Job 34

²⁰Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature.

⁵let the wise listen and gain instruction, and the discerning acquire wise counsel

¹⁵I speak to reasonable people; judge for yourselves what I say.

¹¹Does not the ear test words as the tongue tastes its food?

¹⁵The spiritual man judges all things, but he himself is not subject to anyone’s judgment.

¹⁴But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained their senses to distinguish good from evil.

²Behold, I will open my mouth; my address is on the tip of my tongue.

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

³⁰Is there iniquity on my tongue? Can my mouth not discern malice?

²¹but test all things. Hold fast to what is good.

¹¹When Cephas came to Antioch, however, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.

¹²For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself, for fear of those in the circumcision group.

²Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases?

³Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!

⁷Behold, all you Israelites, give your advice and verdict here and now.”

³⁰And everyone who saw it said, “Nothing like this has been seen or done from the day the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt until this day. Think it over, take counsel, and speak up!”

²Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.

²“As surely as God lives, who has deprived me of justice—the Almighty, who has embittered my soul—

⁹‘I am pure, without transgression; I am clean, with no iniquity in me.

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

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

¹⁷For He would crush me with a tempest and multiply my wounds without cause.

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

⁴For the arrows of the Almighty have pierced me; my spirit drinks in their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.

¹³His archers surround me. He pierces my kidneys without mercy and spills my gall on the ground.

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

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

¹⁶how much less man, who is vile and corrupt, who drinks injustice like water?

¹⁹because when such a person hears the words of this oath, he invokes a blessing on himself, saying, ‘I will have peace, even though I walk in the stubbornness of my own heart.’ This will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry.

²²“How long, O simple ones, will you love your simple ways? How long will scoffers delight in their scorn and fools hate knowledge?

¹⁷For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.

¹Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers.

³³Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good character.”

²⁰He who walks with the wise will become wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.

⁴I do not sit with deceitful men, nor keep company with hypocrites.

¹⁸When you see a thief, you befriend him, and throw in your lot with adulterers.

¹²to deliver you from the way of evil, from the man who speaks perversity,

¹⁴Yet they say to God: ‘Leave us alone! For we have no desire to know Your ways.

¹⁵Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him, and what would we gain if we pray to Him?’

³For you ask, ‘What does it profit me, and what benefit do I gain apart from sin?’

¹⁴You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What have we gained by keeping His requirements and walking mournfully before the Lord of Hosts?

²²It is all the same, and so I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’

²³When the scourge brings sudden death, He mocks the despair of the innocent.

⁴Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.

¹⁰Will he delight in the Almighty? Will he call upon God at all times?

¹⁴What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Certainly not!

⁴He is the Rock, His work is perfect; all His ways are just. A God of faithfulness without injustice, righteous and upright is He.

⁷And now, may the fear of the Lord be upon you. Be careful what you do, for with the Lord our God there is no injustice or partiality or bribery.”

³Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?

¹³When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone.

²⁵Far be it from You to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Will not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?”

¹⁰For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive his due for the things done in the body, whether good or bad.

⁶God “will repay each one according to his deeds.”

¹²“Behold, I am coming soon, and My reward is with Me, to give to each one according to what he has done.

¹²and loving devotion to You, O Lord. For You will repay each man according to his deeds.

²⁷For the Son of Man will come in His Father’s glory with His angels, and then He will repay each one according to what he has done.

¹⁹the One great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are on all the ways of the sons of men, to reward each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds.

³Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?

¹⁷The Lord is righteous in all His ways and kind in all His deeds.

⁷For the Lord is righteous; He loves justice. The upright will see His face.

¹²Are You not from everlasting, O Lord, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. O Lord, You have appointed them to execute judgment; O Rock, You have established them for correction.

¹³Your eyes are too pure to look upon evil, and You cannot tolerate wrongdoing. So why do You tolerate the faithless? Why are You silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?

¹¹Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the splendor and the majesty, for everything in heaven and on earth belongs to You. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom, and You are exalted as head over all.

¹³Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, or informed Him as His counselor?

¹⁴Whom did He consult to enlighten Him, and who taught Him the paths of justice? Who imparted knowledge to Him and showed Him the way of understanding?

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

³⁵“Who has first given to God, that God should repay him?”

²³Who has appointed His way for Him, or told Him, ‘You have done wrong’?

⁸Would you really annul My justice? Would you condemn Me to justify yourself?

⁹Do you have an arm like God’s? Can you thunder with a voice like His?

²³From everlasting I was established, from the beginning, before the earth began.

²⁴When there were no watery depths, I was brought forth, when no springs were overflowing with water.

²⁹When You hide Your face, they are terrified; when You take away their breath, they die and return to dust.

⁴God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has resisted Him and prospered?

¹⁷What is man that You should exalt him, that You should set Your heart upon him,

²²They will be gathered together like prisoners in a pit. They will be confined to a dungeon and punished after many days.

¹⁹By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground—because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”

⁷before the dust returns to the ground from which it came and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

¹⁶For I will not accuse you forever, nor will I always be angry; for then the spirit of man would grow weak before Me—the breath of life I have made.

³You return man to dust, saying, “Return, O sons of mortals.”

⁴For in Your sight a thousand years are but a day that passes, or a watch of the night.

²³Yes, I know that You will bring me down to death, to the place appointed for all the living.

⁴I am not angry. If only thorns and briers confronted Me, I would march and trample them, I would burn them to the ground.

²What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you.

³Yet I desire to speak to the Almighty and argue my case before God.

³But I also have a mind; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these?

²⁵Far be it from You to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Will not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?”

¹⁴What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Certainly not!

⁸Would you really annul My justice? Would you condemn Me to justify yourself?

³The God of Israel spoke; the Rock of Israel said to me, ‘He who rules the people with justice, who rules in the fear of God,

⁵But if our unrighteousness highlights the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unjust to inflict His wrath on us? I am speaking in human terms.

⁶Certainly not! In that case, how could God judge the world?

²²In all this, Job did not sin or charge God with wrongdoing.

²⁸You must not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people.

²⁶It is surely not good to punish the innocent or to flog a noble for his honesty.

⁷Pay everyone what you owe him: taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due.

³Then Paul said to him, “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit here to judge me according to the law, yet you yourself violate the law by commanding that I be struck.”

⁸Yet in the same way these dreamers defile their bodies, reject authority, and slander glorious beings.

⁵“Brothers,” Paul replied, “I was not aware that he was the high priest, for it is written: ‘Do not speak evil about the ruler of your people.’”

¹⁷For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God, showing no partiality and accepting no bribe.

⁵Listen, my beloved brothers: Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him?

³⁴Then Peter began to speak: “I now truly understand that God does not show favoritism,

¹¹For God does not show favoritism.

²⁵Whoever does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism.

⁷And now, may the fear of the Lord be upon you. Be careful what you do, for with the Lord our God there is no injustice or partiality or bribery.”

¹⁹How suddenly they are laid waste, completely swept away by terrors!

³⁰And the Lord will cause His majestic voice to be heard and His mighty arm to be revealed, striking in angry wrath with a flame of consuming fire, and with cloudburst, storm, and hailstones.

³¹For Assyria will be shattered at the voice of the Lord; He will strike them with His scepter.

³⁷In the morning when Nabal was sober, his wife told him about these events, and his heart failed within him, and he became like a stone.

³⁸About ten days later, the Lord struck Nabal dead.

²⁰But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?’

¹³this iniquity of yours is like a breach about to fail, a bulge in a high wall, whose collapse will come suddenly—in an instant!

³⁸One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer put him to the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat. And his son Esar-haddon reigned in his place.

³The eyes of the Lord are in every place, observing the evil and the good.

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

²¹For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the Lord, and the Lord examines all his paths.

¹⁷For My eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from My face, and their guilt is not concealed from My eyes.

¹⁹the One great in counsel and mighty in deed, whose eyes are on all the ways of the sons of men, to reward each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds.

²³Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns.

¹³Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight; everything is uncovered and exposed before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

²Though they dig down to Sheol, from there My hand will take them; and though they climb up to heaven, from there I will pull them down.

³Though they hide themselves atop Carmel, there I will track them and seize them; and though they hide from Me at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent to bite them.

²⁹The way of the Lord is a refuge to the upright, but destruction awaits those who do evil.

¹¹If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me, and the light become night around me”—

¹²even the darkness is not dark to You, but the night shines like the day, for darkness is as light to You.

²⁴“Can a man hide in secret places where I cannot see him?” declares the Lord. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the Lord.

⁵May darkness and gloom reclaim it, and a cloud settle over it; may the blackness of the day overwhelm it.

⁷To You, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but this day we are covered with shame—the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, and all Israel near and far, in all the countries to which You have driven us because of our unfaithfulness to You.

⁸O Lord, we are covered with shame—our kings, our leaders, and our fathers—because we have sinned against You.

¹³⁷Righteous are You, O Lord, and upright are Your judgments.

¹³After all that has come upon us because of our evil deeds and our great guilt (though You, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserve and have given us such a remnant as this),

²⁰But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, “Why did You make me like this?”

¹¹Surely He knows the deceit of men. If He sees iniquity, does He not take note?

³A bruised reed He will not break and a smoldering wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice.

⁷He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the dump

⁸to seat them with nobles, with the princes of His people.

²¹He changes the times and seasons; He removes kings and establishes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning.

⁴May he vindicate the afflicted among the people; may he save the children of the needy and crush the oppressor.

⁵They crush Your people, O Lord; they oppress Your heritage.

⁹You will break them with an iron scepter; You will shatter them like pottery.”

²⁸PERES means that your kingdom has been divided and given over to the Medes and Persians.”

²⁹Then Belshazzar gave the command, and they clothed Daniel in purple, placed a gold chain around his neck, and proclaimed him the third highest ruler in the kingdom.

²⁰They die in an instant, in the middle of the night. The people convulse and pass away; the mighty are removed without human hand.

²But they fail to consider in their hearts that I remember all their evil. Now their deeds are all around them; they are before My face.

¹⁵He shapes the hearts of each; He considers all their works.

²For you are fully aware that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

¹⁸“And I, knowing their deeds and thoughts, am coming to gather all nations and tongues, and they will come and see My glory.

⁷The Lord has sworn by the Pride of Jacob: “I will never forget any of their deeds.

¹⁰The righteous will rejoice when they see they are avenged; they will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked.

¹¹Then men will say, “There is surely a reward for the righteous! There is surely a God who judges the earth!”

⁹Instead, you must surely kill him. Your hand must be the first against him to put him to death, and then the hands of all the people.

¹⁰Stone him to death for trying to turn you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

²⁰But those who persist in sin should be rebuked in front of everyone, so that the others will stand in fear of sin.

¹¹This is what the Lord says: ‘I will raise up adversity against you from your own house. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to another, and he will lie with them in broad daylight.

¹²You have acted in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’”

²⁰Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced for you His judgment against her.

²⁴The sins of some men are obvious, going ahead of them to judgment; but the sins of others do not surface until later.

¹¹“I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned away from following Me and has not carried out My instructions.” And Samuel was distressed and cried out to the Lord all that night.

⁵Since they show no regard for the works of the Lord or what His hands have done, He will tear them down and never rebuild them.

¹²At their feasts are the lyre and harp, tambourines and flutes and wine. They disregard the actions of the Lord and fail to see the work of His hands.

³⁹But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

³¹On that day, let no one on the housetop come down to retrieve his possessions. Likewise, let no one in the field return for anything he has left behind.

³²Remember Lot’s wife!

³⁸But Paul thought it best not to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not accompanied them in the work.

⁴Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.

⁷The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the affliction of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their oppressors, and I am aware of their sufferings.

⁹Men cry out under great oppression; they plead for relief from the arm of the mighty.

⁹And now the cry of the Israelites has reached Me, and I have seen how severely the Egyptians are oppressing them.

⁵“For the cause of the oppressed and for the groaning of the needy, I will now arise,” says the Lord. “I will bring safety to him who yearns.”

¹²because I rescued the poor who cried out and the fatherless who had no helper.

¹³The dying man blessed me, and I made the widow’s heart sing for joy.

¹³But He is unchangeable, and who can oppose Him? He does what He desires.

²⁷Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled; do not be afraid.

³You will keep in perfect peace the steadfast of mind, because he trusts in You.

⁹Hide not Your face from me, nor turn away Your servant in anger. You have been my helper; do not leave me or forsake me, O God of my salvation.

³¹What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

³²He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, freely give us all things?

⁷And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

²When the righteous flourish, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan.

³A man who loves wisdom brings joy to his father, but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth.

⁸The wicked wander freely, and vileness is exalted among men.

³One of the heads of the beast appeared to have been mortally wounded. But the mortal wound was healed, and the whole world marveled and followed the beast.

⁴They worshiped the dragon who had given authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can wage war against it?”

⁴He will oppose and exalt himself above every so-called god or object of worship. So he will seat himself in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.

⁵Do you not remember that I told you these things while I was still with you?

²¹For His eyes are on the ways of a man, and He sees his every step.

¹⁶You have kept the statutes of Omri and all the practices of Ahab’s house; you have followed their counsel. Therefore I will make you a desolation, and your inhabitants an object of contempt; you will bear the scorn of the nations.”

²⁷Then he sings before men with these words: ‘I have sinned and perverted what was right; yet I did not get what I deserved.

⁹Because I have sinned against Him, I must endure the rage of the Lord, until He argues my case and executes justice for me. He will bring me into the light; I will see His righteousness.

¹³After all that has come upon us because of our evil deeds and our great guilt (though You, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserve and have given us such a remnant as this),

¹⁴shall we again break Your commandments and intermarry with the peoples who commit these abominations? Would You not become so angry with us as to wipe us out, leaving no remnant or survivor?

³³You are just in all that has befallen us, because You have acted faithfully, while we have acted wickedly.

³⁴Our kings and leaders and priests and fathers did not obey Your law or listen to Your commandments and warnings that You gave them.

⁴¹and I acted with hostility toward them and brought them into the land of their enemies—and if their uncircumcised hearts will be humbled and they will make amends for their iniquity,

⁷To You, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but this day we are covered with shame—the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, and all Israel near and far, in all the countries to which You have driven us because of our unfaithfulness to You.

⁸O Lord, we are covered with shame—our kings, our leaders, and our fathers—because we have sinned against You.

⁸I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will give you counsel and watch over you.

⁴Show me Your ways, O Lord; teach me Your paths.

⁵Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; all day long I wait for You.

¹²Who can discern his own errors? Cleanse me from my hidden faults.

²³Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns.

²⁴See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the way everlasting.

⁸Let me hear Your loving devotion in the morning, for I have put my trust in You. Teach me the way I should walk, for to You I lift up my soul.

⁹Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord; I flee to You for refuge.

²I will say to God: Do not condemn me! Let me know why You prosecute me.

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

¹¹For according to a man’s deeds He repays him; according to a man’s ways He brings consequences.

³¹If the righteous receive their due on earth, how much more the ungodly and the sinner!

⁶The Lord does all that pleases Him in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and in all their depths.

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’?

³⁵“Who has first given to God, that God should repay him?”

¹⁰Therefore listen to me, O men of understanding. Far be it from God to do wrong, and from the Almighty to act unjustly.

⁴Let us choose for ourselves what is right; let us learn together what is good.

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

¹⁵I speak to reasonable people; judge for yourselves what I say.

¹⁶If you have understanding, hear this; listen to my words.

¹⁶So Job opens his mouth in vain and multiplies words without knowledge.”

²“Who is this who obscures My counsel by words without knowledge?

²What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you.

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

³You asked, ‘Who is this who conceals My counsel without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.

¹¹See how blessed we consider those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen the outcome from the Lord. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

⁷Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?

¹“Why does the Almighty not reserve times for judgment? Why may those who know Him never see His days?

³You have tried my heart; You have visited me in the night. You have tested me and found no evil; I have resolved not to sin with my mouth.

⁸He keeps company with evildoers and walks with wicked men.

⁹For he has said, ‘It profits a man nothing that he should delight in God.’

¹⁵Will you stay on the ancient path that wicked men have trod?

²³It claps its hands at him and hisses him out of his place.

¹⁹If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best of the land.

²⁰But if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

²³For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance is like the wickedness of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has rejected you as king.”

²“Should this stream of words go unanswered and such a speaker be vindicated?

³Should your babbling put others to silence? Will you scoff without rebuke?

²“How long will you go on saying such things? The words of your mouth are a blustering wind.

³Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?

²“Even today my complaint is bitter. His hand is heavy despite my groaning.