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29Job again took up his discourse and said:

31“I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I look upon a virgin? ²What would be my portion from God above, and my heritage from the Almighty on high? ³Does not calamity befall the unrighteous, and disaster the workers of iniquity? ⁴Does he not see my ways, and number all my steps? ⁵“If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot has hurried to deceit— ⁶let me be weighed in a just balance, and let God know my integrity!— ⁷if my step has turned aside from the way, and my heart has followed my eyes, and if any spot has clung to my hands; ⁸then let me sow, and another eat; and let what grows for me be rooted out.

⁹“If my heart has been enticed by a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door; ¹⁰then let my wife grind for another, and let other men kneel over her. ¹¹For that would be a heinous crime; that would be a criminal offense; ¹²for that would be a fire consuming down to Abaddon, and it would burn to the root all my harvest. ¹³“If I have rejected the cause of my male or female slaves, when they brought a complaint against me; ¹⁴what then shall I do when God rises up? When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him? ¹⁵Did not he who made me in the womb make them? And did not one fashion us in the womb?

¹⁶“If I have withheld anything that the poor desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail, ¹⁷or have eaten my morsel alone, and the orphan has not eaten from it— ¹⁸for from my youth I reared the orphan like a father, and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow— ¹⁹if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, or a poor person without covering, ²⁰whose loins have not blessed me, and who was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; ²¹if I have raised my hand against the orphan, because I saw I had supporters at the gate; ²²then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder, and let my arm be broken from its socket. ²³For I was in terror of calamity from God, and I could not have faced his majesty.

15Then certain individuals came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” ²And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to discuss this question with the apostles and the elders. ³So they were sent on their way by the church, and as they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, they reported the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the believers. ⁴When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them. ⁵But some believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and said, “It is necessary for them to be circumcised and ordered to keep the law of Moses.”

⁶The apostles and the elders met together to consider this matter. ⁷After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “My brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that I should be the one through whom the Gentiles would hear the message of the good news and become believers. ⁸And God, who knows the human heart, testified to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us; ⁹and in cleansing their hearts by faith he has made no distinction between them and us. ¹⁰Now therefore why are you putting God to the test by placing on the neck of the disciples a yoke that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear? ¹¹On the contrary, we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”