Job 26

JOB’S REPLY TO BILDAD
Then Job answered:

2 How you have helped the powerless
and delivered the arm that is weak!
3 How you have counseled the unwise
and abundantly provided insight!
4 With whom did you speak these words?
Whose breath came out of your mouth?
5 The departed spirits tremble
beneath the waters and all that inhabit them.
6 Sheol is naked before God,
and Abaddon has no covering.
7 He stretches the northern skies over empty space;
he hangs the earth on nothing.
8 He wraps up the water in his clouds,
yet the clouds do not burst beneath its weight.
9 He obscures the view of his throne,
spreading his cloud over it.
10 He laid out the horizon on the surface of the waters
at the boundary between light and darkness.
11 The pillars that hold up the sky tremble,
astounded at his rebuke.
12 By his power he stirred the sea,
and by his understanding he crushed Rahab.
13 By his breath the heavens gained their beauty;
his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.
14 These are but the fringes of his ways;
how faint is the word we hear of him!
Who can understand his mighty thunder?

Job 27

Job continued his discourse, saying:

2 As God lives, who has deprived me of justice,
and the Almighty who has made me bitter,
3 as long as my breath is still in me
and the breath from God remains in my nostrils,
4 my lips will not speak unjustly,
and my tongue will not utter deceit.
5 I will never affirm that you are right.
I will maintain my integrity until I die.
6 I will cling to my righteousness and never let it go.
My conscience will not accuse me as long as I live!
7 May my enemy be like the wicked
and my opponent like the unjust.
8 For what hope does the godless person have when he is cut off,
when God takes away his life?
9 Will God hear his cry
when distress comes on him?
10 Will he delight in the Almighty?
Will he call on God at all times?
11 I will teach you about God’s power.
I will not conceal what the Almighty has planned.
12 All of you have seen this for yourselves,
why do you keep up this empty talk?
13 This is a wicked man’s lot from God,
the inheritance the ruthless receive from the Almighty.
14 Even if his children increase, they are destined for the sword;
his descendants will never have enough food.
15 Those who survive him will be buried by the plague,
yet their widows will not weep for them.
16 Though he piles up silver like dust
and heaps up fine clothing like clay —
17 he may heap it up, but the righteous will wear it,
and the innocent will divide up his silver.
18 The house he built is like a moth’s cocoon
or a shelter set up by a watchman.
19 He lies down wealthy, but will do so no more;
when he opens his eyes, it is gone.
20 Terrors overtake him like a flood;
a storm wind sweeps him away at night.
21 An east wind picks him up, and he is gone;
it carries him away from his place.
22 It blasts at him without mercy,
while he flees desperately from its force.
23 It claps its hands at him
and scoffs at him from its place.

Acts 11

GENTILE SALVATION DEFENDED
The apostles and the brothers and sisters who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God.
2 When Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party criticized him, 3 saying, “You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.”

4 Peter began to explain to them step by step, 5 “I was in the town of Joppa praying, and I saw, in a trance, an object that resembled a large sheet coming down, being lowered by its four corners from heaven, and it came to me. 6 When I looked closely and considered it, I saw the four-footed animals of the earth, the wild beasts, the reptiles, and the birds of the sky. 7 I also heard a voice telling me,‘Get up, Peter; kill and eat.’

8 “ ‘No, Lord! ’ I said. ‘For nothing impure or ritually unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 9 But a voice answered from heaven a second time,‘What God has made clean, you must not call impure.’

10 “Now this happened three times, and everything was drawn up again into heaven. 11 At that very moment, three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea arrived at the house where we were. 12 The Spirit told me to accompany them with no doubts at all. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we went into the man’s house. 13 He reported to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa, and call for Simon, who is also named Peter. 14 He will speak a message to you by which you and all your household will be saved.’

15 “As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came down on them, just as on us at the beginning. 16 I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said,‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 If, then, God gave them the same gift that he also gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, how could I possibly hinder God? ”

18 When they heard this they became silent. And they glorified God, saying, “So then, God has given repentance resulting in life even to the Gentiles.”

THE CHURCH IN ANTIOCH
19 Now those who had been scattered as a result of the persecution that started because of Stephen made their way as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. 20 But there were some of them, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks also, proclaiming the good news about the Lord Jesus. 21 The Lord’s hand was with them, and a large number who believed turned to the Lord. 22 News about them reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to travel as far as Antioch. 23 When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged all of them to remain true to the Lord with devoted hearts, 24 for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And large numbers of people were added to the Lord.

25 Then he went to Tarsus to search for Saul, 26 and when he found him he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught large numbers. The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.

FAMINE RELIEF
27 In those days some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 One of them, named Agabus, stood up and predicted by the Spirit that there would be a severe famine throughout the Roman world. This took place during the reign of Claudius. 29 Each of the disciples, according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brothers and sisters who lived in Judea. 30 They did this, sending it to the elders by means of Barnabas and Saul.

— Job 26–27, Acts 11 (CSB)