Day 158: Job 22 - 27

Bible in a year reading for day 158.

Job 22

17 They said to God, ‘Depart from us. What can the Almighty do to us?’
18 But it was He who filled their houses with good things; so I stay far from the counsel of the wicked.
19 The righteous see it and are glad; the innocent mock them:
20 ‘Surely our foes are destroyed, and fire has consumed their excess.’
21 Reconcile now and be at peace with Him; thereby good will come to you.
22 Receive instruction from His mouth, and lay up His words in your heart.
23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored. If you remove injustice from your tents
24 and consign your gold to the dust and the gold of Ophir to the stones of the ravines,
25 then the Almighty will be your gold and the finest silver for you.
26 Surely then you will delight in the Almighty and lift up your face to God.
27 You will pray to Him, and He will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows.
28 Your decisions will be carried out, and light will shine on your ways.
29 When men are brought low and you say, ‘Lift them up!’ then He will save the lowly.
30 He will deliver even one who is not innocent, rescuing him through the cleanness of your hands.”

Job 23

1 Then Job answered:
2 “Even today my complaint is bitter. His hand is heavy despite my groaning.
3 If only I knew where to find Him, so that I could go to His seat.
4 I would plead my case before Him and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would learn how He would answer, and consider what He would say.
6 Would He contend with me in His great power? No, He would certainly take note of me.
7 Then an upright man could reason with Him, and I would be delivered forever from my Judge.
8 If I go east, He is not there, and if I go west, I cannot find Him.
9 When He is at work in the north, I cannot behold Him; when He turns to the south, I cannot see Him.
10 Yet He knows the way I have taken; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold.
11 My feet have followed in His tracks; I have kept His way without turning aside.
12 I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my daily bread.
13 But He is unchangeable, and who can oppose Him? He does what He desires.
14 For He carries out His decree against me, and He has many such plans.
15 Therefore I am terrified in His presence; when I consider this, I fear Him.
16 God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me.
17 Yet I am not silenced by the darkness, by the thick darkness that covers my face.

Job 24

1 “Why does the Almighty not reserve times for judgment? Why may those who know Him never see His days?
2 Men move boundary stones; they pasture stolen flocks.
3 They drive away the donkey of the fatherless and take the widow’s ox in pledge.
4 They push the needy off the road and force all the poor of the land into hiding.
5 Indeed, like wild donkeys in the desert, the poor go to work foraging for food; the wasteland is food for their children.
6 They gather fodder in the fields and glean the vineyards of the wicked.
7 Without clothing, they spend the night naked; they have no covering against the cold.
8 Drenched by mountain rains, they huddle against the rocks for want of shelter.
9 The fatherless infant is snatched from the breast; the nursing child of the poor is seized for a debt.
10 Without clothing, they wander about naked. They carry the sheaves, but still go hungry.
11 They crush olives within their walls; they tread the winepresses, but go thirsty.
12 From the city, men groan, and the souls of the wounded cry out, yet God charges no one with wrongdoing.
13 Then there are those who rebel against the light, not knowing its ways or staying on its paths.
14 When daylight is gone, the murderer rises to kill the poor and needy; in the night he is like a thief.
15 The eye of the adulterer watches for twilight. Thinking, ‘No eye will see me,’ he covers his face.
16 In the dark they dig through houses; by day they shut themselves in, never to experience the light.
17 For to them, deep darkness is their morning; surely they are friends with the terrors of darkness!
18 They are but foam on the surface of the water; their portion of the land is cursed, so that no one turns toward their vineyards.
19 As drought and heat consume the melting snow, so Sheol steals those who have sinned.
20 The womb forgets them; the worm feeds on them; they are remembered no more. So injustice is like a broken tree.
21 They prey on the barren and childless, and show no kindness to the widow.
22 Yet by His power, God drags away the mighty; though rising up, they have no assurance of life.
23 He gives them a sense of security, but His eyes are on their ways.
24 They are exalted for a moment, then they are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are cut off like heads of grain.
25 If this is not so, then who can prove me a liar and reduce my words to nothing?”

Job 25

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:
2 “Dominion and awe belong to God; He establishes harmony in the heights of heaven.
3 Can His troops be numbered? On whom does His light not rise?
4 How then can a man be just before God? How can one born of woman be pure?
5 If even the moon does not shine, and the stars are not pure in His sight,
6 how much less man, who is but a maggot, and the son of man, who is but a worm!”

Job 26

1 Then Job answered:
2 “How you have helped the powerless and saved the arm that is feeble!
3 How you have counseled the unwise and provided fully sound insight!
4 To whom have you uttered these words? And whose spirit spoke through you?
5 The dead tremble— those beneath the waters and those who dwell in them.
6 Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering.
7 He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth upon nothing.
8 He wraps up the waters in His clouds, yet the clouds do not burst under their own weight.
9 He covers the face of the full moon, spreading over it His cloud.
10 He has inscribed a horizon on the face of the waters at the boundary between light and darkness.
11 The foundations of heaven quake, astounded at His rebuke.
12 By His power He stirred the sea; by His understanding He shattered Rahab.
13 By His breath the skies were cleared; His hand pierced the fleeing serpent.
14 Indeed, these are but the fringes of His ways; how faint is the whisper we hear of Him! Who then can understand the thunder of His power?”

Job 27

1 Job continued his discourse:
2 “As surely as God lives, who has deprived me of justice— the Almighty, who has embittered my soul—
3 as long as my breath is still within me and the breath of God remains in my nostrils,
4 my lips will not speak wickedness, and my tongue will not utter deceit.
5 I will never say that you are right; I will maintain my integrity until I die.
6 I will cling to my righteousness and never let go. As long as I live, my conscience will not accuse me.
7 May my enemy be like the wicked and my opponent like the unjust.
8 For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?
9 Will God hear his cry when distress comes upon him?

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