In you, O Lord, I hope. You will answer, Lord my God. Psalm 38:15
Job 8-11
Job 8
Bildad: Job Should Repent
1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered,
2 “How long will you speak these things?
Shall the words of your mouth be a mighty wind?
3 Does God pervert justice?
Or does the Almighty pervert righteousness?
4 If your children have sinned against him,
he has delivered them into the penalty for their disobedience.
5 If you want to seek God diligently,
make your supplication to the Almighty.
6 If you were pure and upright,
surely now he would awaken for you,
and restore you to your rightful place.
7 Though your beginning was small,
yet your latter end would greatly increase.
8 Please inquire of past generations.
Find out about the learning of their fathers,
9 for we were born only yesterday, and know nothing,
because our days on earth are just a shadow.
10 Shall they not teach you, tell you,
and speak words from their heart?
11 Can the papyrus grow without marsh?
Can the reeds grow without water?
12 While it is still green and uncut,
it withers before any other plant.
13 So are the paths of all who forget God.
The hope of the godless man will perish.
14 His confidence will break.
He trusts in a spider’s web.
15 He will lean on his house, but it will not stand.
He will cling to it, but it will not endure.
16 He is green before the sun.
His shoots go out along his garden.
17 His roots are wrapped around the rock pile.
He sees the place of stones.
18 If he is destroyed from his place,
then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have not seen you.’
19 This is the “joy” of the way of the godless:
and from the dust, others will spring up.
20 God does not cast away a blameless man,
nor will he uphold the evildoers.
21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughter,
your lips with rejoicing.
22 Those who hate you will be clothed with shame.
The tent of the wicked will be no more.”
Job 9
Job: No Arbiter Between God and Man
1 Then Job answered,
2 “Indeed, I know that this is true,
but how can man be righteous before God?
3 If one wanted to contend with Him,
he could not answer him one time in a thousand.
4 God who is wise in hear and mighty in strength,
who has resisted him and succeeded?
5 He removes the mountains, and they do not know it,
when he overturns them in his anger.
6 He shakes the earth out of its place.
Its pillars tremble.
7 He commands the sun, and it does not rise,
and seals up the stars.
8 He alone stretches out the heavens,
and treads on the waves of the sea.
9 He makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades,
and the constellations of the south.
10 He does great, unsearchable things,
yes, wonders without number.
11 He passes by me, and I do not see him.
He goes by me, but I do not perceive him.
12 He snatches away,
and who can hinder him?
Who will ask him, ‘What are you doing?’
13 God will not withdraw his anger.
The helpers of Rahab stoop under him.
14 How much less can I answer him,
And choose my words to argue with him?
15 Even if I were righteous, I still could not answer him.
I could only make supplications to my judge.
16 If I had called, and he had answered me,
yet I would not believe that he listened to my voice.
17 For he breaks me with a storm
and multiplies my wounds without cause.
18 He will not allow me to catch my breath,
but fills me with bitterness.
19 If it is a matter of strength, indeed, he is mighty!
If it is a matter of justice, who will summon him?
20 Though I were righteous, my own mouth would condemn me.
Though I were blameless, it would prove me perverse.
21 Although I am innocent,
I have no regard for myself.
I despise my life.
22 It is all the same, therefore I say
he destroys both the blameless and the wicked.
23 If the scourge kills suddenly,
he mocks the trial of the innocent.
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?
25 Now my days are swifter than a runner.
They flee away. They see no good.
26 They have passed away like swift ships,
like the eagle that swoops on the prey.
27 If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint,
I will take off my sad face and cheer up,’
28 I would still dread all the suffering to come,
for I know that you will not hold me innocent.
29 I will be condemned.
Why then do I labor in vain?
30 If I wash myself with snow,
and cleanse my hands with soap,
31 yet you will plunge me in the ditch.
My own clothes will abhor me.
32 For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him,
that we should go to trial together.
33 There is no umpire between us,
that might lay his hand on us both.
34 Let him take his rod away from me.
Let his terror not make me afraid.
35 Then I would speak, and not fear him,
but this is not so for me.
Job 10
Job’s Plea to God
1 “I am weary of my life.
I will give free course to my complaint.
I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2 I will tell God, ‘Do not condemn me.
Show me why you contend with me.
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?
4 Do you have eyes of flesh?
Or do you see as man sees?
5 Are your days as the days of mortals,
or your years as man’s years,
6 that you inquire after my iniquity,
and search after my sin?
7 Although you know that I am not wicked,
there is no one who can deliver from your hand.
8 Your hands have formed and fashioned me altogether,
yet you destroy me.
9 Remember, I beg you, that you have fashioned me as clay.
Will you bring me to dust again?
10 Have you not poured me out like milk,
and curdled me like cheese?
11 You have clothed me with skin and flesh,
and knit me together with bones and tendons.
12 You have granted me life and loving kindness.
Your visitation has preserved my spirit.
13 Yet you hid these things in your heart.
I know that this is with you:
14 If I sinned, then you would mark me.
You would not acquit me from my iniquity.
15 If I am guilty, woe to me.
If I am righteous, I still will not lift up my head,
being filled with disgrace,
and conscious of my affliction.
16 If my head is held high, you hunt me like a lion.
Again you show yourself powerful to me.
17 You renew your witnesses against me,
and increase your indignation on me.
Changes and warfare are with me.
18 Why, then, have you brought me out of the womb?
I wish I had died, before eye had seen me.
19 I should have been as though I had not been.
I should have been taken from the womb to the grave.
20 Are my days not few?
Stop!
Leave me alone, that I may find a little comfort
21 before I go from where I will not return,
to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death;
22 the land dark as midnight, of the shadow of death,
without any order, where the light is as midnight.’ ”
Job 11
Zophar Rebukes Job
1 Then Zophar, the Naamathite, answered,
2 “Should this multitude of words not be answered?
Should a man full of talk be justified?
3 Should your boasting make men hold their peace?
When you mock, will no man make you ashamed?
4 For you say, ‘My doctrine is pure.
I am clean in your eyes.’
5 But oh that God would speak,
and open his lips against you,
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.
7 Can you fathom the mystery of God?
Or can you probe the limits of the Almighty?
8 They are high as heaven. What can you do?
They are deeper than Sheol. What can you know?
9 Its measure is longer than the earth
and broader than the sea.
10 If he passes by or confines
or convenes a court, then who can oppose him?
11 For he knows false men.
He sees iniquity also, even though he does not consider it.
12 An empty-headed man can no more become wise
than a wild donkey’s colt can be born a man.
13 If you set your heart aright,
stretch out your hands toward him.
14 If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away.
Do not let unrighteousness dwell in your tents.
15 Surely then you will lift up your face without spot.
Yes, you will be steadfast and will not fear,
16 for you will forget your misery.
You will remember it like waters that have passed away.
17 Life will be clearer than the noonday.
Though there is darkness, it will be like the morning.
18 You will be secure, because there is hope.
Yes, you will search and will take your rest in safety.
19 Also you will lie down, and no one will make you afraid.
Yes, many will court your favor.
20 But the eyes of the wicked will fail.
They will have no way of escape.
Their only hope will be in the giving up of their spirit.”
1 Corinthians 15:1-34
The Resurrection of Christ
1 Now I want to remind you, brothers, of the Gospel which I preached to you, which you received, and in which you also stand, 2 and by which you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to over 500 brothers at once, most of whom remain until now, but some have also fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all, as to the child born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, who is not worthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the assembly of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am. His grace which was given to me was not futile, but I worked more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. 11 Whether then it is I or they, so we preach, and so you believed.
The Resurrection of the Dead
12 Now if Christ is preached, that he has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither has Christ been raised. 14 If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith also is in vain. 15 Yes, we are also found false witnesses of God, because we testified about God that he raised up Christ, whom he did not raise up, if it is so that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised. 17 If Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins. 18 Then they also who are fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If we have only hoped in Christ in this life, we are of all men most pitiable.
The Order of Resurrection
20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead. He became the first fruits of those who are asleep. 21 For since death came by man, the resurrection of the dead also came by man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then those who are Christ’s, at his coming. 24 Then the end comes, when he will deliver up the Kingdom to God, the Father, when he will have abolished all rule and all authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy that will be abolished is death. 27 For, “He put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when he says, “All things are put in subjection”, it is evident that he is excepted who subjected all things to him. 28 When all things have been subjected to him, then the Son will also himself be subjected to him who subjected all things to him, that God may be all in all.
29 Or else what will they do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why then are they baptized for the dead? 30 Why do we also stand in jeopardy every hour? 31 I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. 32 If I fought with animals at Ephesus for human purposes, what does it profit me? If the dead are not raised, then,
“Let’s eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die.” a
33 Do not be deceived! “Evil companionships corrupt good morals.” 34 Wake up righteously and do not sin, for some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.
Psalm 38
O Lord, Do Not Rebuke Me in Your Wrath
A Psalm by David, for a memorial.
1 O Lord, do not rebuke me in your wrath,
nor chasten me in your hot displeasure.
2 For your arrows have pierced me.
Your hand presses hard on me.
3 There is no health in my flesh because of your indignation,
nor is there any health in my bones because of my sin.
4 For I am drowning in my sin.
It is a burden, too heavy for me to bear.
5 My wounds are loathsome and corrupt
because of my foolishness.
6 I am in pain and bowed down greatly.
I go mourning all day long.
7 For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease.
There is no health in my flesh.
8 I am faint and severely bruised.
I groan from the anguish of my heart.
9 Lord, all my desire is before you.
My groaning is not hidden from you.
10 My heart throbs.
My strength fails me.
As for the light of my eyes, it has also left me.
11 My loved ones and my friends stand aloof from my plague.
My relatives stand far away.
12 They also who seek after my life lay snares.
Those who seek my life speak mischievous things
and meditate deceits all day long.
13 But I, as a deaf man, do not hear.
I am as a mute man who does not open his mouth.
14 Yes, I am as a man who does not hear,
in whose mouth are no reproofs.
15 For in you I hope, O Lord.
You will answer, O Lord my God.
16 For I said, “Do not let them gloat over me,
or exalt themselves over me when my foot slips.”
17 For I am ready to fall.
My pain is continually before me.
18 For I will declare my iniquity.
I will be sorry for my sin.
19 But my enemies are vigorous and many.
Those who hate me without reason are numerous.
20 They who repay evil for good are also adversaries to me,
because I follow what is good.
21 Do not forsake me, O Lord.
My Lord, do not be far from me.
22 Hurry to help me,
My Lord, my salvation.
Proverbs 21:28-29
28 A false witness will perish,
but a man who listens will speak forever.
29 A wicked man puts on a bold front,
but the upright contemplates his ways.