Month: December 2019

1 The end of my life is near. I can hardly breathe;

there is nothing left for me but the grave.

2 I watch how bitterly everyone mocks me.

3 I am being honest, God. Accept my word.

There is no one else to support what I say.

4 You have closed their minds to reason;

don’t let them triumph over me now.

5 In the old proverb someone betrays his friends for money,

and his children suffer for it.

6 And now people use this proverb against me;

they come and spit in my face.

7 My grief has almost made me blind;

my arms and legs are as thin as shadows.

8 Those who claim to be honest are shocked,

and they all condemn me as godless.

9 Those who claim to be respectable

are more and more convinced they are right.

10 But if all of them came and stood before me,

I would not find even one of them wise.

11 My days have passed; my plans have failed;

my hope is gone.

12 But my friends say night is daylight;

they say that light is near,

but I know I remain in darkness.

13 My only hope is the world of the dead,

where I will lie down to sleep in the dark.

14 I will call the grave my father,

and the worms that eat me

I will call my mother and my sisters.

15 Where is there any hope for me?

Who sees any?

16 Hope will not go with me

when I go down to the world of the dead.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/JOB/17-5740232fb44cccf95a5e964e22de1673.mp3?version_id=68—

1-2 Job, can’t people like you ever be quiet?

If you stopped to listen, we could talk to you.

3 What makes you think we are as stupid as cattle?

4 You are only hurting yourself with your anger.

Will the earth be deserted because you are angry?

Will God move mountains to satisfy you?

5 The light of the wicked will still be put out;

its flame will never burn again.

6 The lamp in their tents will be darkened.

7 Their steps were firm, but now they stumble;

they fall—victims of their own advice.

8 They walk into a net, and their feet are caught;

9 a trap catches their heels and holds them.

10 On the ground a snare is hidden;

a trap has been set in their path.

11 All around them terror is waiting;

it follows them at every step.

12 They used to be rich, but now they go hungry;

disaster stands and waits at their side.

13 A deadly disease spreads over their bodies

and causes their arms and legs to rot.

14 They are torn from the tents where they lived secure,

and are dragged off to face King Death.

15 Now anyone may live in their tents—

after sulfur is sprinkled to disinfect them!

16 Their roots and branches are withered and dry.

17 Their fame is ended at home and abroad;

no one remembers them any more.

18 They will be driven out of the land of the living,

driven from light into darkness.

19 They have no descendants, no survivors.

20 From east to west, all who hear of their fate

shudder and tremble with fear.

21 That is the fate of evil people,

the fate of those who care nothing for God.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/JOB/18-e014985142f05b588c1cabc60955de85.mp3?version_id=68—

1-2 Why do you keep tormenting me with words?

3 Time after time you insult me

and show no shame for the way you abuse me.

4 Even if I have done wrong,

how does that hurt you?

5 You think you are better than I am,

and regard my troubles as proof of my guilt.

6 Can’t you see it is God who has done this?

He has set a trap to catch me.

7 I protest his violence,

but no one is listening;

no one hears my cry for justice.

8 God has blocked the way, and I can’t get through;

he has hidden my path in darkness.

9 He has taken away all my wealth

and destroyed my reputation.

10 He batters me from every side.

He uproots my hope

and leaves me to wither and die.

11 God is angry and rages against me;

he treats me like his worst enemy.

12 He sends his army to attack me;

they dig trenches and lay siege to my tent.

13 God has made my own family forsake me;

I am a stranger to those who knew me;

14 my relatives and friends are gone.

15 Those who were guests in my house have forgotten me;

my servant women treat me like a stranger and a foreigner.

16 When I call a servant, he doesn’t answer—

even when I beg him to help me.

17 My wife can’t stand the smell of my breath,

and my own brothers won’t come near me.

18 Children despise me and laugh when they see me.

19 My closest friends look at me with disgust;

those I loved most have turned against me.

20 My skin hangs loose on my bones;

I have barely escaped with my life.

21 You are my friends! Take pity on me!

The hand of God has struck me down.

22 Why must you persecute me the way God does?

Haven’t you tormented me enough?

23 How I wish that someone would remember my words

and record them in a book!

24 Or with a chisel carve my words in stone

and write them so that they would last forever.

25 But I know there is someone in heaven

who will come at last to my defense.

26 Even after my skin is eaten by disease,

while still in this bodyI will see God.

27 I will see him with my own eyes,

and he will not be a stranger.

My courage failed because you said,

28 “How can we torment him?”

You looked for some excuse to attack me.

29 But now, be afraid of the sword—

the sword that brings God’s wrath on sin,

so that you will know there is one who judges.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/JOB/19-5dc2b5745bc20a1cc7462167e0abcb96.mp3?version_id=68—

1-2 Job, you upset me. Now I’m impatient to answer.

3 What you have said is an insult,

but I know how to reply to you.

4 Surely you know that from ancient times,

when we humans were first placed on earth,

5 no wicked people have been happy for long.

6 They may grow great, towering to the sky,

so great that their heads reach the clouds,

7 but they will be blown away like dust.

Those who used to know them

will wonder where they have gone.

8 They will vanish like a dream, like a vision at night,

and never be seen again.

9 The wicked will disappear from the place where they used to live;

10 and their children will make good what they stole from the poor.

11 Their bodies used to be young and vigorous,

but soon they will turn to dust.

12-13 Evil tastes so good to them

that they keep some in their mouths to enjoy its flavor.

14 But in their stomachs the food turns bitter,

as bitter as any poison could be.

15 The wicked vomit up the wealth they stole;

God takes it back, even out of their stomachs.

16 What the evil people swallow is like poison;

it kills them like the bite of a deadly snake.

17 They will not live to see rivers of olive oil

or streams that flow with milk and honey.

18 They will have to give up all they have worked for;

they will have no chance to enjoy their wealth,

19 because they oppressed and neglected the poor

and seized houses someone else had built.

20 Their greed is never satisfied.

21 When they eat, there is nothing left over,

but now their prosperity comes to an end.

22 At the height of their success

all the weight of misery will crush them.

23 Let them eat all they want!

God will punish them in fury and anger.

24 When they try to escape from an iron sword,

a bronze bow will shoot them down.

25 Arrows stick through their bodies;

the shiny points drip with their blood,

and terror grips their hearts.

26 Everything they have saved is destroyed;

a fire not lit by human hands

burns them and all their family.

27 Heaven reveals their sin,

and the earth gives testimony against them.

28 All their wealth will be destroyed

in the flood of God’s anger.

29 This is the fate of wicked people,

the fate that God assigns to them.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/JOB/20-f6e997fb44eb5af779e4da3fd86c5aa9.mp3?version_id=68—

1-2 Listen to what I am saying;

that is all the comfort I ask from you.

3 Give me a chance to speak and then,

when I am through, sneer if you like.

4 My quarrel is not with mortals;

I have good reason to be impatient.

5 Look at me. Isn’t that enough

to make you stare in shocked silence?

6 When I think of what has happened to me,

I am stunned, and I tremble and shake.

7 Why does God let evil people live,

let them grow old and prosper?

8 They have children and grandchildren,

and live to watch them all grow up.

9 God does not bring disaster on their homes;

they never have to live in terror.

10 Yes, all their cattle breed

and give birth without trouble.

11 Their children run and play like lambs

12 and dance to the music of harps and flutes.

13 They live out their lives in peace

and quietly die without suffering.

14 The wicked tell God to leave them alone;

they don’t want to know his will for their lives.

15 They think there is no need to serve God

nor any advantage in praying to him.

16 They claim they succeed by their own strength,

but their way of thinking I can’t accept.

17 Was a wicked person’s light ever put out?

Did one of them ever meet with disaster?

Did God ever punish the wicked in anger

18 and blow them away like straw in the wind,

or like dust carried away in a storm?

19 You claim God punishes a child for the sins of his father.

No! Let God punish the sinners themselves;

let him show that he does it because oftheirsins.

20 Let sinners bear their own punishment;

let them feel the wrath of Almighty God.

21 When our lives are over,

do we really care whether our children are happy?

22 Can anyone teach God,

who judges even those in high places?

23-24 Some people stay healthy till the day they die;

they die happy and at ease,

their bodies well-nourished.

25 Others have no happiness at all;

they live and die with bitter hearts.

26 But all alike die and are buried;

they all are covered with worms.

27 I know what spiteful thoughts you have.

28 You ask, “Where are the homes of great people now,

those who practiced evil?”

29 Haven’t you talked with people who travel?

Don’t you know the reports they bring back?

30 On the day God is angry and punishes,

it is the wicked who are always spared.

31 There is no one to accuse the wicked

or pay them back for all they have done.

32 When they are carried to the graveyard,

to their well-guarded tombs,

33 thousands join the funeral procession,

and even the earth lies gently on their bodies.

34 And you! You try to comfort me with nonsense!

Every answer you give is a lie!

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/JOB/21-629d37f0a746552a8cae7084f67eaf46.mp3?version_id=68—

The Third Dialogue

1-2 Is there anyone, even the wisest,

who could ever be of use to God?

3 Does your doing right benefit God,

or does your being good help him at all?

4 It is not because you stand in awe of God

that he reprimands you and brings you to trial.

5 No, it’s because you have sinned so much;

it’s because of all the evil you do.

6 To make a brother repay you the money he owed,

you took away his clothes and left him nothing to wear.

7 You refused water to those who were tired,

and refused to feed those who were hungry.

8 You used your power and your position

to take over the whole land.

9 You not only refused to help widows,

but you also robbed and mistreated orphans.

10 So now there are pitfalls all around you,

and suddenly you are full of fear.

11 It has grown so dark that you cannot see,

and a flood overwhelms you.

12 Doesn’t God live in the highest heavens

and look down on the stars, even though they are high?

13 And yet you ask, “What does God know?

He is hidden by clouds—how can he judge us?”

14 You think the thick clouds keep him from seeing,

as he walks on the dome of the sky.

15 Are you determined to walk in the paths

that evil people have always followed?

16 Even before their time had come,

they were washed away by a flood.

17 These are the ones who rejected God

and believed that he could do nothing to them.

18 And yet it was God who made them prosperous—

I can’t understand the thoughts of the wicked.

19 Good people are glad and the innocent laugh

when they see the wicked punished.

20 All that the wicked own is destroyed,

and fire burns up anything that is left.

21 Now, Job, make peace with God

and stop treating him like an enemy;

if you do, then he will bless you.

22 Accept the teaching he gives;

keep his words in your heart.

23 Yes, you must humblyreturn to God

and put an end to all the evil

that is done in your house.

24 Throw away your gold;

dump your finest gold in the dry stream bed.

25 Let Almighty God be your gold,

and let him be silver, piled high for you.

26 Then you will always trust in God

and find that he is the source of your joy.

27 When you pray, he will answer you,

and you will keep the vows you made.

28 You will succeed in all you do,

and light will shine on your path.

29 God brings down the proud

and saves the humble.

30 He will rescue you if you are innocent,

if what you do is right.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/JOB/22-a71ea0ebaf6e31a0312be8665cae3325.mp3?version_id=68—

1-2 I still rebel and complain against God;

I cannot keep from groaning.

3 How I wish I knew where to find him,

and knew how to go where he is.

4 I would state my case before him

and present all the arguments in my favor.

5 I want to know what he would say

and how he would answer me.

6 Would God use all his strength against me?

No, he would listen as I spoke.

7 I am honest; I could reason with God;

he would declare me innocentonce and for all.

8 I have searched in the East, but God is not there;

I have not found him when I searched in the West.

9 God has been at work in the North and the South,

but still I have not seen him.

10 Yet God knows every step I take;

if he tests me, he will find me pure.

11 I follow faithfully the road he chooses,

and never wander to either side.

12 I always do what God commands;

I follow his will, not my own desires.

13 He never changes. No one can oppose him

or stop him from doing what he wants to do.

14 He will fulfill what he has planned for me;

that plan is just one of the many he has;

15 I tremble with fear before him.

16-17 Almighty God has destroyed my courage.

It is God, not the dark, that makes me afraid—

even though the darkness has made me blind.

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/JOB/23-b0ad776bfa883ab22fe401410e7a8bc2.mp3?version_id=68—

1 Why doesn’t God set a time for judging,

a day of justice for those who serve him?

2 People move property lines to get more land;

they steal sheep and put them with their own flocks.

3 They take donkeys that belong to orphans,

and keep a widow’s ox till she pays her debts.

4 They prevent the poor from getting their rights

and force the needy to run and hide.

5 So the poor, like wild donkeys,

search for food in the dry wilderness;

nowhere else can they find food for their children.

6 They have to harvest fields they don’t own,

and gather grapes in vineyards of the wicked.

7 At night they sleep with nothing to cover them,

nothing to keep them from the cold.

8 They are drenched by the rain that falls on the mountains,

and they huddle beside the rocks for shelter.

9 Evil people make slaves of fatherless infants

and take the children of the poor in payment for debts.

10 But the poor must go out with no clothes to protect them;

they must go hungry while harvesting wheat.

11 They press olives for oil, and grapes for wine,

but they themselves are thirsty.

12 In the cities the wounded and dying cry out,

but God ignores their prayers.

13 There are those who reject the light;

they don’t understand it or go where it leads.

14 At dawn the murderer gets up

and goes out to kill the poor,

and at night he steals.

15 The adulterer waits for twilight to come;

he covers his face so that no one can see him.

16 At night thieves break into houses,

but by day they hide and avoid the light.

17 They fear the light of day,

but darkness holds no terror for them.

18 The wicked are swept away by floods,

and the land they own is under God’s curse;

they no longer go to work in their vineyards.

19 As snow vanishes in heat and drought,

so sinners vanish from the land of the living.

20 Not even their mothers remember them now;

they are eaten by worms and destroyed like fallen trees.

21 That happens because they mistreated widows

and showed no kindness to childless women.

22 God, in his strength, destroys the mighty;

God acts—and the wicked die.

23 God may let them live secure,

but keeps an eye on them all the time.

24 For a while the wicked prosper,

but then they wither like weeds,

like stalks of grain that have been cut down.

25 Can anyone deny that this is so?

Can anyone prove that my words are not true?

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/JOB/24-b43662e9890eec6294d7da3f23ffbece.mp3?version_id=68—

1-2 God is powerful; all must stand in awe of him;

he keeps his heavenly kingdom in peace.

3 Can anyone count the angels who serve him?

Is there any place where God’s light does not shine?

4 Can anyone be righteous or pure in God’s sight?

5 In his eyes even the moon is not bright,

or the stars pure.

6 Then what about a human being, that worm, that insect?

What is a human life worth in God’s eyes?

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/JOB/25-aad3a23ef639df2324cab809d2eed2d0.mp3?version_id=68—

1-2 What a big help you are to me—

poor, weak man that I am!

3 You give such good advice

and share your knowledge with a fool like me!

4 Who do you think will hear all your words?

Who inspired you to speak like this?

5 The spirits of the dead tremble

in the waters under the earth.

6 The world of the dead lies open to God;

no covering shields it from his sight.

7 God stretched out the northern sky

and hung the earth in empty space.

8 It is God who fills the clouds with water

and keeps them from bursting with the weight.

9 He hides the full moon behind a cloud.

10 He divided light from darkness

by a circle drawn on the face of the sea.

11 When he threatens the pillars that hold up the sky,

they shake and tremble with fear.

12 It is his strength that conquered the sea;

by his skill he destroyed the monster Rahab.

13 It is his breath that made the sky clear,

and his hand that killed the escaping monster.

14 But these are only hints of his power,

only the whispers that we have heard.

Who can know how truly great God is?

—https://api-cdn.youversionapi.com/audio-bible-youversionapi/363/32k/JOB/26-d0d809f046a3483cb875ff2112cefa10.mp3?version_id=68—