Bible Browser

40And the Lord said to Job:
² ‘Shall a fault-finder contend with the Almighty?^*
   Anyone who argues with God must respond.’

Job’s Response to God

³ Then Job answered the Lord:
⁴ ‘See, I am of small account; what shall I answer you?
   I lay my hand on my mouth.
⁵ I have spoken once, and I will not answer;
   twice, but will proceed no further.’

God’s Challenge to Job

6 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind:
⁷ ‘Gird up your loins like a man;
   I will question you, and you declare to me.
⁸ Will you even put me in the wrong?
   Will you condemn me that you may be justified?
⁹ Have you an arm like God,
   and can you thunder with a voice like his?

¹⁰ ‘Deck yourself with majesty and dignity;
   clothe yourself with glory and splendour.
¹¹ Pour out the overflowings of your anger,
   and look on all who are proud, and abase them.
¹² Look on all who are proud, and bring them low;
   tread down the wicked where they stand.
¹³ Hide them all in the dust together;
   bind their faces in the world below.^*
14 Then I will also acknowledge to you
   that your own right hand can give you victory.

¹⁵ ‘Look at Behemoth,
   which I made just as I made you;
   it eats grass like an ox.
¹⁶ Its strength is in its loins,
   and its power in the muscles of its belly.
¹⁷ It makes its tail stiff like a cedar;
   the sinews of its thighs are knit together.
¹⁸ Its bones are tubes of bronze,
   its limbs like bars of iron.

¹⁹ ‘It is the first of the great acts of God—
   only its Maker can approach it with the sword.
²⁰ For the mountains yield food for it
   where all the wild animals play.
²¹ Under the lotus plants it lies,
   in the covert of the reeds and in the marsh.
²² The lotus trees cover it for shade;
   the willows of the wadi surround it.
²³ Even if the river is turbulent, it is not frightened;
   it is confident though Jordan rushes against its mouth.
²⁴ Can one take it with hooks^*
   or pierce its nose with a snare?

41^*‘Can you draw out Leviathan^* with a fish-hook,
   or press down its tongue with a cord?
² Can you put a rope in its nose,
   or pierce its jaw with a hook?
³ Will it make many supplications to you?
   Will it speak soft words to you?
⁴ Will it make a covenant with you
   to be taken as your servant for ever?
⁵ Will you play with it as with a bird,
   or will you put it on a leash for your girls?
⁶ Will traders bargain over it?
   Will they divide it up among the merchants?
⁷ Can you fill its skin with harpoons,
   or its head with fishing-spears?
⁸ Lay hands on it;
   think of the battle; you will not do it again!
^{9 *}Any hope of capturing it^* will be disappointed;
   were not even the gods^* overwhelmed at the sight of it?
¹⁰ No one is so fierce as to dare to stir it up.
   Who can stand before it?^*
11 Who can confront it^* and be safe?^*
   —under the whole heaven, who?^*

¹² ‘I will not keep silence concerning its limbs,
   or its mighty strength, or its splendid frame.
¹³ Who can strip off its outer garment?
   Who can penetrate its double coat of mail?^*
14 Who can open the doors of its face?
   There is terror all around its teeth.
¹⁵ Its back^* is made of shields in rows,
   shut up closely as with a seal.
¹⁶ One is so near to another
   that no air can come between them.
¹⁷ They are joined one to another;
   they clasp each other and cannot be separated.
¹⁸ Its sneezes flash forth light,
   and its eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.
¹⁹ From its mouth go flaming torches;
   sparks of fire leap out.
²⁰ Out of its nostrils comes smoke,
   as from a boiling pot and burning rushes.
²¹ Its breath kindles coals,
   and a flame comes out of its mouth.
²² In its neck abides strength,
   and terror dances before it.
²³ The folds of its flesh cling together;
   it is firmly cast and immovable.
²⁴ Its heart is as hard as stone,
   as hard as the lower millstone.
²⁵ When it raises itself up the gods are afraid;
   at the crashing they are beside themselves.
²⁶ Though the sword reaches it, it does not avail,
   nor does the spear, the dart, or the javelin.
²⁷ It counts iron as straw,
   and bronze as rotten wood.
²⁸ The arrow cannot make it flee;
   slingstones, for it, are turned to chaff.
²⁹ Clubs are counted as chaff;
   it laughs at the rattle of javelins.
³⁰ Its underparts are like sharp potsherds;
   it spreads itself like a threshing-sledge on the mire.
³¹ It makes the deep boil like a pot;
   it makes the sea like a pot of ointment.
³² It leaves a shining wake behind it;
   one would think the deep to be white-haired.
³³ On earth it has no equal,
   a creature without fear.
³⁴ It surveys everything that is lofty;
   it is king over all that are proud.’

Job Is Humbled and Satisfied

42Then Job answered the Lord:
² ‘I know that you can do all things,
   and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
³ “Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?”
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
   things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
⁴ “Hear, and I will speak;
   I will question you, and you declare to me.”
⁵ I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
   but now my eye sees you;
⁶ therefore I despise myself,
   and repent in dust and ashes.’

Job’s Friends Are Humiliated

7 After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite: ‘My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. ⁸Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt-offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has done.’ ⁹So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the Lord had told them; and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.

Job’s Fortunes Are Restored Twofold

10 And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for his friends; and the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. ¹¹Then there came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and they ate bread with him in his house; they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him; and each of them gave him a piece of money^* and a gold ring. ¹²The Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand donkeys. ¹³He also had seven sons and three daughters. ¹⁴He named the first Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. ¹⁵In all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job’s daughters; and their father gave them an inheritance along with their brothers. ¹⁶After this Job lived for one hundred and forty years, and saw his children, and his children’s children, four generations. ¹⁷And Job died, old and full of days.

Psalm 9

God’s Power and Justice

To the leader: according to Muth-labben. A Psalm of David.
¹ I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;
   I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
² I will be glad and exult in you;
   I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

³ When my enemies turned back,
   they stumbled and perished before you.
⁴ For you have maintained my just cause;
   you have sat on the throne giving righteous judgement.

⁵ You have rebuked the nations, you have destroyed the wicked;
   you have blotted out their name for ever and ever.
⁶ The enemies have vanished in everlasting ruins;
   their cities you have rooted out;
   the very memory of them has perished.

⁷ But the Lord sits enthroned for ever,
   he has established his throne for judgement.
⁸ He judges the world with righteousness;
   he judges the peoples with equity.

⁹ The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed,
   a stronghold in times of trouble.
¹⁰ And those who know your name put their trust in you,
   for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.

¹¹ Sing praises to the Lord, who dwells in Zion.
   Declare his deeds among the peoples.
¹² For he who avenges blood is mindful of them;
   he does not forget the cry of the afflicted.

¹³ Be gracious to me, O Lord.
   See what I suffer from those who hate me;
   you are the one who lifts me up from the gates of death,
¹⁴ so that I may recount all your praises,
   and, in the gates of daughter Zion,
   rejoice in your deliverance.

¹⁵ The nations have sunk in the pit that they made;
   in the net that they hid has their own foot been caught.
¹⁶ The Lord has made himself known, he has executed judgement;
   the wicked are snared in the work of their own hands.
          Higgaion. Selah

¹⁷ The wicked shall depart to Sheol,
   all the nations that forget God.

¹⁸ For the needy shall not always be forgotten,
   nor the hope of the poor perish for ever.

¹⁹ Rise up, O Lord! Do not let mortals prevail;
   let the nations be judged before you.
²⁰ Put them in fear, O Lord;
   let the nations know that they are only human.
          Selah

5¹For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

The Nature of Christian Freedom

2 Listen! I, Paul, am telling you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you. ³Once again I testify to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obliged to obey the entire law. ⁴You who want to be justified by the law have cut yourselves off from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. ⁵For through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. ⁶For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working^* through love.

7 You were running well; who prevented you from obeying the truth? ⁸Such persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. ⁹A little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough. ¹⁰I am confident about you in the Lord that you will not think otherwise. But whoever it is that is confusing you will pay the penalty. ¹¹But my friends,^* why am I still being persecuted if I am still preaching circumcision? In that case the offence of the cross has been removed. ¹²I wish those who unsettle you would castrate themselves!

13 For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters;^* only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence,^* but through love become slaves to one another. ¹⁴For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ ¹⁵If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.

The Works of the Flesh

16 Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. ¹⁸But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. ¹⁹Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, ²⁰idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, ²¹envy,^* drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

The Fruit of the Spirit

22 By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, ²³gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. ²⁴And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit. ²⁶Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another.