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18  The Lord knows the days of the godly, ♦︎
   and their inheritance shall stand for ever.
19  They shall not be put to shame in the perilous time, ♦︎
   and in days of famine they shall have enough.
20  But the wicked shall perish;
      like the glory of the meadows
      the enemies of the Lord shall vanish; ♦︎
   they shall vanish like smoke.
21  The wicked borrow and do not repay, ♦︎
   but the righteous are generous in giving.
22  For those who are blest by God shall possess the land, ♦︎
   but those who are cursed by him shall be rooted out.
23  When your steps are guided by the Lord ♦︎
   and you delight in his way,
24  Though you stumble, you shall not fall headlong, ♦︎
   for the Lord holds you fast by the hand.
25  I have been young and now am old, ♦︎
   yet never have I seen the righteous forsaken,
      or their children begging their bread.
26  All the day long they are generous in lending, ♦︎
   and their children also shall be blest.
27  Depart from evil and do good ♦︎
   and you shall abide for ever.
28  For the Lord loves the thing that is right ♦︎
   and will not forsake his faithful ones.
29  The unjust shall be destroyed for ever, ♦︎
   and the offspring of the wicked shall be rooted out.
30  The righteous shall possess the land ♦︎
   and dwell in it for ever.
31  The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom, ♦︎
   and their tongue speaks the thing that is right.
32  The law of their God is in their heart ♦︎
   and their footsteps shall not slide.
33  The wicked spy on the righteous ♦︎
   and seek occasion to slay them.
34  The Lord will not leave them in their hand, ♦︎
   nor let them be condemned when they are judged.
35  Wait upon the Lord and keep his way; ♦︎
   he will raise you up to possess the land,
      and when the wicked are uprooted, you shall see it.
36  I myself have seen the wicked in great power ♦︎
   and flourishing like a tree in full leaf.
37  I went by and lo, they were gone; ♦︎
   I sought them, but they could nowhere be found.
38  Keep innocence and heed the thing that is right, ♦︎
   for that will bring you peace at the last.
39  But the sinners shall perish together, ♦︎
   and the posterity of the wicked shall be rooted out.
40  The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord; ♦︎
   he is their stronghold in the time of trouble.
41  The Lord shall stand by them and deliver them; ♦︎
   he shall deliver them from the wicked and shall save them,
      because they have put their trust in him.

Job’s Three Friends

11 Now when Job’s three friends heard of all these troubles that had come upon him, each of them set out from his home—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They met together to go and console and comfort him. ¹²When they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him, and they raised their voices and wept aloud; they tore their robes and threw dust in the air upon their heads. ¹³They sat with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.

Job Curses the Day He Was Born

3After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. ²Job said:
³ ‘Let the day perish on which I was born,
   and the night that said,
   “A man-child is conceived.”
⁴ Let that day be darkness!
   May God above not seek it,
   or light shine on it.
⁵ Let gloom and deep darkness claim it.
   Let clouds settle upon it;
   let the blackness of the day terrify it.
⁶ That night—let thick darkness seize it!
   let it not rejoice among the days of the year;
   let it not come into the number of the months.
⁷ Yes, let that night be barren;
   let no joyful cry be heard^* in it.
⁸ Let those curse it who curse the Sea,^*
   those who are skilled to rouse up Leviathan.
⁹ Let the stars of its dawn be dark;
   let it hope for light, but have none;
   may it not see the eyelids of the morning—
¹⁰ because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb,
   and hide trouble from my eyes.

¹¹ ‘Why did I not die at birth,
   come forth from the womb and expire?
¹² Why were there knees to receive me,
   or breasts for me to suck?
¹³ Now I would be lying down and quiet;
   I would be asleep; then I would be at rest
¹⁴ with kings and counsellors of the earth
   who rebuild ruins for themselves,
¹⁵ or with princes who have gold,
   who fill their houses with silver.
¹⁶ Or why was I not buried like a stillborn child,
   like an infant that never sees the light?
¹⁷ There the wicked cease from troubling,
   and there the weary are at rest.
¹⁸ There the prisoners are at ease together;
   they do not hear the voice of the taskmaster.
¹⁹ The small and the great are there,
   and the slaves are free from their masters.

²⁰ ‘Why is light given to one in misery,
   and life to the bitter in soul,
²¹ who long for death, but it does not come,
   and dig for it more than for hidden treasures;
²² who rejoice exceedingly,
   and are glad when they find the grave?
²³ Why is light given to one who cannot see the way,
   whom God has fenced in?
²⁴ For my sighing comes like^* my bread,
   and my groanings are poured out like water.
²⁵ Truly the thing that I fear comes upon me,
   and what I dread befalls me.
²⁶ I am not at ease, nor am I quiet;
   I have no rest; but trouble comes.’

The Conversion of Saul

9Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest ²and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. ³Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. ⁴He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ ⁵He asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ The reply came, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. ⁶But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.’ ⁷The men who were travelling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. ⁸Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. ⁹For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.