The Berean Pursuit
Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
"Does a wise man answer with empty counsel
or fill his belly with the hot east wind?
Should he argue with useless words
or speeches that serve no purpose?
But you even undermine the fear of God
and hinder meditation before Him.
For your iniquity instructs your mouth,
and you choose the language of the crafty.
Your own mouth, not mine, condemns you;
your own lips testify against you.
Were you the first man ever born?
Were you brought forth before the hills?
Do you listen in on the council of God
or limit wisdom to yourself?
What do you know that we do not?
What do you understand that is not clear to us?
Both the gray-haired and the aged are on our side-
men much older than your father.
Are the consolations of God not enough for you,
even words spoken gently to you?
Why has your heart carried you away,
and why do your eyes flash,
as you turn your spirit against God
and pour such words from your mouth?
What is man, that he should be pure,
or one born of woman, that he should be righteous?
If God puts no trust in His holy ones,
if even the heavens are not pure in His eyes,
how much less man, who is vile and corrupt,
who drinks injustice like water?
Listen to me and I will inform you.
I will describe what I have seen,
what was declared by wise men
and was not concealed from their fathers,
to whom alone the land was given
when no foreigner passed among them.
A wicked man writhes in pain all his days;
only a few years are reserved for the ruthless.
Sounds of terror fill his ears;
in his prosperity the destroyer attacks him.
He despairs of his return from darkness;
he is marked for the sword.
He wanders about as food for vultures;
he knows the day of darkness is at hand.
Distress and anguish terrify him,
overwhelming him like a king poised to attack.
For he has stretched out his hand against God
and has vaunted himself against the Almighty,
rushing headlong at Him
with a thick, studded shield.
Though his face is covered with fat
and his waistline bulges with flesh,
he will dwell in ruined cities,
in abandoned houses destined to become rubble.
He will no longer be rich; his wealth will not endure.
His possessions will not overspread the land.
He will not escape from the darkness;
the flame will wither his shoots,
and the breath of God's mouth
will carry him away.
Let him not deceive himself with trust in emptiness,
for emptiness will be his reward.
It will be paid in full before his time,
and his branch will not flourish.
He will be like a vine stripped of its unripe grapes,
like an olive tree that sheds its blossoms.
For the company of the godless will be barren,
and fire will consume the tents of bribery.
They conceive trouble and give birth to evil;
their womb is pregnant with deceit."
Then Job answered:
"I have heard many things like these;
miserable comforters are you all.
Is there no end to your long-winded speeches?
What provokes you to continue testifying?
I could also speak like you
if you were in my place;
I could heap up words against you
and shake my head at you.
But I would encourage you with my mouth,
and the consolation of my lips would bring relief.
Even if I speak, my pain is not relieved,
and if I hold back, how will it go away?
Surely He has now exhausted me;
You have devastated all my family.
You have bound me, and it has become a witness;
my frailty rises up and testifies against me.
His anger has torn me and opposed me;
He gnashes His teeth at me.
My adversary pierces me with His eyes.
They open their mouths against me
and strike my cheeks with contempt;
they join together against me.
God has delivered me to unjust men;
He has thrown me to the clutches of the wicked.
I was at ease, but He shattered me;
He seized me by the neck and crushed me.
He has set me up as His target;
His archers surround me.
He pierces my kidneys without mercy
and spills my gall on the ground.
He breaks me with wound upon wound;
He rushes me like a mighty warrior.
I have sewn sackcloth over my skin;
I have buried my horn in the dust.
My face is red with weeping,
and deep shadows ring my eyes;
yet my hands are free of violence
and my prayer is pure.
O earth, do not cover my blood;
may my cry for help never be laid to rest.
Even now my witness is in heaven,
and my advocate is on high.
My friends are my scoffers
as my eyes pour out tears to God.
Oh, that a man might plead with God
as he pleads with his neighbor!
For when only a few years are past
I will go the way of no return.
"My spirit is broken; my days are extinguished;
the grave awaits me.
Surely mockers surround me,
and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion.
Give me, I pray, the pledge You demand.
Who else will be my guarantor?
You have closed their minds to understanding;
therefore You will not exalt them.
If a man denounces his friends for a price,
the eyes of his children will fail.
He has made me a byword among the people,
a man in whose face they spit.
My eyes have grown dim with grief,
and my whole body is but a shadow.
The upright are appalled at this,
and the innocent are stirred against the godless.
Yet a righteous one holds to his way,
and the one with clean hands grows stronger.
But come back and try again, all of you.
For I will not find a wise man among you.
My days have passed; my plans are broken off-
even the desires of my heart.
They have turned night into day,
making light seem near in the face of darkness.
If I look for Sheol as my home,
if I spread out my bed in darkness,
and say to corruption, 'You are my father,'
and to the worm, 'My mother,' or 'My sister,'
where then is my hope?
Who can see any hope for me?
Will it go down to the gates of Sheol?
Will we go down together into the dust?"
Then I looked and saw the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him 144,000 who had His name and His Father's name written on their foreheads. And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of many waters and the loud rumbling of thunder. And the sound I heard was like harpists strumming their harps.
And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. And no one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they are virgins. They follow the Lamb wherever He goes. They have been redeemed from among men as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. And no lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.
Then I saw another angel flying overhead, with the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on the earth-to every nation and tribe and tongue and people. And he said in a loud voice, "Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come. Worship the One who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and the springs of waters."
Then a second angel followed, saying, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, who has made all the nations drink the wine of the passion of her immorality."
And a third angel followed them, calling out in a loud voice, "If anyone worships the beast and its image, and receives its mark on his forehead or on his hand, he too will drink the wine of God's anger, poured undiluted into the cup of His wrath. And he will be tormented in fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever. Day and night there is no rest for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name."
Here is a call for the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
And I heard a voice from heaven telling me to write, "Blessed are the dead-those who die in the Lord from this moment on."
"Yes," says the Spirit, "they will rest from their labors, for their deeds will follow them."
And I looked and saw a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was One like the Son of Man, with a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand.
Then another angel came out of the temple, crying out in a loud voice to the One seated on the cloud, "Swing Your sickle and reap, because the time has come to harvest; for the crop of the earth is ripe." So the One seated on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.
Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. Still another angel, with authority over the fire, came from the altar and called out in a loud voice to the angel with the sharp sickle, "Swing your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the vine of the earth, because its grapes are ripe."
So the angel swung his sickle over the earth and gathered the grapes of the earth, and he threw them into the great winepress of God's wrath. And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and the blood that flowed from it rose as high as the bridles of the horses for a distance of 1,600 stadia.