Job 33

⁶Hear now my argument, and listen to the plea of my lips.

²“Hear my words, O wise men; give ear to me, O men of learning.

¹For the choirmaster. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. Hear this, all you peoples; listen, all inhabitants of the world,

²both low and high, rich and poor alike.

⁹Then Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

¹After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.

²I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the beginning,

²and He began to teach them, saying:

³⁰I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking for his life with a curse—

⁴my lips will not speak wickedness, and my tongue will not utter deceit.

³For our appeal does not arise from deceit or ulterior motives or trickery.

⁴Instead, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, not in order to please men but God, who examines our hearts.

¹⁵There is an abundance of gold and rubies, but lips of knowledge are a rare treasure.

³⁰The mouth of the righteous man utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks justice.

³¹The law of his God is in his heart; his steps do not falter.

⁷For my mouth will speak the truth, and wickedness is detestable to my lips.

⁸All the words of my mouth are righteous; none are crooked or perverse.

³I get my knowledge from afar, and I will ascribe justice to my Maker.

⁴For truly my words are free of falsehood; one perfect in knowledge is with you.

⁸But there is a spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding.

⁷Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.

³as long as my breath is still within me and the breath of God remains in my nostrils,

¹²You have granted me life and loving devotion, and Your care has preserved my spirit.

⁴⁵So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam a life-giving spirit.

⁶By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the stars by the breath of His mouth.

³²But if you have something to say, answer me; speak up, for I would like to vindicate you.

³³But if not, then listen to me; be quiet, and I will teach you wisdom.”

²⁶But Peter helped him up. “Stand up,” he said, “I am only a man myself.”

⁴I would plead my case before Him and fill my mouth with arguments.

⁵I would learn how He would answer, and consider what He would say.

¹⁸See now, I have prepared my case; I know that I will be vindicated.

¹⁴But Job has not directed his words against me, and I will not answer him with your arguments.

¹So these three men stopped answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.

¹⁹how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who can be crushed like a moth!

⁹Please remember that You molded me like clay. Would You now return me to dust?

¹For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is dismantled, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.

²²In the midst of his plenty, he will be distressed; the full force of misery will come upon him.

³⁵(Oh, that I had one to hear me! Here is my signature. Let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser compose an indictment.

³If only I knew where to find Him, so that I could go to His seat.

⁴I would plead my case before Him and fill my mouth with arguments.

²¹Withdraw Your hand from me, and do not let Your terror frighten me.

³⁴Let Him remove His rod from me, so that His terror will no longer frighten me.

⁴For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was drained as in the summer heat. Selah

¹⁶Your wrath has swept over me; Your terrors have destroyed me.

²³For they have committed an outrage in Israel by committing adultery with the wives of their neighbors and speaking lies in My name, which I did not command them to do. I am He who knows, and I am a witness, declares the Lord.”

¹⁴then you must inquire, investigate, and interrogate thoroughly. And if it is established with certainty that this abomination has been committed among you,

⁷though You know that I am not guilty, and there is no deliverance from Your hand?

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

⁴You have said, ‘My doctrine is sound, and I am pure in Your sight.’

²¹Though I am blameless, I have no concern for myself; I despise my own life.

¹⁴I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; justice was my robe and my turban.

³⁵you say, ‘I am innocent. Surely His anger will turn from me.’ Behold, I will judge you, because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’

¹¹His anger burns against me, and He counts me among His enemies.

²⁴Why do You hide Your face and consider me as Your enemy?

²⁵Would You frighten a windblown leaf? Would You chase after dry chaff?

²¹You have ruthlessly turned on me; You oppose me with Your strong hand.

¹⁵If I am guilty, woe to me! And even if I am righteous, I cannot lift my head. I am full of shame and aware of my affliction.

¹⁶Should I hold my head high, You would hunt me like a lion, and again display Your power against me.

³⁵(Oh, that I had one to hear me! Here is my signature. Let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser compose an indictment.

⁹His anger has torn me and opposed me; He gnashes His teeth at me. My adversary pierces me with His eyes.

²⁷You put my feet in the stocks and stand watch over all my paths; You set a limit for the soles of my feet.

⁴Does He not see my ways and count my every step?

³⁵All the peoples of the earth are counted as nothing, and He does as He pleases with the army of heaven and the peoples of the earth. There is no one who can restrain His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’”

¹⁸They bruised his feet with shackles and placed his neck in irons,

²he had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put in the stocks at the Upper Gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the Lord.

²⁴On receiving this order, he placed them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

⁵Indeed, God is mighty, but He despises no one; He is mighty in strength of understanding.

²⁵Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear now, O house of Israel: Is it My way that is unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust?

²“Do you think this is just? You say, ‘I am more righteous than God.’

¹⁷I too will answer; yes, I will declare what I know.

¹⁷Could one who hates justice govern? Will you condemn the just and mighty One,

¹⁸who says to kings, ‘You are worthless!’ and to nobles, ‘You are wicked,’

¹⁴Indeed, these are but the fringes of His ways; how faint is the whisper we hear of Him! Who then can understand the thunder of His power?”

²“Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let him who argues with God give an answer.”

⁹Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker—one clay pot among many. Does the clay ask the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘He has no hands’?

³⁴“Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor?”

³⁵All the peoples of the earth are counted as nothing, and He does as He pleases with the army of heaven and the peoples of the earth. There is no one who can restrain His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’”

¹⁰I declare the end from the beginning, and from ancient times what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.’

⁷Jesus replied, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority.

²⁴Because you refused my call, and no one took my outstretched hand,

¹⁰And the Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they did not listen.

¹¹God has spoken once; I have heard this twice: that power belongs to God,

²⁹Behold, all these things God does to a man, two or even three times,

¹⁹And this is the verdict: The Light has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the Light because their deeds were evil.

²⁵Then Jesus said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!

⁶He said, “Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, will reveal Myself to him in a vision; I will speak to him in a dream.

¹³In disquieting visions in the night, when deep sleep falls on men,

³One night, however, God came to Abimelech in a dream and told him, “You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken, for she is a married woman.”

²⁴But that night God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream and warned him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, either good or bad.”

⁵I had a dream, and it frightened me; while I was in my bed, the images and visions in my mind alarmed me.

¹⁸While he was speaking with me, I fell into a deep sleep, with my face to the ground. Then he touched me, helped me to my feet,

¹⁰He opens their ears to correction and commands that they turn from iniquity.

¹⁵God rescues the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ears in oppression.

⁶Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but my ears You have opened. Burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not require.

⁵The Lord God has opened My ears, and I have not been rebellious, nor have I turned back.

⁴⁵Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.

¹⁰Make the hearts of this people calloused; deafen their ears and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

¹⁰Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.

¹¹The proud look of man will be humbled, and the loftiness of men brought low; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.

²⁵But because his heart was proud, Hezekiah did not repay the favor shown to him. Therefore wrath came upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem.

⁶Then God said to Abimelech in the dream, “Yes, I know that you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against Me. That is why I did not let you touch her.

¹⁹While Pilate was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent him this message: “Have nothing to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered terribly in a dream today because of Him.”

⁷or because of these surpassingly great revelations. So to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.

²⁸He redeemed my soul from going down to the Pit, and I will live to see the light.’

³⁰to bring back his soul from the Pit, that he may be enlightened with the light of life.

⁹The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance.

⁴Or do you disregard the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you to repentance?

²²He despairs of his return from darkness; he is marked for the sword.

²⁴to be gracious to him and say, ‘Spare him from going down to the Pit; I have found his ransom,’

¹⁷Night pierces my bones, and my gnawing pains never rest.

¹⁷Blessed indeed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.

¹⁸For He wounds, but He also binds; He strikes, but His hands also heal.

⁷¹It was good for me to be afflicted, that I might learn Your statutes.

³²But when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.

¹²Blessed is the man You discipline, O Lord, and teach from Your law,

⁵So know in your heart that just as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.

¹⁷Fools, in their rebellious ways, and through their iniquities, suffered affliction.

¹⁸They loathed all food and drew near to the gates of death.

²⁴I sigh when food is put before me, and my groans pour out like water.

¹⁹Then I said, ‘How I long to make you My sons and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance of all the nations!’ I thought you would call Me ‘Father’ and never turn away from following Me.

¹¹Therefore, because you trample on the poor and exact from him a tax of grain, you will never live in the stone houses you have built; you will never drink the wine from the lush vineyards you have planted.

⁶When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.

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

²⁸So man wastes away like something rotten, like a moth-eaten garment.

⁵My flesh is clothed with worms and encrusted with dirt; my skin is cracked and festering.

¹¹At the end of your life you will groan when your flesh and your body are spent,

²²He feels only the pain of his own body and mourns only for himself.”

³For my days vanish like smoke, and my bones burn like glowing embers.

⁴My heart is afflicted, and withered like grass; I even forget to eat my bread.

¹⁶But when the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord relented from the calamity and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand now!” At that time the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

²⁸He redeemed my soul from going down to the Pit, and I will live to see the light.’

¹⁰And do not complain, as some of them did, and were killed by the destroying angel.

³For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol.

⁴I am counted among those descending to the Pit. I am like a man without strength.

¹“My spirit is broken; my days are extinguished; the grave awaits me.

²¹Sounds of terror fill his ears; in his prosperity the destroyer attacks him.

¹“Behold, I will send My messenger, who will prepare the way before Me. Then the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple—the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight—see, He is coming,” says the Lord of Hosts.

²⁸While my soul was still searching but not finding, among a thousand I have found one upright man, but among all these I have not found one such woman.

²⁰Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ: Be reconciled to God.

¹³Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, delivered the message of the Lord to the people: “I am with you,” declares the Lord.

⁷For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the Lord of Hosts.

⁷⁵I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are righteous, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me.

⁷No man can possibly redeem his brother or pay his ransom to God.

⁸For the redemption of his soul is costly, and never can payment suffice,

²⁸just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”

¹⁸For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your forefathers,

¹⁹but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or spot.

¹⁸to preserve his soul from the Pit and his life from perishing by the sword.

⁴I will heal their apostasy; I will freely love them, for My anger has turned away from them.

²¹Reconcile now and be at peace with Him; thereby good will come to you.

⁵who satisfies you with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

¹⁴So Naaman went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored and became like that of a little child, and he was clean.

¹⁰Now behold, as the Lord promised, He has kept me alive these forty-five years since He spoke this word to Moses, while Israel wandered in the wilderness. So here I am today, eighty-five years old,

¹¹still as strong today as I was the day Moses sent me out. As my strength was then, so it is now for war, for going out, and for coming in.

⁷Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak, and his vitality had not diminished.

¹⁶After this, Job lived 140 years and saw his children and their children to the fourth generation.

¹⁵There I will give back her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor into a gateway of hope. There she will respond as she did in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt.

¹⁵Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.”

⁵For His anger is fleeting, but His favor lasts a lifetime. Weeping may stay the night, but joy comes in the morning.

²⁸You have made known to me the paths of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence.’

¹¹“Get up!” the Lord told him. “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying.

¹⁹O people in Zion who dwell in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. He will surely be gracious when you cry for help; when He hears, He will answer you.

¹⁵When he calls out to Me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him.

²¹What fruit did you reap at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? The outcome of those things is death.

¹³Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” “The Lord has taken away your sin,” Nathan replied. “You will not die.

²The Lord looks down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if any understand, if any seek God.

¹⁸I have surely heard Ephraim’s moaning: ‘You disciplined me severely, like an untrained calf. Restore me, that I may return, for You are the Lord my God.

¹⁹After I returned, I repented; and after I was instructed, I struck my thigh in grief. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’

²⁶What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

⁸If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

⁹If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

²⁴to be gracious to him and say, ‘Spare him from going down to the Pit; I have found his ransom,’

⁹May its morning stars grow dark; may it wait in vain for daylight; may it not see the breaking of dawn.

¹⁶Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child, like an infant who never sees daylight?

²²He draws near to the Pit, and his life to the messengers of death.

²⁰Why is light given to the miserable, and life to the bitter of soul,

²⁰so that he detests his bread, and his soul loathes his favorite food.

¹¹In Him we were also chosen as God’s own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will,

¹³For it is God who works in you to will and to act on behalf of His good purpose.

⁶There are different ways of working, but the same God works all things in all people.

²¹equip you with every good thing to do His will. And may He accomplish in us what is pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

⁵And it is God who has prepared us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a pledge of what is to come.

¹⁰So the king of Israel sent word to the place the man of God had pointed out. Time and again Elisha warned the king, so that he was on his guard in such places.

¹³For You have delivered my soul from death, and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.

¹⁷Surely for my own welfare I had such great anguish; but Your love has delivered me from the pit of oblivion, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back.

²⁸He redeemed my soul from going down to the Pit, and I will live to see the light.’

¹For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. I waited patiently for the Lord; He inclined to me and heard my cry.

²He lifted me up from the pit of despair, out of the miry clay; He set my feet upon a rock, and made my footsteps firm.

¹⁸to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those sanctified by faith in Me.’

¹⁷I will not die, but I will live and proclaim what the Lord has done.

¹⁸The Lord disciplined me severely, but He has not given me over to death.

²“How long until you end these speeches? Show some sense, and then we can talk.

²“Listen carefully to my words; let this be your consolation to me.

⁶Hear now my argument, and listen to the plea of my lips.

¹¹Indeed, I waited while you spoke; I listened to your reasoning; as you searched for words,

⁵Is not your wickedness great? Are not your iniquities endless?

⁶For you needlessly demanded security from your brothers and deprived the naked of their clothing.

⁴But you even undermine the fear of God and hinder meditation before Him.

⁵For your iniquity instructs your mouth, and you choose the language of the crafty.

⁵I will never say that you are right; I will maintain my integrity until I die.

²⁷Behold, I know your thoughts full well, the schemes by which you would wrong me.

¹¹Come, children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.

⁵O simple ones, learn to be shrewd; O fools, gain understanding.

³My words are from an upright heart, and my lips speak sincerely what I know.

¹Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction; pay attention and gain understanding.

²For I give you sound teaching; do not abandon my directive.

¹My son, pay attention to my wisdom; incline your ear to my insight,

²that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge.

³My mouth will impart wisdom, and the meditation of my heart will bring understanding.