Scripture quotations are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.
Job 21
Then Job answered and said,
"Listen carefully to my words,
and let this be your consolation.
Bear with me, and I myself will speak;
then after my speaking you can mock.
As for me, is my complaint for human beings?
And if so, why cannot I be impatient?
Turn to me and be appalled,
and place your hand on your mouth.
And when I think of it, I am horrified,
and shuddering seizes my flesh.
"Why do the wicked live,
grow old, even grow mighty in power?
With them their offspring are established before them,
and their descendants before their eyes.
Their houses are safe without fear,
and the rod of God is not upon them.
His bull breeds and does not fail;
his cow calves and does not miscarry.
They send out their little ones like the flock,
and their children dance around.
They sing to the tambourine and lyre,
and they rejoice to the sound of the long flute.
They spend their days in prosperity,
and in peace they go down to Sheol.
And they say to God, ‘Turn away from us,
for we do not desire to know your ways.
Who is Shaddai that we should serve him,
or what would we benefit when we plead with him?’
Look, their prosperity is not in their hands;
the schemes of the wicked are repugnant to me.
"How often is the lamp of the wicked put out,
and their disaster comes upon them?
He distributes pains in his anger.
How often are they like straw before the wind,
and like chaff that the storm carries away?
‘God stores up his iniquity for his children’?
Then let him repay it to him that he may know.
Let his eyes see his decay,
and let him drink from the wrath of Shaddai,
for what does he care for his house after him,
when the number of his months is cut off?
Can anyone teach knowledge to God,
since he himself judges high ones?
This one dies in full prosperity,
completely at ease and secure.
His vats are full with milk
and the marrow of his bones is moist.
Yet another dies with a bitter inner self
and has not tasted prosperity.
They lie down together in the dust,
and maggots cover them.
"Look, I know your thoughts
and the schemes you devise against me.
For you say, ‘Where is the nobleman’s house,
and where are the tents in which the wicked dwell?’
Do you not ask those traveling the roads,
and do you not take notice of their accounts?
Indeed, the wicked is spared from the day of disaster;
he is delivered from the day of wrath.
Who denounces his way to his face?
And who repays him for what he has done?
When he is brought to the grave,
then someone stands guard over the tomb.
The clods of the valley are sweet to him;
everyone will follow after him,
and before him they are innumerable.
So how will you comfort me with emptiness,
when fraud is left in your answers?"
Job 22
Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,
"Can a man be of use to God?
Yes, can the wise be of use to him?
Is it a pleasure to Shaddai if you are righteous,
or a gain if you make your ways blameless?
Does he reprove you because of your reverence
or enter into judgment with you?
Is not your wickedness great,
and there is no end to your iniquities?
"Indeed, you have required a pledge from your family for nothing,
and you have stripped off the clothes of the naked.
You have given no water for the weary to drink,
and you withheld food from the hungry.
And the land belongs to the man of power,
and the favored lives in it.
You have sent widows away empty-handed,
and the arms of orphans were crushed.
Therefore trapping nets are all around you,
and panic suddenly terrifies you,
or it is so dark you cannot see,
and a flood of water covers you.
"Is not God in the height of the heavens?
But see how lofty are the highest stars.
And you ask, ‘What does God know?
Can he judge through deep gloom?
Thick clouds are a covering for him, so that he does not see;
and he walks about on the dome of heaven.’
Will you keep to the way of old
that the people of mischief have trod,
who were snatched away before their time,
whose foundation was washed away by a current?
Those who said to God, ‘Turn away from us,’
and ‘What can Shaddai do to us?’
Yet he himself filled up their houses with good things,
but the schemes of the wicked are repugnant to me.
The righteous see, and they rejoice,
but the innocent one mocks at them.
Surely our foe perishes,
and fire has consumed their remainder.
"Please reconcile yourself with him,
and be at peace; in this way, good will come to you.
Please receive instruction from his mouth,
and place his words in your heart.
If you return to Shaddai, you will be restored;
if you remove wickedness from your tent,
and if you put gold ore in the dust,
and the gold of Ophir in the rock of wadis,
then Shaddai will be your gold ore
and your precious silver.
Indeed, then you will delight yourself in Shaddai,
and you will expect that God will be good to you.
You will pray to him, and he will hear you,
and you will pay your vows.
And you will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you,
and light will shine on your ways.
When they are humiliated, you say, ‘It is pride,’
for he saves the humble.
He will deliver the guilty,
and he will escape because of the cleanness of your hands."
Job 23
Then Job answered and said,
"Even today my complaint is bitter;
my hand is heavy in addition to my groaning.
O that I knew and that I might find him;
O that I might come to his dwelling.
I would lay my case before him,
and I would fill my mouth with arguments.
I want to know the words with which he would answer me,
and I want to understand what he would say to me.
Would he contend with me in the greatness of his strength?
No, but he himself would give heed to me.
There an upright person could reason with him,
and I would be acquitted forever by my judge.
"When I go forward, he is not there,
or backward, I cannot see him.
When he works on the left, I cannot perceive him;
he turns to the right, but I cannot see him.
But he knows the way that I take;
he tests me—I shall come out like gold.
My foot has held on to his steps;
I have kept his way, and I have not turned aside.
From the commandment of his lips, indeed I have not departed;
I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily food.
"But he is alone, and who can dissuade him?
And whatever he desires, indeed, he does it.
For he will carry out what he appoints for me,
and many things like these are with him.
Therefore, I am horrified because of his presence;
when I consider, I tremble because of him.
Indeed, God has made my heart faint,
and Shaddai has terrified me.
Indeed, I have not been silenced because of darkness,
and because of me he conceals thick darkness.
Psalm 101
Of David. A psalm.
I will sing of loyal love and justice;
I will sing praises to you, O Yahweh.
I will give attention to the way of integrity.
When will you come to me?
I will walk in the integrity of my heart
in the midst of my house.
I will not set before my eyes
any wicked thing.
I hate the work of those who fall away;
it will not cling to me.
A perverse heart will depart from me;
I will not know evil.
One who slanders his neighbor in secret,
him I will destroy.
One haughty of eyes and arrogant of heart,
him I will not endure.
My eyes will be on the faithful of the land,
that they may live with me.
He who walks in the way of integrity,
he shall minister to me.
There will not live in the midst of my house
a worker of deceit.
One who speaks lies
will not remain before my eyes.
Each morning,
I will destroy all the wicked of the land,
cutting off from the city of Yahweh all evildoers.
Revelation 16
And I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, "Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God." And the first went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and there was an evil and painful sore on the people who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his image.
And the second poured out his bowl on the sea, and it became blood, like that of a dead person, and every living thing that was in the sea died.
And the third poured out his bowl on the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood. And I heard the angel of the waters saying,
"You are righteous, the one who is and the one who was, the Holy One,
because you have judged these things,
because they have poured out the blood of the saints and prophets,
and you have given them blood to drink;
they are deserving!"
And I heard the altar saying,
"Yes, Lord God All-Powerful,
true and righteous are your judgments."
And the fourth poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was granted to it to burn up people with fire. And people were burned up by the great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has the authority over these plagues, and they did not repent to give him glory.
And the fifth poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became darkened, and they began chewing their tongues because of the pain. And they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pain and because of their sores, and they did not repent of their deeds.
And the sixth poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, in order that the way would be prepared for the kings from the east. And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet three unclean spirits like frogs. For they are the spirits of demons performing signs that go out to the kings of the whole inhabited world, to gather them for the battle of the great day of God the All-Powerful. (Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who is on the alert and who keeps his clothing, so that he does not walk around naked and they see his shamefulness!) And he gathered them to the place called in Hebrew Armageddon.
And the seventh poured out his bowl on the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, "It is done!" And there were lightnings and sounds and thunders, and there was a great earthquake, as has not happened from the time humanity has been on the earth—so great in this way was the earthquake. And the great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And Babylon the great was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of his furious wrath. And every island fled, and mountains were not found. And large hailstones, weighing about a hundred pounds, came down from the sky upon people, and the people blasphemed God because of the plague of hail, because the plague of it was very great.