Job Bewails His Present Affliction

301 "But no longer. Now I'm the butt of their jokes - young ruffians! whippersnappers! 2 Why, I considered their fathers mere inexperienced pups. But they are worse than dogs - good for nothing, stray, mangy animals, 3 Half-starved, scavenging the back alleys, howling at the moon; 4 Homeless guttersnipes chewing on old bones and licking old tin cans; 5 Outcasts from the community, cursed as dangerous delinquents. 6 Nobody would put up with them; they were driven from the neighborhood. 7 You could hear them out there at the edge of town, yelping and barking, huddled in junkyards, 8 A gang of beggars and no-names, thrown out on their ears. 9 "But now I'm the one they're after, mistreating me, taunting and mocking. 10 They abhor me, they abuse me. How dare those scoundrels - they spit in my face! 11 Now that God has undone me and left me in a heap, they hold nothing back. Anything goes. 12 They come at me from my blind side, trip me up, then jump on me while I'm down. 13 They throw every kind of obstacle in my path, determined to ruin me - and no one lifts a finger to help me! 14 They violate my broken body, trample through the rubble of my ruined life.

15 Terrors assault me - my dignity in shreds, salvation up in smoke. 16 "And now my life drains out, as suffering seizes and grips me hard. 17 Night gnaws at my bones; the pain never lets up. 18 I am tied hand and foot, my neck in a noose. I twist and turn. 19 Thrown facedown in the muck, I'm a muddy mess, inside and out. What Did I Do to Deserve This? 20 "I shout for help, God, and get nothing, no answer! I stand to face you in protest, and you give me a blank stare! 21 You've turned into my tormenter - you slap me around, knock me about. 22 You raised me up so I was riding high and then dropped me, and I crashed. 23 I know you're determined to kill me, to put me six feet under. 24 "What did I do to deserve this? Did I ever hit anyone who was calling for help? 25 Haven't I wept for those who live a hard life, been heartsick over the lot of the poor? 26 But where did it get me? I expected good but evil showed up. I looked for light but darkness fell. 27 My stomach's in a constant churning, never settles down. Each day confronts me with more suffering. 28 I walk under a black cloud. The sun is gone. I stand in the congregation and protest. 29 I howl with the jackals, I hoot with the owls. 30 I'm black and blue all over, burning up with fever. 31 My fiddle plays nothing but the blues; my mouth harp wails laments.

Job Asserts His Integrity

311 "I made a solemn pact with myself never to undress a girl with my eyes. 2 So what can I expect from God? What do I deserve from God Almighty above? 3 Isn't calamity reserved for the wicked? Isn't disaster supposed to strike those who do wrong? 4 Isn't God looking, observing how I live? Doesn't he mark every step I take? 5 "Have I walked hand in hand with falsehood, or hung out in the company of deceit? 6 Weigh me on a set of honest scales so God has proof of my integrity. 7 If I've strayed off the straight and narrow, wanted things I had no right to, messed around with sin, 8 Go ahead, then - give my portion to someone who deserves it.

9 "If I've let myself be seduced by a woman and conspired to go to bed with her, 10 Fine, my wife has every right to go ahead and sleep with anyone she wants to. 11 For disgusting behavior like that, I'd deserve the worst punishment you could hand out. 12 Adultery is a fire that burns the house down; I wouldn't expect anything I count dear to survive it. 13 "Have I ever been unfair to my employees when they brought a complaint to me? 14 What, then, will I do when God confronts me? When God examines my books, what can I say? 15 Didn't the same God who made me, make them? Aren't we all made of the same stuff, equals before God?

16 "Have I ignored the needs of the poor, turned my back on the indigent, 17 Taken care of my own needs and fed my own face while they languished? 18 Wasn't my home always open to them? Weren't they always welcome at my table? 19 "Have I ever left a poor family shivering in the cold when they had no warm clothes? 20 Didn't the poor bless me when they saw me coming, knowing I'd brought coats from my closet? 21 "If I've ever used my strength and influence to take advantage of the unfortunate, 22 Go ahead, break both my arms, cut off all my fingers! 23 The fear of God has kept me from these things - how else could I ever face him? If Only Someone Would Give Me a Hearing!

24 "Did I set my heart on making big money or worship at the bank? 25 Did I boast about my wealth, show off because I was well-off? 26 Was I ever so awed by the sun's brilliance and moved by the moon's beauty 27 That I let myself become seduced by them and worshiped them on the sly? 28 If so, I would deserve the worst of punishments, for I would be betraying God himself. 29 "Did I ever crow over my enemy's ruin? Or gloat over my rival's bad luck? 30 No, I never said a word of detraction, never cursed them, even under my breath. 31 "Didn't those who worked for me say, 'He fed us well. There were always second helpings'? 32 And no stranger ever had to spend a night in the street; my doors were always open to travelers.

33 Did I hide my sin the way Adam did, or conceal my guilt behind closed doors 34 Because I was afraid what people would say, fearing the gossip of the neighbors so much That I turned myself into a recluse? You know good and well that I didn't. 35 "Oh, if only someone would give me a hearing! I've signed my name to my defense - let the Almighty One answer! I want to see my indictment in writing. 36 Anyone's welcome to read my defense; I'll write it on a poster and carry it around town. 37 I'm prepared to account for every move I've ever made - to anyone and everyone, prince or pauper. 38 "If the very ground that I farm accuses me, if even the furrows fill with tears from my abuse, 39 If I've ever raped the earth for my own profit or dispossessed its rightful owners, 40 Then curse it with thistles instead of wheat, curse it with weeds instead of barley." The words of Job to his three friends were finished. Elihu Speaks

26 "Dear brothers and sisters, children of Abraham, and friends of God, this message of salvation has been precisely targeted to you. 27 The citizens and rulers in Jerusalem didn't recognize who he was and condemned him to death. 28 They couldn't find a good reason, but demanded that Pilate execute him anyway. 29 They did just what the prophets said they would do, but had no idea they were following to the letter the script of the prophets, even though those same prophets are read every Sabbath in their meeting places. 30 And then God raised him from death. 31 There is no disputing that - he appeared over and over again many times and places to those who had known him well in the Galilean years, and these same people continue to give witness that he is alive. 32 "And we're here today bringing you good news: the Message that what God promised the fathers 33 has come true for the children - for us! He raised Jesus, exactly as described in the second Psalm: My Son! My very own Son! Today I celebrate you! 34 "When he raised him from the dead, he did it for good - no going back to that rot and decay for him. That's why Isaiah said, 'I'll give to all of you David's guaranteed blessings.' 35 So also the psalmist's prayer: 'You'll never let your Holy One see death's rot and decay.' 36 "David, of course, having completed the work God set out for him, has been in the grave, dust and ashes, a long time now. 37 But the One God raised up - no dust and ashes for him! 38 I want you to know, my very dear friends, that it is on account of this resurrected Jesus that the forgiveness of your sins can be promised. 39 He accomplishes, in those who believe, everything that the Law of Moses could never make good on. But everyone who believes in this raised-up Jesus is declared good and right and whole before God. 40 "Don't take this lightly. You don't want the prophet's sermon to describe you: 41 Watch out, cynics; Look hard - watch your world fall to pieces. I'm doing something right before your eyes That you won't believe, though it's staring you in the face."

42 When the service was over, Paul and Barnabas were invited back to preach again the next Sabbath. 43 As the meeting broke up, a good many Jews and converts to Judaism went along with Paul and Barnabas, who urged them in long conversations to stick with what they'd started, this living in and by God's grace. 44 When the next Sabbath came around, practically the whole city showed up to hear the Word of God. 45 Some of the Jews, seeing the crowds, went wild with jealousy and tore into Paul, contradicting everything he was saying, making an ugly scene. 46 But Paul and Barnabas didn't back down. Standing their ground they said, "It was required that God's Word be spoken first of all to you, the Jews. But seeing that you want no part of it - you've made it quite clear that you have no taste or inclination for eternal life - the door is open to all the outsiders. And we're on our way through it, 47 following orders, doing what God commanded when he said, I've set you up as light to all nations. You'll proclaim salvation to the four winds and seven seas!" 48 When the non-Jewish outsiders heard this, they could hardly believe their good fortune. All who were marked out for real life put their trust in God - they honored God's Word by receiving that life. 49 And this Message of salvation spread like wildfire all through the region. 50 Some of the Jews convinced the most respected women and leading men of the town that their precious way of life was about to be destroyed. Alarmed, they turned on Paul and Barnabas and forced them to leave. 51 Paul and Barnabas shrugged their shoulders and went on to the next town, Iconium, 52 brimming with joy and the Holy Spirit, two happy disciples.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on Acts 13:26-52

Commentary on Acts 13:14-31

(Read Acts 13:14-31)

When we come together to worship God, we must do it, not only by prayer and praise, but by the reading and hearing of the word of God. The bare reading of the Scriptures in public assemblies is not enough; they should be expounded, and the people exhorted out of them. This is helping people in doing that which is necessary to make the word profitable, to apply it to themselves. Every thing is touched upon in this sermon, which might best prevail with Jews to receive and embrace Christ as the promised Messiah. And every view, however short or faint, of the Lord's dealings with his church, reminds us of his mercy and long-suffering, and of man's ingratitude and perverseness. Paul passes from David to the Son of David, and shows that this Jesus is his promised Seed; a Saviour to do that for them, which the judges of old could not do, to save them from their sins, their worst enemies. When the apostles preached Christ as the Saviour, they were so far from concealing his death, that they always preached Christ crucified. Our complete separation from sin, is represented by our being buried with Christ. But he rose again from the dead, and saw no corruption: this was the great truth to be preached.

Commentary on Acts 13:32-37

(Read Acts 13:32-37)

The resurrection of Christ was the great proof of his being the Son of God. It was not possible he should be held by death, because he was the Son of God, and therefore had life in himself, which he could not lay down but with a design to take it again. The sure mercies of David are that everlasting life, of which the resurrection was a sure pledge; and the blessings of redemption in Christ are a certain earnest, even in this world. David was a great blessing to the age wherein he lived. We were not born for ourselves, but there are those living around us, to whom we must study to be serviceable. Yet here is the difference; Christ was to serve all generations. May we look to Him who is declared to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead, that by faith in him we may walk with God, and serve our generation according to his will; and when death comes, may we fall asleep in him, with a joyful hope of a blessed resurrection.

Commentary on Acts 13:38-41

(Read Acts 13:38-41)

Let all that hear the gospel of Christ, know these two things: 1. That through this Man, who died and rose again, is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. Your sins, though many and great, may be forgiven, and they may be so without any injury to God's honour. 2. It is by Christ only that those who believe in him, and none else, are justified from all things; from all the guilt and stain of sin, from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses. The great concern of convinced sinners is, to be justified, to be acquitted from all their guilt, and accepted as righteous in God's sight, for if any is left charged upon the sinner, he is undone. By Jesus Christ we obtain a complete justification; for by him a complete atonement was made for sin. We are justified, not only by him as our Judge but by him as the Lord our Righteousness. What the law could not do for us, in that it was weak, the gospel of Christ does. This is the most needful blessing, bringing in every other. The threatenings are warnings; what we are told will come upon impenitent sinners, is designed to awaken us to beware lest it come upon us. It ruins many, that they despise religion. Those that will not wonder and be saved, shall wonder and perish.

Commentary on Acts 13:42-52

(Read Acts 13:42-52)

The Jews opposed the doctrine the apostles preached; and when they could find no objection, they blasphemed Christ and his gospel. Commonly those who begin with contradicting, end with blaspheming. But when adversaries of Christ's cause are daring, its advocates should be the bolder. And while many judge themselves unworthy of eternal life, others, who appear less likely, desire to hear more of the glad tidings of salvation. This is according to what was foretold in the Old Testament. What light, what power, what a treasure does this gospel bring with it! How excellent are its truths, its precepts, its promises! Those came to Christ whom the Father drew, and to whom the Spirit made the gospel call effectual, Romans 8:30. As many as were disposed to eternal life, as many as had concern about their eternal state, and aimed to make sure of eternal life, believed in Christ, in whom God has treasured up that life, and who is the only Way to it; and it was the grace of God that wrought it in them. It is good to see honourable women devout; the less they have to do in the world, the more they should do for their own souls, and the souls of others: but it is sad, when, under colour of devotion to God, they try to show hatred to Christ. And the more we relish the comforts and encouragements we meet with in the power of godliness, and the fuller our hearts are of them, the better prepared we are to face difficulties in the profession of godliness.