Today's Reading

¹Then Bildad the Shuhite answered,

²"How long will you hunt for words? Consider, and afterwards we will speak.

³Why are we counted as animals, which have become unclean in your sight?

⁴You who tear yourself in your anger, shall the earth be forsaken for you? Or shall the rock be removed out of its place?

⁵"Yes, the light of the wicked shall be put out, The spark of his fire shall not shine.

⁶The light shall be dark in his tent. His lamp above him shall be put out.

⁷The steps of his strength shall be shortened. His own counsel shall cast him down.

⁸For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he wanders into its mesh.

⁹A snare will take him by the heel. A trap will catch him.

¹⁰A noose is hidden for him in the ground, a trap for him in the way.

¹¹Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall chase him at his heels.

¹²His strength shall be famished. Calamity shall be ready at his side.

¹³The members of his body shall be devoured. The firstborn of death shall devour his members.

¹⁴He shall be rooted out of his tent where he trusts. He shall be brought to the king of terrors.

¹⁵There shall dwell in his tent that which is none of his. Sulfur shall be scattered on his habitation.

¹⁶His roots shall be dried up beneath. Above shall his branch be cut off.

¹⁷His memory shall perish from the earth. He shall have no name in the street.

¹⁸He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.

¹⁹He shall have neither son nor grandson among his people, nor any remaining where he sojourned.

²⁰Those who come after shall be astonished at his day, as those who went before were frightened.

²¹Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous. This is the place of him who doesn't know God."

¹Then Job answered,

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

³You have reproached me ten times. You aren't ashamed that you attack me.

⁴If it is true that I have erred, my error remains with myself.

⁵If indeed you will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach;

⁶know now that God has subverted me, and has surrounded me with his net.

⁷"Behold, I cry out 'Injustice!' but there is no justice.

⁸He has walled up my way so that I can't pass, and has set darkness in my paths.

⁹He has stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.

¹⁰He has broken me down on every side, and I am gone. My hope he has plucked up like a tree.

¹¹He has also kindled his wrath against me. He counts me among his adversaries.

¹²His troops come on together, build a siege ramp against me, and encamp around my tent.

¹³"He has put my brothers far from me. My acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.

¹⁴My relatives have gone away. My familiar friends have forgotten me.

¹⁵Those who dwell in my house, and my maids, count me for a stranger. I am a foreigner in their sight.

¹⁶I call to my servant, and he gives me no answer. I beg him with my mouth.

¹⁷My breath is offensive to my wife. I am loathsome to the children of my own mother.

¹⁸Even young children despise me. If I arise, they speak against me.

¹⁹All my familiar friends abhor me. They whom I loved have turned against me.

²⁰My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh. I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

²¹"Have pity on me, have pity on me, you my friends; for the hand of God has touched me.

²²Why do you persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?

²³"Oh that my words were now written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book!

²⁴That with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever!

²⁵But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. In the end, he will stand upon the earth.

²⁶After my skin is destroyed, then in my flesh shall I see God,

²⁷Whom I, even I, shall see on my side. My eyes shall see, and not as a stranger. "My heart is consumed within me.

²⁸If you say, 'How we will persecute him!' because the root of the matter is found in me,

²⁹be afraid of the sword, for wrath brings the punishments of the sword, that you may know there is a judgment."

¹Then Zophar the Naamathite answered,

²"Therefore do my thoughts give answer to me, even by reason of my haste that is in me.

³I have heard the reproof which puts me to shame. The spirit of my understanding answers me.

⁴Do you not know this from old time, since man was placed on earth,

⁵that the triumphing of the wicked is short, the joy of the godless but for a moment?

⁶Though his height mount up to the heavens, and his head reach to the clouds,

⁷yet he shall perish forever like his own dung. Those who have seen him shall say, 'Where is he?'

⁸He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found. Yes, he shall be chased away like a vision of the night.

⁹The eye which saw him shall see him no more, neither shall his place any more see him.

¹⁰His children shall seek the favor of the poor. His hands shall give back his wealth.

¹¹His bones are full of his youth, but youth shall lie down with him in the dust.

¹²"Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue,

¹³though he spare it, and will not let it go, but keep it still within his mouth;

¹⁴yet his food in his bowels is turned. It is cobra venom within him.

¹⁵He has swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again. God will cast them out of his belly.

¹⁶He shall suck cobra venom. The viper's tongue shall kill him.

¹⁷He shall not look at the rivers, the flowing streams of honey and butter.

¹⁸That for which he labored he shall restore, and shall not swallow it down. According to the substance that he has gotten, he shall not rejoice.

¹⁹For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor. He has violently taken away a house, and he shall not build it up.

²⁰"Because he knew no quietness within him, he shall not save anything of that in which he delights.

²¹There was nothing left that he did not devour, therefore his prosperity shall not endure.

²²In the fullness of his sufficiency, distress shall overtake him. The hand of everyone who is in misery shall come on him.

²³When he is about to fill his belly, God will cast the fierceness of his wrath on him. It will rain on him while he is eating.

²⁴He shall flee from the iron weapon. The bronze arrow shall strike him through.

²⁵He draws it forth, and it comes out of his body. Yes, the glittering point comes out of his liver. Terrors are on him.

²⁶All darkness is laid up for his treasures. An unfanned fire shall devour him. It shall consume that which is left in his tent.

²⁷The heavens shall reveal his iniquity. The earth shall rise up against him.

²⁸The increase of his house shall depart. They shall rush away in the day of his wrath.

²⁹This is the portion of a wicked man from God, the heritage appointed to him by God."

¹Are we beginning again to commend ourselves? We do not need, as do some, letters of commendation to you or from you, do we?

²You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men;

³being revealed that you are a letter of Christ, served by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tablets of stone, but in tablets that are hearts of flesh.

⁴Such confidence we have through Christ toward God;

⁵not that we are sufficient of ourselves, to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God;

⁶who also made us sufficient as servants of a New Covenant; not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

⁷But if the service of death, written engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the children of Israel could not look steadfastly on the face of Moses for the glory of his face; which was passing away:

⁸won't service of the Spirit be with much more glory?

⁹For if the service of condemnation has glory, the service of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.

¹⁰For truly that which has been made glorious has not been made glorious in this respect, by reason of the glory that surpasses.

¹¹For if that which passes away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory.

¹²Having therefore such a hope, we use great boldness of speech,

¹³and not as Moses, who put a veil on his face, that the children of Israel would not look steadfastly on the end of that which was passing away.

¹⁴But their minds were hardened, for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains, because in Christ it passes away.

¹⁵But to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart.

¹⁶But whenever one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.

¹⁷Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

¹⁸But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit.

¹The wicked flee when no one pursues; but the righteous are as bold as a lion.

²In rebellion, a land has many rulers, but order is maintained by a man of understanding and knowledge.

³A needy man who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain which leaves no crops.

⁴Those who forsake the Law praise the wicked; but those who keep the Law contend with them.

⁵Evil men do not understand justice; but those who seek the Lord understand it fully.

⁶Better is the poor who walks in his integrity, than he who is perverse in his ways, and he is rich.

⁷Whoever keeps the Law is a wise son; but he who is a companion of gluttons shames his father.

⁸He who increases his wealth by excessive interest gathers it for one who has pity on the poor.

⁹He who turns away his ear from hearing the Law, even his prayer is an abomination.

¹⁰Whoever causes the upright to go astray in an evil way, he will fall into his own trap; but the blameless will inherit good.

¹¹The rich man is wise in his own eyes; but the poor who has understanding sees through him.

¹²When the righteous triumph, there is great glory; but when the wicked rise, men hide themselves.

¹³He who conceals his sins doesn't prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.

¹⁴Blessed is the man who always fears; but one who hardens his heart falls into trouble.

¹⁵As a roaring lion or a charging bear, so is a wicked ruler over helpless people.

¹⁶A tyrannical ruler lacks judgment. One who hates ill-gotten gain will have long days.

¹⁷A man who is tormented by life blood will be a fugitive until death; no one will support him.

¹⁸Whoever walks blamelessly is kept safe; but one with perverse ways will fall suddenly.

¹⁹One who works his land will have an abundance of food; but one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.

²⁰A faithful man is rich with blessings; but one who is eager to be rich will not go unpunished.

²¹To show partiality is not good; yet a man will do wrong for a piece of bread.

²²A stingy man hurries after riches, and doesn't know that poverty waits for him.

²³One who rebukes a man will afterward find more favor than one who flatters with the tongue.

²⁴Whoever robs his father or his mother, and says, "It's not wrong." He is a partner with a destroyer.

²⁵One who is greedy stirs up strife; but one who trusts in the Lord will prosper.

²⁶One who trusts in himself is a fool; but one who walks in wisdom is kept safe.

²⁷One who gives to the poor has no lack; but one who closes his eyes will have many curses.

²⁸When the wicked rise, men hide themselves; but when they perish, the righteous thrive.