Job 1–2
1 There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, fearing God and avoiding evil. 2 Seven sons and three daughters were born to him. 3 His possessions were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and very many servants. This man was the greatest of all the people of the East.
4 His sons used to go and make a feast in the house of each on his day, and they would send and call for their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 Now when the days of feasting had run their course, Job sent and sanctified them. He would rise up early in the morning, and he would offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all, because Job said: “It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job would do always.
6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and the Adversary also came among them. 7 And the Lord said to the Adversary, “From where have you come?”
Then the Adversary answered the Lord, saying, “From roaming on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”
8 And the Lord said to the Adversary, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and an upright man, who fears God, and avoids evil?”
9 Then the Adversary answered the Lord, saying, “Has Job feared God for nothing? 10 Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But stretch out Your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse You to Your face.”
12 The Lord said to the Adversary, “Look, all that he has is in your power; only do not stretch out your hand against his person.”
So the Adversary departed from the presence of the Lord.
13 So a day came when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house, 14 and a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing, and the donkeys were feeding beside them, 15 and the Sabeans attacked them, and took them away, and they killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and only I alone have escaped to tell you.”
16 While he was still speaking, another came and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
17 While he was still speaking, another came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three companies and made a raid on the camels and have taken them away. They killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
18 While he was still speaking, another came and said, “Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house, 19 and suddenly a great wind came from the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they are dead; and I alone have escaped to tell you.”
20 Then Job stood up, tore his robe, and shaved his head. He fell to the ground and worshipped. 21 He said,
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
and naked will I return there.
The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away;
blessed be the name of the Lord.”
22 In all this Job did not sin, and he did not accuse God of wrongdoing.
Chapter 2
1 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and the Adversary came also among them to present himself before the Lord. 2 The Lord said to the Adversary, “From where do you come?”
And the Adversary answered the Lord, saying, “From roaming on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”
3 The Lord said to the Adversary, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and an upright man, who fears God and avoids evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you moved Me against him, to destroy him without cause.”
4 The Adversary answered the Lord, saying, “Skin for skin; yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. 5 Put forth Your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse You to Your face.”
6 The Lord said to the Adversary, “Very well, he is in your hand, but spare his life.”
7 Therefore, the Adversary went out from the presence of the Lord, and he afflicted Job with severe sores from the sole of his foot to the top of his head. 8 So he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he was sitting among the ashes.
9 His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die.”
10 He said to her, “You talk like one of the foolish women talks. Will we indeed accept the good from God but not accept the adversity?”
In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
11 Three friends of Job heard about all this evil that had come upon him, and each one came from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They had agreed together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him. 12 They saw him from a distance and did not recognize him, so they wept aloud. Each one tore his robe, and they tossed dust into the air above their heads. 13 Then they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights. Meanwhile, no one was speaking to him at all because they saw that his pain was severe.
Acts 7:23–43
23 “When he was forty years old, it came to his heart to visit his brothers, the sons of Israel. 24 But seeing one being wronged, he defended him, and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck the Egyptian. 25 He supposed that his brothers would understand that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand. 26 On the next day he appeared to them as they fought and tried to reconcile them in peace, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other?’
27 “But the one wronging his neighbor pushed him away, saying, ‘Who appointed you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Will you kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 Moses fled at this word and became a sojourner in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.
30 “When forty years had passed, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. 31 When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight. As he drew near to look at it, the voice of the Lord came to him, saying, 32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.’ Moses trembled and dared not look.
33 “Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the shoes from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. 34 I have indeed seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt. I have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. Now come, I will send you to Egypt.’
35 “This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who appointed you a ruler and a judge?’ God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 He led them out after he had shown wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, and at the Red Sea, and for forty years in the wilderness.
37 “This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. Him you shall hear.’ 38 This is he who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received living oracles to give to us, 39 whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust away. And in their hearts they turned back to Egypt, 40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods to go before us. For we do not know what has become of this Moses, who led us out of the land of Egypt.’ 41 So they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their hands. 42 But God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the Prophets:
‘O House of Israel, have you offered to Me slain animals and sacrifices
for forty years in the wilderness?
43 Yes, you even raised the shrine of Moloch,
and the star of your god Remphan,
idols which you made to worship;
therefore I will exile you beyond Babylon.’”