Bible Reading
August 18
The World English Bible
Aug.
17
Job
5-8
Job
5:1 "Call now; is there any who will answer you? To which of
the holy ones will you turn?
Job
5:2 For resentment kills the foolish man, and jealousy kills the
simple.
Job
5:3 I have seen the foolish taking root, but suddenly I cursed his
habitation.
Job
5:4 His children are far from safety. They are crushed in the gate.
Neither is there any to deliver them,
Job
5:5 whose harvest the hungry eats up, and take it even out of the
thorns. The snare gapes for their substance.
Job
5:6 For affliction doesn't come forth from the dust, neither does
trouble spring out of the ground;
Job
5:7 but man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward.
Job
5:8 "But as for me, I would seek God. I would commit my cause
to God,
Job
5:9 who does great things that can't be fathomed, marvelous things
without number;
Job
5:10 who gives rain on the earth, and sends waters on the fields;
Job
5:11 so that he sets up on high those who are low, those who mourn
are exalted to safety.
Job
5:12 He frustrates the devices of the crafty, So that their hands
can't perform their enterprise.
Job
5:13 He takes the wise in their own craftiness; the counsel of the
cunning is carried headlong.
Job
5:14 They meet with darkness in the day time, and grope at noonday
as in the night.
Job
5:15 But he saves from the sword of their mouth, even the needy from
the hand of the mighty.
Job
5:16 So the poor has hope, and injustice shuts her mouth.
Job
5:17 "Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects. Therefore do
not despise the chastening of the Almighty.
Job
5:18 For he wounds, and binds up. He injures, and his hands make
whole.
Job
5:19 He will deliver you in six troubles; yes, in seven there shall
no evil touch you.
Job
5:20 In famine he will redeem you from death; in war, from the power
of the sword.
Job
5:21 You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, neither
shall you be afraid of destruction when it comes.
Job
5:22 At destruction and famine you shall laugh, neither shall you be
afraid of the animals of the earth.
Job
5:23 For you shall be in league with the stones of the field. The
animals of the field shall be at peace with you.
Job
5:24 You shall know that your tent is in peace. You shall visit your
fold, and shall miss nothing.
Job
5:25 You shall know also that your seed shall be great, Your
offspring as the grass of the earth.
Job
5:26 You shall come to your grave in a full age, like a shock of
grain comes in its season.
Job
5:27 Look this, we have searched it, so it is. Hear it, and know it
for your good."
Job
6:1 Then Job answered,
Job
6:2 "Oh that my anguish were weighed, and all my calamity laid
in the balances!
Job
6:3 For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas, therefore
have my words been rash.
Job
6:4 For the arrows of the Almighty are within me. My spirit drinks
up their poison. The terrors of God set themselves in array against
me.
Job
6:5 Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass? Or does the ox low
over his fodder?
Job
6:6 Can that which has no flavor be eaten without salt? Or is there
any taste in the white of an egg?
Job
6:7 My soul refuses to touch them. They are as loathsome food to me.
Job
6:8 "Oh that I might have my request, that God would grant the
thing that I long for,
Job
6:9 even that it would please God to crush me; that he would let
loose his hand, and cut me off!
Job
6:10 Be it still my consolation, yes, let me exult in pain that
doesn't spare, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.
Job
6:11 What is my strength, that I should wait? What is my end, that I
should be patient?
Job
6:12 Is my strength the strength of stones? Or is my flesh of brass?
Job
6:13 Isn't it that I have no help in me, That wisdom is driven quite
from me?
Job
6:14 "To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown
from his friend; even to him who forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
Job
6:15 My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook, as the channel
of brooks that pass away;
Job
6:16 Which are black by reason of the ice, in which the snow hides
itself.
Job
6:17 In the dry season, they vanish. When it is hot, they are
consumed out of their place.
Job
6:18 The caravans that travel beside them turn aside. They go up
into the waste, and perish.
Job
6:19 The caravans of Tema looked. The companies of Sheba waited for
them.
Job
6:20 They were distressed because they were confident. They came
there, and were confounded.
Job
6:21 For now you are nothing. You see a terror, and are afraid.
Job
6:22 Did I say, 'Give to me?' or, 'Offer a present for me from your
substance?'
Job
6:23 or, 'Deliver me from the adversary's hand?' or, 'Redeem me from
the hand of the oppressors?'
Job
6:24 "Teach me, and I will hold my peace. Cause me to
understand wherein I have erred.
Job
6:25 How forcible are words of uprightness! But your reproof, what
does it reprove?
Job
6:26 Do you intend to reprove words, seeing that the speeches of one
who is desperate are as wind?
Job
6:27 Yes, you would even cast lots for the fatherless, and make
merchandise of your friend.
Job
6:28 Now therefore be pleased to look at me, for surely I shall not
lie to your face.
Job
6:29 Please return. Let there be no injustice. Yes, return again. My
cause is righteous.
Job
6:30 Is there injustice on my tongue? Can't my taste discern
mischievous things?
Job
7:1 "Isn't a man forced to labor on earth? Aren't his days like
the days of a hired hand?
Job
7:2 As a servant who earnestly desires the shadow, as a hireling who
looks for his wages,
Job
7:3 so am I made to possess months of misery, wearisome nights are
appointed to me.
Job
7:4 When I lie down, I say, 'When shall I arise, and the night be
gone?' I toss and turn until the dawning of the day.
Job
7:5 My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust. My skin closes
up, and breaks out afresh.
Job
7:6 My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent
without hope.
Job
7:7 Oh remember that my life is a breath. My eye shall no more see
good.
Job
7:8 The eye of him who sees me shall see me no more. Your eyes shall
be on me, but I shall not be.
Job
7:9 As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away, so he who goes down
to Sheol shall come up no more.
Job
7:10 He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place
know him any more.
Job
7:11 "Therefore I will not keep silent. I will speak in the
anguish of my spirit. I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
Job
7:12 Am I a sea, or a sea monster, that you put a guard over me?
Job
7:13 When I say, 'My bed shall comfort me. My couch shall ease my
complaint;'
Job
7:14 then you scare me with dreams, and terrify me through visions:
Job
7:15 so that my soul chooses strangling, death rather than my bones.
Job
7:16 I loathe my life. I don't want to live forever. Leave me alone,
for my days are but a breath.
Job
7:17 What is man, that you should magnify him, that you should set
your mind on him,
Job
7:18 that you should visit him every morning, and test him every
moment?
Job
7:19 How long will you not look away from me, nor leave me alone
until I swallow down my spittle?
Job
7:20 If I have sinned, what do I do to you, you watcher of men? Why
have you set me as a mark for you, so that I am a burden to myself?
Job
7:21 Why do you not pardon my disobedience, and take away my
iniquity? For now shall I lie down in the dust. You will seek me
diligently, but I shall not be."
Job
8:1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered,
Job
8:2 "How long will you speak these things? Shall the words of
your mouth be a mighty wind?
Job
8:3 Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert
righteousness?
Job
8:4 If your children have sinned against him, He has delivered them
into the hand of their disobedience.
Job
8:5 If you want to seek God diligently, make your supplication to
the Almighty.
Job
8:6 If you were pure and upright, surely now he would awaken for
you, and make the habitation of your righteousness prosperous.
Job
8:7 Though your beginning was small, yet your latter end would
greatly increase.
Job
8:8 "Please inquire of past generations. Find out about the
learning of their fathers.
Job
8:9 (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days
on earth are a shadow.)
Job
8:10 Shall they not teach you, tell you, and utter words out of
their heart?
Job
8:11 "Can the papyrus grow up without mire? Can the rushes grow
without water?
Job
8:12 While it is yet in its greenness, not cut down, it withers
before any other reed.
Job
8:13 So are the paths of all who forget God. The hope of the godless
man shall perish,
Job
8:14 Whose confidence shall break apart, Whose trust is a spider's
web.
Job
8:15 He shall lean on his house, but it shall not stand. He shall
cling to it, but it shall not endure.
Job
8:16 He is green before the sun. His shoots go forth over his
garden.
Job
8:17 His roots are wrapped around the rock pile. He sees the place
of stones.
Job
8:18 If he is destroyed from his place, then it shall deny him,
saying, 'I have not seen you.'
Job
8:19 Behold, this is the joy of his way: out of the earth, others
shall spring.
Job
8:20 "Behold, God will not cast away a blameless man, neither
will he uphold the evildoers.
Job
8:21 He will still fill your mouth with laughter, your lips with
shouting.
Job
8:22 Those who hate you shall be clothed with shame. The tent of the
wicked shall be no more."
Aug.
18
Job
9-12
Job
9:1 Then Job answered,
Job
9:2 "Truly I know that it is so, but how can man be just with
God?
Job
9:3 If he is pleased to contend with him, he can't answer him one
time in a thousand.
Job
9:4 God who is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who has
hardened himself against him, and prospered?
Job
9:5 He removes the mountains, and they don't know it, when he
overturns them in his anger.
Job
9:6 He shakes the earth out of its place. Its pillars tremble.
Job
9:7 He commands the sun, and it doesn't rise, and seals up the
stars.
Job
9:8 He alone stretches out the heavens, and treads on the waves of
the sea.
Job
9:9 He makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the chambers of
the south.
Job
9:10 He does great things past finding out; yes, marvelous things
without number.
Job
9:11 Behold, he goes by me, and I don't see him. He passes on also,
but I don't perceive him.
Job
9:12 Behold, he snatches away. Who can hinder him? Who will ask him,
'What are you doing?'
Job
9:13 "God will not withdraw his anger. The helpers of Rahab
stoop under him.
Job
9:14 How much less shall I answer him, And choose my words to argue
with him?
Job
9:15 Though I were righteous, yet I wouldn't answer him. I would
make supplication to my judge.
Job
9:16 If I had called, and he had answered me, yet I wouldn't believe
that he listened to my voice.
Job
9:17 For he breaks me with a storm, and multiplies my wounds without
cause.
Job
9:18 He will not allow me to catch my breath, but fills me with
bitterness.
Job
9:19 If it is a matter of strength, behold, he is mighty! If of
justice, 'Who,' says he, 'will summon me?'
Job
9:20 Though I am righteous, my own mouth shall condemn me. Though I
am blameless, it shall prove me perverse.
Job
9:21 I am blameless. I don't regard myself. I despise my life.
Job
9:22 "It is all the same. Therefore I say he destroys the
blameless and the wicked.
Job
9:23 If the scourge kills suddenly, he will mock at the trial of the
innocent.
Job
9:24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the
faces of its judges. If not he, then who is it?
Job
9:25 "Now my days are swifter than a runner. They flee away,
they see no good,
Job
9:26 They have passed away as the swift ships, as the eagle that
swoops on the prey.
Job
9:27 If I say, 'I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad
face, and cheer up;'
Job
9:28 I am afraid of all my sorrows, I know that you will not hold me
innocent.
Job
9:29 I shall be condemned. Why then do I labor in vain?
Job
9:30 If I wash myself with snow, and cleanse my hands with lye,
Job
9:31 yet you will plunge me in the ditch. My own clothes shall abhor
me.
Job
9:32 For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, that we
should come together in judgment.
Job
9:33 There is no umpire between us, that might lay his hand on us
both.
Job
9:34 Let him take his rod away from me. Let his terror not make me
afraid;
Job
9:35 then I would speak, and not fear him, for I am not so in
myself.
Job
10:1 "My soul is weary of my life. I will give free course to
my complaint. I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
Job
10:2 I will tell God, 'Do not condemn me. Show me why you contend
with me.
Job
10:3 Is it good to you that you should oppress, that you should
despise the work of your hands, and smile on the counsel of the
wicked?
Job
10:4 Do you have eyes of flesh? Or do you see as man sees?
Job
10:5 Are your days as the days of mortals, or your years as man's
years,
Job
10:6 that you inquire after my iniquity, and search after my sin?
Job
10:7 Although you know that I am not wicked, there is no one who can
deliver out of your hand.
Job
10:8 " 'Your hands have framed me and fashioned me altogether,
yet you destroy me.
Job
10:9 Remember, I beg you, that you have fashioned me as clay. Will
you bring me into dust again?
Job
10:10 Haven't you poured me out like milk, and curdled me like
cheese?
Job
10:11 You have clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together
with bones and sinews.
Job
10:12 You have granted me life and loving kindness. Your visitation
has preserved my spirit.
Job
10:13 Yet you hid these things in your heart. I know that this is
with you:
Job
10:14 if I sin, then you mark me. You will not acquit me from my
iniquity.
Job
10:15 If I am wicked, woe to me. If I am righteous, I still shall
not lift up my head, being filled with disgrace, and conscious of my
affliction.
Job
10:16 If my head is held high, you hunt me like a lion. Again you
show yourself powerful to me.
Job
10:17 You renew your witnesses against me, and increase your
indignation on me. Changes and warfare are with me.
Job
10:18 " 'Why, then, have you brought me forth out of the womb?
I wish I had given up the spirit, and no eye had seen me.
Job
10:19 I should have been as though I had not been. I should have
been carried from the womb to the grave.
Job
10:20 Aren't my days few? Cease then. Leave me alone, that I may
find a little comfort,
Job
10:21 before I go where I shall not return from, to the land of
darkness and of the shadow of death;
Job
10:22 the land dark as midnight, of the shadow of death, without any
order, where the light is as midnight.' "
Job
11:1 Then Zophar, the Naamathite, answered,
Job
11:2 "Shouldn't the multitude of words be answered? Should a
man full of talk be justified?
Job
11:3 Should your boastings make men hold their peace? When you mock,
shall no man make you ashamed?
Job
11:4 For you say, 'My doctrine is pure. I am clean in your eyes.'
Job
11:5 But oh that God would speak, and open his lips against you,
Job
11:6 that he would show you the secrets of wisdom! For true wisdom
has two sides. Know therefore that God exacts of you less than your
iniquity deserves.
Job
11:7 "Can you fathom the mystery of God? Or can you probe the
limits of the Almighty?
Job
11:8 They are high as heaven. What can you do? They are deeper than
Sheol. What can you know?
Job
11:9 Its measure is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea.
Job
11:10 If he passes by, or confines, or convenes a court, then who
can oppose him?
Job
11:11 For he knows false men. He sees iniquity also, even though he
doesn't consider it.
Job
11:12 An empty-headed man becomes wise when a man is born as a wild
donkey's colt.
Job
11:13 "If you set your heart aright, stretch out your hands
toward him.
Job
11:14 If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away. Don't let
unrighteousness dwell in your tents.
Job
11:15 Surely then you shall lift up your face without spot; Yes, you
shall be steadfast, and shall not fear:
Job
11:16 for you shall forget your misery. You shall remember it as
waters that are passed away.
Job
11:17 Life shall be clearer than the noonday. Though there is
darkness, it shall be as the morning.
Job
11:18 You shall be secure, because there is hope. Yes, you shall
search, and shall take your rest in safety.
Job
11:19 Also you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. Yes,
many shall court your favor.
Job
11:20 But the eyes of the wicked shall fail. They shall have no way
to flee. Their hope shall be the giving up of the spirit."
Job
12:1 Then Job answered,
Job
12:2 "No doubt, but you are the people, and wisdom shall die
with you.
Job
12:3 But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to
you. Yes, who doesn't know such things as these?
Job
12:4 I am like one who is a joke to his neighbor, I, who called on
God, and he answered. The just, the blameless man is a joke.
Job
12:5 In the thought of him who is at ease there is contempt for
misfortune. It is ready for them whose foot slips.
Job
12:6 The tents of robbers prosper. Those who provoke God are secure,
who carry their God in their hands.
Job
12:7 "But ask the animals, now, and they shall teach you; the
birds of the sky, and they shall tell you.
Job
12:8 Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach you. The fish of the
sea shall declare to you.
Job
12:9 Who doesn't know that in all these, the hand of Yahweh has done
this,
Job
12:10 in whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the
breath of all mankind?
Job
12:11 Doesn't the ear try words, even as the palate tastes its food?
Job
12:12 With aged men is wisdom, in length of days understanding.
Job
12:13 "With God is wisdom and might. He has counsel and
understanding.
Job
12:14 Behold, he breaks down, and it can't be built again. He
imprisons a man, and there can be no release.
Job
12:15 Behold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up. Again, he
sends them out, and they overturn the earth.
Job
12:16 With him is strength and wisdom. The deceived and the deceiver
are his.
Job
12:17 He leads counselors away stripped. He makes judges fools.
Job
12:18 He loosens the bond of kings. He binds their waist with a
belt.
Job
12:19 He leads priests away stripped, and overthrows the mighty.
Job
12:20 He removes the speech of those who are trusted, and takes away
the understanding of the elders.
Job
12:21 He pours contempt on princes, and loosens the belt of the
strong.
Job
12:22 He uncovers deep things out of darkness, and brings out to
light the shadow of death.
Job
12:23 He increases the nations, and he destroys them. He enlarges
the nations, and he leads them captive.
Job
12:24 He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of
the earth, and causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is
no way.
Job
12:25 They grope in the dark without light. He makes them stagger
like a drunken man.
