Job 5

Job 5

Job 5:1 Call now! Will anyone answer you? Which of the sacred ones will you turn to?
Job 5:2 Because anger kills a fool, and jealousy slays the gullible.
Job 5:3 I have seen a fool taking root, but I immediately pronounced a curse on his home.
Job 5:4 His children are far from safety. They are crushed at the city gate, with no one to rescue them.
Job 5:5 The hungry eat his harvest, even taking it out of the thorns—the thirsty pant for his children’s wealth.
Job 5:6 For distress does not grow out of the soil, and trouble does not sprout from the ground.
Job 5:7 But humans are born for trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.
Job 5:8 However, if I were you, I would appeal to God and would present my case to him.
Job 5:9 He does great and unsearchable things, miracles without number.
Job 5:10 He gives rain to the land and sends water to the fields.
Job 5:11 He sets the humble on high, and mourners are lifted to safety.
Job 5:12 He frustrates the schemes of the crafty so that they achieve no success.
Job 5:13 He traps the wise in their craftiness so that the plans of the deceptive are quickly ended.
Job 5:14 They encounter darkness by day, and they grope at noon as if it were night.
Job 5:15 He saves the needy from their sharp words and the clutches of the powerful.
Job 5:16 So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts its mouth.
Job 5:17 See how happy the mortal is whom God corrects; so, accept the discipline of the Almighty.
Job 5:18 Because he wounds, but he also bandages; he strikes, but his hands also heal.
Job 5:19 He will rescue you from six calamities; no harm will touch you in seven.
Job 5:20 In famine, he will redeem you from death, and in battle, from the power of the sword.
Job 5:21 You will be safe from slander and not fear destruction when it comes.
Job 5:22 You will laugh at destruction and hunger and not fear the land’s wild creatures.
Job 5:23 Because you will have a covenant with the stones of the field, and the wild animals will be at peace with you.
Job 5:24 You will know that your tent is secure, and nothing will be missing when you inspect your home.
Job 5:25 You will also know that your offspring will be many and your descendants like the grass of the ground.
Job 5:26 You will approach the grave in full strength, as a stack of sheaves is gathered in its season.
Job 5:27 We have investigated this, and it is true! Hear it and understand it for yourself.

links:

impatient and dismayed
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Saturday, July 7, 2018
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Sunday, July 8, 2018
we have investigated

The Job shelf in my library

Job 4

Job 4

Job 4:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

Job 4:2 Should anyone try to speak with you when you are so tired? Yet who can keep from speaking?

Job 4:3 Indeed, you have instructed many and have strengthened weak hands.

Job 4:4 Your words have steadied the one who was stumbling and braced the knees that were buckling.

Job 4:5 But now that this has happened to you, you have become tired. It strikes you, and you are overwhelmed.

Job 4:6 Isn’t your piety your confidence, and the integrity of your life your hope?

Job 4:7 Think about this: who has been destroyed when he was innocent? Where have the honest been made to disappear?

Job 4:8 In my experience, those who plow injustice and those who sow trouble reap the same.

Job 4:9 They are destroyed at a single breathing[1] from God and come to an end by the breath of his nostrils.

Job 4:10 The lion may roar and the fierce lion growl, but the teeth of young lions are broken.

Job 4:11 The strong lion dies if it catches no prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

Job 4:12 A word was brought to me in secret; my ears caught a whisper of it.

Job 4:13 Among unsettling thoughts from visions in the night, when deep sleep comes over men,

Job 4:14 fear and trembling came over me and made all my bones shake.

Job 4:15 I felt a wind[2]on my face, and the hair on my body stood up.

Job 4:16 A figure stood there, but I could not recognize its appearance; a form loomed before my eyes. I heard a whispering voice:

Job 4:17 “Can a mortal be righteous before God? Can a healthy man be purer than his Maker?”

Job 4:18 If God puts no trust in his servants and he charges his angels with foolishness,

Job 4:19 how much more those who dwell in clay houses, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like a moth!

Job 4:20 They are smashed to pieces from dawn to dusk; they are destroyed forever while no one notices.

Job 4:21 Are their tent cords not pulled up? They die without wisdom.

[1] נְשָׁמָה = breathing. Job 4:9.

[2]possibly breath

links:

eyes of grace
impatient and dismayed
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Friday, July 6, 2018
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Monday, July 25, 2016

The Job shelf in my library

Job 3

Job 3

Job 3:1 After this, Job opened his mouth and declared the day he was born cursed.

Job 3:2 He spoke and said:

Job 3:3 May the day I was born be destroyed, and the night that said, “A healthy man[1] is conceived.”

Job 3:4 If only that day had turned to darkness! May God above not care about it, or light shine on it.

Job 3:5 May darkness and gloom reclaim it, and a cloud settle over it. May the darkens of day scare it away.

Job 3:6 If only darkness had taken that night away! May it not appear among the days of the year or be listed in the calendar.

Job 3:7 Yes, may that night be barren; may no joyful shout be heard in it.

Job 3:8 Let those who curse days condemn it, those who are ready to rouse Leviathan.

Job 3:9 May its morning stars grow dark. May it wait for daylight but have none; may it not see the breaking of dawn.

Job 3:10 For that night did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb and hide sorrow from my eyes.

Job 3:11 Why was I not stillborn? Why didn’t I die as I came from the womb?

Job 3:12 Why did the knees receive me, and why were there breasts for me to nurse?

Job 3:13 Now I would certainly be lying down in peace; I would be asleep. Then I would be at rest

Job 3:14 with the kings and counselors of the land, who rebuilt ruined cities for themselves,

Job 3:15 or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.

Job 3:16 Or why was I not hidden like a miscarried child, like infants who never see daylight?

Job 3:17 There the wicked cease to make trouble, and there the weary find rest.

Job 3:18 The prisoners are completely at rest; they do not hear a taskmaster’s voice.

Job 3:19 Both small and significant are there, and the slave is set free from his master.

Job 3:20 Why is light given to one burdened with grief, and life to those whose throat is bitter,

Job 3:21 who wait for death, but it does not come, and search for it more than for hidden treasure,

Job 3:22 who are filled with much joy and are glad when they reach the grave?

Job 3:23 Why is life given to a healthy man whose path is hidden, whom God has hedged in?

Job 3:24 I sigh when food is put before me, and my groans pour out like water.

Job 3:25 Because the thing I feared has overtaken me, and what I dreaded has happened to me.

Job 3:26 I cannot relax or be calm; I have no rest, because turmoil has come.

[1] גֶּבֶר = healthy man. Job 3:3, 23; 4:17; 10:5; 14:10, 14; 16:21; 22:2; 33:17, 29; 34:7, 9, 34; 38:3; 40:7.

links:

death no escape
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Sunday, July 24, 2016
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Thursday, July 5, 2018
trapped

The Job shelf in my library

Job 2

Job 2

Job 2:1 One day, the sons of God came again to present themselves before Yahveh, and Satan also came with them to present himself before Yahveh.

Job 2:2 Yahveh asked Satan, “Where have you come from?” “From roaming through the land,” Satan answered him, “and walking around on it.”

Job 2:3 Then Yahveh said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? No one else on the land is like him, a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil. He still retains his integrity, even though you incited me against him, to destroy him for no good reason.”

Job 2:4 “Skin for skin!” Satan answered Yahveh. “A man will give up everything he owns in exchange for his throat.[1]

Job 2:5 But send out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

Job 2:6 “Very well,” Yahveh told Satan, “He is in your power; only spare his throat.”

Job 2:7 So Satan left Yahveh’s presence and infected Job with terrible boils from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

Job 2:8 Then Job took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself while he sat among the ashes.

Job 2:9 His wife said to him, “Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!”

Job 2:10 “You speak as a foolish woman speaks,” he told her. “Should we accept only good from God and not adversity?” Throughout all this, Job did not fail in what he said.

Job 2:11 Now when Job’s three friends– Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite– heard about all this adversity that had happened to him, each of them came from his home. They met together to go and sympathize with him and comfort him.

Job 2:12 When they looked from a distance, they could barely recognize him. They wept aloud, and each man tore his robe and threw dust into the air and on his head.

Job 2:13 Then they sat on the ground with him seven days and nights, but no one spoke a word to him because they saw that his suffering was very intense.

[1] נֶפֶשׁ = throat (life). Job 2:4, 6; 3:20; 6:7, 11; 7:11, 15; 9:21; 10:1; 12:10; 13:14; 14:22; 18:4; 21:25; 23:13; 24:12; 27:2, 8; 30:16, 25; 31:30, 39; 32:2; 33:18, 20, 22, 28, 30; 41:21.

links:

from bad to worse
when things get worse

The Job shelf in my library

Job 1

Job 1

Job 1:1 There was a man in the land[1] of Uz named Job. He was a man of complete integrity, who feared God and avoided evil.

Job 1:2 He had seven sons and three daughters.

Job 1:3 He also had seven thousand sheep and goats, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and an enormous number of servants. Job was the most remarkable man among all the people of the East.

Job 1:4 His sons used to take turns feasting at their homes. They would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.

Job 1:5 Whenever a round of feasts was over, Job would send for his children and purify them, rising early in the morning to offer ascending[2] offerings for all of them. Job thought, “Perhaps my children have failed,[3] having cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular practice.

Job 1:6 One day, the sons of God[4] came to present themselves before Yahveh,[5] and Satan also came with them.

Job 1:7 Yahveh asked Satan, “Where have you come from?” “From roaming through the land,” Satan answered him, “and walking around on it.”

Job 1:8 Then Yahveh said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? No one else on the land is like him, a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil.”

Job 1:9 Satan answered Yahveh, “Does Job fear God for nothing?

Job 1:10 Haven’t you placed a hedge around him, his household, and everything he owns? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.

Job 1:11 But send out your hand and strike everything he owns, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

Job 1:12 “Very well,” Yahveh told Satan, “everything he owns is in your power. However, do not lay a hand on Job himself.” So, Satan left Yahveh’s presence.

Job 1:13 One day, when Job’s sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,

Job 1:14 a messenger came to Job and reported: “While the oxen were plowing and the donkeys grazing nearby,

Job 1:15 the Sabeans swooped down and took them away. They struck down the servants with the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”

Job 1:16 He was still speaking when another messenger came and reported: “God’s fire fell from the sky.[6] It burned the sheep and the servants and devoured them, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”

Job 1:17 That messenger was still speaking when yet another came and reported: “The Chaldeans formed three bands, made a raid on the camels, and took them away. They struck down the servants with the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”

Job 1:18 He was still speaking when another messenger came and reported: “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house.

Job 1:19 Suddenly, a mighty wind[7] swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on the young people so that they died, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”

Job 1:20 Then Job stood up, tore his robe, and shaved his head. He fell to the ground and worshiped,

Job 1:21 saying: Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will leave this life. Yahveh gives, and Yahveh takes away. Blessed be the name of Yahveh.

Job 1:22 Throughout all this, Job did not fail God or blame him for anything.

[1]  אֶרֶץ = land, ground. Job 1:1, 7, 8, 10, 20; 2:2, 3, 13; 3:14; 5:10, 22, 25; 7:1; 8:9; 9:6, 24; 10:21, 22; 11:9; 12:8, 15, 24; 14:8, 19; 15:19, 29; 16:13, 18; 18:4, 10, 17; 20:4, 27; 22:8; 24:4, 18; 26:7; 28:5, 13, 24; 30:8; 34:13; 35:11; 37:3, 6, 12, 13, 17; 38:4, 13, 18, 24, 26, 33; 39:14, 24; 42:15.

[2] עֹלָה = ascending (offering). Job 1:5, 42:8.

[3] חָטָא = fail. Job 1:5, 22, 2:10, 5:24, 7:20, 8:4, 10:14, 24:19.31:30. 33:27, 35:6, 41:25.

[4] LXX = “οἱ ἄγγελοι τοῦ θεοῦ” (the agents of God).

[5] יהוה = Yahveh. Job 1:6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 21; 2:1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7; 12:9; 38:1; 40:1, 3, 6; 42:1, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12.

[6] שָׁמַיִם = sky, air. Job 1:16; 2:12; 9:8; 11:8; 12:7; 14:12; 15:15; 16:19; 20:6, 27; 22:12, 14; 26:11, 13; 28:21, 24; 35:5, 11; 37:3; 38:29, 33, 37; 41:11.

[7] רוּחַ = wind, breath. Job 1:19; 4:9, 15; 6:4, 26; 7:7, 11; 8:2; 9:18; 10:12; 12:10; 15:2, 13, 30; 16:3; 17:1; 19:17; 20:3; 21:4, 18; 26:13; 27:3; 28:25; 30:15, 22; 32:8, 18, 33:4, 34:14; 37:21; 41:16.

links:

catastrophe
trust remains

The Job shelf in my library