Job 16

JOB’S REPLY TO ELIPHAZ
Then Job answered:

2 I have heard many things like these.
You are all miserable comforters.
3 Is there no end to your empty words?
What provokes you that you continue testifying?
4 If you were in my place I could also talk like you.
I could string words together against you
and shake my head at you.
5 Instead, I would encourage you with my mouth,
and the consolation from my lips would bring relief.
6 If I speak, my suffering is not relieved,
and if I hold back, does any of it leave me?
7 Surely he has now exhausted me.
You have devastated my entire family.
8 You have shriveled me up ​— ​it has become a witness;
my frailty rises up against me and testifies to my face.
9 His anger tears at me, and he harasses me.
He gnashes his teeth at me.
My enemy pierces me with his eyes.
10 They open their mouths against me
and strike my cheeks with contempt;
they join themselves together against me.
11 God hands me over to the unjust;
he throws me to the wicked.
12 I was at ease, but he shattered me;
he seized me by the scruff of the neck
and smashed me to pieces.
He set me up as his target;
13 his archers surround me.
He pierces my kidneys without mercy
and pours my bile on the ground.
14 He breaks through my defenses again and again;
he charges at me like a warrior.
15 I have sewn sackcloth over my skin;
I have buried my strength in the dust.
16 My face has grown red with weeping,
and darkness covers my eyes,
17 although my hands are free from violence
and my prayer is pure.
18 Earth, do not cover my blood;
may my cry for help find no resting place.
19 Even now my witness is in heaven,
and my advocate is in the heights!
20 My friends scoff at me
as I weep before God.
21 I wish that someone might argue for a man with God
just as anyone would for a friend.
22 For only a few years will pass
before I go the way of no return.

Job 17

My spirit is broken.
My days are extinguished.
A graveyard awaits me.
2 Surely mockers surround me,
and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion.
3 Accept my pledge! Put up security for me.
Who else will be my sponsor?
4 You have closed their minds to understanding,
therefore you will not honor them.
5 If a man denounces his friends for a price,
the eyes of his children will fail.
6 He has made me an object of scorn to the people;
I have become a man people spit at.
7 My eyes have grown dim from grief,
and my whole body has become but a shadow.
8 The upright are appalled at this,
and the innocent are roused against the godless.
9 Yet the righteous person will hold to his way,
and the one whose hands are clean will grow stronger.
10 But come back and try again, all of you.
I will not find a wise man among you.
11 My days have slipped by;
my plans have been ruined,
even the things dear to my heart.
12 They turned night into day
and made light seem near in the face of darkness.
13 If I await Sheol as my home,
spread out my bed in darkness,
14 and say to corruption, “You are my father,”
and to the maggot, “My mother” or “My sister,”
15 where then is my hope?
Who can see any hope for me?
16 Will it go down to the gates of Sheol,
or will we descend together to the dust?

Job 18

BILDAD SPEAKS
Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

2 How long until you stop talking?
Show some sense, and then we can talk.
3 Why are we regarded as cattle,
as stupid in your sight?
4 You who tear yourself in anger —
should the earth be abandoned on your account,
or a rock be removed from its place?
5 Yes, the light of the wicked is extinguished;
the flame of his fire does not glow.
6 The light in his tent grows dark,
and the lamp beside him is put out.
7 His powerful stride is shortened,
and his own schemes trip him up.
8 For his own feet lead him into a net,
and he strays into its mesh.
9 A trap catches him by the heel;
a noose seizes him.
10 A rope lies hidden for him on the ground,
and a snare waits for him along the path.
11 Terrors frighten him on every side
and harass him at every step.
12 His strength is depleted;
disaster lies ready for him to stumble.
13 Parts of his skin are eaten away;
death’s firstborn consumes his limbs.
14 He is ripped from the security of his tent
and marched away to the king of terrors.
15 Nothing he owned remains in his tent.
Burning sulfur is scattered over his home.
16 His roots below dry up,
and his branches above wither away.
17 All memory of him perishes from the earth;
he has no name anywhere.
18 He is driven from light to darkness
and chased from the inhabited world.
19 He has no children or descendants among his people,
no survivor where he used to live.
20 Those in the west are appalled at his fate,
while those in the east tremble in horror.
21 Indeed, such is the dwelling of the unjust man,
and this is the place of the one who does not know God.

Acts 9:1–22

THE DAMASCUS ROAD
Now Saul was still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. He went to the high priest
2 and requested letters from him to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any men or women who belonged to the Way, he might bring them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he traveled and was nearing Damascus, a light from heaven suddenly flashed around him. 4 Falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him,“Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? ”

5 “Who are you, Lord? ” Saul said.

“I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting,” he replied. 6 “But get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

7 The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the sound but seeing no one. 8 Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing. So they took him by the hand and led him into Damascus. 9 He was unable to see for three days and did not eat or drink.

SAUL’S BAPTISM
10 There was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias, and the Lord said to him in a vision,“Ananias.”

“Here I am, Lord,” he replied.

11 “Get up and go to the street called Straight,” the Lord said to him,“to the house of Judas, and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, since he is praying there. 12 In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and placing his hands on him so that he may regain his sight.”

13 “Lord,” Ananias answered, “I have heard from many people about this man, how much harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem. 14 And he has authority here from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.”

15 But the Lord said to him,“Go, for this man is my chosen instrument to take my name to Gentiles, kings, and Israelites. 16 I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”

17 Ananias went and entered the house. He placed his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road you were traveling, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”

18 At once something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he got up and was baptized. 19 And after taking some food, he regained his strength.

SAUL PROCLAIMING THE MESSIAH
Saul was with the disciples in Damascus for some time. 20 Immediately he began proclaiming Jesus in the synagogues: “He is the Son of God.”

21 All who heard him were astounded and said, “Isn’t this the man in Jerusalem who was causing havoc for those who called on this name and came here for the purpose of taking them as prisoners to the chief priests? ”

22 But Saul grew stronger and kept confounding the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.

— Job 16–18, Acts 9:1–22 (CSB)