The Berean Pursuit
Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
"If one ventures a word with you, will you be wearied?
Yet who can keep from speaking?
Surely you have instructed many,
and have strengthened their feeble hands.
Your words have steadied those who stumbled;
you have braced the knees that were buckling.
But now trouble has come upon you, and you are weary.
It strikes you, and you are dismayed.
Is your reverence not your confidence,
and the uprightness of your ways your hope?
Consider now, I plead:
Who, being innocent, has ever perished?
Or where have the upright been destroyed?
As I have observed, those who plow iniquity
and those who sow trouble reap the same.
By the breath of God they perish,
and by the blast of His anger they are consumed.
The lion may roar, and the fierce lion may growl,
yet the teeth of the young lions are broken.
The old lion perishes for lack of prey,
and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.
Now a word came to me secretly;
my ears caught a whisper of it.
In disquieting visions in the night,
when deep sleep falls on men,
fear and trembling came over me
and made all my bones shudder.
Then a spirit glided past my face,
and the hair on my body bristled.
It stood still,
but I could not discern its appearance;
a form loomed before my eyes,
and I heard a whispering voice:
'Can a mortal be more righteous than God,
or a man more pure than his Maker?
If God puts no trust in His servants,
and He charges His angels with error,
how much more those who dwell in houses of clay,
whose foundations are in the dust,
who can be crushed like a moth!
They are smashed to pieces from dawn to dusk;
unnoticed, they perish forever.
Are not their tent cords pulled up,
so that they die without wisdom?'
"Call out if you please, but who will answer?
To which of the holy ones will you turn?
For resentment kills a fool,
and envy slays the simple.
I have seen a fool taking root,
but suddenly his house was cursed.
His sons are far from safety,
crushed in court without a defender.
The hungry consume his harvest,
taking it even from the thorns,
and the thirsty pant after his wealth.
For distress does not spring from the dust,
and trouble does not sprout from the ground.
Yet man is born to trouble
as surely as sparks fly upward.
However, if I were you, I would appeal to God
and lay my cause before Him-
the One who does great and unsearchable things,
wonders without number.
He gives rain to the earth
and sends water upon the fields.
He sets the lowly on high,
so that mourners are lifted to safety.
He thwarts the schemes of the crafty,
so that their hands find no success.
He catches the wise in their craftiness,
and sweeps away the plans of the cunning.
They encounter darkness by day
and grope at noon as in the night.
He saves the needy from the sword in their mouth
and from the clutches of the powerful.
So the poor have hope,
and injustice shuts its mouth.
Blessed indeed is the man whom God corrects;
so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.
For He wounds, but He also binds;
He strikes, but His hands also heal.
He will rescue you from six calamities;
no harm will touch you in seven.
In famine He will redeem you from death,
and in battle from the stroke of the sword.
You will be hidden from the scourge of the tongue,
and will not fear havoc when it comes.
You will laugh at destruction and famine,
and need not fear the beasts of the earth.
For you will have a covenant with the stones of the field,
and the wild animals will be at peace with you.
You will know that your tent is secure,
and find nothing amiss when inspecting your home.
You will know that your offspring will be many,
your descendants like the grass of the earth.
You will come to the grave in full vigor,
like a sheaf of grain gathered in season.
Indeed, we have investigated, and it is true!
So hear it and know for yourself."
Then Job replied:
"If only my grief could be weighed
and placed with my calamity on the scales.
For then it would outweigh the sand of the seas-
no wonder my words have been rash.
For the arrows of the Almighty have pierced me;
my spirit drinks in their poison;
the terrors of God are arrayed against me.
Does a wild donkey bray over fresh grass,
or an ox low over its fodder?
Is tasteless food eaten without salt,
or is there flavor in the white of an egg?
My soul refuses to touch them;
they are loathsome food to me.
If only my request were granted
and God would fulfill my hope:
that God would be willing to crush me,
to unleash His hand and cut me off!
It still brings me comfort,
and joy through unrelenting pain,
that I have not denied
the words of the Holy One.
What strength do I have, that I should still hope?
What is my future, that I should be patient?
Is my strength like that of stone,
or my flesh made of bronze?
Is there any help within me
now that success is driven from me?
A despairing man should have the kindness of his friend,
even if he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
But my brothers are as faithless as wadis,
as seasonal streams that overflow,
darkened because of the ice
and the inflow of melting snow,
but ceasing in the dry season
and vanishing from their channels in the heat.
Caravans turn aside from their routes;
they go into the wasteland and perish.
The caravans of Tema look for water;
the travelers of Sheba hope to find it.
They are confounded because they had hoped;
their arrival brings disappointment.
For now you are of no help;
you see terror, and you are afraid.
Have I ever said, 'Give me something;
offer me a bribe from your wealth;
deliver me from the hand of the enemy;
redeem me from the grasp of the ruthless'?
Teach me, and I will be silent.
Help me understand how I have erred.
How painful are honest words!
But what does your argument prove?
Do you intend to correct my words,
and treat as wind my cry of despair?
You would even cast lots for an orphan
and barter away your friend.
But now, please look at me.
Would I lie to your face?
Reconsider; do not be unjust.
Reconsider, for my righteousness is at stake.
Is there iniquity on my tongue?
Can my mouth not discern malice?
"Is not man consigned to labor on earth?
Are not his days like those of a hired hand?
Like a slave he longs for shade;
like a hireling he waits for his wages.
So I am allotted months of futility,
and nights of misery are appointed me.
When I lie down I think:
'When will I get up?'
But the night drags on,
and I toss and turn until dawn.
My flesh is clothed with worms
and encrusted with dirt;
my skin is cracked and festering.
My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle;
they come to an end without hope.
Remember that my life is but a breath.
My eyes will never again see happiness.
The eye that beholds me will no longer see me.
You will look for me, but I will be no more.
As a cloud vanishes and is gone,
so he who goes down to Sheol does not come back up.
He never returns to his house;
his place remembers him no more.
Therefore I will not restrain my mouth;
I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
Am I the sea, or the monster of the deep,
that You must keep me under guard?
When I think my bed will comfort me
and my couch will ease my complaint,
then You frighten me with dreams
and terrify me with visions,
so that I would prefer strangling and death
over my life in this body.
I loathe my life! I would not live forever.
Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.
What is man that You should exalt him,
that You should set Your heart upon him,
that You attend to him every morning,
and test him every moment?
Will You never look away from me,
or leave me alone to swallow my spittle?
If I have sinned, what have I done to You,
O watcher of mankind?
Why have You made me Your target,
so that I am a burden to You?
Why do You not pardon my transgression
and take away my iniquity?
For soon I will lie down in the dust;
You will seek me, but I will be no more."
The LORD reigns;
let the nations tremble!
He is enthroned above the cherubim;
let the earth quake!
Great is the LORD in Zion;
He is exalted above all the peoples.
Let them praise Your great and awesome name-
He is holy!
The mighty King loves justice.
You have established equity;
You have exercised justice
and righteousness in Jacob.
Exalt the LORD our God,
and worship at His footstool;
He is holy!
Moses and Aaron were among His priests;
Samuel was among those who called on His name.
They called to the LORD and He answered.
He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud;
they kept His decrees and the statutes He gave them.
O LORD our God, You answered them.
You were a forgiving God to them,
yet an avenger of their misdeeds.
Exalt the LORD our God
and worship at His holy mountain,
for the LORD our God is holy.
Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff and was told, "Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the number of worshipers there. But exclude the courtyard outside the temple. Do not measure it, because it has been given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for 42 months. And I will empower my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth."
These witnesses are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. If anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouths and devours their enemies. In this way, anyone who wants to harm them must be killed. These witnesses have power to shut the sky so that no rain will fall during the days of their prophecy, and power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they wish.
When the two witnesses have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will wage war with them, and will overpower and kill them. Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city-figuratively called Sodom and Egypt-where their Lord was also crucified. For three and a half days all peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will view their bodies and will not permit them to be laid in a tomb. And those who dwell on the earth will gloat over them, and will celebrate and send one another gifts, because these two prophets had tormented them.
But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered the two witnesses, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell upon those who saw them. And the witnesses heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Come up here." And they went up to heaven in a cloud as their enemies watched them.
And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand were killed in the quake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
The second woe has passed. Behold, the third woe is coming shortly.
Then the seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and loud voices called out in heaven:
"The kingdom of the world
has become the kingdom of our Lord
and of His Christ,
and He will reign forever and ever."
And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying:
"We give thanks to You, O Lord God Almighty,
the One who is and who was,
because You have taken Your great power
and have begun to reign.
The nations were enraged,
and Your wrath has come.
The time has come to judge the dead
and to reward Your servants the prophets,
as well as the saints and those who fear Your name,
both small and great-
and to destroy those who destroy the earth."
Then the temple of God in heaven was opened, and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple. And there were flashes of lightning, and rumblings, and peals of thunder, and an earthquake, and a great hailstorm.