The Berean Pursuit
Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:
"How long will you go on saying such things?
The words of your mouth are a blustering wind.
Does God pervert justice?
Does the Almighty pervert what is right?
When your children sinned against Him,
He gave them over to their rebellion.
But if you would earnestly seek God
and ask the Almighty for mercy,
if you are pure and upright,
even now He will rouse Himself on your behalf
and restore your righteous estate.
Though your beginnings were modest,
your latter days will flourish.
Please inquire of past generations
and consider the discoveries of their fathers.
For we were born yesterday and know nothing;
our days on earth are but a shadow.
Will they not teach you and tell you,
and speak from their understanding?
Does papyrus grow where there is no marsh?
Do reeds flourish without water?
While the shoots are still uncut,
they dry up quicker than grass.
Such is the destiny of all who forget God;
so the hope of the godless will perish.
His confidence is fragile;
his security is in a spider's web.
He leans on his web, but it gives way;
he holds fast, but it does not endure.
He is a well-watered plant in the sunshine,
spreading its shoots over the garden.
His roots wrap around the rock heap;
he looks for a home among the stones.
If he is uprooted from his place,
it will disown him, saying, 'I never saw you.'
Surely this is the joy of his way;
yet others will spring from the dust.
Behold, God does not reject the blameless,
nor will He strengthen the hand of evildoers.
He will yet fill your mouth with laughter,
and your lips with a shout of joy.
Your enemies will be clothed in shame,
and the tent of the wicked will be no more."
Then Job answered:
"Yes, I know that it is so,
but how can a mortal be righteous before God?
If one wished to contend with God,
he could not answer Him one time out of a thousand.
God is wise in heart and mighty in strength.
Who has resisted Him and prospered?
He moves mountains without their knowledge
and overturns them in His anger.
He shakes the earth from its place,
so that its foundations tremble.
He commands the sun not to shine;
He seals off the stars.
He alone stretches out the heavens
and treads on the waves of the sea.
He is the Maker of the Bear and Orion,
of the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.
He does great things beyond searching out,
and wonders without number.
Were He to pass by me, I would not see Him;
were He to move, I would not recognize Him.
If He takes away, who can stop Him?
Who dares to ask Him, 'What are You doing?'
God does not restrain His anger;
the helpers of Rahab cower beneath Him.
How then can I answer Him
or choose my arguments against Him?
For even if I were right, I could not answer.
I could only beg my Judge for mercy.
If I summoned Him and He answered me,
I do not believe He would listen to my voice.
For He would crush me with a tempest
and multiply my wounds without cause.
He does not let me catch my breath,
but overwhelms me with bitterness.
If it is a matter of strength,
He is indeed mighty!
If it is a matter of justice,
who can summon Him?
Even if I were righteous, my mouth would condemn me;
if I were blameless, it would declare me guilty.
Though I am blameless, I have no concern for myself;
I despise my own life.
It is all the same, and so I say,
'He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.'
When the scourge brings sudden death,
He mocks the despair of the innocent.
The earth is given into the hand of the wicked;
He blindfolds its judges.
If it is not He, then who is it?
My days are swifter than a runner;
they flee without seeing good.
They sweep by like boats of papyrus,
like an eagle swooping down on its prey.
If I were to say, 'I will forget my complaint
and change my expression and smile,'
I would still dread all my sufferings;
I know that You will not acquit me.
Since I am already found guilty,
why should I labor in vain?
If I should wash myself with snow
and cleanse my hands with lye,
then You would plunge me into the pit,
and even my own clothes would despise me.
For He is not a man like me, that I can answer Him,
that we can take each other to court.
Nor is there a mediator between us,
to lay his hand upon us both.
Let Him remove His rod from me,
so that His terror will no longer frighten me.
Then I would speak without fear of Him.
But as it is, I am on my own.
"I loathe my own life;
I will express my complaint
and speak in the bitterness of my soul.
I will say to God:
Do not condemn me!
Let me know why You prosecute me.
Does it please You to oppress me,
to reject the work of Your hands
and favor the schemes of the wicked?
Do You have eyes of flesh?
Do You see as man sees?
Are Your days like those of a mortal,
or Your years like those of a man,
that You should seek my iniquity
and search out my sin-
though You know that I am not guilty,
and there is no deliverance from Your hand?
Your hands shaped me and altogether formed me.
Would You now turn and destroy me?
Please remember that You molded me like clay.
Would You now return me to dust?
Did You not pour me out like milk,
and curdle me like cheese?
You clothed me with skin and flesh,
and knit me together with bones and sinews.
You have granted me life and loving devotion,
and Your care has preserved my spirit.
Yet You concealed these things in Your heart,
and I know that this was in Your mind:
If I sinned, You would take note,
and would not acquit me of my iniquity.
If I am guilty, woe to me!
And even if I am righteous, I cannot lift my head.
I am full of shame
and aware of my affliction.
Should I hold my head high,
You would hunt me like a lion,
and again display Your power against me.
You produce new witnesses against me
and multiply Your anger toward me.
Hardships assault me
in wave after wave.
Why then did You bring me from the womb?
Oh, that I had died, and no eye had seen me!
If only I had never come to be,
but had been carried from the womb to the grave.
Are my days not few?
Withdraw from me, that I may have a little comfort,
before I go-never to return-
to a land of darkness and gloom,
to a land of utter darkness,
of deep shadow and disorder,
where even the light is like darkness."
Then Zophar the Naamathite replied:
"Should this stream of words go unanswered
and such a speaker be vindicated?
Should your babbling put others to silence?
Will you scoff without rebuke?
You have said, 'My doctrine is sound,
and I am pure in Your sight.'
But if only God would speak
and open His lips against you,
and disclose to you the secrets of wisdom,
for true wisdom has two sides.
Know then that God exacts from you
less than your iniquity deserves.
Can you fathom the deep things of God
or discover the limits of the Almighty?
They are higher than the heavens-what can you do?
They are deeper than Sheol-what can you know?
Their measure is longer than the earth
and wider than the sea.
If He comes along to imprison you,
or convenes a court, who can stop Him?
Surely He knows the deceit of men.
If He sees iniquity, does He not take note?
But a witless man can no more become wise
than the colt of a wild donkey can be born a man!
As for you, if you direct your heart
and lift up your hands to Him,
if you put away the iniquity in your hand,
and allow no injustice to dwell in your tents,
then indeed you will lift up your face without shame;
you will stand firm and unafraid.
For you will forget your misery,
recalling it only as waters gone by.
Your life will be brighter than noonday;
its darkness will be like the morning.
You will be secure, because there is hope,
and you will look around and lie down in safety.
You will lie down without fear,
and many will court your favor.
But the eyes of the wicked will fail,
and escape will elude them;
they will hope for their last breath."
And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed in the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and crying out in the pain and agony of giving birth.
Then another sign appeared in heaven: a huge red dragon with seven heads, ten horns, and seven royal crowns on his heads. His tail swept a third of the stars from the sky, tossing them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, ready to devour her child as soon as she gave birth.
And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was caught up to God and to His throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where God had prepared a place for her to be nourished for 1,260 days.
Then a war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But the dragon was not strong enough, and no longer was any place found in heaven for him and his angels. And the great dragon was hurled down-that ancient serpent called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.
And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying:
"Now have come the salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of His Christ.
For the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down-
he who accuses them day and night before our God.
They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony.
And they did not love their lives
so as to shy away from death.
Therefore rejoice, O heavens,
and you who dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and the sea;
with great fury the devil has come down to you,
knowing he has only a short time."
And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle to fly from the presence of the serpent to her place in the wilderness, where she was nourished for a time, and times, and half a time.
Then from the mouth of the serpent spewed water like a river to overtake the woman and sweep her away in the torrent. But the earth helped the woman and opened its mouth to swallow up the river that had poured from the dragon's mouth. And the dragon was enraged at the woman, and went to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.
And the dragon stood on the shore of the sea.