Old/New Testament
17 My spirit is broken.
My days are extinguished.
A graveyard(A) awaits me.
2 Surely mockers surround[a] me
and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion.(B)
3 Make arrangements! Put up security for me.[b](C)
Who else will be my sponsor?[c]
4 You have closed their minds to understanding,
therefore You will not honor them.
5 If a man informs on his friends for a price,
the eyes of his children will fail.
6 He has made me an object of scorn to the people;
I have become a man people spit at.[d](D)
7 My eyes have grown dim from grief,
and my whole body has become but a shadow.
8 The upright are appalled(E) at this,
and the innocent are roused against the godless.
9 Yet the righteous person will hold to his way,
and the one whose hands are clean(F) will grow stronger.
10 But come back and try again, all of you.[e]
I will not find a wise man among you.
11 My days have slipped by;
my plans have been ruined,
even the things dear to my heart.
12 They turned night into day
and made light seem near in the face of darkness.(G)
13 If I await Sheol as my home,
spread out my bed in darkness,
14 and say to corruption: You are my father,
and to the maggot: My mother or my sister,(H)
15 where then is my hope?(I)
Who can see any hope for me?
16 Will it go down to the gates of Sheol,(J)
or will we descend together to the dust?
Bildad Speaks
18 Then Bildad the Shuhite(K) replied:
2 How long until you stop talking?
Show some sense, and then we can talk.
3 Why are we regarded as cattle,
as stupid in your sight?
4 You who tear yourself in anger[f]—
should the earth be abandoned on your account,
or a rock be removed from its place?
5 Yes, the light(L) of the wicked(M) is extinguished;
the flame of his fire does not glow.
6 The light in his tent grows dark,(N)
and the lamp beside him is put out.
7 His powerful stride is shortened,
and his own schemes trip him up.(O)
8 For his own feet lead him into a net,
and he strays into its mesh.
9 A trap catches him by the heel;
a noose seizes him.
10 A rope lies hidden for him on the ground,
and a snare waits for him along the path.
11 Terrors frighten him on every side(P)
and harass him at every step.
12 His strength is depleted;
disaster lies ready for him to stumble.[g]
13 Parts of his skin are eaten away;
death’s firstborn consumes his limbs.
14 He is ripped from the security of his tent
and marched away to the king of terrors.
15 Nothing he owned remains in his tent.
Burning sulfur(Q) is scattered over his home.
16 His roots below dry up,
and his branches above wither away.(R)
17 All memory(S) of him perishes from the earth;
he has no name anywhere.[h]
18 He is driven from light to darkness
and chased from the inhabited world.
19 He has no children or descendants among his people,
no survivor where he used to live.(T)
20 Those in the west are appalled(U) at his fate,
while those in the east tremble in horror.
21 Indeed, such is the dwelling of the unjust man,
and this is the place of the one who does not know God.(V)
Job’s Reply to Bildad
19 Then Job answered:
2 How long will you torment me
and crush me with words?
3 You have humiliated me ten times now,
and you mistreat[i] me without shame.(W)
4 Even if it is true that I have sinned,
my mistake concerns only[j] me.
5 If you really want to appear superior(X) to me
and would use my disgrace as evidence against me,
6 then understand that it is God who has wronged me
and caught me in His net.(Y)
7 I cry out: “Violence!” but get no response;(Z)
I call for help, but there is no justice.
8 He has blocked(AA) my way so that I cannot pass through;
He has veiled my paths with darkness.(AB)
9 He has stripped me of my honor
and removed the crown from my head.
10 He tears me down on every side so that I am ruined.[k]
He uproots my hope like a tree.(AC)
11 His anger(AD) burns against me,
and He regards me as one of His enemies.(AE)
12 His troops advance together;
they construct a ramp[l] against me
and camp(AF) around my tent.
13 He has removed my brothers from me;
my acquaintances have abandoned me.(AG)
14 My relatives stop coming by,
and my close friends have forgotten me.
15 My house guests[m] and female servants regard me as a stranger;
I am a foreigner in their sight.(AH)
16 I call for my servant, but he does not answer,
even if I beg him with my own mouth.
17 My breath is offensive to my wife,
and my own family[n] finds me repulsive.
18 Even young boys scorn me.
When I stand up, they mock me.(AI)
19 All of my best friends[o] despise me,(AJ)
and those I love have turned against me.(AK)
20 My skin and my flesh cling to my bones;
I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
21 Have mercy on me, my friends,(AL) have mercy,
for God’s hand(AM) has struck me.(AN)
22 Why do you persecute me as God does?
Will you never get enough of my flesh?
23 I wish that my words were written down,
that they were recorded on a scroll
24 or were inscribed in stone forever
by an iron stylus and lead!
25 But I know my living Redeemer,[p](AO)
and He will stand on the dust[q] at last.[r](AP)
26 Even after my skin has been destroyed,[s]
yet I will see God in[t] my flesh.(AQ)
27 I will see Him myself;
my eyes will look at Him, and not as a stranger.[u]
My heart longs[v] within me.(AR)
Cornelius’s Vision
10 There was a man in Caesarea named Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment.(A) 2 He was a devout man and feared God along with his whole household. He did many charitable deeds for the Jewish people and always prayed to God.(B) 3 About three in the afternoon[a] he distinctly saw in a vision an angel of God who came in and said to him, “Cornelius!”(C)
4 Looking intently at him, he became afraid and said, “What is it, lord?”
The angel told him, “Your prayers and your acts of charity have come up as a memorial offering before God.(D) 5 Now send men to Joppa and call for Simon, who is also named Peter. 6 He is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea.”(E)
7 When the angel who spoke to him had gone, he called two of his household slaves and a devout soldier, who was one of those who attended him. 8 After explaining everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.
Peter’s Vision
9 The(F) next day, as they were traveling and nearing the city, Peter went up to pray on the housetop(G) about noon.[b] 10 Then he became hungry and wanted to eat, but while they were preparing something, he went into a visionary state. 11 He saw heaven opened(H) and an object that resembled a large sheet coming down, being lowered by its four corners to the earth. 12 In it were all the four-footed animals and reptiles of the earth, and the birds of the sky. 13 Then a voice said to him, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat!”
14 “No, Lord!” Peter said. “For I have never eaten anything common[c] and ritually unclean!”(I)
15 Again, a second time, a voice said to him, “What God has made clean, you must not call common.”(J) 16 This happened three times, and then the object was taken up into heaven.
Peter Visits Cornelius
17 While Peter was deeply perplexed about what the vision he had seen might mean, the men who had been sent by Cornelius, having asked directions to Simon’s house, stood at the gate. 18 They called out, asking if Simon, who was also named Peter, was lodging there.
19 While Peter was thinking about the vision, the Spirit told him, “Three men are here looking for you.(K) 20 Get up, go downstairs, and accompany them with no doubts at all, because I have sent them.”(L)
21 Then Peter went down to the men and said, “Here I am, the one you’re looking for. What is the reason you’re here?”
22 They said, “Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who has a good reputation with the whole Jewish nation, was divinely directed by a holy angel to call you to his house and to hear a message from you.”(M) 23 Peter then invited them in and gave them lodging.
The next day he got up and set out with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa went with him.(N)
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