Today's Reading

Job 22-24

Job Chapter 22
1 - Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,
2 - Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself?
3 - Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous? or is it gain to him, that thou makest thy ways perfect?
4 - Will he reprove thee for fear of thee? will he enter with thee into judgment?
5 - Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite?
6 - For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the naked of their clothing.
7 - Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry.
8 - But as for the mighty man, he had the earth; and the honourable man dwelt in it.
9 - Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.
10 - Therefore snares are round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee;
11 - Or darkness, that thou canst not see; and abundance of waters cover thee.
12 - Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are!
13 - And thou sayest, How doth God know? can he judge through the dark cloud?
14 - Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit of heaven.
15 - Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden?
16 - Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood:
17 - Which said unto God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them?
18 - Yet he filled their houses with good things: but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
19 - The righteous see it, and are glad: and the innocent laugh them to scorn.
20 - Whereas our substance is not cut down, but the remnant of them the fire consumeth.
21 - Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.
22 - Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart.
23 - If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles.
24 - Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks.
25 - Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, and thou shalt have plenty of silver.
26 - For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God.
27 - Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows.
28 - Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways.
29 - When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up; and he shall save the humble person.
30 - He shall deliver the island of the innocent: and it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands.

Job Chapter 23
1 - Then Job answered and said,
2 - Even to day is my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning.
3 - Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!
4 - I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 - I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me.
6 - Will he plead against me with his great power? No; but he would put strength in me.
7 - There the righteous might dispute with him; so should I be delivered for ever from my judge.
8 - Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him:
9 - On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him:
10 - But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
11 - My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined.
12 - Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
13 - But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.
14 - For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him.
15 - Therefore am I troubled at his presence: when I consider, I am afraid of him.
16 - For God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me:
17 - Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he covered the darkness from my face.

Job Chapter 24
1 - Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?
2 - Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof.
3 - They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge.
4 - They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together.
5 - Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work; rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children.
6 - They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked.
7 - They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold.
8 - They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.
9 - They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.
10 - They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry;
11 - Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst.
12 - Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them.
13 - They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.
14 - The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief.
15 - The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face.
16 - In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light.
17 - For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.
18 - He is swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards.
19 - Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so doth the grave those which have sinned.
20 - The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree.
21 - He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow.
22 - He draweth also the mighty with his power: he riseth up, and no man is sure of life.
23 - Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth; yet his eyes are upon their ways.
24 - They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn.
25 - And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?