Category: Scripture

Then Job spoke again:

“I have heard all this before. What miserable comforters you are! Won’t you ever stop blowing hot air? What makes you keep on talking? I could say the same things if you were in my place. I could spout out criticisms and shake my head at you. But if it were me, I would encourage you. I would try to take away your grief. Instead, I suffer no less if I refuse to speak.

“O God, you have ground me down and devastated my family. As if to prove I have sinned, you’ve reduced me to skin and bones. My gaunt flesh testifies against me.” (vv. 1-8, NLT)

“O earth, do not conceal my blood. Let cry out on my behalf. Even now my witness is in heaven. My advocate is there on high. My friends scorn me, but I pour out my tears to God. I need someone to mediate between God and me, as a person mediates between friends. For soon I must go down that road from which I will never return.” (vv.18-22, NLT)

[Job continues his case with God]

“How frail is humanity! How short is life, how full of trouble! Like a passing shadow, we quickly disappear. Must You keep an eye on such a frail creature and demand an accounting from me? Who can bring impurity out of an impure person? No one! You have decided the length of our lives. You know how many months we will live, and we are not given a minute longer. So leave us alone and let us rest! We are like hired hands, so let us finish our work in peace! (vv. 1-6,NLT)

Your would call and I would answer, and You would yearn foe me, your handiwork. For then you would guard my steps, instead of watching for my sins. My sins would be sealed in a pouch, and you would cover my guilt. (vv. 15-17, NLT)

Job Asks How He Has Sinned

“O God, grant mw these two things, and then I will be able to face you. Remove Your heavy hand from me, and don’t terrify me with Your awesome presence. Now summon me, and I will answer! Or let me speak to You, and Your reply. Tell me , what have I don wrong? Show me my rebellion and my sin. Why do You turn away from me? Why do You treat me as Your enemy? Would You terrify a leaf blown by the wind? Would You chase dry straw?”

” You write bitter accusations against me and bring up all the sins of my youth. You put my feet in stocks. You trace all my footprints. I waste away like rotting wood, like a moth-eaten coat.” (vv. 20-28, NLT)

Then Job spoke again:

“Yes, I know all this is true in principle. But how can a person be declared innocent in God’s sight? If someone wanted to take God to court, would it be possible to answer Him even once in a thought times? For God is so wise and mighty. Who has ever challenged Him successfully?

Without warning, He moves the. mountains, overturning them in His anger. He shakes the earth from its place, and it foundations tremble. If He commands it, the sun won’t rise and the stars won’t shine. He alone has spread our the heavens and marches on the waves of the sea. He made all the stars-the Bear an Orion, the Pleiades and the constellations of the southern sky. He does great things too marvelous to understand. He performs countless miracles.

Yet when he comes near, I cannot see him. When He moves by, I do not see Him go. If He snatches someone in death, who can stop Him? Who dares to ask, ‘What are your doing?’ And does does not restrain His anger. Even the monsters of the sea are crushed beneath His feet.” (vv. 1-13, NLT)

When three of Job’s friends heard of the tragedy he had suffered, they go together and traveled from their homes of comfort to console him. Their names were Eliphaz the Tenamite, Bildatd the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. When they saw Job from a distance, they scarcely recognized him. Wailing loudly, they tore their robes and thew dust into the air over their heads to show their grief. Then the sat on the ground with him for seven days and nights. No one said a word to Job, for they saw that his suffering was to great for words. (vv. 11-13, NLT)

One day the members of the heavenly court came again to present themselves before the Lord, and the Accuser Satan, came with them. “Where have you come from? ” the Lord asked Satan.

Satan answered the Lord, “I have been patrolling the earth, watching everything that’s going on.”

Then the Lord asked Satan, “Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless-a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil. And he has maintained his integrity, even though you urned me to harm him without cause.”

Satan replied to the Lord, “Skin for skin! A man will give up everything he as to save his life, but take away his health, and he will surely curse you to your face!”

“All right, do with him as you please,” the Lord said to Satan. “But spare his life.” So Satan left the Lord and he struck Job with terrible boils from head to foot.

Job scraped his skin with a piece of broken pottery as he sat among the ashes. His wife said to him, “Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die.”

But Job replied, “You talk like a foolish woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?” So in all this, Job said nothing wrong.

One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting at the oldest brother’s house, a messenger arrived at Job’s home with this news: “Your oxen were plowing, with the donkeys feeding beside them, when the Sabeans raided us. They stole all the animals and killed all the farmhands. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.”

While he was speaking, a other messenger arrived with the news: “The fire of God has fallen from heaven and burned up you sheep and all the shepherds. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.”

While he was still speaking, a third messenger arrived with this news: “Three bands of Chaldean raiders have stolen your camels and killed your servants. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.”

While he was still speaking, another messenger arrived with this news: “Your sons and daughters were feasting in their oldest brother’s home. Suddenly, a powerful wind swept in from the wilderness and hit the house on all sides. The house collapsed, and all your children are dead. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.”

Job stood up and tore his robe in grief. Then he shaved his head and fell to the ground to worship. He said,

“I cam naked from my mother’s womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The Lord gave me what I had, and theLord as taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord!”

In all of this, Job did not sin by blaming God. (vv. 13-22, NLT)

One day the members of the heavenly count cam to present themselves before the Lord, and the Accuser, Satan, came with them. “Where have you come from?” the Lord asked.

Satan answered the Lord, “I have been patrolling the earth, watching everything that’s going on.”

Then the Lord asked him, “Have you. noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless-a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil.”

Satan replied to the Lord, “Yes, but Job has good reason to fear God. You have alway put a wall of protection around him and his home and his property. You have made him prosper in everything he does. Look who rich he is! But reach out and take away everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

“All right, you may test him,” the Lord said to Satan. “Do whatever you want with everything he possesses, but don’t harm him physically.” So Satan left the Lord’s presence. (vv. 6-12, NLT)

There once was a man named Job who lived in the land of Uz. He was blameless-a. man of complete integrity. He feared God and stayed away from evil. He had seven sons and three daughters. He owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 teams of oxen, and 500 female donkeys. He also had many servants. He was, in fact, the richest person in that entire area.

Job’s sons would take turns preparing feasts in their homes, and they would also invite their three sisters to celebrate with them. When these celebrations ended- sometimes after several days- Job would purify his children. He would get up early in the morning and offer a burnt offering for each one of them. For Job said to himself, “Perhaps my children have sinned and have cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular practice. (vv. 1-5, NLT)

King Xerxes imposed a tribute through his empire, even to distant coastlines. His great achievements and the full account of the greatness of Mordecai, whom the king had promoted, are recorded in The Book of History of the Kings of Media and Persia. Mordecai the Jew became the prime minister, with authority next to that of King Xerxes himself. He was very great among the Jews, who held him in high esteem, because he continued to work for the good of his people and to speak up for the welfare of all their descendants. (NLT)