6 That night—let thick darkness seize it! Let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months.7 Behold, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry enter it.8 Let those curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up Leviathan.9 Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none, nor see the eyelids of the morning,10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb, nor hide trouble from my eyes. 11 “Why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb and expire?12 Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?13 For then I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept; then I would have been at rest,14 with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuilt ruins for themselves,15 or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.16 Or why was I not as a hidden stillborn child, as infants who never see the light?17 There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest.18 There the prisoners are at ease together; they hear not the voice of the taskmaster.19 The small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master. 20 “Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul,21 who long for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,22 who rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they find the grave?23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?24 For my sighing comes instead of2 my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water.25 For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me.26 I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, but trouble comes.” Eliphaz Speaks: The Innocent Prosper 4 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: 2 “If one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient? Yet who can keep from speaking?3 Behold, you have instructed many, and you have strengthened the weak hands.4 Your words have upheld him who was stumbling, and you have made firm the feeble knees.5 But now it has come to you, and you are impatient; it touches you, and you are dismayed.6 Is not your fear of God3 your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope? 7 “Remember: who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off?8 As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.9 By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his anger they are consumed.10 The roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion, the teeth of the young lions are broken.11 The strong lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered. 12 “Now a word was brought to me stealthily; my ear received the whisper of it.13 Amid thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men,14 dread came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake.15 A spirit glided past my face; the hair of my flesh stood up.16 It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; there was silence, then I heard a voice:17 ‘Can mortal man be in the right before4 God? Can a man be pure before his Maker?18 Even in his servants he puts no trust, and his angels he charges with error;19 how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like5 the moth.20 Between morning and evening they are beaten to pieces; they perish forever without anyone regarding it.21 Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them, do they not die, and that without wisdom?' Footnotes [1] 2:10 Or disaster; also verse 11 [2] 3:24 Or like; Hebrew before [3] 4:6 Hebrew lacks of God [4] 4:17 Or more than; twice in this verse [5] 4:19 Or before (ESV) New Testament: Colossians 1:1–20 Colossians 1:1–20 (Listen) Greeting 1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2 To the saints and faithful brothers1 in Christ at Colossae: Grace to you and peace from God our Father. Thanksgiving and Prayer 3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, 6 which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, 7 just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant.2 He is a faithful minister of Christ on your3 behalf 8 and has made known to us your love in the Spirit. 9 And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; 11 being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; 12 giving thanks4 to the Father, who has qualified you5 to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. 13 He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. The Preeminence of Christ 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by6 him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. Footnotes [1] 1:2 Or brothers and sisters. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, the plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) may refer either to brothers or to brothers and sisters [2] 1:7 For the contextual rendering of the Greek word sundoulos, see Preface [3] 1:7 Some manuscripts our [4] 1:12 Or patience, with joy giving thanks [5] 1:12 Some manuscripts us [6] 1:16 That is, by means of; or in (ESV) Psalm: Psalm 44 Psalm 44 (Listen) Come to Our Help To the choirmaster. A Maskil1 of the Sons of Korah. 44 O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us, what deeds you performed in their days, in the days of old:2 you with your own hand drove out the nations, but them you planted; you afflicted the peoples, but them you set free;3 for not by their own sword did they win the land, nor did their own arm save them, but your right hand and your arm, and the light of your face, for you delighted in them. 4 You are my King, O God; ordain salvation for Jacob!5 Through you we push down our foes; through your name we tread down those who rise up against us.6 For not in my bow do I trust, nor can my sword save me.7 But you have saved us from our foes and have put to shame those who hate us.8 In God we have boasted continually, and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah 9 But you have rejected us and disgraced us and have not gone out with our armies.10 You have made us turn back from the foe, and those who hate us have gotten spoil.11 You have made us like sheep for slaughter and have scattered us among the nations.12 You have sold your people for a trifle, demanding no high price for them.13 You have made us the taunt of our neighbors, the derision and scorn of those around us.14 You have made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock2 among the peoples.15 All day long my disgrace is before me, and shame has covered my face16 at the sound of the taunter and reviler, at the sight of the enemy and the avenger. 17 All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten you, and we have not been false to your covenant.18 Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps departed from your way;19 yet you have broken us in the place of jackals and covered us with the shadow of death.20 If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god,21 would not God discover this? For he knows the secrets of the heart.22 Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. 23 Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever!24 Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our belly clings to the ground.26 Rise up; come to our help! Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love! Footnotes [1] 44:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term [2] 44:14 Hebrew a shaking of the head (ESV) Proverb: Proverbs 21:25–26 Proverbs 21:25–26 (Listen) 25 The desire of the sluggard kills him, for his hands refuse to labor.26 All day long he craves and craves, but the righteous gives and does not hold back. (ESV)
Old Testament: Job 2–4 Job 2–4 (Listen) Satan Attacks Job's Health 2 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD. 2 And the LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 3 And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.” 4 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. 5 But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” 6 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.” 7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes. 9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” 10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”1 In all this Job did not sin with his lips. Job's Three Friends 11 Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. 12 And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. 13 And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great. Job Laments His Birth 3 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 And Job said: 3 “Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, ‘A man is conceived.'4 Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, nor light shine upon it.5 Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.6 That night—let thick darkness seize it! Let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months.7 Behold, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry enter it.8 Let those curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up Leviathan.9 Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none, nor see the eyelids of the morning,10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb, nor hide trouble from my eyes. 11 “Why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb and expire?12 Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?13 For then I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept; then I would have been at rest,14 with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuilt ruins for themselves,15 or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.16 Or why was I not as a hidden stillborn child, as infants who never see the light?17 There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest.18 There the prisoners are at ease together; they hear not the voice of the taskmaster.19 The small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master. 20 “Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul,21 who long for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,22 who rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they find the grave?23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?24 For my sighing comes instead of2 my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water.25 For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me.26 I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, but trouble comes.” Eliphaz Speaks: The Innocent Prosper 4 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: 2 “If one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient? Yet who can keep from speaking?3 Behold, you have instructed many, and you have strengthened the weak hands.4 Your words have upheld him who was stumbling, and you have made firm the feeble knees.5 But now it has come to you, and you are impatient; it touches you, and you are dismayed.6 Is not your fear of God3 your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope? 7 “Remember: who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off?8 As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.9 By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his anger they are consumed.10 The roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion, the teeth of the young lions are broken.11 The strong lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered. 12 “Now a word was brought to me stealthily; my ear received the whisper of it.13 Amid thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men,14 dread came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake.15 A spirit glided past my face; the hair of my flesh stood up.16 It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; there was silence, then I heard a voice:17 ‘Can mortal man be in the right before4 God? Can a man be pure before his Maker?18 Even in his servants he puts no trust, and his angels he charges with error;19 how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like5 the moth.20 Between morning and evening they are beaten to pieces; they perish forever without anyone regarding it.21 Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them, do they not die, and that without wisdom?' Footnotes [1] 2:10 Or disaster; also verse 11 [2] 3:24 Or like; Hebrew before [3] 4:6 Hebrew lacks of God [4] 4:17 Or more than; twice in this verse [5] 4:19 Or before (ESV) Psalm: Psalm 44 Psalm 44 (Listen) Come to Our Help To the choirmaster. A Maskil1 of the Sons of Korah. 44 O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us, what deeds you performed in their days, in the days of old:2 you with your own hand drove out the nations, but them you planted; you afflicted the peoples, but them you set free;3 for not by their own sword did they win the land, nor did their own arm save them, but your right hand and your arm, and the light of your face, for you delighted in them. 4 You are my King, O God; ordain salvation for Jacob!5 Through you we push down our foes; through your name we tread down those who rise up against us.6 For not in my bow do I trust, nor can my sword save me.7 But you have saved us from our foes and have put to shame those who hate us.8 In God we have boasted continually, and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah 9 But you have rejected us and disgraced us and have not gone out with our armies.10 You have made us turn back from the foe, and those who hate us have gotten spoil.11 You have made us like sheep for slaughter and have scattered us among the nations.12 You have sold your people for a trifle, demanding no high price for them.13 You have made us the taunt of our neighbors, the derision and scorn of those around us.14 You have made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock2 among the peoples.15 All day long my disgrace is before me, and shame has covered my face16 at the sound of the taunter and reviler, at the sight of the enemy and the avenger. 17 All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten you, and we have not been false to your covenant.18 Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps departed from your way;19 yet you have broken us in the place of jackals and covered us with the shadow of death.20 If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god,21 would not God discover this? For he knows the secrets of the heart.22 Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. 23 Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever!24 Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust; our belly clings to the ground.26 Rise up; come to our help! Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love! Footnotes [1] 44:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term [2] 44:14 Hebrew a shaking of the head (ESV) New Testament: Luke 8 Luke 8 (Listen) Women Accompanying Jesus 8 Soon afterward he went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him, 2 and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out, 3 and Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's household manager, and Susanna, and many others, who provided for them1 out of their means. The Parable of the Sower 4 And when a great crowd was gathering and people from town after town came to him, he said in a parable, 5 “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. 6 And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. 8 And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” The Purpose of the Parables 9 And when his disciples asked him what this parable meant, 10 he said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but for others they are in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.' 11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12 The ones along the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 And the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. 14 And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. 15 As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience. A Lamp Under a Jar 16 “No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a jar or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. 17 For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come to light. 18 Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away.” Jesus' Mother and Brothers 19 Then his mother and his brothers2 came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd. 20 And he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see you.” 21 But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.” Jesus Calms a Storm 22 One day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side of the lake.” So they set out, 23 and as they sailed he fell asleep. And a windstorm came down on the lake, and they were filling with water and were in danger. 24 And they went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was a calm. 25 He said to them, “Where is your faith?” And they were afraid, and they marveled, saying to one another, “Who then is this, that he commands even winds and water, and they obey him?” Jesus Heals a Man with a Demon 26 Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes,3 which is opposite Galilee. 27 When Jesus4 had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.” 29 For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many a time it had seized him. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert.) 30 Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion,” for many demons had entered him. 31 And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss. 32 Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them permission. 33 Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned. 34 When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. 35 Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. 36 And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed5 man had been healed. 37 Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. 38 The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him. Jesus Heals a Woman and Jairus's Daughter 40 Now when Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him. 41 And there came a man named Jairus, who was a ruler of the synagogue. And falling at Jesus' feet, he implored him to come to his house, 42 for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying. As Jesus went, the people pressed around him. 43 And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and though she had spent all her living on physicians,6 she could not be healed by anyone. 44 She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, and immediately her discharge of blood ceased. 45 And Jesus said, “Who was it that touched me?” When all denied it, Peter7 said, “Master, the crowds surround you and are pressing in on you!”
July 11, 2021 - Supporting Roles: Lessons Learned from the Lesser Known. Christ Community Church, cccfamily.org
7/20/21. Five Minutes in the Word scriptures for today, Job 2:11-13. Job's friends comes to console him in his grief and sickness. Resources: Enduring Word commentary; Faithlife Study Bible; and/or Matthew Henry commentary. #fiveminutesintheword; #dailydevotional; @MinutesWord. Listen however you hear podcast including: Apple podcast; Spotify; Tune-in Radio; Goodpods; Stitcher; and many others!! Leave a review on Podchaser https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/five-minutes-in-the-word-1026561. Follow & like on Twitter @MinutesWord; Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hhwmylesscott/. Financial support is welcome at https://anchor.fm/esbc-webmaster --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/esbc-webmaster/support
This Sunday, June 20, 2021 Rev. Dr. Lori Walke preaches from the book of Job chapter 2 verses 11 to 13; a passage also known as: "Job's Three Friends." Live streaming from the sanctuary of mayflower Congregational UCC Church in Oklahoma City.
Morning: Job 1–3 Job 1–3 (Listen) Job's Character and Wealth 1 There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. 2 There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. 3 He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east. 4 His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed1 God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually. Satan Allowed to Test Job 6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan2 also came among them. 7 The LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 8 And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” 9 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? 10 Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” 12 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD. Satan Takes Job's Property and Children 13 Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house, 14 and there came a messenger to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, 15 and the Sabeans fell upon them and took them and struck down the servants3 with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 16 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 17 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The Chaldeans formed three groups and made a raid on the camels and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 18 While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house, 19 and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 20 Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. 21 And he said, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” 22 In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong. Satan Attacks Job's Health 2 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD. 2 And the LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 3 And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.” 4 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. 5 But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” 6 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.” 7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes. 9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” 10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”4 In all this Job did not sin with his lips. Job's Three Friends 11 Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. 12 And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. 13 And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great. Job Laments His Birth 3 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 And Job said: 3 “Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, ‘A man is conceived.'4 Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, nor light shine upon it.5 Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.6 That night—let thick darkness seize it! Let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months.7 Behold, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry enter it.8 Let those curse it who curse the day, who are ready to rouse up Leviathan.9 Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none, nor see the eyelids of the morning,10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb, nor hide trouble from my eyes. 11 “Why did I not die at birth, come out from the womb and expire?12 Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?13 For then I would have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept; then I would have been at rest,14 with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuilt ruins for themselves,15 or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.16 Or why was I not as a hidden stillborn child, as infants who never see the light?17 There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest.18 There the prisoners are at ease together; they hear not the voice of the taskmaster.19 The small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master. 20 “Why is light given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul,21 who long for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,22 who rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they find the grave?23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?24 For my sighing comes instead of5 my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water.25 For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me.26 I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, but trouble comes.” Footnotes [1] 1:5 The Hebrew word bless is used euphemistically for curse in 1:5, 11; 2:5, 9 [2] 1:6 Hebrew the Accuser or the Adversary; so throughout chapters 1–2 [3] 1:15 Hebrew the young men; also verses 16, 17 [4] 2:10 Or disaster; also verse 11 [5] 3:24 Or like; Hebrew before (ESV) Evening: Acts 7:1–19 Acts 7:1–19 (Listen) Stephen's Speech 7 And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” 2 And Stephen said: “Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3 and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.' 4 Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. 5 Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child. 6 And God spoke to this effect—that his offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them four hundred years. 7 ‘But I will judge the nation that they serve,' said God, ‘and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.' 8 And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs. 9 “And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him 10 and rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. 11 Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food. 12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit. 13 And on the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh. 14 And Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his kindred, seventy-five persons in all. 15 And Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, he and our fathers, 16 and they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem. 17 “But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt 18 until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph. 19 He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive. (ESV)
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