- Early World
- Patriarchs
- Egypt and Exodus
- Desert Wanderings
- Conquest and Judges
- Royal Kingdom
- Divided Kingdom
- Exile
- Royal Kingdom
- Divided Kingdom
- Exile
- Return
- Maccabean Revolt
- Wisdom & Poetry
- Exile
- Divided Kingdom
- Return
- Messianic Fulfillment
- The Church
Job 22-26
Job Chapter 22
1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered, 2âCan a man be profitable to God? Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself. 3Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous? Or does it benefit him that you make your ways perfect? 4Is it for your piety that he reproves you, that he enters with you into judgment? 5Isnât your wickedness great? Neither is there any end to your iniquities. 6For you have taken pledges from your brother for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing. 7You havenât given water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry. 8But as for the mighty man, he had the earth. The honorable man, he lived in it. 9You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken. 10Therefore snares are around you. Sudden fear troubles you, 11or darkness, so that you can not see, and floods of waters cover you. 12âIsnât God in the heights of heaven? See the height of the stars, how high they are! 13You say, âWhat does God know? Can he judge through the thick darkness? 14Thick clouds are a covering to him, so that he doesnât see. He walks on the vault of the sky.â 15Will you keep the old way, which wicked men have trodden, 16who were snatched away before their time, whose foundation was poured out as a stream, 17who said to God, âDepart from us!â and, âWhat can the Almighty do for us?â 18Yet he filled their houses with good things, but the counsel of the wicked is far from me. 19The righteous see it, and are glad. The innocent ridicule them, 20saying, âSurely those who rose up against us are cut off. The fire has consumed their remnant.â 21âAcquaint yourself with him now, and be at peace. By it, good will come to you. 22Please receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart. 23If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up, if you put away unrighteousness far from your tents. 24Lay your treasure in the dust, the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks. 25The Almighty will be your treasure, and precious silver to you. 26For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty, and will lift up your face to God. 27You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you. You will pay your vows. 28You will also decree a thing, and it will be established to you. Light will shine on your ways. 29When they cast down, you will say, âbe lifted up.â He will save the humble person. 30He will even deliver him who is not innocent. Yes, he will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.â
Job Chapter 23
1Then Job answered, 2âEven today my complaint is rebellious. His hand is heavy in spite of my groaning. 3Oh that I knew where I might find him! That I might come even to his seat! 4I would set my cause in order before him, and fill my mouth with arguments. 5I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would tell me. 6Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No, but he would listen to me. 7There the upright might reason with him, so I should be delivered forever from my judge. 8âIf I go east, he is not there. If I go west, I canât find him. 9He works to the north, but I canât see him. He turns south, but I canât catch a glimpse of him. 10But he knows the way that I take. When he has tried me, I will come out like gold. 11My foot has held fast to his steps. I have kept his way, and not turned away. 12I havenât gone back from the commandment of his lips. I have treasured up the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. 13But he stands alone, and who can oppose him? What his soul desires, even that he does. 14For he performs that which is appointed for me. Many such things are with him. 15Therefore I am terrified at his presence. When I consider, I am afraid of him. 16For God has made my heart faint. The Almighty has terrified me. 17Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither did he cover the thick darkness from my face.
Job Chapter 24
1âWhy arenât times laid up by the Almighty? Why donât those who know him see his days? 2There are people who remove the landmarks. They violently take away flocks, and feed them. 3They drive away the donkey of the fatherless, and they take the widowâs ox for a pledge. 4They turn the needy out of the way. The poor of the earth all hide themselves. 5Behold, as wild donkeys in the desert, they go out to their work, seeking diligently for food. The wilderness yields them bread for their children. 6They cut their food in the field. They glean the vineyard of the wicked. 7They lie all night naked without clothing, and have no covering in the cold. 8They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for lack of a shelter. 9There are those who pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor, 10so that they go around naked without clothing. Being hungry, they carry the sheaves. 11They make oil within the walls of these men. They tread wine presses, and suffer thirst. 12From out of the populous city, men groan. The soul of the wounded cries out, yet God doesnât regard the folly. 13âThese are of those who rebel against the light. They donât know its ways, nor stay in its paths. 14The murderer rises with the light. He kills the poor and needy. In the night he is like a thief. 15The eye also of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, âNo eye will see me.â He disguises his face. 16In the dark they dig through houses. They shut themselves up in the daytime. They donât know the light. 17For the morning is to all of them like thick darkness, for they know the terrors of the thick darkness. 18âThey are foam on the surface of the waters. Their portion is cursed on the earth. They donât turn into the way of the vineyards. 19Drought and heat consume the snow waters, so does Sheol those who have sinned. 20The womb will forget him. The worm will feed sweetly on him. He will be no more remembered. Unrighteousness will be broken as a tree. 21He devours the barren who donât bear. He shows no kindness to the widow. 22Yet God preserves the mighty by his power. He rises up who has no assurance of life. 23God gives them security, and they rest in it. His eyes are on their ways. 24They are exalted; yet a little while, and they are gone. Yes, they are brought low, they are taken out of the way as all others, and are cut off as the tops of the ears of grain. 25If it isnât so now, who will prove me a liar, and make my speech worth nothing?â
Job Chapter 25
1Then Bildad the Shuhite answered, 2âDominion and fear are with him. He makes peace in his high places. 3Can his armies be counted? On whom does his light not arise? 4How then can man be just with God? Or how can he who is born of a woman be clean? 5Behold, even the moon has no brightness, and the stars are not pure in his sight; 6How much less man, who is a worm, and the son of man, who is a worm!â
Job Chapter 26
1Then Job answered, 2âHow have you helped him who is without power! How have you saved the arm that has no strength! 3How have you counseled him who has no wisdom, and plentifully declared sound knowledge! 4To whom have you uttered words? Whose spirit came out of you? 5âThe departed spirits tremble, those beneath the waters and all that live in them. 6Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering. 7He stretches out the north over empty space, and hangs the earth on nothing. 8He binds up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not burst under them. 9He encloses the face of his throne, and spreads his cloud on it. 10He has described a boundary on the surface of the waters, and to the confines of light and darkness. 11The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his rebuke. 12He stirs up the sea with his power, and by his understanding he strikes through Rahab. 13By his Spirit the heavens are garnished. His hand has pierced the swift serpent. 14Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways. How small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?â
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