Job 41–42

1 “Can you draw out Leviathan with a hook

or snare his tongue with a line which you let down?

2 Can you put a cord into his nose,

or pierce his jaw with a hook?

3 Will he make many supplications to you?

Will he speak soft words to you?

4 Will he make a covenant with you?

Will you take him for a servant forever?

5 Will you play with him as with a bird?

Or will you put him on a leash for your maidens?

6 Will your companions make a banquet of him?

Will they divide him among the merchants?

7 Can you fill his skin with harpoons

or his head with fishing spears?

8 Lay your hand on him;

remember the battle—you will do it no more.

9 Notice, any hope of overcoming him is in vain;

shall not one be overwhelmed at the sight of him?

10 No one is so fierce that he dares to stir him up.

Who then is able to stand before Me?

11 Who has preceded Me that I should repay him?

Everything under heaven is Mine.

12 “I will not conceal his limbs,

nor his power, nor his graceful proportions.

13 Who can remove his outer garment?

Or who can approach him with a double bridle?

14 Who can open the jaws of his face?

His teeth are terrible all around.

15 His scales are his pride,

shut up tightly as with a seal.

16 One is so near to another

that no air can come between them.

17 They are joined to each other;

they stick together that they cannot be separated.

18 His sneezing flashes forth light,

and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.

19 Out of his mouth go burning lights,

and sparks of fire leap out.

20 Out of his nostrils goes smoke

as out of a seething pot or cauldron.

21 His breath kindles coals,

and a flame goes out of his mouth.

22 In his neck remains strength,

and sorrow is turned into joy before him.

23 The folds of his flesh are joined together;

they are firm on him; they cannot be moved.

24 His heart is as firm as a stone,

yes, as hard as a piece of the lower millstone.

25 When he raises up himself even the gods are afraid;

because of his crashings they are beside themselves.

26 The sword that reaches him cannot avail,

nor does the spear, the arrow, or the javelin.

27 He counts iron as straw,

and brass as rotten wood.

28 The arrow cannot make him flee;

slingstones are turned into stubble by him.

29 Arrows are counted as straw;

he laughs at the shaking of a spear.

30 Sharp stones are his underside;

he leaves a mark in the mire like a sharp threshing sledge.

31 He makes the deep to boil like a pot;

he makes the sea like a pot of ointment.

32 He leaves a shining wake behind him;

one would think the deep had white hair.

33 On earth there is nothing like him,

a creature made without fear.

34 He beholds all high things;

he is a king over all the children of pride.”

Chapter 42

1 Then Job answered the Lord and said:

2 “I know that You can do everything,

and that no thought can be withheld from You.

3 ‘Who is he who hides counsel without knowledge?’

Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,

things too wonderful for me which I did not know.

4 “‘Hear, and I will speak;

I will question you,

and you declare to Me.’

5 I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear,

but now my eye sees You.

6 Therefore I abhor myself,

and repent in dust and ashes.”

7 And so it was, that after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right as My servant Job has. 8 And now, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to My servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and My servant Job will pray for you. For him I will accept, lest I deal with you according to your folly, in that you have not spoken of Me the thing which is right like My servant Job.” 9 So Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the Lord had commanded them; the Lord also accepted Job.

10 And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. 11 Then all of his brothers, and all his sisters, and all of those who had been of acquaintance before came to Job, and they ate bread with him in his house, and they consoled him and comforted him for all the adversity that the Lord had brought upon him. Every man also gave him a piece of money and an earring of gold.

12 So the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning, for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand female donkeys. 13 He had also seven sons and three daughters. 14 He called the name of the first Jemimah; and the name of the second Keziah; and the name of the third Keren-Happuch. 15 In all the land, there were no women as beautiful as the daughters of Job, and their father gave them an inheritance along with their brothers.

16 After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and their sons to the fourth generation. 17 So Job died, being old and full of days.

Acts 16:22–40

22 The crowd rose up together against them. And the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them. 23 After they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to guard them securely. 24 Having received such an order, he threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

25 At midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s shackles were loosened. 27 When the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.”

29 He called for lights and rushed in, trembling, and fell down before Paul and Silas. 30 He then led them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

31 They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you and your household will be saved.” 32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his household. 33 In that hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds. And immediately he and his entire household were baptized. 34 Then he brought them up to his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced with his entire household believing in God.

35 When it was day, the magistrates sent the sergeants, saying, “Release those men.” 36 The prison guard reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to release you. Now therefore depart, and go in peace.”

37 But Paul said to them, “They have publicly beaten us, who are uncondemned Romans, and have thrown us into prison. And now do they secretly throw us out? Certainly not! Let them come themselves and bring us out.”

38 The sergeants reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Romans. 39 So they came and entreated them. And they brought them out, asking them to leave the city. 40 They went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia. When they had seen the brothers, they exhorted them and departed.