JOB 15-17

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Eliphaz Says Job Presumes Much  15:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite responded,

2 “Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge

And fill himself with the east wind?

3 “Should he argue with useless talk,

Or with words which are not profitable?

4 “Indeed, you do away with reverence

And hinder meditation before God.

5 “For your guilt teaches your mouth,

And you choose the language of the crafty.

6 “Your own mouth condemns you, and not I;

And your own lips testify against you.

7 “Were you the first man to be born,

Or were you brought forth before the hills?

8 “Do you hear the secret counsel of God,

And limit wisdom to yourself?

9 “What do you know that we do not know?

What do you understand that we do not?

10 “Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us,

Older than your father.

11 “Are the consolations of God too small for you,

Even the word spoken gently with you?

12 “Why does your heart carry you away?

And why do your eyes flash,

13 That you should turn your spirit against God

And allow such words to go out of your mouth?

14 “What is man, that he should be pure,

Or he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

15 “Behold, He puts no trust in His holy ones,

And the heavens are not pure in His sight;

16 How much less one who is detestable and corrupt,

Man, who drinks iniquity like water!

What Eliphaz Has Seen of Life17 “I will tell you, listen to me;

And what I have seen I will also declare;

18 What wise men have told,

And have not concealed from their fathers,

19 To whom alone the land was given,

And no alien passed among them.

20 “The wicked man writhes in pain all his days,

And numbered are the years stored up for the ruthless.

21 “Sounds of terror are in his ears;

While at peace the destroyer comes upon him.

22 “He does not believe that he will return from darkness,

And he is destined for the sword.

23 “He wanders about for food, saying, ‘Where is it?’

He knows that a day of darkness is at hand.

24 “Distress and anguish terrify him,

They overpower him like a king ready for the attack,

25 Because he has stretched out his hand against God

And conducts himself arrogantly against the Almighty.

26 “He rushes headlong at Him

With his massive shield.

27 “For he has covered his face with his fat

And made his thighs heavy with flesh.

28 “He has lived in desolate cities,

In houses no one would inhabit,

Which are destined to become ruins.

29 “He will not become rich, nor will his wealth endure;

And his grain will not bend down to the ground.

30 “He will not escape from darkness;

The flame will wither his shoots,

And by the breath of His mouth he will go away.

31 “Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself;

For emptiness will be his reward.

32 “It will be accomplished before his time,

And his palm branch will not be green.

33 “He will drop off his unripe grape like the vine,

And will cast off his flower like the olive tree.

34 “For the company of the godless is barren,

And fire consumes the tents of the corrupt.

35 “They conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity,

And their mind prepares deception.”

Job Says Friends Are Sorry Comforters  16:1 Then Job answered,

2 “I have heard many such things;

Sorry comforters are you all.

3 “Is there no limit to windy words?

Or what plagues you that you answer?

4 “I too could speak like you,

If I were in your place.

I could compose words against you

And shake my head at you.

5 “I could strengthen you with my mouth,

And the solace of my lips could lessen your pain.

Job Says God Shattered Him6 “If I speak, my pain is not lessened,

And if I hold back, what has left me?

7 “But now He has exhausted me;

You have laid waste all my company.

8 “You have shriveled me up,

It has become a witness;

And my leanness rises up against me,

It testifies to my face.

9 “His anger has torn me and hunted me down,

He has gnashed at me with His teeth;

My adversary glares at me.

10 “They have gaped at me with their mouth,

They have slapped me on the cheek with contempt;

They have massed themselves against me.

11 “God hands me over to ruffians

And tosses me into the hands of the wicked.

12 “I was at ease, but He shattered me,

And He has grasped me by the neck and shaken me to pieces;

He has also set me up as His target.

13 “His arrows surround me.

Without mercy He splits my kidneys open;

He pours out my gall on the ground.

14 “He breaks through me with breach after breach;

He runs at me like a warrior.

15 “I have sewed sackcloth over my skin

And thrust my horn in the dust.

16 “My face is flushed from weeping,

And deep darkness is on my eyelids,

17 Although there is no violence in my hands,

And my prayer is pure.

18 “O earth, do not cover my blood,

And let there be no resting place for my cry.

19 “Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven,

And my advocate is on high.

20 “My friends are my scoffers;

My eye weeps to God.

21 “O that a man might plead with God

As a man with his neighbor!

22 “For when a few years are past,

I shall go the way of no return.

Job Says He Has Become a Byword17:1 “My spirit is broken, my days are extinguished,

The grave is ready for me.

2 “Surely mockers are with me,

And my eye gazes on their provocation.

3 “Lay down, now, a pledge for me with Yourself;

Who is there that will be my guarantor?

4 “For You have kept their heart from understanding,

Therefore You will not exalt them.

5 “He who informs against friends for a share of the spoil,

The eyes of his children also will languish.

6 “But He has made me a byword of the people,

And I am one at whom men spit.

7 “My eye has also grown dim because of grief,

And all my members are as a shadow.

8 “The upright will be appalled at this,

And the innocent will stir up himself against the godless.

9 “Nevertheless the righteous will hold to his way,

And he who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.

10 “But come again all of you now,

For I do not find a wise man among you.

11 “My days are past, my plans are torn apart,

Even the wishes of my heart.

12 “They make night into day, saying,

‘The light is near,’ in the presence of darkness.

13 “If I look for Sheol as my home,

I make my bed in the darkness;

14 If I call to the pit, ‘You are my father’;

To the worm, ‘my mother and my sister’;

15 Where now is my hope?

And who regards my hope?

16 “Will it go down with me to Sheol?

Shall we together go down into the dust?”

REVELATION 14

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The Lamb and the 144,000 on Mount Zion  14:1 Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads. 2 And I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps. 3 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 one hundred and forty-four thousand who had been purchased from the earth. 4 These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb. 5 And no lie was found in their mouth; they are blameless.
Vision of the Angel with the Gospel    6 And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people; 7 and he said with a loud voice, “Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters.”
    8 And another angel, a second one, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality.”
Doom for Worshipers of the Beast    9 Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.” 12 Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.
    13 And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!’” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.”
The Reapers    14 Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man, having a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand. 15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe.” 16 Then He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.
    17 And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle. 18 Then another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out from the altar; and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, “Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe.” 19 So the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God. 20 And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses’ bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles.