Old/New Testament

Eliphaz Talks

22 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered, ² “Can a man be of use to God? Can a wise man be of use to himself? ³ Is the All-powerful pleased if you are right and good? Is it of any use to Him if your ways were perfect? ⁴ Is it because of how you honor God that He speaks strong words to you and punishes you? ⁵ Have you not done much wrong and your sins have no end? ⁶ For you have taken things from your brothers when they did not owe you anything. You have taken all their clothing and they have had nothing to wear. ⁷ To those who were tired, you have given no water to drink. And you have kept bread from the hungry. ⁸ But you were a powerful and respected man owning land and living on it. ⁹ You have sent women away with nothing, whose husbands have died. And you have crushed the strength of children who have no parents. ¹⁰ So traps are all around you, and much fear comes upon you all at once. ¹¹ This is why it is dark and you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you.

¹² “Is not God high up in heaven? See the highest stars, how high they are! ¹³ So you say, ‘What does God know? Can He judge through the darkness? ¹⁴ Clouds cover Him so that He cannot see. He walks on the roof of heaven.’ ¹⁵ Will you keep to the old way which sinful men have walked? ¹⁶ They were taken away before their time. The ground they stood on was washed away by a river. ¹⁷ They said to God, ‘Leave us!’ and ‘What can the All-powerful do to us?’ ¹⁸ Yet He filled their houses with good things. But the wisdom of the sinful is far from me. ¹⁹ Those who are right and good see it and are glad. Those who are without guilt make fun of them, ²⁰ saying, ‘For sure those who hate us are destroyed, and fire has destroyed what they owned.’

²¹ “Agree with God, and be at peace with Him. Then good will come to you. ²² Receive the teaching from His mouth, and keep His words in your heart. ²³ If you return to the All-powerful, things will be well with you again. Put sin far from your tent. ²⁴ Put your gold in the dust, and gold of Ophir among the stones of the river. ²⁵ Then the All-powerful will be your gold and silver of much worth. ²⁶ Then you will have joy in the All-powerful, and lift up your face to God. ²⁷ You will pray to Him, and He will hear you. And you will keep your promises to Him. ²⁸ You will decide something, and it will be done for you. Light will shine on your path. ²⁹ For God puts down the man who is filled with pride. But He saves the one who is not proud. ³⁰ He will save the man who is even guilty because he will be helped by your hands that are clean.”

Job Talks

23 Then Job answered, ² “Even today my complaining is bitter. His hand is heavy even when I cry inside myself. ³ If only I knew where to find Him, that I might go where He is! ⁴ I would tell Him how things are with me, and my mouth would be ready to argue. ⁵ I would know His answer, and could think about what He would say to me. ⁶ Would He go against me using His great power? No, He would listen to me. ⁷ There a man who is right could reason with Him. And I would be set free by my Judge.

⁸ “See, I go east, but He is not there. I go west, but I cannot see Him. ⁹ When He works to the left, I cannot see Him. When He turns to the right, I cannot see Him. ¹⁰ But He knows the way that I take. When He has tried me, I will come out as gold. ¹¹ My foot has kept close to His steps. I have kept His way and have not turned aside. ¹² I have not turned away from the words of His lips. I have stored up the words of His mouth. They are worth more to me than the food I need. ¹³ But He cannot be changed. Who can go against Him? He does whatever He wants. ¹⁴ For He does what He has planned for me, and many such things are in His mind. ¹⁵ So I am afraid to be with Him. When I think about it, I am very afraid of Him. ¹⁶ God has made my heart weak. The All-powerful has filled me with fear. ¹⁷ But I am not made quiet by the darkness or the deep shadow which covers my face.

Job Keeps On Talking

24 “Why are times for judging not set up by the All-powerful? And why do those who know Him not see these days? ² Some take away the land-marks and take fields and animals. ³ They drive away the donkeys that belong to those who have no parents. They take the bull that belongs to a woman whose husband has died, as a promise that she will pay what she owes. ⁴ They push poor people off the road. All the poor of the land are made to hide themselves. ⁵ See, they go out like wild donkeys in the desert to look for food for their children. ⁶ They gather food in the fields, and gather what they can that is left from the grape-fields owned by the sinful. ⁷ They lie all night without clothing, and have no covering in the cold. ⁸ They are wet with the mountain rains and stay close to the rocks for cover. ⁹ Others take from the breast the child who has no father. They take the child from the poor as a promise that they will pay what they owe. ¹⁰ They make the poor go about without clothing, making them carry loads of cut grain while they are hungry. ¹¹ Among the olive trees they make oil. They crush grapes but they are thirsty. ¹² Men from the city cry inside themselves. The souls of those who are hurt cry out. Yet God does not listen to their prayer.

¹³ “Then there are those who turn against the light. They do not want to know its ways or stay in its paths. ¹⁴ The one who kills people gets up early in the morning. He kills the poor and those in need. And during the night he is like a robber. ¹⁵ The eye of the one who is not faithful in marriage waits for the evening, saying, ‘No one will see me.’ And he covers his face. ¹⁶ In the dark they dig into houses. They shut themselves up during the day and do not know the light. ¹⁷ For midnight is morning to them. They are not afraid of the fears of darkness.

¹⁸ “They are taken away on the top of the waters. Their part of the earth is cursed. They do not go to their grape-fields. ¹⁹ Dry weather and heat take away the water from the snow, just as the place of the dead takes away those who have sinned. ²⁰ A mother will forget him. The worm is pleased to eat him until he is remembered no more. Sin will be broken like a tree. ²¹ He does wrong to the woman who cannot give birth. And he does no good for the woman whose husband has died. ²² But God by His power gives long life to the strong. They rise again, even when they had no hope of life. ²³ He makes them safe and gives them strength, and His eyes are on their ways. ²⁴ They are given honor for a little while, and then they are gone. They are brought low and gathered up as all others are. They are cut off like the heads of grain. ²⁵ If it is not so, who can prove me a liar, and show that what I say means nothing?”

Peter Tells Why He Preached to the People Who Are Not Jews

11 The missionaries and followers who were in the country of Judea heard that the people who were not Jews also had received the Word of God. ² When Peter went up to Jerusalem, the Jewish followers argued with him. ³ They said, “Why did you visit those people who are not Jews and eat with them?”

⁴ Then Peter began to tell all that had happened from the beginning to the end. He said, ⁵ “While I was praying in the city of Joppa, I saw in a dream something coming down from heaven. It was like a large linen cloth let down by the four corners until it came to me. ⁶ As I looked at it, I saw four-footed animals and snakes of the earth and birds of the sky. ⁷ I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter, kill something and eat it.’ ⁸ But I said, ‘No, Lord! Nothing that is unclean has ever gone into my mouth.’ ⁹ The voice from heaven said the second time, ‘What God has made clean you must not say is unclean.’ ¹⁰ This happened three times and then it was taken up again to heaven.

¹¹ “Three men had already come to the house where I was staying. They had been sent to me from the city of Caesarea. ¹² The Holy Spirit told me to go with them and not doubt about going. These six men also went with me to this man’s house. ¹³ He told us how he had seen an angel in his own home. The angel had stood in front of him and said, ‘Send men to Joppa to ask for Simon Peter. ¹⁴ He will tell you and all your family how you can be saved from the punishment of sin.’

¹⁵ “As I began to talk to them, the Holy Spirit came down on them just as He did on us at the beginning. ¹⁶ Then I remembered the Lord had said, ‘John baptized with water but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ ¹⁷ If God gave to them the same gift He gave to us after we put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, how could I stand against God?”

¹⁸ When they heard these words, they said nothing more. They thanked God, saying, “Then God has given life also to the people who are not Jews. They have this new life by being sorry for their sins and turning from them.”

The Followers Are Called Christians First In Antioch

¹⁹ Those who went different places because of the trouble that started over Stephen had gone as far as the cities of Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch. They had preached the Word, but only to the Jews. ²⁰ Some of the men from Cyprus and Cyrene returned to Antioch. They preached the Good News of Jesus Christ to the Greek people there. ²¹ The Lord gave them power. Many people put their trust in the Lord and turned to Him.

²² The news of this came to the church in Jerusalem. They sent Barnabas to Antioch. ²³ When he got there and saw how good God had been to them, he was full of joy. He told them to be true and faithful to the Lord. ²⁴ Barnabas was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and faith. And many people became followers of the Lord.

²⁵ From there Barnabas went on to the city of Tarsus to look for Saul. ²⁶ When he found Saul, he brought him back with him to Antioch. For a year they taught many people in the church. The followers were first called Christians in Antioch.

The Antioch Church Helps the Jerusalem Church

²⁷ At that time some men who preached God’s Word came to Antioch and told what was going to happen. They were from Jerusalem. ²⁸ One of them was Agabus. The Holy Spirit told him to stand up and speak. He told them there would be very little food to eat over all the world. This happened when Claudius was leader of the country. ²⁹ The Christians agreed that each one should give what money he could to help the Christians living in Judea. ³⁰ They did this and sent it to the church leaders with Barnabas and Saul.