Job 17

Job 17:1 My breath is disturbed. My days are extinguished. A graveyard awaits me.

Job 17:2 Surely mockers surround me, and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion.

Job 17:3 Accept my pledge! Put up security for me. Who else will be my sponsor?

Therefore, you have closed their minds to understanding; thus, you will not honor them.

Job 17:5 If a man denounces his friends for a price, the eyes of his children will fail.

Job 17:6 He has made me an object of scorn to the people; I have become a face people spit at.

Job 17:7 My eyes have grown dim from aggravation, and my whole body has become but a shadow.

Job 17:8 The upright is appalled at this, and the innocent are roused against the godless.

Job 17:9 Yet the righteous person will hold to his way, and the one whose hands are clean will grow stronger.

Job 17:10 But come back and try again, all of you. I will not find a wise man among you.

Job 17:11 My days have slipped by; my plans have been torn up, even the things dear to my heart.

Job 17:12 They turned night into day and made light seem near in the face of darkness.

Job 17:13 If I await Sheol as my home, spread out my bed in darkness,

Job 17:14 and say to rot, “You are my father,” and to the maggot, “My mother” or “My sister,”

Job 17:15 where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me?

Job 17:16 Will it go down to the gates of Sheol, or will we descend together to the dust?

links:

A graveyard awaits
Job’s hope

The Job shelf in my library

Job 16

Job 16:1 Then Job answered and said:

Job 16:2 I have heard many things like these. You are all working hard to comfort me.

Job 16:3 Is there no end to your windy words? What provokes you that you continue answering?

Job 16:4 I could also talk like you if you were in my place, I could string words together against you and shake my head at you.

Job 16:5 Instead, I would encourage you with my mouth, and the consolation from my lips would bring relief.

Job 16:6 If I speak, my suffering is not relieved, and if I hold back, does any of it leave me?

Job 16:7 Surely, he has now exhausted me. You have devastated my entire family.

Job 16:8 You have shrivelled me up — it has become a witness; my frailty rises up against me and testifies to my face.

Job 16:9 His anger tears at me, and he harasses me. He gnashes his teeth at me. My enemy pierces me with his eyes.

Job 16:10 They open their mouths against me and strike my cheeks with contempt; they join themselves together against me.

Job 16:11 God hands me over to the unjust; he throws me to the wicked.

Job 16:12 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;

Job 16:13 his archers surround me. He pierces my kidneys without mercy and pours my bile on the ground.

Job 16:14 He breaks through my defences again and again; he charges at me like a warrior.

Job 16:15 I have sewn sackcloth over my skin; I have buried my horn in the dust.

Job 16:16 My face has grown red with weeping, and darkness covers my eyes,

Job 16:17 although my hands are free from violence and my prayer is pure.

Job 16:18 Ground, do not cover my blood; may my cry for help find no resting place.

Job 16:19 Even now my witness is in the sky, and my advocate is in the heights!

Job 16:20 My friends scoff at me as I weep before God.

Job 16:21 I wish that a healthy man might argue with God just as any son of Adam would for a friend.

Job 16:22 For only a few years will pass before I go the way of no return.

links:

hope in the LORD
Job’s hope
Maranatha Daily Devotional – Monday, January 17, 2022

The Job shelf in my library

Job 15

Job 15:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

Job 15:2 Does a wise person answer with empty counsel or fill himself with the hot east wind?

Job 15:3 Should he argue with useless talk or with words that serve no purpose?

Job 15:4 But you even frustrate the fear of God and hinder meditation before him.

Job 15:5 Your iniquity teaches you what to say, and you choose the language of the crafty.

Job 15:6 Your mouth condemns you, not I; your lips testify against you.

Job 15:7 Were you the first of Adam ever born, or were you brought forth before the hills?

Job 15:8 Do you listen in on the council of God, or have a monopoly on wisdom?

Job 15:9 What do you know that we don’t? What do you understand that is not clear to us?

Job 15:10 Both the gray-haired and the elderly are with us — older than your father.

Job 15:11 Are God’s comforts not enough for you, or the words that deal gently with you?

Job 15:12 Why has your heart misled you, and why do your eyes flash

Job 15:13 as you turn your breath against God and allow such words to leave your mouth?

Job 15:14 What is a mere mortal, that he should be pure, or one born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

Job 15:15 If God puts no trust in his holy ones and the sky is not pure in his sight,

Job 15:16 how much less one who is revolting and corrupt, who drinks injustice like water?

Job 15:17 Listen to me and I will inform you. I will describe what I have seen,

Job 15:18 what the wise have declared and not concealed, that came from their ancestors,

Job 15:19 to whom alone the land was given when no stranger passed among them.

Job 15:20 A wicked person writhes in pain all his days, throughout the number of years reserved for the ruthless.

Job 15:21 Dreadful sounds fill his ears; when he is at peace, a robber attacks him.

Job 15:22 He doesn’t believe he will return from darkness; he is destined for the sword.

Job 15:23 He wanders about for food, asking, “Where is it?” He knows the day of darkness is at hand.

Job 15:24 Trouble and distress terrify him, overwhelming him like a king prepared for battle.

Job 15:25 For he has sent out his hand against God and has arrogantly opposed the Almighty.

Job 15:26 He rushes headlong at him with his thick, studded shields.

Job 15:27 Though his face is covered with fat and his waistline bulges with it,

Job 15:28 he will dwell in ruined cities, in abandoned houses destined to become piles of rubble.

Job 15:29 He will no longer be rich; his wealth will not endure. His crops will not spread over the ground.

Job 15:30 He will not escape from the darkness; flames will burn up his shoots, and by the breath of God’s mouth, he will depart.

Job 15:31 Let him not put trust in worthless things, being led astray, because what he gets in exchange will prove useless.

Job 15:32 It will be accomplished before his time, and his branch will not flourish.

Job 15:33 He will be like a vine that drops its unripe grapes and like an olive tree that sheds its blossoms.

Job 15:34 Because the company of the godless will have no children, and fire will consume the tents of those who offer bribes.

Job 15:35 They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb prepares deception.

links:

knowing forgiveness
what Job knew

The Job shelf in my library

Job 14

Job 14:1 A human born of woman is short on days and full of trouble.

Job 14:2 He blossoms like a flower, then withers; he flees like a shadow and does not last.

Job 14:3 Do open your eyes to one like this? Will you bring me into judgment against you?

Job 14:4 Who can produce something pure from something impure? No one!

Job 14:5 Since a person’s days are determined and the number of his months depends on you, and since you have set limits he cannot pass,

Job 14:6 look away from him and let him rest so that he can enjoy his day like a hired worker.

Job 14:7 There is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its shoots will not die.

Job 14:8 If its roots grow old in the ground and its stump starts to die in the soil,

Job 14:9 the scent of water makes it revive and produce twigs like a sapling.

Job 14:10 But a healthy man dies and fades away; Adam expires – and where is he?

Job 14:11 As water disappears from a lake and a river becomes dry,

Job 14:12 so a person lies down never to rise again. He will not wake up until the sky is no more; they will not stir from their sleep.

Job 14:13 If only you would hide me in Sheol and conceal me until your anger passes. If only you would appoint a time for me and then remember me.

Job 14:14 If a healthy person dies, will he come back to life? If so, I would wait all the days of my struggle until my relief comes.

Job 14:15 You would call, and I would answer you. You would long for the work of your hands.

Job 14:16 For then you would count my steps but would not take note of my sin.

Job 14:17 My rebellion would be sealed up in a bag, and you would cover over my iniquity.

Job 14:18 But as a mountain collapses and crumbles and a rock is dislodged from its place,

Job 14:19 as water wears away stones and torrents wash away the topsoil from the ground, so you destroy a mortal’s hope.

Job 14:20 You completely overpower him, and he goes away; you change his appearance and send him away.

Job 14:21 If his sons receive honor, he does not know it; if they become insignificant, he is unaware of it.

Job 14:22 He feels only the pain of his own body and mourns only for his throat.

links:

hidden… and remembered
Life is…
not trees
What is Life – Life is…

The Job shelf in my library

Job 13 

Job 13:1 Notice, my eyes have seen all this; my ears have heard and understood it.

Job 13:2 Everything you know, I know too; I am not inferior to you.

Job 13:3 Yet I prefer to speak to the Almighty and argue my case before God.

Job 13:4 You use lies like a bandage; you are all worthless doctors.

Job 13:5 If only you would shut up and let that be your wisdom!

Job 13:6 Hear now my argument and listen to my defence.

Job 13:7 Should you keep testifying unjustly on God’s behalf or speaking deceitfully for him?

Job 13:8 Should you show partiality to him or argue the case in his defence?

Job 13:9 Would it go well if he examined you? Could you deceive him as you would deceive a mortal?

Job 13:10 Surely, he would rebuke you if you secretly showed partiality.

Job 13:11 Would God’s majesty not terrify you? Would his dread not fall on you?

Job 13:12 Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ash; your defences are made of clay.

Job 13:13 Be quiet, and I will speak. Let whatever comes happen to me.

Job 13:14 I will put my flesh in my teeth and take my throat in my own hands.

Job 13:15 Even if he kills me, I will put my hope in him. I will still defend my ways before him.

Job 13:16 Yes, this will result in my deliverance, for no godless person can appear before him.

Job 13:17 Pay close attention to my words; let my declaration ring in your ears.

Job 13:18 Now then, I have prepared my case; I know that I am right.

Job 13:19 Can anyone indict me? If so, I will be silent and die.

Job 13:20 Only grant these two things to me, God, so that I will not have to hide from your presence:

Job 13:21 remove your hand from me, and do not frighten me with your terror.

Job 13:22 Then call, and I will answer, or I will speak, and you can respond to me.

Job 13:23 How many violations and failures have I committed? Reveal to me my transgression and failure.

Job 13:24 Why are you hiding your face and considering me your enemy?

Job 13:25 Will you frighten a wind-driven leaf? Will you chase after dry straw?

Job 13:26 Because you record bitter accusations against me and make me inherit the violations of my youth.

Job 13:27 You put my feet in the stocks and stand watch over all my paths, setting a limit for the soles of my feet.

Job 13:28 And he wears out like something rotten, like a moth-eaten garment.

links:

Maranatha Daily Devotional – Friday, July 29, 2016
proverbs of ash
proverbs of ashes

The Job shelf in my library