Read Through the Bible in a Year / January

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Read Through the Bible in a Year / January Index​

January 20/ Genesis 48–50


CHAPTER 48

SOME TIME after these things occurred, someone told Joseph, Behold, your father is sick. And he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim [and went to Goshen].
2 When Jacob was told, Your son Joseph has come to you, Israel collected his strength and sat up on the bed.
3 And Jacob said to Joseph, God Almighty appeared to me at Luz [Bethel] in the land of Canaan and blessed me
4 And said to me, Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make you a multitude of people and will give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession. [Gen. 28:13-22; 35:6-15.]
5 And now your two sons, [Ephraim and Manasseh], who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine. [I am adopting them, and now] as Reuben and Simeon, [they] shall be mine.
6 But other sons who may be born after them shall be your own; and they shall be called after the names of these [two] brothers and reckoned as belonging to them [when they come] into their inheritance.
7 And as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died at my side in the land of Canaan on the way, when yet there was but a little way to come to Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem.
8 When Israel [almost blind] saw Joseph’s sons, he said, Who are these?
9 And Joseph said to his father, They are my sons, whom God has given me in this place. And he said, Bring them to me, I pray you, that I may bless them.
10 Now Israel’s eyes were dim from age, so that he could not see. And Joseph brought them near to him, and he kissed and embraced them.
11 Israel said to Joseph, I had not thought that I would see your face, but see, God has shown me your offspring also.
12 Then Joseph took [the boys] from [his father’s embrace] and he bowed [before him] with his face to the earth.
13 Then Joseph took both [boys], Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel’s left, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel’s right, and brought them close to him.
14 And Israel reached out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, crossing his hands intentionally, for Manasseh was the firstborn.
15 Then [Jacob] blessed Joseph and said, God [Himself ], before Whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac lived and walked habitually, God [Himself ], Who has [been my Shepherd and has led and] fed me from the time I came into being until this day,
16 The redeeming Angel [that is, the Angel the Redeemer—not a created being but the Lord Himself] Who has redeemed me continually from every evil, bless the lads! And let my name be perpetuated in them [may they be worthy of having their names coupled with mine], and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them become a multitude in the midst of the earth.
17 When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on Ephraim’s head, it displeased him; and he held up his father’s hand to move it to Manasseh’s head.
18 And Joseph said, Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn; put your right hand upon his head.
19 But his father refused and said, I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people and shall be great; but his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations.
20 And he blessed them that day, saying, By you shall Israel bless [one another], saying, May God make you like Ephraim and like Manasseh. And he set Ephraim before Manasseh.
21 And Israel said to Joseph, Behold, I [am about to] die, but God will be with you and bring you again to the land of your fathers.
22 Moreover, I have given to you [Joseph] one portion [Shechem, one mountain slope] more than any of your brethren, which I took [reclaiming it] out of the hand of the Amorites with my sword and with my bow. [Gen. 33:18, 19; Josh. 24:32, 33; John 4:5.]


CHAPTER 49

AND JACOB called for his sons and said, Gather yourselves together [around me], that I may tell you what shall befall you in the latter or last days.
2 Gather yourselves together and hear, you sons of Jacob; and hearken to Israel your father.
3 Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, the beginning (the firstfruits) of my manly strength and vigor; [your birthright gave you] the preeminence in dignity and the preeminence in power.
4 But unstable and boiling over like water, you shall not excel and have the preeminence [of the firstborn], because you went to your father’s bed; you defiled it—he went to my couch! [Gen. 35:22.]
5 Simeon and Levi are brothers [equally headstrong, deceitful, vindictive, and cruel]; their swords are weapons of violence. [Gen. 34:25-29.]
6 O my soul, come not into their secret council; unto their assembly let not my honor be united [for I knew nothing of their plot], because in their anger they slew men [an honored man, Shechem, and the Shechemites], and in their self-will they disabled oxen.
7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath, for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.
8 Judah, you are the one whom your brothers shall praise; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down to you.
9 Judah, a lion’s cub! With the prey, my son, you have gone high up [the mountain]. He stooped down, he crouched like a lion, and like a lioness—who dares provoke and rouse him? [Rev. 5:5.]
10 The scepter or leadership shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh [the Messiah, the Peaceful One] comes to Whom it belongs, and to Him shall be the obedience of the people. [Num. 24:17; Ps. 60:7.]
11 Binding His foal to the vine and His donkey’s colt to the choice vine, He washes His garments in wine and His clothes in the blood of grapes. [Isa. 63:1-3; Zech. 9:9; Rev. 19:11-16.]
12 His eyes are darker and more sparkling than wine, and His teeth whiter than milk.
13 Zebulun shall live toward the seashore, and he shall be a haven and a landing place for ships; and his border shall be toward Sidon.
14 Issachar is a strong-boned donkey crouching down between the sheepfolds.
15 And he saw that rest was good and that the land was pleasant; and he bowed his shoulder to bear [his burdens] and became a servant to tribute [subjected to forced labor].
16 Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel.
17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, a horned snake in the path, that bites at the horse’s heels, so that his rider falls backward.
18 I wait for Your salvation, O Lord.
19 Gad—a raiding troop shall raid him, but he shall raid at their heels and assault them [victoriously].
20 Asher’s food [supply] shall be rich and fat, and he shall yield and deliver royal delights.
21 Naphtali is a hind let loose which yields lovely fawns.
22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a well (spring or fountain), whose branches run over the wall.
23 Skilled archers have bitterly attacked and sorely worried him; they have shot at him and persecuted him.
24 But his bow remained strong and steady and rested in the Strength that does not fail him, for the arms of his hands were made strong and active by the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob, by the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, [Gen. 48:15; Deut. 32:4; Isa. 9:6; 49:26.]
25 By the God of your father, Who will help you, and by the Almighty, Who will bless you with blessings of the heavens above, blessings lying in the deep beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb.
26 The blessings of your father [on you] are greater than the blessings of my forefathers [Abraham and Isaac on me] and are as lasting as the bounties of the eternal hills; they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him who was the consecrated one and the one separated from his brethren and [the one who] is prince among them.
27 Benjamin is a ravenous wolf, in the morning devouring the prey and at night dividing the spoil.
28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them as he blessed them, blessing each one according to the blessing suited to him.
29 He charged them and said to them, I am to be gathered to my [departed] people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,
30 In the cave in the field at Machpelah, east of Mamre in the land of Canaan, that Abraham bought, along with the field of Ephron the Hittite, to possess as a cemetery. [Gen. 23:17-20.]
31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife, there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah.
32 The purchase of the field and the cave that is in it was from the sons of Heth.
33 When Jacob had finished commanding his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed and breathed his last and was gathered to his [departed] people.


CHAPTER 50

THEN JOSEPH fell upon his father’s face and wept over him and kissed him.
2 And Joseph ordered his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel.
3 Then forty days were devoted [to this purpose] for him, for that is the customary number of days required for those who are embalmed. And the Egyptians wept and bemoaned him [as they would for royalty] for seventy days.
4 And when the days of his weeping and deep grief were past, Joseph said to [the nobles of] the house of Pharaoh, If now I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, to Pharaoh [for Joseph was dressed in mourning and could not do so himself], saying,
5 My father made me swear, saying, I am about to die; in my tomb which I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me. So now let me go up, I pray you, and bury my father, and I will come again.
6 And Pharaoh said, Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear.
7 And Joseph went up [to Canaan] to bury his father; and with him went all the officials of Pharaoh—the nobles of his court, and the elders of his house and all the nobles and elders of the land of Egypt—
8 And all the household of Joseph and his brethren and his father’s household. Only their little ones and their flocks and herds they left in the land of Goshen.
9 And there went with [Joseph] both chariots and horsemen; and it was a very great company.
10 And they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond [west of] the Jordan, and there they mourned with a great lamentation and extreme demonstrations of sorrow [according to Egyptian custom]; and [Joseph] made a mourning for his father seven days.
11 When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning for the Egyptians. Therefore the place was called Abel-mizraim [mourning of Egypt]; it is west of the Jordan.
12 Thus [Jacob’s] sons did for him as he had commanded them.
13 For his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, east of Mamre, which Abraham bought, along with the field, for a possession as a burying place from Ephron the Hittite.
14 After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brethren and all who had gone up with him.
15 When Joseph’s brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Perhaps now Joseph will hate us and will pay us back for all the evil we did to him.
16 And they sent a messenger to Joseph, saying, Your father commanded before he died, saying,
17 So shall you say to Joseph: Forgive (take up and away all resentment and all claim to requital concerning), I pray you now, the trespass of your brothers and their sin, for they did evil to you. Now, we pray you, forgive the trespass of the servants of your father’s God. And Joseph wept when they spoke thus to him.
18 Then his brothers went and fell down before him, saying, See, we are your servants (your slaves)!
19 And Joseph said to them, Fear not; for am I in the place of God? [Vengeance is His, not mine.]
20 As for you, you thought evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring about that many people should be kept alive, as they are this day.
21 Now therefore, do not be afraid. I will provide for and support you and your little ones. And he comforted them [imparting cheer, hope, strength] and spoke to their hearts [kindly].
22 Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he and his father’s household. And Joseph lived 110 years.
23 And Joseph saw Ephraim’s children of the third generation; the children also of Machir son of Manasseh were brought up on Joseph’s knees.
24 And Joseph said to his brethren, I am going to die. But God will surely visit you and bring you out of this land to the land He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob [to give you].
25 And Joseph took an oath from the sons of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and you will carry up my bones from here.
26 So Joseph died, being 110 years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.

 

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Read Through the Bible in a Year / January Index​

January 21/ Job 1–3

CHAPTER 1

THERE WAS a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, and one who [reverently] feared God and abstained from and shunned evil [because it was wrong].
2 And there were born to him seven sons and three daughters.
3 He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and a very great body of servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the East.
4 His sons used to go and feast in the house of each on his day (birthday) in turn, and they invited their three sisters to eat and drink with them. [Gen. 21:8; 40:20.]
5 And when the days of their feasting were over, Job sent for them to purify and hallow them, and rose up early in the morning and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed or disowned God in their hearts. Thus did Job at all [such] times.
6 Now there was a day when the sons (the angels) of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan (the adversary and accuser) also came among them. [Rev. 12:10.]
7 And the Lord said to Satan, From where did you come? Then Satan answered the Lord, From going to and fro on the earth and from walking up and down on it.
8 And the Lord said to Satan, Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who [reverently] fears God and abstains from and shuns evil [because it is wrong]?
9 Then Satan answered the Lord, Does Job [reverently] fear God for nothing?
10 Have You not put a hedge about him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have conferred prosperity and happiness upon him in the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.
11 But put forth Your hand now and touch all that he has, and he will curse You to Your face.
12 And the Lord said to Satan (the adversary and the accuser), Behold, all that he has is in your power, only upon the man himself put not forth your hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord.
13 And there was a day when [Job’s] sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house [on his birthday],
14 And there came a messenger to Job and said, The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them,
15 And the Sabeans swooped down upon them and took away [the animals]. Indeed, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.
16 While he was yet speaking, there came also another and said, The fire of God (lightning) has fallen from the heavens and has burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.
17 While he was yet speaking, there came also another and said, The Chaldeans divided into three bands and made a raid upon the camels and have taken them away, yes, and have slain the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.
18 While he was yet speaking, there came also another and said, Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house,
19 And behold, there came a great [whirlwind] from the desert, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.
20 Then Job arose and rent his robe and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground and worshiped
21 And said, Naked (without possessions) came I [into this world] from my mother’s womb, and naked (without possessions) shall I depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed (praised and magnified in worship) be the name of the Lord!
22 In all this Job sinned not nor charged God foolishly.


CHAPTER 2

AGAIN THERE was a day when the sons of God [the angels] came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan (the adversary and the accuser) came also among them to present himself before the Lord.
2 And the Lord said to Satan, From where do you come? And Satan (the adversary and the accuser) answered the Lord, From going to and fro on the earth and from walking up and down on it.
3 And the Lord said to Satan, Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who [reverently] fears God and abstains from and shuns all evil [because it is wrong]? And still he holds fast his integrity, although you moved Me against him to destroy him without cause.
4 Then Satan answered the Lord, Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has will he give for his life.
5 But put forth Your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse and renounce You to Your face.
6 And the Lord said to Satan, Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.
7 So Satan went forth from the presence of the Lord and smote Job with loathsome and painful sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.
8 And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself, and he sat [down] among the ashes.
9 Then his wife said to him, Do you still hold fast your blameless uprightness? Renounce God and die!
10 But he said to her, You speak as one of the impious and foolish women would speak. What? Shall we accept [only] good at the hand of God and shall we not accept [also] misfortune and what is of a bad nature? In [spite of] all this, Job did not sin with his lips.
11 Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came each one from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, for they had made an appointment together to come to console with him and to comfort him.
12 And when they looked from afar off and saw him [disfigured] beyond recognition, they lifted up their voices and wept; and each one tore his robe, and they cast dust over their heads toward the heavens.
13 So they sat down with [Job] on the ground for seven days and seven nights, and none spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief and pain were very great.


CHAPTER 3

AFTER THIS, Job opened his mouth and cursed his day (birthday).
2 And Job said,
3 Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night which announced, There is a man-child conceived.
4 Let that day be darkness! May not God above regard it, nor light shine upon it.
5 Let gloom and deep darkness claim it for their own; let a cloud dwell upon it; let all that blackens the day terrify it (the day that I was born).
6 As for 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 solitary and barren; let no joyful voice come into it.
8 Let those curse it who curse the day, who are skilled in rousing up Leviathan.
9 Let the stars of the early dawn of that day be dark; let [the morning] look in vain for the light, nor let it behold the day’s dawning,
10 Because it shut not the doors of my mother’s womb nor hid sorrow and trouble from my eyes.
11 Why was I not stillborn? Why did I not give up the ghost when my mother bore me?
12 Why did the knees receive me? Or why the breasts, that I should suck?
13 For then would I have lain down and been quiet; I would have slept; then would I have been at rest [in death]
14 With kings and counselors of the earth, who built up [now] desolate ruins for themselves,
15 Or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.
16 Or [why] was I not a miscarriage, hidden and put away, as infants who never saw light?
17 There [in death] the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest.
18 There the [captive] prisoners rest together; they hear not the taskmaster’s voice.
19 The small and the great are there, and the servant is free from his master. [Jer. 20:14-18.]
20 Why is light [of life] given to him who is in misery, and life to the bitter in soul,
21 Who long and wait for death, but it comes not, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,
22 Who rejoice exceedingly and are elated when they find the grave?
23 [Why is the light of day given] to a man whose way is hidden, and whom God has hedged in?
24 For my sighing comes before my food, and my groanings are poured out like water.
25 For the thing which I greatly fear comes upon me, and that of which I am afraid befalls me.
26 I was not or am not at ease, nor had I or have I rest, nor was I or am I quiet, yet trouble came and still comes [upon me].

 

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Read Through the Bible in a Year / January Index​

January 22/ Job 4–7


CHAPTER 4

THEN ELIPHAZ the Temanite answered and said,
2 If we venture to converse with you, will you be offended? Yet who can restrain himself from speaking?
3 Behold, you have instructed many, and you have strengthened the weak hands.
4 Your words have held firm him who was falling, and you have strengthened the feeble knees.
5 But now it is come upon you, and you faint and are grieved; it touches you, and you are troubled and dismayed.
6 Is not your [reverent] fear of God your confidence and the integrity and uprightness of your ways your hope?
7 Think [earnestly], I beg of you: who, being innocent, ever perished? Or where were those upright and in right standing with God cut off?
8 As I myself have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble and mischief reap the same.
9 By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of His anger they are consumed.
10 The roaring of the lion and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions are broken.
11 The old and strong lion perishes for lack of prey, and the whelps of the lioness are scattered abroad.
12 Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and my ear received a whisper of it.
13 In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men,
14 Fear came upon me and trembling, which made all my bones shake.
15 Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up!
16 [The spirit] stood still, but I could not discern the appearance of it. A form was before my eyes; there was silence, and then I heard a voice, saying,
17 Can mortal man be just before God, or be more right than He is? Can a man be pure before his Maker, or be more cleansed than He is? [I John 1:7; Rev. 1:5.]
18 Even in His [heavenly] servants He puts no trust or confidence, and His angels He charges with folly and error—
19 How much more those who dwell in houses (bodies) of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who are crushed like the moth.
20 Between morning and evening they are destroyed; without anyone noticing it they perish forever.
21 Is not their tent cord plucked up within them [so that the tent falls]? Do they not die, and that without [acquiring] wisdom?


CHAPTER 5

CALL NOW—is there any who will answer you? And to which of the holy [angels] will you turn?
2 For vexation and rage kill the foolish man; jealousy and indignation slay the simple.
3 I have seen the foolish taking root [and outwardly prospering], but suddenly I saw that his dwelling was cursed [for his doom was certain].
4 His children are far from safety; [involved in their father’s ruin] they are crushed in the [court of justice in the city’s] gate, and there is no one to deliver them.
5 His harvest the hungry eat and take it even [when it grows] among the thorns; the snare opens for [his] wealth.
6 For affliction comes not forth from the dust, neither does trouble spring forth out of the ground.
7 But man is born to trouble as the sparks and the flames fly upward.
8 As for me, I would seek God and inquire of and require Him, and to God would I commit my cause—
9 Who does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number,
10 Who gives rain upon the earth and sends waters upon the fields,
11 So that He sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn He lifts to safety.
12 He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise or anything of [lasting] worth.
13 He catches the [so-called] wise in their own trickiness, and the counsel of the schemers is brought to a quick end. [I Cor. 3:19, 20.]
14 In the daytime they meet in darkness, and at noon they grope as in the night.
15 But [God] saves [the fatherless] from the sword of their mouth, and the needy from the hand of the mighty.
16 So the poor have hope, and iniquity shuts her mouth.
17 Happy and fortunate is the man whom God reproves; so do not despise or reject the correction of the Almighty [subjecting you to trial and suffering].
18 For He wounds, but He binds up; He smites, but His hands heal.
19 He will rescue you in six troubles; in seven nothing that is evil [for you] will touch you.
20 In famine He will redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword.
21 You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, neither shall you be afraid of destruction when it comes.
22 At destruction and famine you shall laugh, neither shall you be afraid of the living creatures of the earth.
23 For you shall be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you.
24 And you shall know that your tent shall be in peace, and you shall visit your fold and your dwelling and miss nothing [from them].
25 You shall know also that your children shall be many, and your offspring as the grass of the earth.
26 You shall come to your grave in ripe old age, and as a shock of grain goes up [to the threshing floor] in its season.
27 This is what we have searched out; it is true. Hear and heed it and know for yourself [for your good].


CHAPTER 6

THEN JOB answered,
2 Oh, that my impatience and vexation might be [thoroughly] weighed and all my calamity be laid up over against them in the balances, one against the other [to see if my grief is unmanly]!
3 For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea; therefore my words have been rash and wild,
4 [But it is] because the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison which my spirit drinks up; the terrors of God set themselves in array against me.
5 Does the wild *** bray when it has grass? Or does the ox low over its fodder?
6 Can that which has no taste to it be eaten without salt? Or is there any flavor in the white of an egg?
7 [These afflictions] my soul refuses to touch! Such things are like diseased food to me [sickening and repugnant]!
8 Oh, that I might have my request, and that God would grant me the thing that I long for!
9 I even wish that it would please God to crush me, that He would let loose His hand and cut me off!
10 Then would I still have consolation—yes, I would leap [for joy] amid unsparing pain [though I shrink from it]—that I have not concealed or denied the words of the Holy One!
11 What strength have I left, that I should wait and hope? And what is ahead of me, that I should be patient?
12 Is my strength and endurance that of stones? Or is my flesh made of bronze?
13 Is it not that I have no help in myself, and that wisdom is quite driven from me?
14 To him who is about to faint and despair, kindness is due from his friend, lest he forsake the fear of the Almighty.
15 [You] my brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, as the channel of brooks that pass away,
16 Which are black and turbid by reason of the ice, and in which the snows hides itself;
17 When they get warm, they shrink and disappear; when it is hot, they vanish out of their place.
18 The caravans which travel by way of them turn aside; they go into the waste places and perish. [Such is my disappointment in you, the friends I fully trusted.]
19 The caravans of Tema looked [for water], the companies of Sheba waited for them [in vain].
20 They were confounded because they had hoped [to find water]; they came there and were bitterly disappointed.
21 Now to me you are [like a dried-up brook]; you see my dismay and terror, and [believing me to be a victim of God’s anger] you are afraid [to sympathize with me].
22 Did I ever say, Bring me a gift, or Pay a bribe on my account from your wealth
23 To deliver me from the adversary’s hand, or Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors?
24 Teach me, and I will hold my peace; and cause me to understand wherein I have erred.
25 How forcible are words of straightforward speech! But what does your arguing argue and prove or your reproof reprove?
26 Do you imagine your words to be an argument, but the speeches of one who is desperate to be as wind?
27 Yes, you would cast lots over the fatherless and bargain away your friend.
28 Now be pleased to look upon me, that it may be evident to you if I lie [for surely I would not lie to your face].
29 Return [from your suspicion], I pray you, let there be no injustice; yes, return again [to confidence in me], my vindication is in it.
30 Is there wrong on my tongue? Cannot my taste discern what is destructive?


CHAPTER 7

IS THERE not an [appointed] warfare and hard labor to man upon earth? And are not his days like the days of a hireling?
2 As a servant earnestly longs for the shade and the evening shadows, and as a hireling who looks for the reward of his work,
3 So am I allotted months of futile [suffering], and [long] nights of misery are appointed to me.
4 When I lie down I say, When shall I arise and the night be gone? And I am full of tossing to and fro till the dawning of the day.
5 My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken and has become loathsome, and it closes up and breaks out afresh.
6 My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope.
7 Oh, remember that my life is but wind (a puff, a breath, a sob); my eye shall see good no more.
8 The eye of him who sees me shall see me no more; while your eyes are upon me, I shall be gone.
9 As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away, so he who goes down to Sheol (the place of the dead) shall come up no more.
10 He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.
11 Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul [O Lord]!
12 Am I the sea, or the sea monster, that You set a watch over me?
13 When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint,
14 Then You scare me with dreams and terrify me through visions,
15 So that I would choose strangling and death rather than these my bones.
16 I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Let me alone, for my days are a breath (futility).
17 What is man that You should magnify him and think him important? And that You should set Your mind upon him? [Ps. 8:4.]
18 And that You should visit him every morning and try him every moment?
19 How long will Your [plaguing] glance not look away from me, nor You let me alone till I swallow my spittle?
20 If I have sinned, what [harm] have I done You, O You Watcher and Keeper of men? Why have You set me as a mark for You, so that I am a burden to myself [and You]?
21 And why do You not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now shall I lie down in the dust; and [even if] You will seek me diligently, [it will be too late, for] I shall not be.

 

[Administrator]

Read Through the Bible in a Year / January Index​

January 23/ Job 8-11


CHAPTER 8

THEN ANSWERED Bildad the Shuhite,
2 How long will you say these things [Job]? And how long shall the words of your mouth be as a mighty wind?
3 Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert righteousness?
4 If your children have sinned against Him, then He has delivered them into the power of their transgression.
5 If you will seek God diligently and make your supplication to the Almighty,
6 Then, if you are pure and upright, surely He will bestir Himself for you and make your righteous dwelling prosperous again.
7 And though your beginning was small, yet your latter end would greatly increase.
8 For inquire, I pray you, of the former age and apply yourself to that which their fathers have searched out,
9 For we are but of yesterday and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow.
10 Shall not [the forefathers] teach you and tell you and utter words out of their hearts (the deepest part of their nature)?
11 Can the rush or papyrus grow up without marsh? Can the flag or reed grass grow without water?
12 While it is yet green, in flower, and not cut down, it withers before any other herb [when without water].
13 So are the ways of all who forget God; and the hope of the godless shall perish.
14 For his confidence breaks, and [the object of] his trust is a spider’s web.
15 He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand; he shall hold fast to it, but it shall not last.
16 He is green before the sun, and his shoots go forth over his garden.
17 [Godless] his roots are wrapped about the [stone] heap, and see their way [promisingly] among the rocks.
18 But if [God] snatches him from his property, [then having passed into the hands of others] it [his property] will forget and deny him, [saying,] I have never seen you [before, as if ashamed of him—like his former friends].
19 See, this is the joy of going the way [of the ungodly]! And from the dust others will spring up [to take his place].
20 Behold, as surely as God will never uphold wrongdoers, He will never cast away a blameless man.
21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughter [Job] and your lips with joyful shouting.
22 Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tents of the wicked shall be no more.


CHAPTER 9

THEN JOB answered and said,
2 Yes, I know it is true. But how can mortal man be right before God?
3 If one should want to contend with Him, he cannot answer one [of His questions] in a thousand.
4 [God] is wise in heart and mighty in strength; who has [ever] hardened himself against Him and prospered or even been safe?
5 [God] Who removes the mountains, and they know it not when He overturns them in His anger;
6 Who shakes the earth out of its place, and the pillars of it tremble;
7 Who commands the sun, and it rises not; Who seals up the stars [from view];
8 Who alone stretches out the heavens and treads upon the waves and high places of the sea;
9 Who made [the constellations] the Bear, Orion, and the [loose cluster] Pleiades, and the [vast starry] spaces of the south;
10 Who does great things past finding out, yes, marvelous things without number.
11 Behold, He goes by me, and I see Him not; He passes on also, but I perceive Him not.
12 Behold, He snatches away; who can hinder or turn Him back? Who will say to Him, What are You doing?
13 God will not withdraw His anger; the [proud] helpers of Rahab [arrogant monster of the sea] bow under Him.
14 How much less shall I answer Him, choosing out my words to reason with Him
15 Whom, though I were righteous (upright and innocent) yet I could not answer? I must appeal for mercy to my Opponent and Judge [for my right].
16 If I called and He answered me, yet would I not believe that He listened to my voice.
17 For He overwhelms and breaks me with a tempest and multiplies my wounds without cause.
18 He will not allow me to catch my breath, but fills me with bitterness.
19 If I speak of strength, behold, He is mighty! And if of justice, Who, says He, will summon Me?
20 Though I am innocent and in the right, my own mouth would condemn me; though I am blameless, He would prove me perverse.
21 Though I am blameless, I regard not myself; I despise my life.
22 It is all one; therefore I say, God [does not discriminate, but] destroys the blameless and the wicked.
23 When [His] scourge slays suddenly, He mocks at the calamity and trial of the innocent.
24 The earth is given into the hands of the wicked; He covers the faces of its judges [so that they are blinded to justice]. If it is not [God], who then is it [responsible for all this inequality]?
25 Now my days are swifter than a runner; they flee away, they see no good.
26 They are passed away like the swift rowboats made of reeds, or like the eagle that swoops down on the prey.
27 If I say, I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad countenance, and be of good cheer and brighten up,
28 I become afraid of all my pains and sorrows [yet to come], for I know You will not pronounce me innocent [by removing them].
29 I shall be held guilty and be condemned; why then should I labor in vain [to appear innocent]?
30 If I wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye,
31 Yet You will plunge me into the ditch, and my own clothes will abhor me [and refuse to cover so foul a body].
32 For [God] is not a [mere] man, as I am, that I should answer Him, that we should come together in court.
33 There is no umpire between us, who might lay his hand upon us both, [would that there were!] [I Tim. 2:5.]
34 That He might take His rod away from [threatening] me, and that the fear of Him might not terrify me.
35 [Then] would I speak and not fear Him, but I am not so in myself [to make me afraid, were only a fair trial given me].


CHAPTER 10

I AM weary of my life and loathe it! I will give free expression to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2 I will say to God, Do not condemn me [do not make me guilty]! Show me why You contend with me.
3 Does it seem good to You that You should oppress, that You should despise and reject the work of Your hands, and favor the schemes of the wicked?
4 Have You eyes of flesh? Do You see as man sees?
5 Are Your days as the days of man, are Your years as man’s [years],
6 That You inquire after my iniquity and search for my sin—
7 Although You know that I am not wicked or guilty and that there is none who can deliver me out of Your hand?
8 Your hands have formed me and made me. Would You turn around and destroy me?
9 Remember [earnestly], I beseech You, that You have fashioned me as clay [out of the same earth material, exquisitely and elaborately]. And will You bring me into dust again?
10 Have You not poured me out like milk and curdled me like cheese?
11 You have clothed me with skin and flesh and have knit me together with bones and sinews.
12 You have granted me life and favor, and Your providence has preserved my spirit.
13 Yet these [the present evils] have You hid in Your heart [for me since my creation]; I know that this was with You [in Your purpose and thought].
14 If I sin, then You observe me, and You will not acquit me from my iniquity and guilt.
15 If I am wicked, woe unto me! And if I am righteous, yet must I not lift up my head, for I am filled with disgrace and the sight of my affliction.
16 If I lift myself up, You hunt me like a lion and again show Yourself [inflicting] marvelous [trials] upon me.
17 You renew Your witnesses against me and increase Your indignation toward me; I am as if attacked by a troop time after time.
18 Why then did You bring me forth out of the womb? Would that I had perished and no eye had seen me!
19 I should have been as though I had not existed; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.
20 Are not my days few? Cease then and let me alone, that I may take a little comfort and cheer up
21 Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death,
22 The land of sunless gloom as intense darkness, [the land] of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as thick darkness.


CHAPTER 11

THEN ZOPHAR the Naamathite replied,
2 Should not the multitude of words be answered? And should a man full of talk [and making such great professions] be pronounced free from guilt or blame?
3 Should your boastings and babble make men keep silent? And when you mock and scoff, shall no man make you ashamed?
4 For you have said, My doctrine [that God afflicts the righteous knowingly] is pure, and I am clean in [God’s] eyes. [Job 10:7.]
5 But oh, that God would speak, and open His lips against you,
6 And that He would show you the secrets of wisdom! For He is manifold in understanding! Know therefore that God exacts of you less than your guilt and iniquity [deserve].
7 Can you find out the deep things of God, or can you by searching find out the limits of the Almighty [explore His depths, ascend to His heights, extend to His breadths, and comprehend His infinite perfection]?
8 His wisdom is as high as the heights of heaven! What can you do? It is deeper than Sheol (the place of the dead)! What can you know?
9 Longer in measure [and scope] is it than the earth, and broader than the sea.
10 If [God] sweeps in and arrests and calls into judgment, who can hinder Him? [If He is against a man, who shall call Him to account for it?]
11 For He recognizes and knows hollow, wicked, and useless men (men of falsehood); when He sees iniquity, will He not consider it?
12 But a stupid man will get wisdom [only] when a wild donkey’s colt is born a man [as when he thinks himself free because he is lifted up in pride].
13 If you set your heart aright and stretch out your hands to [God],
14 If you put sin out of your hand and far away from you and let not evil dwell in your tents;
15 Then can you lift up your face to Him without stain [of sin, and unashamed]; yes, you shall be steadfast and secure; you shall not fear.
16 For you shall forget your misery; you shall remember it as waters that pass away.
17 And [your] life shall be clearer than the noonday and rise above it; though there be darkness, it shall be as the morning.
18 And you shall be secure and feel confident because there is hope; yes, you shall search about you, and you shall take your rest in safety.
19 You shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid; yes, many shall sue for your favor.
20 But the eyes of the wicked shall look [for relief] in vain, and they shall not escape [the justice of God]; and their hope shall be to give up the ghost.

 

[Administrator]

Read Through the Bible in a Year / January Index​

January 24/ Job 12-15


CHAPTER 12

THEN JOB answered,
2 No doubt you are the [only wise] people [in the world], and wisdom will die with you!
3 But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these [of God’s wisdom and might]?
4 I am become one who is a laughingstock to his friend; I, one whom God answered when he called upon Him—a just, upright (blameless) man—laughed to scorn!
5 In the thought of him who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune—but it is ready for those whose feet slip.
6 The dwellings of robbers prosper; those who provoke God are [apparently] secure; God supplies them abundantly [who have no god but their own hands and power].
7 For ask now the animals, and they will teach you [that God does not deal with His creatures according to their character]; ask the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
8 Or speak to the earth [with its other forms of life], and it will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare [this truth] to you.
9 Who [is so blind as] not to recognize in all these [that good and evil are promiscuously scattered throughout nature and human life] that it is God’s hand which does it [and God’s way]?
10 In His hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.
11 Is it not the task of the ear to discriminate between [wise and unwise] words, just as the mouth distinguishes [between desirable and undesirable] food?
12 With the aged [you say] is wisdom, and with length of days comes understanding.
13 But [only] with [God] are [perfect] wisdom and might; He [alone] has [true] counsel and understanding.
14 Behold, He tears down, and it cannot be built again; He shuts a man in, and none can open.
15 He withholds the waters, and the land dries up; again, He sends forth [rains], and they overwhelm the land or transform it.
16 With Him are might and wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are His [and in His power].
17 He leads [great and scheming] counselors away stripped and barefoot and makes the judges fools [in human estimation, by overthrowing their plans].
18 He looses the fetters [ordered] by kings and has [the] waistcloth [of a slave] bound about their [own] loins.
19 He leads away priests as spoil, and men firmly seated He overturns.
20 He deprives of speech those who are trusted and takes away the discernment and discretion of the aged.
21 He pours contempt on princes and loosens the belt of the strong [disabling them, bringing low the pride of the learned].
22 He uncovers deep things out of darkness and brings into light black gloom and the shadow of death.
23 He makes nations great, and He destroys them; He enlarges nations [and then straitens and shrinks them again], and leads them [away captive].
24 He takes away understanding from the leaders of the people of the land and of the earth, and causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no path.
25 They grope in the dark without light, and He makes them to stagger and wander like a drunken man.


CHAPTER 13

[JOB CONTINUED:] Behold, my eye has seen all this, my ear has heard and understood it.
2 What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you.
3 Surely I wish to speak to the Almighty, and I desire to argue and reason my case with God [that He may explain the conflict between what I believe of Him and what I see of Him].
4 But you are forgers of lies [you defame my character most untruthfully]; you are all physicians of no value and have no remedy to offer.
5 Oh, that you would altogether hold your peace! Then you would evidence your wisdom and you might pass for wise men.
6 Hear now my reasoning, and listen to the pleadings of my lips.
7 Will you speak unrighteously for God and talk deceitfully for Him?
8 Will you show partiality to Him [be unjust to me in order to gain favor with Him]? Will you act as special pleaders for God?
9 Would it be profitable for you if He should investigate your tactics [with me]? Or as one deceives and mocks a man, do you deceive and mock Him?
10 He will surely reprove you if you do secretly show partiality.
11 Shall not His majesty make you afraid, and should not your awe for Him restrain you?
12 Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes [valueless]; your defenses are defenses of clay [and will crumble].
13 Hold your peace! Let me alone, so I may speak; and let come on me what may.
14 Why should I take my flesh in my teeth and put my life in my hands [incurring the danger of God’s wrath]?
15 [I do it because, though He slay me, yet will I wait for and trust Him and] behold, He will slay me; I have no hope—nevertheless, I will maintain and argue my ways before Him and even to His face.
16 This will be my salvation, that a polluted and godless man shall not come before Him.
17 Listen diligently to my speech, and let my declaration be in your ears.
18 Behold now, I have prepared my case; I know that I shall be justified and vindicated.
19 Who is he who will argue against and refute me? For then I would hold my peace and expire.
20 Only [O Lord] grant two conditions to me, and then will I not hide myself from You:
21 Withdraw Your hand and take this bodily suffering far from me; and let not my [reverent] dread of You terrify me.
22 Then [Lord] call and I will answer, or let me speak, and You answer me.
23 How many are my iniquities and sins [that so much sorrow should come to me]? Make me recognize and know my transgression and my sin. [Rom. 8:1.]
24 Why do You hide Your face [as if offended] and alienate me as if I were Your enemy?
25 Will You harass and frighten a [poor, helpless] leaf driven to and fro, and will You pursue the chaff of the dry stubble?
26 For You write bitter things against me [in Your bill of indictment] and make me inherit and be accountable now for the iniquities of my youth.
27 You put my feet also in the stocks and observe critically all my paths; You set a circle and limit around the soles of my feet [which I must not overstep].
28 And he wastes away as a rotten thing, like a garment that is moth-eaten.


CHAPTER 14

MAN WHO is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble.
2 He comes forth like a flower and withers; he flees also like a shadow and continues not.
3 And [Lord] do You open Your eyes upon such a one, and bring me into judgment with You?
4 Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one! [Isa. 1:18; I John 1:7.]
5 Since a man’s days are already determined, and the number of his months is wholly in Your control, and he cannot pass the bounds of his allotted time—
6 [O God] turn from him [and cease to watch him so pitilessly]; let him rest until he has accomplished as does a hireling the appointed time for his day.
7 For there is hope for a tree if it is cut down, that it will sprout again and that the tender shoots of it will not cease. [But there is no such hope for man.]
8 Though its roots grow old in the earth and its stock dies in the ground,
9 Yet through the scent [and breathing] of water [the stump of the tree] will bud and bring forth boughs like a young plant.
10 But [the brave, strong] man must die and lie prostrate; yes, man breathes his last, and where is he?
11 As waters evaporate from the lake, and the river drains and dries up,
12 So man lies down and does not rise [to his former state]. Till the heavens are no more, men will not awake nor be raised [physically] out of their sleep.
13 Oh, that You would hide me in Sheol (the unseen state), that You would conceal me until Your wrath is past, that You would set a definite time and then remember me earnestly [and imprint me on your heart]!
14 If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my warfare and service I will wait, till my change and release shall come. [John 5:25; 6:40; I Thess. 4:16.]
15 [Then] You would call and I would answer You; You would yearn for [me] the work of Your hands.
16 But now You number each of my steps and take note of my every sin.
17 My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and You glue up my iniquity [to preserve it in full for the day of reckoning].
18 But as a mountain, if it falls, crumbles to nothing, and as the rock is removed out of its place,
19 As waters wear away the stones and as floods wash away the soil of the earth, so You [O Lord] destroy the hope of man.
20 You prevail forever against him, and he passes on; You change his appearance [in death] and send him away [from the presence of the living].
21 His sons come to honor, and he knows it not; they are brought low, and he perceives it not.
22 But his body [lamenting its decay in the grave] shall grieve over him, and his soul shall mourn [over the body of clay which it once enlivened].


CHAPTER 15

THEN ELIPHAZ the Temanite answered [Job],
2 Should a wise man utter such windy knowledge [as we have just heard] and fill himself with the east wind [of withering, parching, and violent accusations]?
3 Should he reason with unprofitable talk? Or with speeches with which he can do no good?
4 Indeed, you are doing away with [reverential] fear, and you are hindering and diminishing meditation and devotion before God.
5 For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the tongue of the crafty.
6 Your own mouth condemns you, and not I; yes, your own lips testify against you.
7 Are you the first man that was born [the original wise man]? Or were you created before the hills?
8 Were you present to hear the secret counsel of God? And do you limit [the possession of] wisdom to yourself?
9 What do you know that we know not? What do you understand that is not equally clear to us?
10 Among us are both the gray-haired and the aged, older than your father by far.
11 Are God’s consolations [as we have interpreted them to you] too trivial for you? Is there any secret thing (any bosom sin) which you have not given up? [Or] were we too gentle [in our first speech] toward you to be effective?
12 Why does your heart carry you away [why allow yourself to be controlled by feeling]? And why do your eyes flash [in anger or contempt],
13 That you turn your spirit against God and let [such] words [as you have spoken] go out of your mouth?
14 What is man, that he could be pure and clean? And he who is born of a woman, that he could be right and just?
15 Behold, [God] puts no trust in His holy ones [the angels]; indeed, the heavens are not clean in His sight—
16 How much less that which is abominable and corrupt, a man who drinks iniquity like water?
17 I will show you, hear me; and that which I have seen I will relate,
18 What wise men have not hid but have freely communicated; it was told to them by their fathers,
19 Unto whom alone the land was given, and no stranger intruded or passed among them [corrupting the truth].
20 The wicked man suffers with [self-inflicted] torment all his days, through all the years that are numbered and laid up for him, the oppressor.
21 A [dreadful] sound of terrors is in his ears; in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him [the dwellings of robbers are not at peace].
22 He believes that he will not return out of darkness, and [because of his guilt] he is waited for by the sword [of God’s vengeance].
23 He wanders abroad for food, saying, Where is it? He knows that the day of darkness and destruction is already close upon him.
24 Distress and anguish terrify him; [he knows] they shall prevail against him, like a king ready for battle.
25 Because he has stretched out his hand against God and bids defiance and behaves himself proudly against the Almighty,
26 Running stubbornly against Him with a thickly ornamented shield;
27 Because he has covered his face with his fat, adding layers of fat on his loins [giving himself up to animal pleasures],
28 And has lived in desolate [God-forsaken] cities and in houses which no man should inhabit, which were destined to become heaps [of ruins];
29 He shall not be rich, neither shall his wealth last, neither shall his produce bend to the earth nor his possessions be extended on the earth.
30 He shall not depart out of darkness [and escape from calamity; the wrath of God] shall consume him as flame consumes a dry tree, and by the blast of His mouth he shall be swept away.
31 Let him not deceive himself and trust in vanity (emptiness, falseness, and futility), for these shall be his recompense [for such living].
32 It shall be accomplished and paid in full while he still lives, and his branch shall not be green [but shall wither away].
33 He shall fail to bring his grapes to maturity [leaving them to wither unnourished] on the vine and shall cast off blossoms [and fail to bring forth fruit] like the olive tree.
34 For the company of the godless shall be barren, and fire shall consume the tents of bribery (wrong and injustice).
35 They conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity, and their inmost soul hatches deceit.

 

[Administrator]

Read Through the Bible in a Year / January Index​

January 25/ Job 16-19


CHAPTER 16

THEN JOB answered,
2 I have heard many such things; wearisome and miserable comforters are you all!
3 Will your futile words of wind have no end? Or what makes you so bold to answer [me like this]?
4 I also could speak as you do, if you were in my stead; I could join words together against you and shake my head at you.
5 [But] I would strengthen and encourage you with [the words of] my mouth, and the consolation of my lips would soothe your suffering.
6 If I speak [to you miserable comforters], my sorrow is not soothed or lessened; and if I refrain [from speaking], in what way am I eased? [I hardly know whether to answer you or be silent.]
7 But now [God] has taken away my strength. You [O Lord] have made desolate all my family and associates.
8 You have laid firm hold on me and have shriveled me up, which is a witness against me; and my leanness [and wretched state of body] are further evidence [against me]; [they] testify to my face.
9 [My adversary Satan] has torn [me] in his wrath and hated and persecuted me; he has gnashed upon me with his teeth; my adversary sharpens his eyes against me.
10 [The forces of evil] have gaped at me with their mouths; they have struck me upon the cheek insolently; they massed themselves together and conspired unanimously against me. [Ps. 22:13; 35:21.]
11 God has delivered me to the ungodly (to the evil one) and cast me [headlong] into the hands of the wicked (Satan’s host).
12 I was living at ease, but [Satan] crushed me and broke me apart; yes, he seized me by the neck and dashed me in pieces; then he set me up for his target.
13 [Satan’s] arrows whiz around me. He slashes open my vitals and does not spare; he pours out my gall on the ground.
14 [Satan] stabs me, making breach after breach and attacking again and again; he runs at me like a giant and irresistible warrior.
15 I have sewed sackcloth over my skin [as a sign of mourning] and have defiled my horn (my insignia of strength) in the dust.
16 My face is red and swollen with weeping, and on my eyelids is the shadow of death [my eyes are dimmed],
17 Although there is no guilt or violence in my hands and my prayer is pure.
18 O earth, cover not my blood, and let my cry have no resting-place [where it will cease being heard].
19 Even now, behold, my Witness is in heaven, and He who vouches for me is on high. [Rom. 1:9.]
20 My friends scorn me, but my eye pours out tears to God.
21 Oh, that there might be one who would plead for a man with God and that he would maintain his right with Him, as a son of man pleads with or for his neighbor! [I Tim. 2:5.]
22 For when a few years are come, I shall go the way from which I shall not return.


CHAPTER 17

MY SPIRIT is broken, my days are spent (snuffed out); the grave is ready for me.
2 Surely there are mockers and mockery around me, and my eye dwells on their obstinacy, insults, and resistance.
3 Give me a pledge with Yourself [acknowledge my innocence before my death]; who is there that will give security for me?
4 But their hearts [Lord] You have closed to understanding; therefore You will not let them triumph [by giving them a verdict against me].
5 He who denounces his friends [in order to make them] a prey and get a share, the eyes of his children shall fail [to find food].
6 But He has made me a byword among the people, and they spit before my face.
7 My eye has grown dim because of grief, and all my members are [wasted away] like a shadow.
8 Upright men shall be astonished and appalled at this, and the innocent shall stir himself up against the godless and polluted.
9 Yet shall the righteous (those upright and in right standing with God) hold to their ways, and he who has clean hands shall grow stronger and stronger. [Ps. 24:4.]
10 But as for you, come on again, all of you, though I find not a wise man among you.
11 My days are past, my purposes and plans are frustrated; even the thoughts (desires and possessions) of my heart [are broken off].
12 These [thoughts] extend from the night into the day, [so that] the light is short because of darkness.
13 But if I look to Sheol (the unseen state) as my abode, if I spread my couch in the darkness,
14 If I say to the grave and corruption, You are my father, and to the worm [that feeds on decay], You are my mother and my sister [because I will soon be closest to you],
15 Where then is my hope? And if I have hope, who will see [its fulfillment]?
16 [My hope] shall go down to the bars of Sheol (the unseen state) when once there is rest in the dust.


CHAPTER 18

THEN BILDAD the Shuhite answered,
2 How long will you lay snares for words and have to hunt for your argument? Do some clear thinking, and then we will reply.
3 Why are we counted as beasts [as if we had no sense]? Why are we unclean in your sight?
4 You who tear yourself in your anger, shall the earth be forsaken for you, or the rock be removed out of its place?
5 Yes, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the flame of his fire shall not shine. [Prov. 13:9; 24:20.]
6 The light shall be dark in his dwelling, and his lamp beside him shall be put out. [Ps. 18:28.]
7 The steps of his strength shall be shortened, and his own counsel and the plans in which he trusted shall bring about his downfall.
8 For the wicked is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walks upon a lattice-covered pit.
9 A trap will catch him by the heel, and a snare will lay hold on him.
10 A noose is hidden for him on the ground and a trap for him in the way.
11 Terrors shall make him afraid on every side and shall chase him at his heels.
12 The strength [of the wicked] shall be hunger-bitten, and calamity is ready at his side [if he halts].
13 By disease his strength and his skin shall be devoured; the firstborn of death [the worst of diseases] shall consume his limbs.
14 He shall be rooted out of his dwelling place in which he trusted, and he shall be brought to the king of terrors [death].
15 There shall dwell in his tent that which is none of his [family]; sulphur shall be scattered over his dwelling [to purify it after his going].
16 The roots [of the wicked] shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off and wither.
17 His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street.
18 He shall be thrust from light into darkness and driven out of the world.
19 He shall neither have son nor grandson among his people, nor any remaining where he sojourned.
20 They [of the west] that come after [the wicked man] shall be astonished and appalled at his day, as they [of the east] that went before were seized with horror.
21 Surely such are the dwellings of the ungodly, and such is the place of him who knows not (recognizes not and honors not) God.


CHAPTER 19

THEN JOB answered:
2 How long will you vex and torment me and break me in pieces with words?
3 These ten times you have reproached me; you are not ashamed that you make yourselves strange [harden yourselves against me and deal severely with me].
4 And if it were true that I have erred, my error would remain with me [I would be conscious of it].
5 If indeed you magnify yourselves against me and plead against me my reproach and humiliation,
6 Know that God has overthrown and put me in the wrong and has closed His net about me.
7 Behold, I cry out, Violence! but I am not heard; I cry aloud for help, but there is no justice.
8 He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass, and He has set darkness upon my paths.
9 He has stripped me of my glory and taken the crown from my head.
10 He has broken me down on every side, and I am gone; my hope has He pulled up like a tree.
11 He has also kindled His wrath against me, and He counts me as one of His adversaries.
12 His troops come together and cast up their way and siege works against me and encamp round about my tent.
13 He has put my brethren far from me, and my acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.
14 My kinsfolk have failed me, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.
15 Those who live temporarily in my house and my maids count me as a stranger; I am an alien in their sight.
16 I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer, though I beseech him with words.
17 I am repulsive to my wife and loathsome to the children of my own mother.
18 Even young children despise me; when I get up, they speak against me.
19 All the men of my council and my familiar friends abhor me; those whom I loved are turned against me.
20 My bone clings to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped with the skin or gums of my teeth.
21 Have pity on me! Have pity on me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me!
22 Why do you, as if you were God, pursue and persecute me? [Acting like wild beasts] why are you not satisfied with my flesh?
23 Oh, that the words I now speak were written! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book [carved on a tablet of stone]!
24 That with an iron pen and [molten] lead they were graven in the rock forever!
25 For I know that my Redeemer and Vindicator lives, and at last He [the Last One] will stand upon the earth. [Isa. 44:6; 48:12.]
26 And after my skin, even this body, has been destroyed, then from my flesh or without it I shall see God,
27 Whom I, even I, shall see for myself and on my side! And my eyes shall behold Him, and not as a stranger! My heart pines away and is consumed within me.
28 If you say, How we will pursue him! [and continue to persecute me with the claim] that the root [cause] of all these [afflictions] is found in me,
29 Then beware and be afraid of the sword [of divine vengeance], for wrathful are the punishments of that sword, that you may know there is a judgment.

 

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Read Through the Bible in a Year / January Index​

January 26/ Job 20-22


CHAPTER 20

THEN ZOPHAR the Naamathite answered,
2 Therefore do my thoughts give me an answer, and I make haste [to offer it] for this reason.
3 I have heard the reproof which puts me to shame, but out of my understanding my spirit answers me.
4 Do you not know from of old, since the time that man was placed on the earth,
5 That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the godless and defiled is but for a moment? [Ps. 37:35, 36.]
6 Though his [proud] height mounts up to the heavens and his head reaches to the clouds,
7 Yet he will perish forever like his own dung; those who have seen him will say, Where is he?
8 He will fly away like a dream and will not be found; yes, he will be chased away as a vision of the night.
9 The eye which saw him will see him no more, neither will his [accustomed] place any more behold him.
10 The poor will oppress his children, and his hands will give back his [ill-gotten] wealth.
11 His bones are full of youthful energy, but it will lie down with him in the dust.
12 Though wickedness is sweet in his mouth, though he hides it under his tongue,
13 Though he is loath to let it go but keeps it still within his mouth,
14 Yet his food turns [to poison] in his stomach; it is the venom of asps within him.
15 He has swallowed down [his ill-gotten] riches, and he shall vomit them up again; God will cast them out of his belly.
16 He shall suck the poison of asps [which ill-gotten wealth contains]; the viper’s tongue shall slay him.
17 He shall not look upon the rivers, the flowing streams of honey and butter [to enjoy his wealth].
18 That which he labored for shall he give back and shall not swallow it down [to enjoy it]; according to his wealth shall the restitution be, and he shall not rejoice in it.
19 For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor; he has violently taken away a house which he did not build.
20 Because his desire and greed knew no quietness within him, he will not save anything of that in which he delights.
21 There was nothing left that he did not devour; therefore his prosperity will not endure.
22 In the fullness of his sufficiency [in the time of his great abundance] he shall be poor and in straits; every hand of everyone who is in misery shall come upon him [he is but a wretch on every side].
23 When he is about to fill his belly [as in the wilderness when God sent the quails], God will cast the fierceness of His wrath upon him and will rain it upon him while he is eating. [Num. 11:33; Ps. 78:26-31.]
24 He will flee from the iron weapon, but the bow of bronze shall strike him through.
25 [The arrow] is drawn forth and it comes out after passing through his body; yes, the glittering point comes out of his gall. Terrors march in upon him;
26 Every misfortune is laid up for his treasures. A fire not blown by man shall devour him; it shall consume what is left in his tent [and it shall go ill with him who remains there].
27 The heavens shall reveal his iniquity, and the earth shall rise up against him.
28 The produce and increase of his house will go into exile [with the victors], dragged away in the day of [God’s] wrath.
29 This is the wicked man’s portion from God, and the heritage appointed to him by God.


CHAPTER 21

THEN JOB answered,
2 Hear diligently my speech, and let this [your attention] be your consolation [given me].
3 Allow me, and I also will speak; and after I have spoken, mock on.
4 As for me, is my complaint to man or of him? And why should I not be impatient and my spirit be troubled?
5 Look at me and be astonished (appalled); and lay your hand upon your mouth.
6 Even when I remember, I am troubled and afraid; horror and trembling take hold of my flesh.
7 Why do the wicked live, become old, and become mighty in power?
8 Their children are established with them in their sight, and their offspring before their eyes.
9 Their houses are safe and in peace, without fear; neither is the rod of God upon them.
10 Their bull breeds and fails not; their cows calve and do not miscarry.
11 They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children skip about.
12 They themselves lift up their voices and sing to the tambourine and the lyre and rejoice to the sound of the pipe.
13 They spend their days in prosperity and go down to Sheol (the unseen state) in a moment and peacefully.
14 Yet they say to God, Depart from us, for we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways.
15 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? And what profit do we have if we pray to Him? [Exod. 5:2.]
16 But notice, [you say] the prosperity of the wicked is not in their power; the mystery [of God’s dealings] with the ungodly is far from my comprehension.
17 How often [then] is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out? That their calamity comes upon them? That God distributes pains and sorrows to them in His anger? [Luke 12:46.]
18 That they are like stubble before the wind and like chaff that the storm steals and carries away?
19 You say, God lays up [the punishment of the wicked man’s] iniquity for his children. Let Him recompense it to the man himself, that he may know and feel it.
20 Let his own eyes see his destruction, and let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
21 For what pleasure or interest has a man in his house and family after he is dead, when the number of his months is cut off?
22 Shall any teach God knowledge, seeing that He judges those who are on high? [Rom. 11:34; I Cor. 2:16.]
23 One dies in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet;
24 His pails are full of milk [his veins are filled with nourishment], and the marrow of his bones is fresh and moist,
25 Whereas another man dies in bitterness of soul and never tastes of pleasure or good fortune.
26 They lie down alike in the dust, and the worm spreads a covering over them.
27 Behold, I know your thoughts and plans and the devices with which you would wrong me.
28 For you say, Where is the house of the rich and liberal prince [meaning me]? And where is the tent in which the wicked [Job] dwelt?
29 Have you not asked those who travel this way, and do you not accept their testimony and evidences—
30 That the evil man is [now] spared in the day of calamity and destruction, and they are led forth and away on the day of [God’s] wrath?
31 But who declares [a man’s] way [and rebukes] him to his face? And who pays him back for what he has done?
32 When he is borne to the grave, watch is kept over his tomb.
33 The clods of the valley are sweet to him, and every man shall follow him to a grave, as innumerable people [have gone] before him.
34 How then can you comfort me with empty and futile words, since in your replies there lurks falsehood?


CHAPTER 22

THEN ELIPHAZ the Temanite answered [Job],
2 Can a man be profitable to God? Surely he that is wise is profitable to himself. [Ps. 16:2; Luke 17:10.]
3 Is it any pleasure or advantage to the Almighty that you are righteous (upright and in right standing with Him)? Or is it gain to Him that you make your ways perfect? [Isa. 62:3; Zech. 2:8; Mal. 3:17; Acts 20:28.]
4 Is it for your [reverential] fear of Him that He [thus] reproves you, that He enters with you into judgment?
5 Is not your wickedness great? There is no end to your iniquities.
6 For you have taken pledges of your brother for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing.
7 You have not given water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry. [Matt. 25:42.]
8 But [you, Job] the man with power possessed the land, and the favored and accepted man dwelt in it.
9 You have sent widows away empty-handed, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.
10 Therefore snares are round about you, and sudden fear troubles and overwhelms you;
11 Your light is darkened, so that you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you.
12 Is not God in the height of heaven? And behold the height of the stars, how high they are!
13 Therefore you say, How and what does God know [about me]? Can He judge through the thick darkness?
14 Thick clouds are a covering to Him, so that He does not see, and He walks on the vault of the heavens.
15 Will you pay attention and keep to the old way that wicked men trod [in Noah’s time], [II Pet. 2:5.]
16 Men who were snatched away before their time, whose foundations were poured out like a stream [during the flood]?
17 They said to God, Depart from us, and, What can the Almighty do for or to us?
18 Yet He filled their houses with good [things]. But the counsel of the ungodly is far from me.
19 The righteous see it and are glad; and the innocent laugh them to scorn [saying],
20 Surely those who rose up against us are cut off, and that which remained to them the fire has consumed.
21 Acquaint now yourself with Him [agree with God and show yourself to be conformed to His will] and be at peace; by that [you shall prosper and great] good shall come to you.
22 Receive, I pray you, the law and instruction from His mouth and lay up His words in your heart. [Ps. 119:11.]
23 If you return to the Almighty [and submit and humble yourself before Him], you will be built up; if you put away unrighteousness far from your tents,
24 If you lay gold in the dust, and the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brook [considering them of little worth],
25 And make the Almighty your gold and [the Lord] your precious silver treasure,
26 Then you will have delight in the Almighty, and you will lift up your face to God.
27 You will make your prayer to Him, and He will hear you, and you will pay your vows.
28 You shall also decide and decree a thing, and it shall be established for you; and the light [of God’s favor] shall shine upon your ways.
29 When they make [you] low, you will say, [There is] a lifting up; and the humble person He lifts up and saves.
30 He will even deliver the one [for whom you intercede] who is not innocent; yes, he will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands. [Job 42:7, 8.]

 

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Read Through the Bible in a Year / January Index​

January 27/ Job 23-28


CHAPTER 23

THEN JOB answered,
2 Even today is my complaint rebellious and bitter; my stroke is heavier than my groaning.
3 Oh, that I knew where I might find Him, that I might come even to His seat!
4 I would lay my cause before Him and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would learn what He would answer me, and understand what He would say to me.
6 Would He plead against me with His great power? No, He would give heed to me. [Isa. 27:4, 5; 57:16.]
7 There the righteous [one who is upright and in right standing with God] could reason with Him; so I should be acquitted by my Judge forever.
8 Behold, I go forward [and to the east], but He is not there; I go backward [and to the west], but I cannot perceive Him;
9 On the left hand [and to the north] where He works [I seek Him], but I cannot behold Him; He turns Himself to the right hand [and to the south], but I cannot see Him.
10 But He knows the way that I take [He has concern for it, appreciates, and pays attention to it]. When He has tried me, I shall come forth as refined gold [pure and luminous]. [Ps. 17:3; 66:10; James 1:12.]
11 My foot has held fast to His steps; His ways have I kept and not turned aside.
12 I have not gone back from the commandment of His lips; I have esteemed and treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.
13 But He is unchangeable, and who can turn Him? And what He wants to do, that He does.
14 For He performs [that which He has] planned for me, and of many such matters He is mindful.
15 Therefore am I troubled and terrified at His presence; when I consider, I am in dread and afraid of Him.
16 For God has made my heart faint, timid, and broken, and the Almighty has terrified me,
17 Because I was not cut off before the darkness [of these woes befell me], neither has He covered the thick darkness from my face.


CHAPTER 24

WHY [seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty] does He not set seasons for judgment? Why do those who know Him see not His days [for punishment of the wicked]? [Acts 1:7.]
2 Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks and pasture them [appropriating land and flocks openly].
3 They drive away the donkey of the fatherless; they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
4 They crowd the poor and needy off the road; the poor and meek of the earth all hide themselves.
5 Behold, as wild asses in the desert, [the poor] go forth to their work, seeking diligently for prey and food; the wilderness yields them bread for their children [in roots and herbage].
6 They reap each one his fodder in a field [that is not his own], and they glean the vintage of the wicked man.
7 They lie all night naked, without clothing, and have no covering in the cold.
8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains and cling to the rock for want of shelter.
9 [The violent men whose wickedness seems unnoticed] pluck the fatherless infants from the breast [to sell or make them slaves], and take [the clothing on] the poor for a pledge,
10 So that the needy go about naked for lack of clothing, and though hungry, they must carry [but not eat from] the sheaves.
11 Among the olive rows [of the wicked, the poor] make oil; they tread [the fresh juice of the grape from] the presses, but suffer thirst.
12 From out of the populous city men groan, and the very life of the wounded cries for help; yet God [seemingly] regards not the wrong done them.
13 These wrongdoers are of those who rebel against the light; they know not its ways nor stay in its paths.
14 The murderer rises with the light; he kills the poor and the needy, and in the night he becomes as a thief.
15 The eye also of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me, and he puts a disguise upon his face.
16 In the dark, they dig through [the penetrable walls of] houses; by day they shut themselves up; they do not know the sunlight.
17 For midnight is morning to all of them; for they are familiar with the terrors of deep darkness.
18 [You say] Swiftly such men pass away on the face of the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth; [no treader] turns into their vineyards.
19 Drought and heat consume the snow waters; so does Sheol (the place of the dead) those who have sinned.
20 The womb shall forget him, the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered, and unrighteousness shall be broken like a tree [which cannot be healed]. [Prov. 10:7.]
21 [The evil man] preys upon the barren, childless woman and does no good to the widow.
22 Yet [God] prolongs the life of the [wicked] mighty by His power; they rise up when they had despaired of life.
23 God gives them security, and they rest on it; and His eyes are upon their ways.
24 They are exalted for a little while, and then are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all others are and are cut off as the tops of the ears of grain.
25 And if this is not so, who will prove me a liar and make my speech worthless?

CHAPTER 25

THEN BILDAD the Shuhite answered,
2 Dominion and fear are with [God]; He makes peace in His high places.
3 Is there any number to His armies? And upon whom does not His light arise?
4 How then can man be justified and righteous before God? Or how can he who is born of a woman be pure and clean? [Ps. 130:3; 143:2.]
5 Behold, even the moon has no brightness [compared to God’s glory] and the stars are not pure in His sight—
6 How much less man, who is a maggot! And a son of man, who is a worm!


CHAPTER 26

BUT JOB answered,
2 How you have helped him who is without power! How you have sustained the arm that is without strength!
3 How you have counseled him who has no wisdom! And how plentifully you have declared to him sound knowledge!
4 With whose assistance have you uttered these words? And whose spirit [inspired what] came forth from you?
5 The shades of the dead tremble underneath the waters and their inhabitants.
6 Sheol (the place of the dead) is naked before God, and Abaddon (the place of destruction) has no covering [from His eyes].
7 He it is Who spreads out the northern skies over emptiness and hangs the earth upon or over nothing.
8 He holds the waters bound in His clouds [which otherwise would spill on earth all at once], and the cloud is not rent under them.
9 He covers the face of His throne and spreads over it His cloud.
10 He has placed an enclosing limit [the horizon] upon the waters at the boundary between light and darkness.
11 The pillars of the heavens tremble and are astonished at His rebuke.
12 He stills or stirs up the sea by His power, and by His understanding He smites proud Rahab.
13 By His breath the heavens are garnished; His hand pierced the [swiftly] fleeing serpent. [Ps. 33:6.]
14 Yet these are but [a small part of His doings] the outskirts of His ways or the mere fringes of His force, the faintest whisper of His voice! Who dares contemplate or who can understand the thunders of His full, magnificent power?


CHAPTER 27

JOB AGAIN took up his discourse and said,
2 As God lives, Who has taken away my right and denied me justice, and the Almighty, Who has vexed and embittered my life,
3 As long as my life is still whole within me, and the breath of God is [yet] in my nostrils,
4 My lips shall not speak untruth, nor shall my tongue utter deceit.
5 God forbid that I should justify you—saying you are right [in your accusations against me]; till I die, I will not put away my integrity from me.
6 My uprightness and my right standing with God I hold fast and will not let them go; my heart does not reproach me for any of my days and it shall not reproach me as long as I live.
7 Let my enemy be as the wicked, and let him who rises up against me be as the unrighteous.
8 For what is the hope of the godless and polluted, even though he has gained [in this world], when God cuts him off and takes away his life?
9 Will God hear his cry when trouble comes upon him?
10 Will he take delight in the Almighty? Will he call upon God at all times?
11 I will teach you regarding the hand and handiwork of God; that which is with the Almighty [God’s actual treatment of the wicked man] will I not conceal.
12 Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves; why then have you become altogether vain [cherishing foolish notions]?
13 This [which I am about to tell] is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage which oppressors shall receive from the Almighty:
14 If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword; and his offspring will not have sufficient bread.
15 Those who survive him, [the pestilence] will bury, and [their] widows will make no lamentation.
16 Though he heaps up silver like dust and piles up clothing like clay,
17 He may prepare it, but the just will wear it, and the innocent will divide the silver.
18 He builds his house like a moth or a spider, like a booth which a watchman makes [to last for a season].
19 [The wicked] will lie down rich, but does it not again; he opens his eyes, and [his wealth] is gone.
20 Terrors overtake him like a [suddenly loosened] flood; a windstorm steals him away in the night.
21 The east wind lifts him up, and he is gone; it sweeps him out of his place.
22 For [God and the storm] hurl at him without pity and unsparingly [their thunderbolts of wrath]; he flees in haste before His power.
23 [God causes] men to clap their hands at him [in malignant joy] and hiss him out of his place.


CHAPTER 28

SURELY THERE is a mine for silver, and a place for gold where they refine it.
2 Iron is taken out of the earth, and copper is smelted from the stone ore.
3 Man sets an end to darkness, and he searches out the farthest bounds for the ore buried in gloom and deep darkness.
4 Men break open shafts away from where people sojourn, in places forgotten by [human] foot; and [descend into them], hanging afar from men, they swing or flit to and fro.
5 As for the earth, out of it comes bread, but underneath [its surface, down deep in the mine] there is blasting, turning it up as by fire.
6 Its stones are the bed of sapphires; it holds dust of gold [which he wins].
7 That path no bird of prey knows, and the falcon’s eye has not seen it.
8 The proud beasts [and their young] have not trodden it, nor has the fierce lion passed over it.
9 Man puts forth his hand upon the flinty rock; he overturns the mountains by the roots.
10 He cuts out channels and passages among the rocks; and his eye sees every precious thing.
11 [Man] binds the streams so that they do not trickle [into the mine], and the thing that is hidden he brings forth to light.
12 But where shall Wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?
13 Man knows not the price of it; neither is it found in the land of the living.
14 The deep says, [Wisdom] is not in me; and the sea says, It is not with me.
15 It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price of it.
16 It cannot be valued in [terms of] the gold of Ophir, in the precious onyx or beryl, or the sapphire.
17 Gold and glass cannot equal [Wisdom], nor can it be exchanged for jewels or vessels of fine gold.
18 No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal; for the possession of Wisdom is even above rubies or pearls.
19 The topaz of Ethiopia cannot compare with it, nor can it be valued in pure gold.
20 From where then does Wisdom come? And where is the place of understanding?
21 It is hidden from the eyes of all living, and knowledge of it is withheld from the birds of the heavens.
22 Abaddon (the place of destruction) and Death say, We have [only] heard the report of it with our ears.
23 God understands the way [to Wisdom] and He knows the place of it [Wisdom is with God alone].
24 For He looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens.
25 When He gave to the wind weight or pressure and allotted the waters by measure,
26 When He made a decree for the rain and a way for the lightning of the thunder,
27 Then He saw [Wisdom] and declared it; He established it, yes, and searched it out [for His own use, and He alone possesses it].
28 But to man He said, Behold, the reverential and worshipful fear of the Lord—that is Wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.

 

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Read Through the Bible in a Year / January Index​

January 28/ Job 29-31


CHAPTER 29

AND JOB again took up his discussion and said,
2 Oh, that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me, [Eccl. 7:10.]
3 When His lamp shone above and upon my head and by His light I walked through darkness;
4 As I was in the [prime] ripeness of my days, when the friendship and counsel of God were over my tent,
5 When the Almighty was yet with me and my children were about me,
6 When my steps [through rich pasturage] were washed with butter and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!
7 When I went out to the gate of the city, when I prepared my seat in the street [the broad place for the council at the city’s gate],
8 The young men saw me and hid themselves; the aged rose up and stood;
9 The princes refrained from talking and laid their hands on their mouths;
10 The voices of the nobles were hushed, and their tongues cleaved to the roof of their mouths.
11 For when the ear heard, it called me happy and blessed me; and when the eye saw, it testified for me [approvingly],
12 Because I delivered the poor who cried, the fatherless and him who had none to help him.
13 The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me or clothed itself with me; my justice was like a robe and a turban or a diadem or a crown!
15 I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame.
16 I was a father to the poor and needy; the cause of him I did not know I searched out.
17 And I broke the jaws or the big teeth of the unrighteous and plucked the prey out of his teeth.
18 Then I said, I shall die in or beside my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand.
19 My root is spread out and open to the waters, and the dew lies all night upon my branch.
20 My glory and honor are fresh in me [being constantly renewed], and my bow gains [ever] new strength in my hand.
21 Men listened to me and waited and kept silence for my counsel.
22 After I spoke, they did not speak again, and my speech dropped upon them [like a refreshing shower].
23 And they waited for me as for the rain, and they opened their mouths wide as for the spring rain.
24 I smiled on them when they had no confidence, and their depression did not cast down the light of my countenance.
25 I chose their way [for them] and sat as [their] chief, and dwelt like a king among his soldiers, like one who comforts mourners.


CHAPTER 30

BUT NOW they who are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.
2 Yes, how could the strength of their hands profit me? They were men whose ripe age and vigor had perished.
3 They are gaunt with want and famine; they gnaw the dry and barren ground or flee into the wilderness, into the gloom of wasteness and desolation.
4 They pluck saltwort or mallows among the bushes, and roots of the broom for their food or to warm them.
5 They are driven from among men, who shout after them as after a thief.
6 They must dwell in the clefts of frightful valleys (gullies made by torrents) and in holes of the earth and of the rocks.
7 Among the bushes they bray and howl [like wild animals]; beneath the prickly scrub they fling themselves and huddle together.
8 Sons of the worthless and nameless, they have been scourged and crushed out of the land.
9 And now I have become their song; yes, I am a byword to them.
10 They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, and do not refrain from spitting in my face or at the sight of me.
11 For God has loosed my bowstring and afflicted and humbled me; they have cast off the bridle [of restraint] before me.
12 On my right hand rises the rabble brood; they jostle me and push away my feet, and they cast up against me their ways of destruction [like an advancing army].
13 They break up and clutter my path [embarrassing my plans]; they urge on my calamity, even though they have no helper [and are themselves helpless].
14 As through a wide breach they come in; amid the crash [of falling walls] they roll themselves upon me.
15 Terrors are turned upon me; my honor and reputation they chase away like the wind, and my welfare has passed away as a cloud.
16 And now my life is poured out within me; the days of affliction have gripped me.
17 My bones are pierced [with aching] in the night season, and the pains that gnaw me take no rest.
18 By the great force [of my disease] my garment is disguised and disfigured; it binds me about like the collar of my coat.
19 [God] has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.
20 I cry to You, [Lord,] and You do not answer me; I stand up, but You [only] gaze [indifferently] at me.
21 You have become harsh and cruel to me; with the might of Your hand You [keep me alive only to] persecute me.
22 You lift me up on the wind; You cause me to ride upon it, and You toss me about in the tempest.
23 For I know that You will bring me to death and to the house [of meeting] appointed for all the living.
24 However, does not one falling in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand? Or in his calamity will he not therefore cry for help?
25 Did not I weep for him who was in trouble? Was not my heart grieved for the poor and needy?
26 But when I looked for good, then evil came to me; and when I waited for light, there came darkness.
27 My heart is troubled and does not rest; days of affliction come to meet me.
28 I go about blackened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the congregation and cry for help.
29 I am a brother to jackals [which howl], and a companion to ostriches [which scream dismally].
30 My skin falls from me in blackened flakes, and my bones are burned with heat.
31 Therefore my lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of those who weep.


CHAPTER 31

I DICTATED a covenant (an agreement) to my eyes; how then could I look [lustfully] upon a girl?
2 For what portion should I have from God above [if I were lewd], and what heritage from the Almighty on high?
3 Does not calamity [justly] befall the unrighteous, and disaster the workers of iniquity?
4 Does not [God] see my ways and count all my steps?
5 If I have walked with falsehood or vanity, or if my foot has hastened to deceit—
6 Oh, let me be weighed in a just balance and let Him weigh me, that God may know my integrity!
7 If my step has turned out of [God’s] way, and my heart has gone the way my eyes [covetously] invited, and if any spot has stained my hands with guilt,
8 Then let me sow and let another eat; yes, let the produce of my field or my offspring be rooted out.
9 If my heart has been deceived and I made a fool by a woman, or if I have [covetously] laid wait at my neighbor’s door [until his departure],
10 Then let my wife grind [meal, like a bondslave] for another, and let others bow down upon her.
11 For [adultery] is a heinous and chief crime, an iniquity [to demand action by] the judges and punishment. [Deut. 22:22; John 8:5.]
12 For [uncontrolled passion] is a fire which consumes to Abaddon (to destruction, ruin, and the place of final torment); [that fire once lighted would rage until all is consumed] and would burn to the root all my [life’s] increase.
13 If I have despised and rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant when they contended or brought a complaint against me,
14 What then shall I do when God rises up [to judge]? When He visits [to inquire of me], what shall I answer Him? [Ps. 44:21.]
15 Did not He Who made me in the womb make [my servant]? And did not One fashion us both in the womb? [Prov. 14:31; 22:2; Mal. 2:10.]
16 If I have withheld from the poor and needy what they desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to look in vain [for relief],
17 Or have eaten my morsel alone and have not shared it with the fatherless—
18 No, but from my youth [the fatherless] grew up with me as a father, and I have been [the widow’s] guide from my mother’s womb—
19 If I have seen anyone perish for want of clothing, or any poor person without covering,
20 If his loins have not blessed me [for clothing them], and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep,
21 If I have lifted my hand against the fatherless when I saw [that the judges would be favorable and be] my help at the [council] gate,
22 Then let my shoulder fall away from my shoulder blade, and my arm be broken from its socket.
23 For calamity from God was a terror to me, and because of His majesty I could not endure [to face Him] and could do nothing. [Isa. 13:6; Joel 1:15.]
24 If I have made gold my trust and hope or have said to fine gold, You are my confidence,
25 If I rejoiced because my wealth was great and because my [powerful] hand [alone] had gotten much,
26 If I beheld [as an object of worship] the sunlight when it shone or the moon walking in its brightness,
27 And my heart has been secretly enticed by them or my mouth has kissed my hand [in homage to them],
28 This also would have been [a heinous and principal] iniquity to demand the judges’ action and punishment, for I would have denied and been false to the God Who is above. [Deut. 4:19; 17:2-7.]
29 If I rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me or lifted myself up [in malicious triumph] when evil overtook him—
30 No, I have let my mouth sin neither by cursing my enemy nor by praying that he might die—
31 [Just ask] if the men of my tent will not say, Who can find one in need who has not been satisfied with food he gave them?—
32 The temporary resident has not lodged in the street, but I have opened my door to the wayfaring man—
33 If like Adam or like [other] men I have concealed my transgressions, by hiding my iniquity in my bosom
34 Because I feared the great multitude and the contempt of families terrified me so that I kept silence and did not go out of the door—
35 Oh, for a hearing! Oh, for an answer from the Almighty! Let my adversary write out His indictment [and put His vague accusations in tangible form] in a book!
36 Surely I would [proudly] bear it on my shoulder and wind the scroll about my head as a diadem.
37 I would count out to Him the number of my steps [with every detail of my life], approaching His presence as a prince—
38 For if my land has cried out against me and its furrows have complained together with tears [that I have no right to them],
39 If I have eaten its fruits without paying for them or have caused its [rightful] owners to breathe their last,
40 Let thistles grow instead of wheat and cockleburs instead of barley. The [controversial] words of Job [with his friends] are ended.