The Daily Audio Bible
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Job replies to Eliphaz[a]
23 Then Job replied. This is what he said:
2 ‘I continue to complain against God
because I am still angry today.
God continues to punish me
even when I cry in pain.
3 I would like to know where to find him.
Then I could go to the place where he lives.
4 I would tell him why I am not guilty.
I would say many things to explain this to him.
5 Then I would know how he would answer me.
I would understand what he would say to me.
6 Would God use his great power to argue against me?
No! He would listen carefully to me.
7 Honest people can explain things to him.
So he would judge me in a fair way.
He would let me go free.
8 I look for God in the east, but he is not there.
I do not find him in the west either.
9 When he does his work in the north,
I do not see him.
When he moves to the south,
I still cannot find him anywhere.
10 But he knows the way that I live.
When he has finished testing me,
he will see that I am pure.
I will be as pure as gold.
11 I have always lived in the way that God showed me.
I have obeyed him faithfully.
I have not turned away from his teaching.
12 I have been careful to obey his commands.
His words are more important to me than my food.
13 But he is always true to himself.
Nobody can change him.
Whatever he wants to do, he does.
14 He will do to me everything that he has decided to do.
He has plans to do many things like this.
15 Because of that,
I am afraid of him.
When I think about all these things,
I am very afraid.
16 God has made me become weak with fear.
Almighty God has frightened me.
17 Because of all my troubles,
I seem to be in a very dark place.
The darkness seems to cover me.
But I will not be afraid to speak.
Job continues to speak[b]
24 Why has Almighty God not yet decided the time
when he will judge wicked people?
People who serve him faithfully continue to wait for justice.
2 Wicked men move the stones that show the edge of their neighbour's land.[c]
They take their neighbour's land and his sheep for themselves.
3 They take away a donkey
that belongs to a child who has no family.
They take an ox away from a widow,
when they lend money to her.
4 They stop poor people from receiving justice.
Poor people have to run away from them and hide.
5 Poor people have to look for food to eat,
like wild donkeys in the desert.
They have to find food for their children to eat.
6 They find grain in the fields of other people.
They pick grapes that remain in the vineyards of wicked people.
7 They have no clothes to wear during the cold nights.
They sleep without anything to cover themselves.
8 The rain that falls in the mountains makes them very wet.
So they hide among the rocks where they try to keep dry.
9 When wicked people lend money to poor people,
they even take a child whose father has died away from his mother.
10 Poor people have to go out with no clothes to wear.
They are hungry while they carry the crops of other people.
11 They squeeze oil from olives
that grow in the fields of other people.
They also make wine from other people's grapes.
But they themselves are thirsty.
12 In the cities, people who are dying cry with pain.
They call for help,
but God does not punish the people who have hurt them.
13 Some people refuse to live in the light.
They do not understand it.
They do not go along the good way that it shows to them.
14 Murderers rob people when it is still dark.
They kill poor, weak people during the night.
15 Adulterers wait until it is becoming dark.
They think that no one will see them.
They cover their faces
so that no one will recognize them.
16 Robbers go into people's homes in the dark
to take away their things.
But they stay inside during the day.
They never go out in the light.
17 They all like to do evil things at night,
rather than in the light of morning.
They are not afraid of things that happen in the dark,
as other people are.
18 You may say, “Floods of water carry away wicked people.[d]
God curses the land that belongs to them.
Nobody goes to work in their vineyards.
19 Snow soon disappears
when the weather is very hot or very dry.
In the same way, death quickly takes away people who do bad things.
20 Their mothers soon forget them.
Worms eat their bodies.
No one remembers those wicked people.
They are like dead trees that people have cut down.
21 Those wicked people are cruel to women who have no children.
They are not kind to widows.
22 But God uses his strength to remove powerful people.
When he attacks wicked people,
their lives are in his hands.
23 God allows them to feel safe.
But he is always watching everything that they do.
24 Wicked people may have success for a short time,
but suddenly they disappear!
Like everyone else, they fall to the ground.
They become like crops that people cut down at harvest time.”
25 What I have said is true.
Nobody can say that I am telling lies.
You cannot think that my words are useless.’
Bildad speaks a third time[e]
25 Then Bildad, the man from Shuah, replied. This is what he said:
2 ‘God rules everything
and we should be afraid of his great power.
In heaven above he causes there to be peace.
3 The number of angels in his armies are too many to count.
His light shines over everyone.
4 No human is righteous when he stands in front of God.
He cannot be pure.
5 When God looks at the moon and the stars,
they do not seem to be pure and bright.
6 So when God looks at us humans,
we do not seem important to him.
To him, we are as useless as worms.’
Job replies to Bildad[f]
26 Then Job replied. This is what he said:
2 ‘Do not think that you have helped me,
a weak and helpless man.
Nothing that you have said makes me feel stronger.
3 What good advice have you given me
to make me wise?
You have not really shown me how clever you are!
4 Someone must have helped you to say these wise words.
Who has put all these thoughts in your minds?
5 Dead people shake with fear.
They are under the deep waters.
6 God sees everything that happens
in the place of dead people.
Nothing can hide that terrible place from him.
7 He puts the skies in their place in the north,
so that they cover empty space.
He hangs the earth in the skies
and it stays there.
8 He fills the clouds with water.
They become heavy but they do not break.
9 When the moon is big and round, he hides it.
He causes clouds to cover it.
10 He marks the border between the sea and the sky.
It is the place where the night finishes and the day begins.
11 When God is angry,
he shouts at the pillars under the sky.
When they hear his command,
they shake with fear.
12 He used his power to control the sea.
He used his wisdom to destroy Rahab,
the great sea monster.
13 He used his breath to make the sky become bright.
With his hand he cut the great sea snake
as it ran away.
14 These are only a few of the things that God does.
We only know about a few small things.
If he used all of his power,
we could never understand.’
Job continues to speak
27 Job continued to speak. This is what he said:
2 ‘Almighty God has not been fair to me.
He has caused my life to be very sad.
As surely as he lives, I promise this:
3 As long as God's Spirit gives me life,
4 I will never speak any lies.
I will always be honest.
5 I will never agree that you, my three friends, are right.
Until the day of my death,
I will continue to say what I know is right.
6 I will never agree that I am guilty.
During all of my life,
my thoughts do not say that I am doing anything wrong.
7 I pray that God will punish my enemies
as he punishes all wicked people.
They do bad things to me,
so they deserve punishment.
8 When God chooses to remove wicked people,
they cannot hope for any good thing.
God will cause them to die.
9 When they are in trouble and they pray for help,
God will not listen to them.
10 People like that are not happy that Almighty God is their friend.
They do not like to pray to him all the time.
11 I will teach you about the power of Almighty God.
I will explain to you what he is thinking.
12 You yourselves have all seen what God has done.
So you should stop saying all these useless things!
13 I will tell you what Almighty God does to wicked people.
He punishes cruel people as they deserve.
14 Wicked people may have many children,
but they will die in war.
Their children will never have enough food to eat.
15 Illness will kill any children who continue to live.
Their widows will not weep when they are dead.
16 Wicked people may have lots of money.
They may have silver like heaps of sand.
They may have more clothes than they could ever wear.
17 But one day righteous people will wear those clothes.
Honest people will share the silver among themselves.
18 The houses that wicked people build are not strong.
They are as weak as a spider's web,[g]
or a shepherd's hut,
19 Their riches quickly disappear.
They are rich when they go to sleep,
but poor when they wake up.
20 Troubles come to them like a flood of water,
and they are very afraid.
A storm comes in the night to carry them away.
21 The east wind picks them up and takes then far away.[h]
It removes them from their homes.
22 It is a strong wind that hits wicked people
and it never stops.
It continues to beat them as they try to escape.
23 The cruel wind laughs at them
as they run away in fear.’
Paul explains why he did not visit Corinth earlier
12 We can be proud of how we have lived in this world. We have been careful to be honest and good with everyone. And we have been like that with you even more. We are sure in our own minds that this is true. We have not tried to be clever in a human way. But we have lived in the way that God has helped us to live. 13 We are writing to you only about things that you yourselves can read and understand. And I hope that you will understand completely one day. 14 You do not understand us completely yet. But I hope that you will understand completely on the day when our Lord Jesus returns. Then you can be proud of us in the same way that we will be proud of you.
15-16 So, because I was sure that you trusted me, I wanted to visit you twice. Then I could bring God's help to you twice. I decided to visit you first on my way to Macedonia.[a] Then I would visit you again on my way back from Macedonia. After that, you could help to send me on my journey to Judea.[b] 17 I did not decide this in a careless way. I really wanted to do it. I do not decide to do things only to please myself, like someone who does not know God. I do not say ‘Yes,’ and then I immediately say ‘No’.
18 God always does what he says he will do. In the same way, my promise to you was not both ‘Yes’ and ‘No’. 19 Silas, Timothy and I told you the message about God's Son, Jesus Christ. Christ is not someone who changes his message between ‘Yes’ and ‘No’. Instead, he always says ‘Yes,’ and he does what he says. 20 Christ says ‘Yes’ to all of God's promises, so that they become true. So when we pray, we say ‘Yes, amen!,’ because we know that Christ has done it. And when we do that, we are saying that God is great.
21 It is God that causes us to continue to trust Christ. He does that for us and for you, because we belong to Christ. God has chosen us to serve him. 22 He has also put his mark on us, to show that we belong to him. He has given his Spirit to us, to live in us. Because of that, we know that we will receive all the good things that God has promised.
23 God will show that what I say is true! He knows my thoughts. Why did I decide not to come back to Corinth at this time? I did not come because I did not want to be angry with you. 24 We are not trying to tell you what you must believe, like masters would do. You are already strong in your spirits because you trust God. So we want to help you to be really happy.
2 Because of that, I decided not to visit you again at that time. I did not want to make you sad. 2 You are the only people who can make me happy. So, if I make you sad, there will be nobody to make me happy. 3 That is why I did not visit you. I wrote that letter to you instead. You are the people who should make me happy. I did not want you to make me sad when I visited you. I felt sure about all of you. I knew that, if I was happy, then all of you would be happy too.
4 When I wrote that letter, I was very sad and upset. I cried a lot. I did not want to make you sad. Instead, I wanted you to know that I love you very much.
5 Someone among you has done things that have made other people sad. That person has made me sad. But really he has made all of you much more sad than me. I do not want to say more about this than is necessary. 6 Most of you have agreed to punish him. That should be enough. 7 Now, you should forgive him. You should comfort him. If you do not do that, he may become too sad. He may not be able to think properly. 8 So I tell you this: Please show him that you really do love him.
9 When I wrote that letter to you, I wanted to know what you would do. I wanted to see if you would do everything that I told you. 10 When you forgive anyone, I also forgive that person. Whatever bad thing somebody has done, I have Christ's authority to forgive them. And I do it to help you. 11 We do not want Satan to win against us. He is very clever. We know how he likes to cause us to have trouble.
David wrote this song for the music leader.
A prayer[a]
41 If someone is kind to poor people,
God blesses him.
When he is in trouble,
the Lord rescues him.
2 The Lord keeps him safe.
The Lord saves his life!
God causes him to be happy
here in the land where he lives.
The Lord will not put him under the power of his enemies.
3 The Lord takes care of him
when he is ill in bed.
Whenever he is ill,
you will make him completely well again.
4 I said, ‘Lord be kind to me
and forgive me.
I have done wrong things against you,
but please make me well again.’
5 My enemies say cruel things about me.
They say, ‘Surely he must die soon!
Then everyone will forget about him.’
6 When they come to see me,
they say that they are my friends.
But they think of ways to make me ashamed.
When they leave,
they tell everyone bad things about me.
7 All the people who hate me
insult me to other people.
My enemies make plans to hurt me.
8 They say, ‘He has a dangerous disease.
He will never get up from his bed.’
9 Even my special friend has turned against me.
He was someone that I trusted.
I often ate food with him in my home.[b]
10 But you, Lord, please be kind to me.
Raise me up to be well again.
Then I can punish my enemies as they have punished me.[c]
11 They have not won against me,
so I know that you are pleased with me!
12 You continue to help me because I do what is right.
You will let me stay near to you for ever.
13 Let us all praise the Lord,
who is Israel's great God!
Yes, praise him now and for ever!
Amen! Amen!
5 Wicked people go through a lot of trouble,
like thorn bushes and traps in their way.
So be careful to keep far away from them.
6 If you teach children the right way to live,
they will not forget it when they are older.
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