Job 3–4
1 After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed the day of his birth. 2 Job said:
3 “Let the day perish in which I was born
and the night in which it was said, ‘A male child is conceived.’
4 As for that day, let it be darkness;
let God above not regard it;
and let not light shine upon it.
5 Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it;
let a cloud settle on it;
let the blackness of the day terrify it.
6 As for that night, let darkness capture it;
let it not rejoice among the days of the year;
let it not come into the number of the months.
7 Yes, as for that night, let it be barren!
Let no joyful cry come into it!
8 Let them curse it who curse any day,
those who are prepared to rouse Leviathan.
9 Let its morning stars be dark;
let it look for light, but have none;
let it not see the rays of dawn,
10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb,
nor hide trouble from my eyes.
11 “Why did I not die at birth?
Why did I not expire when I came out of the womb?
12 Why did her knees receive me?
And why her breasts that I should nurse?
13 For now I would be lying down and would be at peace;
I would have slept; then there would be rest for me,
14 with kings and counselors of the earth,
who built ruins for themselves,
15 or with princes who had gold,
who filled their houses with silver.
16 Or why was I not hidden like a stillborn child,
like infants who never saw light?
17 There the wicked will have stopped causing trouble,
and there the exhausted will rest.
18 Captives will relax together;
they do not hear the voice of the oppressor.
19 The small and great, they are there,
and the servant is free from his master.
20 “Why is light given to the miserable,
and life unto the bitter in soul,
21 who look for death, but it is not there;
and they search for it more than for hidden treasures;
22 who rejoice exceedingly,
and they are glad when they find the grave?
23 And why is light given to a man
whose way is hidden,
whom God has hedged in?
24 For my sighing comes before I eat,
and my groaning pours forth like the waters.
25 For the thing which I greatly feared has happened to me,
and that which I dreaded has come to me.
26 I am not at peace; I have no quiet,
I cannot rest, and turmoil has come.”
Chapter 4
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
2 “If one attempts a word with you, will you be impatient?
But who can keep from speaking?
3 Surely you have instructed many,
and you have strengthened the weak hands.
4 Your words have raised up him who was falling,
and you have fortified the feeble knees.
5 But now it comes upon you, and you are weary;
it reaches even you, and you are terrified.
6 Is not your reverence your confidence?
And the integrity of your ways your hope?
7 “Remember now, who being innocent ever perished?
Or where were the upright ever wiped out?
8 Just like I have seen, those who plow iniquity
and sow trouble, reap the same.
9 By the breath of God they perish,
and by the blast of His anger they are destroyed.
10 The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion,
and the teeth of the young lions are broken.
11 The old lion perishes for lack of prey,
and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.
12 “Now a word was brought to me secretly,
and my ear received a whisper of it.
13 Amid disquieting thoughts from night visions,
when deep sleep falls on mortals,
14 terror and trembling came to me,
which made all my bones shake.
15 A breath of wind was passing before my face,
and the hair on my body was standing up.
16 It stood still,
but I could not recognize its appearance;
a form was in front of my eyes,
there was stillness, then I heard a voice saying:
17 ‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God?
Can a man be more pure than his Maker?
18 He does not trust in His servants,
and He charges His angels with error;
19 Even more, those who dwell in houses of clay,
whose foundation is in the dust,
who are crushed before the moth.
20 They are broken in pieces from morning to evening;
they perish forever without anyone regarding it.
21 Are not their tent ropes plucked up,
so they die, even without wisdom?’”
Acts 7:44–60
44 “Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, telling Moses to make it as He had commanded, according to the pattern that he had seen, 45 which our fathers, having received it, brought with Joshua into the land possessed by the Gentiles, whom God drove out in front of our fathers until the days of David, 46 who found favor in the presence of God and asked to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob. 47 But Solomon built Him a house.
48 “However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made with hands. As the prophet says:
49 ‘Heaven is My throne,
and the earth is My footstool.
What house will you build for Me? Says the Lord,
or what is the place of My rest?
50 Has not My hand made all these things?’
51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets have your fathers not persecuted? They have even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, of whom you have now become the betrayers and murderers, 53 who have received the law by the disposition of angels, but have not kept it.”
54 When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed their teeth at him. 55 But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, 56 and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, closed their ears, and rushed at him in unison. 58 And they threw him out of the city and stoned him. The witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.
59 They stoned Stephen as he was calling on God, praying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he knelt down and cried with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” Having said this, he fell asleep.