The One Year Bible TLB (186 page)
Read The One Year Bible TLB Online
Authors: Tyndale
The unjust tyrant will reap disaster, and his reign of terror shall end.
9
Happy is the generous man, the one who feeds the poor.
August 30Elihu continued:
2
“Listen to me, you wise men.
3
We can choose the sounds we want to listen to; we can choose the taste we want in food,
4
and we should choose to follow what is right. But first of all we must define among ourselves what is good.
5
For Job has said, ‘I am innocent, but God says I’m not.
6
I am called a liar, even though I am innocent. I am horribly punished, even though I have not sinned.’
7-8
“Who else is as arrogant as Job? He must have spent much time with evil men,
9
for he said, ‘Why waste time trying to please God?’
10
“Listen to me, you with understanding. Surely everyone knows that
God doesn’t sin!
11
Rather, he punishes the sinners.
12
There is no truer statement than this:
God is never wicked or unjust.
13
He alone has authority over the earth and dispenses justice for the world.
14
If God were to withdraw his Spirit,
15
all life would disappear and mankind would turn again to dust.
16
“Listen now and try to understand.
17
Could God govern if he hated justice? Are you going to condemn the Almighty Judge?
18
Are you going to condemn this God who says to kings and nobles, ‘You are wicked and unjust’?
19
For he doesn’t care how great a man may be, and doesn’t pay any more attention to the rich than to the poor. He made them all.
20
In a moment they die, and at midnight great and small shall suddenly pass away, removed by no human hand.
21
“For God carefully watches the goings on of all mankind; he sees them all.
22
No darkness is thick enough to hide evil men from his eyes,
23
so there is no need to wait for some great crime before a man is called before God in judgment.
24
Without making a big issue over it, God simply shatters the greatest of men and puts others in their places.
25
He watches what they do and in a single night he overturns them, destroying them,
26
or openly strikes them down as wicked men.
27
For they turned aside from following him,
28
causing the cry of the poor to come to the attention of God. Yes, he hears the cries of those being oppressed.
29-30
Yet when he chooses not to speak, who can criticize? Again, he may prevent a vile man from ruling, thus saving a nation from ruin, and he can depose an entire nation just as easily.
31
“Why don’t people exclaim to their God, ‘We have sinned, but we will stop,’
32
or ‘We know not what evil we have done; only tell us, and we will cease at once’?
33
“Must God tailor his justice to your demands? Must he change the order of the universe to suit your whims? The answer must be obvious even to you!
34-35
Anyone even half bright will agree with me that you, Job, are speaking like a fool.
36
You should be given the maximum penalty for the wicked way you have talked about God.
37
For now you have added rebellion, arrogance, and blasphemy to your other sins.”
35:
1
Elihu continued:
2-3
“Do you think it is right for you to claim, ‘I haven’t sinned, but I’m no better off before God than if I had’?
4
“I will answer you and all your friends too.
5
Look up there into the sky, high above you.
6
If you sin, does that shake the heavens and knock God from his throne? Even if you sin again and again, what effect will it have upon him?
7
Or if you are good, is this some great gift to him?
8
Your sins may hurt another man, or your good deeds may profit him.
9-10
The oppressed may shriek beneath their wrongs and groan beneath the power of the rich; yet none of them cry to God, asking, ‘Where is God my Maker who gives songs in the night
11
and makes us a little wiser than the animals and birds?’
12
“But when anyone does cry out this question to him, he never replies by instant punishment of the tyrants.
*
13
But it is false to say he doesn’t hear those cries;
14-15
and it is even more false to say that he doesn’t see what is going on. He
does
bring about justice at last if you will only wait. But do you cry out against him because he does not instantly respond in anger?
16
Job, you have spoken like a fool.”
36:
1
Elihu continued:
2
“Let me go on and I will show you the truth of what I am saying. For I have not finished defending God!
3
I will give you many illustrations of the righteousness of my Maker.
4
I am telling you the honest truth, for I am a man of well-rounded knowledge.
5
“God is almighty and yet does not despise anyone! And he is perfect in his understanding.
6
He does not reward the wicked with his blessings, but gives them their full share of punishment.
7
He does not ignore the good men but honors them by placing them upon eternal, kingly thrones.
8
If troubles come upon them and they are enslaved and afflicted,
9
then he takes the trouble to point out to them the reason, what they have done that is wrong, or how they have behaved proudly.
10
He helps them hear his instruction to turn away from their sin.
11
“If they listen and obey him, then they will be blessed with prosperity throughout their lives.
12
If they won’t listen to him, they shall perish in battle and die because of their lack of good sense.
13
But the godless reap his anger. They do not even return to him when he punishes them.
14
They die young after lives of dissipation and depravity.
15
He delivers by distress! This makes them listen to him!
16
“How he wanted to lure you away from danger into a wide and pleasant valley and to prosper you there.
17
But you are too preoccupied with your imagined grievances against others.
18
Watch out! Don’t let your anger at others lead you into scoffing at God! Don’t let your suffering embitter you at the only one who can deliver you.
19
Do you really think that if you shout loudly enough against God, he will be ashamed and repent? Will this put an end to your chastisement?
20
“Do not desire the nighttime, with its opportunities for crime.
21
Turn back from evil, for it was to prevent you from getting into a life of evil that God sent this suffering.
22
“Look, God is all-powerful. Who is a teacher like him?
23
Who can say that what he does is absurd or evil?
24
Instead, glorify him for his mighty works for which he is so famous.
25
Everyone has seen these things from a distance.
26
“God is so great that we cannot begin to know him. No one can begin to understand eternity.
27
He draws up the water vapor and then distills it into rain,
28
which the skies pour down.
29
Can anyone really understand the spreading of the clouds and the thunders within?
30
See how he spreads the lightning around him, and blankets the tops of the mountains.
31
By his fantastic powers in nature he punishes or blesses the people, giving them food in abundance.
32
He fills his hands with lightning bolts. He hurls each at its target.
33
We feel his presence in the thunder. Even the cattle know when a storm is coming.”
It is God himself, in his mercy, who has given us this wonderful work of telling his Good News to others,
*
and so we never give up.
2
We do not try to trick people into believing—we are not interested in fooling anyone. We never try to get anyone to believe that the Bible teaches what it doesn’t. All such shameful methods we forego. We stand in the presence of God as we speak and so we tell the truth, as all who know us will agree.
3
If the Good News we preach is hidden to anyone, it is hidden from the one who is on the road to eternal death.
4
Satan, who is the god of this evil world, has made him blind, unable to see the glorious light of the Gospel that is shining upon him or to understand the amazing message we preach about the glory of Christ, who is God.
*
5
We don’t go around preaching about ourselves but about Christ Jesus as Lord. All we say of ourselves is that we are your slaves because of what Jesus has done for us.
6
For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made us understand that it is the brightness of his glory that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ.
7
But this precious treasure—this light and power that now shine within us
*
—is held in a perishable container, that is, in our weak bodies. Everyone can see that the glorious power within must be from God and is not our own.
8
We are pressed on every side by troubles, but not crushed and broken. We are perplexed because we don’t know why things happen as they do, but we don’t give up and quit.
9
We are hunted down, but God never abandons us. We get knocked down, but we get up again and keep going.
10
These bodies of ours are constantly facing death just as Jesus did; so it is clear to all that it is only the living Christ within who keeps us safe.
*
11
Yes, we live under constant danger to our lives because we serve the Lord, but this gives us constant opportunities to show forth the power of Jesus Christ within our dying bodies.
12
Because of our preaching we face death, but it has resulted in eternal life for you.
O God, we have heard of the glorious miracles you did in the days of long ago. Our forefathers have told us how you drove the heathen nations from this land and gave it all to us, spreading Israel from one end of the country to the other.
3
They did not conquer by their own strength and skill, but by your mighty power and because you smiled upon them and favored them.
4
You are my King and my God. Decree victories for your people.
5
For it is only by your power and through your name that we tread down our enemies;
6
I do not trust my weapons. They could never save me.
7
Only you can give us the victory over those who hate us.
Throw out the mocker, and you will be rid of tension, fighting, and quarrels.
11
He who values grace and truth is the king’s friend.
12
The Lord preserves the upright but ruins the plans
*
of the wicked.
August 31“My heart trembles at this.
2
Listen, listen to the thunder of his voice.
3
It rolls across the heavens and his lightning flashes out in every direction.
4
Afterwards comes the roaring of the thunder—the tremendous voice of his majesty.
5
His voice is glorious in the thunder. We cannot comprehend the greatness of his power.
6
For he directs the snow, the showers, and storm to fall upon the earth.
7
Man’s work stops at such a time so that all men everywhere may recognize his power.
8
The wild animals hide in the rocks or in their dens.
9
“From the south comes the rain; from the north, the cold.
10
God blows upon the rivers, and even the widest torrents freeze.
11
He loads the clouds with moisture, and they send forth his lightning.
12
The lightning bolts are directed by his hand and do whatever he commands throughout the earth.
13
He sends the storms
*
as punishment or, in his loving-kindness, to encourage.
14
“Listen, O Job, stop and consider the wonderful miracles of God.
15
Do you know how God controls all nature and causes the lightning to flash forth from the clouds?
16-17
Do you understand the balancing of the clouds with wonderful perfection and skill? Do you know why you become warm when the south wind is blowing and everything is still?
18
Can you spread out the gigantic mirror of the skies as he does?
19-20
“You who think you know so much,
*
teach the rest of us how we should approach God. For we are too dull to know! With your wisdom, would we then dare to approach him? Well, does a man wish to be swallowed alive?
21
For as we cannot look at the sun for its brightness when the winds have cleared away the clouds,
22
neither can we gaze at the terrible majesty of God breaking forth upon us from heaven, clothed in dazzling splendor.
23
We cannot imagine the power of the Almighty, and yet he is so just and merciful that he does not destroy us.
24
No wonder men everywhere fear him! For he is not impressed by the world’s wisest men!”
38:
1
Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind:
2
“Why are you using your ignorance to deny my providence?
3
Now get ready to fight, for I am going to demand some answers from you, and you must reply.
4
“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much.
5
Do you know how its dimensions were determined, and who did the surveying?
6-7
What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?
8-9
“Who decreed the boundaries of the seas when they gushed from the depths? Who clothed them with clouds and thick darkness
10
and barred them by limiting their shores,
11
and said, ‘Thus far and no farther shall you come, and here shall your proud waves stop’?
12
“Have you ever once commanded the morning to appear and caused the dawn to rise in the east?
13
Have you ever told the daylight to spread to the ends of the earth, to end the night’s wickedness?
14
Have you ever robed the dawn in red,
15
and disturbed the haunts of wicked men, and stopped the arm raised to strike?
16
“Have you explored the springs from which the seas come, or walked in the sources of their depths?
17-18
Has the location of the gates of death been revealed to you? Do you realize the extent of the earth? Tell me about it if you know!
19
Where does the light come from, and how do you get there? Or tell me about the darkness. Where does it come from?
20
Can you find its boundaries, or go to its source?
21
But of course you know all this! For you were born before it was all created, and you are so very experienced!
22-23
“Have you visited the treasuries of the snow, or seen where hail is made and stored? For I have reserved it for the time when I will need it in war.
24
Where is the path to the distribution point of light? Where is the home of the east wind?
25-27
Who dug the valleys for the torrents of rain? Who laid out the path for the lightning, causing the rain to fall upon the barren deserts, so that the parched and barren ground is satisfied with water and tender grass springs up?
28
“Has the rain a father? Where does dew come from?
29
Who is the mother of the ice and frost?
30
For the water changes and turns to ice as hard as rock.
31
“Can you hold back the stars? Can you restrain Orion or Pleiades?
32
Can you ensure the proper sequence of the seasons, or guide the constellation of the Bear with her satellites across the heavens?
33
Do you know the laws of the universe and how the heavens influence the earth?
34
Can you shout to the clouds and make it rain?
35
Can you make lightning appear and cause it to strike as you direct it?
36
“Who gives intuition and instinct?
*
37-38
Who is wise enough to number all the clouds? Who can tilt the water jars of heaven, when everything is dust and clods?
39-40
Can you stalk prey like a lioness, to satisfy the young lions’ appetites as they lie in their dens or lie in wait in the jungle?
41
Who provides for the ravens when their young cry out to God as they try to struggle up from their nest in hunger?
39:
1
“Do you know how mountain goats give birth? Have you ever seen them giving birth to their young?
2-3
Do you know how many months of pregnancy they have before they bow themselves to give birth to their young and carry their burden no longer?
4
Their young grow up in the open field, then leave their parents and return to them no more.
5
“Who makes the wild donkeys wild?
6
I have placed them in the wilderness and given them salt plains to live in.
7
For they hate the noise of the city and want no drivers shouting at them!
8
The mountain ranges are their pastureland; there they search for every blade of grass.
9
“Will the wild ox be your happy servant? Will he stay beside your feeding crib?
10
Can you use a wild ox to plow with? Will he pull the harrow for you?
11
Because he is so strong, will you trust him? Will you let him decide where to work?
12
Can you send him out to bring in the grain from the threshing floor?
13
“The ostrich flaps her wings grandly but has no true motherly love.
14
She lays her eggs on top of the earth, to warm them in the dust.
15
She forgets that someone may step on them and crush them, or the wild animals destroy them.
16
She ignores her young as though they weren’t her own and is unconcerned though they die,
17
for God has deprived her of wisdom.
18
But whenever she jumps up to run, she passes the swiftest horse with its rider.
19
“Have you given the horse strength or clothed his neck with a quivering mane?
20
Have you made him able to leap forward like a locust? His majestic snorting is something to hear!
21-23
He paws the earth and rejoices in his strength, and when he goes to war, he is unafraid and does not run away though the arrows rattle against him, or the flashing spear and javelin.
24
Fiercely he paws the ground and rushes forward into battle when the trumpet blows.
25
At the sound of the bugle he shouts, ‘Aha!’ He smells the battle when far away. He rejoices at the shouts of battle and the roar of the captain’s commands.
26
“Do you know how a hawk soars and spreads her wings to the south?
27
Is it at your command that the eagle rises high upon the cliffs to make her nest?
28
She lives upon the cliffs, making her home in her mountain fortress.
29
From there she spies her prey, from a very great distance.
30
Her nestlings gulp down blood, for she goes wherever the slain are.”
We boldly say what we believe, trusting God to care for us,
*
just as the psalm writer did when he said, “I believe and therefore I speak.”
14
We know that the same God who brought the Lord Jesus back from death will also bring us back to life again with Jesus and present us to him along with you.
15
These sufferings of ours are for your benefit. And the more of you who are won to Christ, the more there are to thank him for his great kindness, and the more the Lord is glorified.
16
That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our inner strength in the Lord is growing every day.
17
These troubles and sufferings of ours are, after all, quite small and won’t last very long. Yet this short time of distress will result in God’s richest blessing upon us forever and ever!
18
So we do not look at what we can see right now, the troubles all around us, but we look forward to the joys in heaven which we have not yet seen. The troubles will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever.
5:
1
For we know that when this tent we live in now is taken down—when we die and leave these bodies—we will have wonderful new bodies in heaven, homes that will be ours forevermore, made for us by God himself and not by human hands.
2
How weary we grow of our present bodies. That is why we look forward eagerly to the day when we shall have heavenly bodies that we shall put on like new clothes.
3
For we shall not be merely spirits without bodies.
4
These earthly bodies make us groan and sigh, but we wouldn’t like to think of dying and having no bodies at all. We want to slip into our new bodies so that these dying bodies will, as it were, be swallowed up by everlasting life.
5
This is what God has prepared for us, and as a guarantee he has given us his Holy Spirit.
6
Now we look forward with confidence to our heavenly bodies, realizing that every moment we spend in these earthly bodies is time spent away from our eternal home in heaven with Jesus.
7
We know these things are true by believing, not by seeing.
8
And we are not afraid but are quite content to die, for then we will be at home with the Lord.
9
So our aim is to please him always in everything we do, whether we are here in this body or away from this body and with him in heaven.
10
For we must all stand before Christ to be judged and have our lives laid bare—before him. Each of us will receive whatever he deserves for the good or bad things he has done in his earthly body.
My constant boast is God. I can never thank you enough!
9
And yet for a time, O Lord, you have tossed us aside in dishonor and have not helped us in our battles.
10
You have actually fought against us and defeated us before our foes. Our enemies have invaded our land and pillaged the countryside.
11
You have treated us like sheep in a slaughter pen and scattered us among the nations.
12
You sold us for a pittance. You valued us at nothing at all.
13
The neighboring nations mock and laugh at us because of all the evil you have sent.
14
You have made the word
Jew
a byword of contempt and shame among the nations, disliked by all.
15-16
I am constantly despised, mocked, taunted, and cursed by my vengeful enemies.
17
And all this has happened, Lord, despite our loyalty to you. We have not violated your covenant.
18
Our hearts have not deserted you! We have not left your path by a single step.
19
If we had, we could understand your punishing us in the barren wilderness and sending us into darkness and death.
20
If we had turned away from worshiping our God and were worshiping idols,
21
would God not know it? Yes, he knows the secrets of every heart.
22
But that is not our case. For we are facing death threats constantly because of serving you! We are like sheep awaiting slaughter.
23
Waken! Rouse yourself! Don’t sleep, O Lord! Are we cast off forever?
24
Why do you look the other way? Why do you ignore our sorrows and oppression?
25
We lie face downward in the dust.
26
Rise up, O Lord, and come and help us. Save us by your constant love.