Daily Reading

1 Then Job answered and said,

2 Today also my complaint is bitter; / My stroke is heavy because of my groaning.

3 Oh that I knew where I might find Him, / That I might come to His seat!

4 I would present my cause in order before Him, / And I would fill my mouth with arguments.

5 I would know the words which He would answer me, / And I would understand what He would speak to me.

6 Would He contend with me in the greatness of His power? / No; but He would give heed to me.

7 There the upright man can argue with Him; / So I would be delivered forever from my Judge.

8 Behold, I go forward, but He is not there; / And backward, but I do not perceive Him;

9 To the left, where He acts, but I cannot look on Him; / He hides Himself on the right, so I cannot see Him.

10 But He knows the way that I take; / Should He try me, I would come forth as gold.

11 My foot has held fast to His steps; / I have kept His way and have not turned aside.

12 As for the commandment of His lips, I have not turned back from it; / I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my apportioned food.

13 But He is of one mind, and who can turn Him? / And what His soul desires, that will He do.

14 For He performs what has been appointed to me, / And many such things are with Him.

15 Therefore I am terrified at His presence; / I consider and am in dread of Him.

16 So God has made my heart faint, / And the Almighty has terrified me;

17 Because I was not cut off before the darkness, / Nor did He cover the deep darkness from my face.

1 Why are times of judgment not stored up by the Almighty? / And why do those who know Him not see His days?

2 Some remove landmarks; / They seize the flock and pasture them.

3 They drive away the donkey of the fatherless / And take the widow’s ox as a pledge.

4 They turn the needy out of the way; / The poor of the land are made to hide together.

5 Indeed, like wild asses in the desert, / They go forth to their work, / Diligently seeking some prey; / The wilderness provides them food for their children.

6 In the field they harvest their fodder, / And they glean the vintage of the wicked.

7 They spend the night naked, without clothing; / And have no covering in the cold.

8 They are wet from the mountain showers, / And for lack of shelter they embrace the rock.

9 Some pluck the fatherless from the breast, / And what the poor has on, as a pledge.

10 They go about naked, without clothing; / And being hungry, they take up the sheaves.

11 Between their walls they press out oil; / They tread the winepresses yet suffer thirst.

12 From the city men groan, / And the soul of the wounded cries out; / Yet God does not regard the folly.

13 These are among those who rebel against the light; / They are not acquainted with its ways, / Nor do they abide in its paths.

14 The murderer rises at dawn; / He kills the poor and the needy; / And at night he is like a thief.

15 The eye of the adulterer also watches for the twilight, / Saying, Not an eye will see me; / And he disguises his face.

16 They dig through houses in the dark; / By day they shut themselves in: / They do not know the light.

17 For morning is to all of them like the shadow of death, / Because they are acquainted with the terrors of the shadow of death.

18 Swift are they upon the face of the waters; / Their portion is cursed in the earth; / There is none who turns toward the vineyards.

19 Drought and heat snatch the snow water, / As Sheol snatches those who have sinned.

20 The womb forgets him; / The worm finds him sweet; / He is remembered no more; / And wrongdoing is broken like a tree.

21 He despoils the barren woman who does not bear, / And does no good for the widow.

22 But God preserves the mighty by His power; / He arises, and no one is certain of life.

23 He grants a man to be secure, and he rests on it; / And His eyes are upon their ways.

24 They are exalted a little while, then they are no more; / And they are brought low; like all others, they are gathered in / And are cut off like the tops of the ears of grain.

25 And if it is not so, then who will prove me a liar / And bring my words to nought?

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said,

2 Dominion and dread are with Him; / He makes peace in His high places.

3 Is there any number to His armies? / And upon whom does His light not arise?

4 How then can a man be righteous with God? / And how can one born of a woman be pure?

5 Indeed, even the moon has no brightness, / And the stars are not pure in His eyes.

6 How much less a man, a maggot; / And the son of man, a worm!

1 And having been brought safely through, we recognized then that the island was called Malta.

2 And the natives showed us uncommon kindness, for they kindled a fire and took us all in because of the rain coming on and because of the cold.

3 But when Paul had collected a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened onto his hand.

4 And when the natives saw the snake hanging from his hand, they said to one another, Undoubtedly this man is a murderer, whom, though he has been brought safely out of the sea, Justice has not allowed to live.

5 However he shook off the snake into the fire and suffered no harm;

6 And they expected that he would swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But when they had waited for a long time and beheld nothing unusual happening to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.

7 Now in the vicinity of that place were the lands of the leading man of the island, named Publius, who welcomed us and gave us hospitality three days in a friendly way.

8 And the father of Publius was lying down sick with fever and dysentery. Paul went in to him, and having prayed and laid his hands on him, healed him.

9 And when this happened, the rest also in the island who had sicknesses came to him and were healed.

10 They also honored us with many honors; and as we put out to sea, they put on board the things for our needs.