The Berean Pursuit
Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said,
"How long will you say these things,
and the words of your mouth be a mighty wind?
Does God pervert justice,
or Shaddai pervert righteousness?
If your children sinned against him,
then he sent them into the power of their transgression.
If you yourself would seek God,
then you would plead to Shaddai for grace.
If you are pure and upright,
indeed, now he will rouse himself for you,
and he will restore your righteous abode.
Though your beginning was small,
your end will be very great.
"Indeed, please inquire of former generations,
and consider what their ancestors have found,
for we are of yesterday, and we do not know,
for our days on earth are a shadow.
Will they themselves not teach you and tell you
and utter words from their heart?
Can papyrus grow tall where there is not a marsh?
Will reeds flourish without water?
While it is in its flower and is not plucked,
yet it withers before all grass.
So are the paths of all who forget God;
and the hope of the godless will perish,
whose confidence is cut off
and whose trust is a spider’s house.
He will lean himself against his house, but it will not stand;
he will take hold of it, but it will not endure.
He is thriving before the sun,
and his plant shoots spread over his garden.
His roots twine over a stone heap;
he sees a house of stone.
If he destroys him from his place,
then it deceives him, saying, ‘I have never seen you.’
Look, this is the joy of his way,
and from dust others will spring up.
"Look, God will not reject the blameless,
and he will not uphold the hand of evildoers.
Yet he will fill your mouth with laughter
and your lips with a shout of joy.
Those who hate you will be clothed with shame,
and the tent of the wicked will be no more."
Then Job answered and said,
"Truly I know that it is so,
but how can a human being be just before God?
If he wants to contend with him,
he cannot answer him one time in a thousand.
He is wise in heart and mighty in strength;
who has resisted him and succeeded?
"He is the one who moves mountains, and they do not know how,
who overturns them in his anger.
He is the one who shakes the earth from its place,
and its pillars tremble.
He is the one who commands the sun, and it does not rise,
and he seals up the stars.
He is the one who alone stretches out the heavens
and who tramples on the waves of the sea.
He is the one who made the Bear and Orion,
the Pleiades and the constellations of the south.
He is the one who does great things beyond understanding
and marvelous things beyond number.
"If he passes by me, I would not see him;
and if he should move on, I would not recognize him.
If he would snatch away, who could turn him?
Who could say to him, ‘What are you doing?’
God will not turn back his anger;
beneath him the helpers of Rahab bow.
How much less can I myself answer him?
How can I choose my words with him,
whom I cannot answer, even though I am righteous?
From my judge I must implore grace.
If I summon him, and he should answer me,
I do not believe that he will listen to my voice—
who crushes me with a tempest
and multiplies my wounds without cause.
He will not allow me to catch my breath;
rather, he will fill me with bitterness.
If it is a matter of strength, look, he is mighty.
But if it is a matter of justice, who can summon me?
Even though I am righteous, my mouth will condemn me;
even though I am blameless, yet it would pronounce me guilty.
"I am blameless; I do not care about myself;
I loathe my life.
It is all one; therefore I say,
‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’
When the whip kills suddenly,
he mocks at the despair of the innocent.
The earth is given into the hand of the wicked;
he covers the face of its judge—
if it is not he, then who is it?
"And my days are swifter than a runner;
they flee away; they do not see good.
They go by like papyrus skiffs,
like an eagle swoops down on its prey.
Though I say, ‘I will forget my complaint;
I will change my expression, and I will rejoice,’
I become afraid of all my sufferings;
I know that you do not consider me innocent.
If I shall be declared guilty,
why then should I labor in vain?
If I wash myself with soap,
and I cleanse my hands with lye,
then you plunge me into the slime pit,
and my clothes abhor me.
"For he is not a mortal like me that I can answer him,
that we can come to trial together.
There is no arbiter between us
that he might lay his hand on both of us.
May he remove his rod from me,
and let his dread not terrify me;
then I would speak and not fear him,
for in myself I am not fearful.
"My inner self loathes my life;
I want to give vent to my complaint;
I want to speak out of the bitterness of my inner self.
I will say to God, ‘You should not condemn me;
let me know why you contend against me.
Is it good for you that you oppress,
that you despise the labor of your hands,
and you smile over the schemes of the wicked?
Do you have eyes of flesh?
Or do you see as human beings see?
Are your days as the days of human beings,
or your years as the days of man,
that you seek out my iniquity,
and you search for my sin
because of your knowledge that I am not guilty,
and there is no escaping from your hand?
Your hands fashioned me and made me altogether,
then you destroyed me.
Please remember that you made me like clay,
but you turn me into dust again?
Did you not pour me out like milk
and curdle me like cheese?
You clothed me with skin and flesh,
and you knit me together with bones and sinews.
You have granted me life and loyal love,
and your care has preserved my spirit.
"‘Yet you hid these things in your heart;
I know that this was your purpose.
If I had sinned, then you would be watching me,
and you would not acquit me of my guilt.
If I am guilty, woe to me!
But if I am righteous, I dare not lift my head;
I am filled with shame, and just look at my misery!
And if my head grows bold, you would hunt me as the lion in its prime;
and you repeat your exploits against me.
You renew your witnesses against me,
and you increase your vexation against me;
relief forces are against me.
So why did you bring me forth from the womb?
I should have passed away, and no eye should have seen me.
I should have been as though I had not been;
I should have been brought from the womb to the grave.
Are not my days few? Let him leave me alone;
let him turn from me, and let me rejoice a little.
Before I go—and I will not return—
to the land of darkness and deep shadow,
to the land of darkness,
like the darkness of a deep shadow and chaos,
so that it shines forth like darkness.’"
Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said,
"Should an abundance of words go unanswered,
or a man full of talk be vindicated?
Should your loose talk put people to silence?
And when you mock, shall no one put you to shame?
For you say, ‘My teaching is pure,
and I am clean in your sight.’
But, O that God might speak,
and that he would open his lips to you,
and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom,
for insight has many sides.
And know that God on your behalf has forgotten some of your guilt.
"Can you find out the essence of God,
or can you find out the ultimate limits of Shaddai?
It is higher than the heaven; what can you do?
It is deeper than Sheol; what can you know?
Its measure is longer than the earth
and broader than the sea.
"If he passes through and imprisons someone
and summons the assembly, then who can hinder him?
For he knows those who are worthless;
when he sees iniquity, he will not consider it.
But an empty-headed person will get understanding
when a wild donkey’s colt is born as a human being.
"If you yourself direct your heart
and stretch out your hands to him—
if iniquity is in your hand, put it far away,
and you must not let wickedness reside in your tents—
surely then you will lift up your face without blemish,
and you will be firmly established and will not fear.
For you yourself will forget your misery;
you will remember it as water that has flowed past.
"And your life will be brighter than noon;
its darkness will be like the morning.
And you will have confidence because there is hope;
and you will be well protected—you will sleep in safety.
And you will lie down, and no one will make you afraid;
and many will entreat your favor.
But the eyes of the wicked will fail;
and refuge will be lost to them,
and their hope is to breathe their last breath."
And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun and with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars, and who was pregnant and was crying out because she was having birth pains, and was in torment to give birth. And another sign appeared in heaven, and behold, a great fiery red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven royal headbands. And his tail swept away a third of the stars from heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, in order that whenever she gave birth to her child he could devour it. And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is going to shepherd all the nations with an iron rod, and her child was snatched away to God and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she had a place prepared there by God, so that they could feed her there for one thousand two hundred sixty days.
And there was war in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. And they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them any longer in heaven. And the great dragon was thrown down, the ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying,
"Now the salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God
and the authority of his Christ have come,
because the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down,
the one who accuses them before our God day and night.
And they conquered him by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony,
and they did not love their lives until death.
Because of this, rejoice, you heavens,
and those who live in them!
Woe to the earth and to the sea,
because the devil has come down to you,
having great anger,
because he knows that he has little time!"
And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. And the two wings of a great eagle were given to the woman, in order that she could fly into the wilderness, to her place where she is fed there for a time, and times, and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. And from his mouth the serpent spouted water like a river after the woman, in order that he could make her swept away by a river. And the earth came to the aid of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the river that the dragon had spouted out of his mouth. And the dragon was angry at the woman, and went away to fight against the rest of her children, those who keep the commandments of God and who hold to the testimony about Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea.