Job 22
Eliphaz Accuses Job of Vice
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:†
2 “Is it not the Lord who teaches understanding and knowledge?†
3 For what concern is it to the Lord If you were blameless in your works? Or what profit is it to Him to make plain your ways?
4 Will He argue with you while you plead your case? Will He enter into judgment with you?
5 Is not your vice plentiful, And are not your sins innumerable?
6 For you have taken pledges from your brethren for no reason And taken away the clothing of the naked.
7 Neither have you given the thirsty water to drink, But have even withheld a morsel from the hungry.
8 You have also admired the personality of some And have transplanted those already settled on earth.
9 You have sent widows away empty And have mistreated orphans.
10 Therefore snares are all around you, And a serious war has troubled you.
11 The light has turned to darkness for you, And water has covered you as you fell asleep.
12 “Does not He who dwells on high take notice of all? Does He not humble those who move about with insolence?
13 But you say, ‘What does the Mighty One know? Will He judge down into the darkness?
14 A cloud is His hiding place, so He cannot see As He travels through the circle of heaven.’
15 Will you keep to the old path Which wrongdoers have trod,
16 Who were seized before their time And whose foundations were swept away by a flood;
17 Who said, ‘What will the Lord do to us?’ Or, ‘What will the Almighty bring upon us?’
18 Yet He filled their houses with good things; But the counsel of the ungodly is far from Him.
19 “The righteous have seen it and laughed, And the innocent mocked them.
20 Surely their substance has perished, And fire will consume what is left.
Eliphaz Exhorts Job to Be Strong
21 “Be strong, therefore. If you endure, Then your fruit shall be in good things.
22 Receive utterance from His mouth And lay up His words in your heart.
23 If you return and humble yourself before the Lord, You have caused wrongdoing to be far from your dwelling.†
24 Then you will lay up treasure for yourself Like a mound on a rock, And you shall be like the gold of Ophir On a rock in the brooks.
25 So the Almighty will be your helper from enemies, And He will restore you as pure as silver purged by fire.
26 For then you will speak freely before the Lord, Looking up cheerfully to heaven.
27 When you pray to Him, He will hear you, And He will allow you to pay your vows.
28 He will restore righteousness to your dwelling, And there shall be light on your paths.
29 You will say, ‘He behaved arrogantly, but he humbled himself, And He will save him who bows down with his eyes.’
30 He will deliver the innocent, And you will save yourself in the purity of your hands.”
Psalms 106
31 Let them give thanks to the Lord for His mercies And His wonders to the sons of men;
32 Let them exalt Him in the assembly of the people And praise Him in the seat of the elders.
33 He turned rivers into a desert And streams of water into dry ground,
34 A fruitful land into salt water, Because of the evils of those living there.
35 He turned the desert into pools of water, And a land without water into streams of water;
36 Then He caused the hungry to dwell there And established a city for habitation;
37 They sowed fields and planted vineyards, And produced much fruit;
38 So He blessed them, and they were multiplied exceedingly, And their cattle did not diminish.
39 But they were diminished and maltreated By the affliction of evils and pain.
40 Contempt was poured out on princes, And He made them wander in an impassible place, where there was no road.
41 Yet He helped the poor man out of his poverty, And made his families like a flock.
42 The righteous shall see this and be glad, And all lawlessness shall stop its mouth.
43 Who is wise and shall keep these things, And shall understand the mercies of the Lord?
Proverbs of Solomon 23
28 Who has woe? Who has tumult? Who has condemnation? Who has unpleasantness and gossip? Who has afflictions with no purpose? Whose eyes are pale?
29 Is it not those who linger long with wines? Is it not those who hunt for the whereabouts of drinking parties?
30 Do not be drunk with wine, but keep company with righteous men, And keep company in public walks;
31 For if you set your eyes to the bowls and cups, Afterward you will walk about more naked than ground meat.
32 And at last, he stretches himself out as one bitten by a serpent, And the venom spreads through him as one bitten by a horned serpent.
John 3
New Birth: Entering the Kingdom
1 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.†
2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”
3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”†
4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”†
5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.†
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.†
7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.Ӡ
9 Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?”
Life in the Kingdom
10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?
11 Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness.
12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?†
13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,†
15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.†
17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.†
18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”