Through My Bible Yr 1 – August 3

Through My Bible – August 3

Bible reading based on Job 15-17 (NIV84)

See series: Through My Bible

Job 15

Eliphaz

¹Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

² “Would a wise man answer with empty notions
or fill his belly with the hot east wind?

³ Would he argue with useless words,
with speeches that have no value?

⁴ But you even undermine piety
and hinder devotion to God.

⁵ Your sin prompts your mouth;
you adopt the tongue of the crafty.

⁶ Your own mouth condemns you, not mine;
your own lips testify against you.

⁷ “Are you the first man ever born?
Were you brought forth before the hills?

⁸ Do you listen in on God’s council?
Do you limit wisdom to yourself?

⁹ What do you know that we do not know?
What insights do you have that we do not have?

¹⁰ The gray-haired and the aged are on our side,
men even older than your father.

¹¹ Are God’s consolations not enough for you,
words spoken gently to you?

¹² Why has your heart carried you away,
and why do your eyes flash,

¹³ so that you vent your rage against God
and pour out such words from your mouth?

¹⁴ “What is man, that he could be pure,
or one born of woman, that he could be righteous?

¹⁵ If God places no trust in his holy ones,
if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes,

¹⁶ how much less man, who is vile and corrupt,
who drinks up evil like water!

¹⁷ “Listen to me and I will explain to you;
let me tell you what I have seen,

¹⁸ what wise men have declared,
hiding nothing received from their fathers

¹⁹ (to whom alone the land was given
when no alien passed among them):

²⁰ All his days the wicked man suffers torment,
the ruthless through all the years stored up for him.

²¹ Terrifying sounds fill his ears;
when all seems well, marauders attack him.

²² He despairs of escaping the darkness;
he is marked for the sword.

²³ He wanders about—food for vultures ^[a] ;
he knows the day of darkness is at hand.

²⁴ Distress and anguish fill him with terror;
they overwhelm him, like a king poised to attack,

²⁵ because he shakes his fist at God
and vaunts himself against the Almighty,

²⁶ defiantly charging against him
with a thick, strong shield.

²⁷ “Though his face is covered with fat
and his waist bulges with flesh,

²⁸ he will inhabit ruined towns
and houses where no one lives,
houses crumbling to rubble.

²⁹ He will no longer be rich and his wealth will not endure,
nor will his possessions spread over the land.

³⁰ He will not escape the darkness;
a flame will wither his shoots,
and the breath of God’s mouth will carry him away.

³¹ Let him not deceive himself by trusting what is worthless,
for he will get nothing in return.

³² Before his time he will be paid in full,
and his branches will not flourish.

³³ He will be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes,
like an olive tree shedding its blossoms.

³⁴ For the company of the godless will be barren,
and fire will consume the tents of those who love bribes.

³⁵ They conceive trouble and give birth to evil;
their womb fashions deceit.”

Job 16

Job

¹Then Job replied:

² “I have heard many things like these;
miserable comforters are you all!

³ Will your long-winded speeches never end?
What ails you that you keep on arguing?

⁴ I also could speak like you,
if you were in my place;
I could make fine speeches against you
and shake my head at you.

⁵ But my mouth would encourage you;
comfort from my lips would bring you relief.

⁶ “Yet if I speak, my pain is not relieved;
and if I refrain, it does not go away.

⁷ Surely, O God, you have worn me out;
you have devastated my entire household.

⁸ You have bound me—and it has become a witness;
my gauntness rises up and testifies against me.

⁹ God assails me and tears me in his anger
and gnashes his teeth at me;
my opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes.

¹⁰ Men open their mouths to jeer at me;
they strike my cheek in scorn
and unite together against me.

¹¹ God has turned me over to evil men
and thrown me into the clutches of the wicked.

¹² All was well with me, but he shattered me;
he seized me by the neck and crushed me.
He has made me his target;

¹³ his archers surround me.
Without pity, he pierces my kidneys
and spills my gall on the ground.

¹⁴ Again and again he bursts upon me;
he rushes at me like a warrior.

¹⁵ “I have sewed sackcloth over my skin
and buried my brow in the dust.

¹⁶ My face is red with weeping,
deep shadows ring my eyes;

¹⁷ yet my hands have been free of violence
and my prayer is pure.

¹⁸ “O earth, do not cover my blood;
may my cry never be laid to rest!

¹⁹ Even now my witness is in heaven;
my advocate is on high.

²⁰ My intercessor is my friend ^[b]
as my eyes pour out tears to God;

²¹ on behalf of a man he pleads with God
as a man pleads for his friend.

²² “Only a few years will pass
before I go on the journey of no return.

Job 17

¹ My spirit is broken,
my days are cut short,
the grave awaits me.

² Surely mockers surround me;
my eyes must dwell on their hostility.

³ “Give me, O God, the pledge you demand.
Who else will put up security for me?

⁴ You have closed their minds to understanding;
therefore you will not let them triumph.

⁵ If a man denounces his friends for reward,
the eyes of his children will fail.

⁶ “God has made me a byword to everyone,
a man in whose face people spit.

⁷ My eyes have grown dim with grief;
my whole frame is but a shadow.

⁸ Upright men are appalled at this;
the innocent are aroused against the ungodly.

⁹ Nevertheless, the righteous will hold to their ways,
and those with clean hands will grow stronger.

¹⁰ “But come on, all of you, try again!
I will not find a wise man among you.

¹¹ My days have passed, my plans are shattered,
and so are the desires of my heart.

¹² These men turn night into day;
in the face of darkness they say, ‘Light is near.’

¹³ If the only home I hope for is the grave, ^[c]
if I spread out my bed in darkness,

¹⁴ if I say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’
and to the worm, ‘My mother’ or ‘My sister,’

¹⁵ where then is my hope?
Who can see any hope for me?

¹⁶ Will it go down to the gates of death ^[d] ?
Will we descend together into the dust?”