JOB 12:1-15:35
1 CORINTHIANS 15:29-58
PSALM 39:1-13
PROVERBS 21:30-31
JOB 12:1-15:35
Then Job spoke again: 2 " You [Zophar] really know everything, don't you? And when you die, wisdom will die with you! 3 Well, I know a few things myself--and you're no better than I am. Who doesn't know these things you've been saying? 4 Yet my friends laugh at me. I am a man who calls on God and receives an answer. I am a just and blameless man, yet they laugh at me. 5 People who are at ease mock those in trouble. They give a push to people who are stumbling. 6 But even robbers are left in peace, and those who provoke God--and God has them in his power--live in safety! 7 " Ask the animals, and they will teach you. Ask the birds of the sky, and they will tell you. 8 Speak to the earth, and it will instruct you. Let the fish of the sea speak to you. 9 They all know that the LORD has done this. 10 For the life of every living thing is in his hand, and the breath of all humanity. 11 Just as the mouth tastes good food, so the ear tests the words it hears. 12 Wisdom belongs to the aged, and understanding to those who have lived many years. 13 " But true wisdom and power are with God; counsel and understanding are his. 14 What he destroys cannot be rebuilt. When he closes in on someone, there is no escape. 15 If he holds back the rain, the earth becomes a desert. If he releases the waters, they flood the earth. 16 " Yes, strength and wisdom are with him; deceivers and deceived are both in his power. 17 He leads counselors away stripped of good judgment; he drives judges to madness. 18 He removes the royal robe of kings. With ropes around their waist, they are led away. 19 He leads priests away stripped of status; he overthrows the mighty. 20 He silences the trusted adviser, and he removes the insight of the elders. 21 He pours disgrace upon princes and confiscates weapons from the strong.22 " He floods the darkness with light; he brings light to the deepest gloom. 23 He raises up nations, and he destroys them. He makes nations expand, and he abandons them. 24 He takes away the understanding of kings, and he leaves them wandering in a wasteland without a path. 25 They grope in the darkness without a light. He makes them stagger like drunkards. 13:1 " LOOK, I have seen many instances such as you describe. I understand what you are saying. 2 I know as much as you do. You are no better than I am. 3 Oh, how I long to speak directly to the Almighty. I want to argue my case with God himself. 4 For you are smearing me with lies. As doctors, you are worthless quacks. 5 Please be quiet! That's the smartest thing you could do. 6 Listen to my charge; pay attention to my arguments. 7 " Are you defending God by means of lies and dishonest arguments? 8 You should be impartial witnesses, but will you slant your testimony in his favor? Will you argue God's case for him? 9 Be careful that he doesn't find out what you are doing! Or do you think you can fool him as easily as you fool people? 10 No, you will be in serious trouble with him if even in your hearts you slant your testimony in his favor. 11 Doesn't his majesty strike terror into your heart? Does not your fear of him seize you? 12 Your statements have about as much value as ashes. Your defense is as fragile as a clay pot. 13 " Be silent now and leave me alone. Let me speak--and I will face the consequences. 14 Yes, I will take my life in my hands and say what I really think. 15 God might kill me, but I cannot wait. I am going to argue my case with him. 16 But this is what will save me: that I am not godless. If I were, I would be thrown from his presence. 17 " Listen closely to what I am about to say. Hear me out. 18 I have prepared my case; I will be proved innocent. 19 Who can argue with me over this? If you could prove me wrong, I would remain silent until I die. 20 " O God, there are two things I beg of you, and I will be able to face you. 21 Remove your hand from me, and don't terrify me with your awesome presence. 22 Now summon me, and I will answer! Or let me speak to you, and you reply. 23 Tell me, what have I done wrong? Show me my rebellion and my sin. 24 Why do you turn away from me? Why do you consider me your enemy? 25 Would you terrify a leaf that is blown by the wind? Would you chase a dry stalk of grass? 26 " You write bitter accusations against me and bring up all the sins of my youth. 27 You put my feet in stocks. You watch all my paths. You trace all my footprints. 28 I waste away like rotting wood, like a moth-eaten coat.14:1 " HOW frail is humanity! How short is life, and how full of trouble! 2 Like a flower, we blossom for a moment and then wither. Like the shadow of a passing cloud, we quickly disappear. 3 Must you keep an eye on such a frail creature and demand an accounting from me? 4 Who can create purity in one born impure? No one! 5 You have decided the length of our lives. You know how many months we will live, and we are not given a minute longer. 6 So give us a little rest, won't you? Turn away your angry stare. We are like hired hands, so let us finish the task you have given us. 7 " If a tree is cut down, there is hope that it will sprout again and grow new branches. 8 Though its roots have grown old in the earth and its stump decays, 9 at the scent of water it may bud and sprout again like a new seedling. 10 " But when people die, they lose all strength. They breathe their last, and then where are they? 11 As water evaporates from a lake and as a river disappears in drought, 12 people lie down and do not rise again. Until the heavens are no more, they will not wake up nor be roused from their sleep. 13 " I wish you would hide me with the dead and forget me there until your anger has passed. But mark your calendar to think of me again! 14 If mortals die, can they live again? This thought would give me hope, and through my struggle I would eagerly wait for release. 15 You would call and I would answer, and you would yearn for me, your handiwork. 16 For then you would count my steps, instead of watching for my sins. 17 My sins would be sealed in a pouch, and you would cover over my iniquity.18 " But as mountains fall and crumble and as rocks fall from a cliff, 19 as water wears away the stones and floods wash away the soil, so you destroy people's hope. 20 You always overpower them, and then they pass from the scene. You disfigure them in death and send them away. 21 They never know if their sons grow up in honor or sink to insignificance. 22 They are absorbed in their own pain and grief." 15:1 THEN Eliphaz the Temanite replied: 2 " You are supposed to be a wise man, and yet you give us all this foolish talk. You are nothing but a windbag. 3 It isn't right to speak so foolishly. What good do such words do? 4 Have you no fear of God, no reverence for him? 5 Your sins are telling your mouth what to say. Your words are based on clever deception. 6 But why should I condemn you? Your own mouth does! 7 " Were you the first person ever born? Were you born before the hills were made? 8 Were you listening at God's secret council? Do you have a monopoly on wisdom? 9 What do you know that we don't? What do you understand that we don't? 10 On our side are aged, gray-haired men much older than your father! 11 " Is God's comfort too little for you? Is his gentle word not enough? 12 What has captured your reason? What has weakened your vision, 13 that you turn against God and say all these evil things? 14 Can a mortal be pure? Can a human be just? 15 Why, God doesn't even trust the angels! Even the heavens cannot be absolutely pure in his sight. 16 How much less pure is a corrupt and sinful person with a thirst for wickedness! 17 " If you will listen, I will answer you from my own experience. 18 And it is confirmed by the experience of wise men who have heard the same thing from their fathers, 19 those to whom the land was given long before any foreigners arrived.20 " Wicked people are in pain throughout their lives. 21 They are surrounded by terrors, and even on good days they fear the attack of the destroyer. 22 They dare not go out into the darkness for fear they will be murdered. 23 They wander abroad for bread, saying, ` Where is it?' They know their ruin is certain. 24 That dark day terrifies them. They live in distress and anguish, like a king preparing for an attack. 25 For they have clenched their fists against God, defying the Almighty. 26 Holding their strong shields, they defiantly charge against him. 27 " These wicked people are fat and rich, 28 but their cities will be ruined. They will live in abandoned houses that are ready to tumble down. 29 They will not continue to be rich. Their wealth will not endure, and their possessions will no longer spread across the horizon. 30 " They will not escape the darkness. The flame will burn them up, and the breath of God will destroy everything they have. 31 Let them no longer trust in empty riches. They are only fooling themselves, for emptiness will be their only reward. 32 They will be cut down in the prime of life, and all they counted on will disappear. 33 They will be like a vine whose grapes are harvested before they are ripe, like an olive tree that sheds its blossoms so the fruit cannot form. 34 For the godless are barren. Their homes, enriched through bribery, will be consumed by fire. 35 They conceive trouble and evil, and their hearts give birth only to deceit."
1 CORINTHIANS 15:29-58
If the dead will not be raised, then what point is there in people being baptized for those who are dead? Why do it unless the dead will someday rise again? 30 And why should we ourselves be continually risking our lives, facing death hour by hour? 31 For I swear, dear brothers and sisters, I face death daily. This is as certain as my pride in what the Lord Jesus Christ has done in you. 32 And what value was there in fighting wild beasts--those men of Ephesus--if there will be no resurrection from the dead? If there is no resurrection, " Let's feast and get drunk, for tomorrow we die!" 33 Don't be fooled by those who say such things, for " bad company corrupts good character." 34 Come to your senses and stop sinning. For to your shame I say that some of you don't even know God. 35 But someone may ask, " How will the dead be raised? What kind of bodies will they have?" 36 What a foolish question! When you put a seed into the ground, it doesn't grow into a plant unless it dies first. 37 And what you put in the ground is not the plant that will grow, but only a dry little seed of wheat or whatever it is you are planting. 38 Then God gives it a new body--just the kind he wants it to have. A different kind of plant grows from each kind of seed. 39 And just as there are different kinds of seeds and plants, so also there are different kinds of flesh--whether of humans, animals, birds, or fish. 40 There are bodies in the heavens, and there are bodies on earth. The glory of the heavenly bodies is different from the beauty of the earthly bodies. 41 The sun has one kind of glory, while the moon and stars each have another kind. And even the stars differ from each other in their beauty and brightness.42 It is the same way for the resurrection of the dead. Our earthly bodies, which die and decay, will be different when they are resurrected, for they will never die. 43 Our bodies now disappoint us, but when they are raised, they will be full of glory. They are weak now, but when they are raised, they will be full of power. 44 They are natural human bodies now, but when they are raised, they will be spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, so also there are spiritual bodies. 45 The Scriptures tell us, " The first man, Adam, became a living person." But the last Adam--that is, Christ--is a life-giving Spirit. 46 What came first was the natural body, then the spiritual body comes later. 47 Adam, the first man, was made from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven. 48 Every human being has an earthly body just like Adam's, but our heavenly bodies will be just like Christ's. 49 Just as we are now like Adam, the man of the earth, so we will someday be like Christ, the man from heaven. 50 What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These perishable bodies of ours are not able to live forever. 51 But let me tell you a wonderful secret God has revealed to us. Not all of us will die, but we will all be transformed. 52 It will happen in a moment, in the blinking of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, the Christians who have died will be raised with transformed bodies. And then we who are living will be transformed so that we will never die. 53 For our perishable earthly bodies must be transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die. 54 When this happens--when our perishable earthly bodies have been transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die--then at last the Scriptures will come true: " Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" 56 For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. 57 How we thank God, who gives us victory over sin and death through Jesus Christ our Lord! 58 So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and steady, always enthusiastic about the Lord's work, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.
PSALM 39:1-13
For Jeduthun, the choir director: A psalm of David.
1 I said to myself, " I will watch what I do
and not sin in what I say.
I will curb my tongue
when the ungodly are around me."
2 But as I stood there in silence--
not even speaking of good things--
the turmoil within me grew to the bursting point.
3 My thoughts grew hot within me
and began to burn,
igniting a fire of words:
4 " LORD, remind me how brief my time on earth will be.
Remind me that my days are numbered,
and that my life is fleeing away.
5 My life is no longer than the width of my hand.
An entire lifetime is just a moment to you;
human existence is but a breath."
Interlude6 We are merely moving shadows,
and all our busy rushing ends in nothing.
We heap up wealth for someone else to spend.
7 And so, Lord, where do I put my hope?
My only hope is in you.
8 Rescue me from my rebellion,
for even fools mock me when I rebel.
9 I am silent before you; I won't say a word.
For my punishment is from you.
10 Please, don't punish me anymore!
I am exhausted by the blows from your hand.
11 When you discipline people for their sins,
their lives can be crushed like the life of a moth.
Human existence is as frail as breath.
Interlude12 Hear my prayer, O LORD!
Listen to my cries for help!
Don't ignore my tears.
For I am your guest--
a traveler passing through,
as my ancestors were before me.
13 Spare me so I can smile again
before I am gone and exist no more.
PROVERBS 21:30-31
Human plans, no matter how wise or well advised, cannot stand against the LORD. The horses are prepared for battle, but the victory belongs to the LORD.
