Job Bewails His Present Affliction

301 But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, Whose fathers I disdained to set with the dogs of my flock. 2 Yea, the strength of their hands, whereto should it profit me? Men in whom ripe age is perished. 3 They are gaunt with want and famine; They gnaw the dry ground, in the gloom of wasteness and desolation. 4 They pluck salt-wort by the bushes; And the roots of the broom are their food. 5 They are driven forth from the midst [of men]; They cry after them as after a thief; 6 So that they dwell in frightful valleys, In holes of the earth and of the rocks. 7 Among the bushes they bray; Under the nettles they are gathered together. 8 [They are] children of fools, yea, children of base men; They were scourged out of the land. 9 And now I am become their song, Yea, I am a byword unto them. 10 They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, And spare not to spit in my face. 11 For he hath loosed his cord, and afflicted me; And they have cast off the bridle before me. 12 Upon my right hand rise the rabble; They thrust aside my feet, And they cast up against me their ways of destruction. 13 They mar my path, They set forward my calamity, [Even] men that have no helper. 14 As through a wide breach they come: In the midst of the ruin they roll themselves [upon me].

15 Terrors are turned upon me; They chase mine honor as the wind; And my welfare is passed away as a cloud. 16 And now my soul is poured out within me; Days of affliction have taken hold upon me. 17 In the night season my bones are pierced in me, And the [pains] that gnaw me take no rest. 18 By [God's] great force is my garment disfigured; It bindeth me about as the collar of my coat. 19 He hath cast me into the mire, And I am become like dust and ashes. 20 I cry unto thee, and thou dost not answer me: I stand up, and thou gazest at me. 21 Thou art turned to be cruel to me; With the might of thy hand thou persecutest me. 22 Thou liftest me up to the wind, thou causest me to ride [upon it]; And thou dissolvest me in the storm. 23 For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, And to the house appointed for all living. 24 Howbeit doth not one stretch out the hand in his fall? Or in his calamity therefore cry for help? 25 Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? Was not my soul grieved for the needy? 26 When I looked for good, then evil came; And when I waited for light, there came darkness. 27 My heart is troubled, and resteth not; Days of affliction are come upon me. 28 I go mourning without the sun: I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help. 29 I am a brother to jackals, And a companion to ostriches. 30 My skin is black, [and falleth] from me, And my bones are burned with heat. 31 Therefore is my harp [turned] to mourning, And my pipe into the voice of them that weep.

Job Asserts His Integrity

311 I made a covenant with mine eyes; How then should I look upon a virgin? 2 For what is the portion from God above, And the heritage from the Almighty on high? 3 Is it not calamity to the unrighteous, And disaster to the workers of iniquity? 4 Doth not he see my ways, And number all my steps? 5 If I have walked with falsehood, And my foot hath hasted to deceit 6 (Let me be weighed in an even balance, That God may know mine integrity); 7 If my step hath turned out of the way, And my heart walked after mine eyes, And if any spot hath cleaved to my hands: 8 Then let me sow, and let another eat; Yea, let the produce of my field be rooted out.

9 If my heart hath been enticed unto a woman, And I have laid wait at my neighbor's door; 10 Then let my wife grind unto another, And let others bow down upon her. 11 For that were a heinous crime; Yea, it were an iniquity to be punished by the judges: 12 For it is a fire that consumeth unto Destruction, And would root out all mine increase. 13 If I have despised the cause of my man-servant or of my maid-servant, When they contended with me; 14 What then shall I do when God riseth up? And when he visiteth, what shall I answer him? 15 Did not he that made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb?

16 If I have withheld the poor from [their] desire, Or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail, 17 Or have eaten my morsel alone, And the fatherless hath not eaten thereof 18 (Nay, from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, And her have I guided from my mother's womb); 19 If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, Or that the needy had no covering; 20 If his loins have not blessed me, And if he hath not been warmed with the fleece of my sheep; 21 If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, Because I saw my help in the gate: 22 Then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder-blade, And mine arm be broken from the bone. 23 For calamity from God is a terror to me, And by reason of his majesty I can do nothing.

24 If I have made gold my hope, And have said to the fine gold, [Thou art] my confidence; 25 If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, And because my hand had gotten much; 26 If I have beheld the sun when it shined, Or the moon walking in brightness, 27 And my heart hath been secretly enticed, And my mouth hath kissed my hand: 28 This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judges; For I should have denied the God that is above. 29 If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, Or lifted up myself when evil found him; 30 (Yea, I have not suffered by mouth to sin By asking his life with a curse); 31 If the men of my tent have not said, Who can find one that hath not been filled with his meat? 32 (The sojourner hath not lodged in the street; But I have opened my doors to the traveller);

33 If like Adam I have covered my transgressions, By hiding mine iniquity in my bosom, 34 Because I feared the great multitude, And the contempt of families terrified me, So that I kept silence, and went not out of the door— 35 Oh that I had one to hear me! (Lo, here is my signature, let the Almighty answer me); And [that I had] the indictment which mine adversary hath written! 36 Surely I would carry it upon my shoulder; I would bind it unto me as a crown: 37 I would declare unto him the number of my steps; As a prince would I go near unto him. 38 If my land crieth out against me, And the furrows thereof weep together; 39 If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, Or have caused the owners thereof to lose their life: 40 Let thistles grow instead of wheat, And cockle instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.

26 Brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and those among you that fear God, to us is the word of this salvation sent forth. 27 For they that dwell in Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew him not, nor the voices of the prophets which are read every sabbath, fulfilled [them] by condemning [him]. 28 And though they found no cause of death [in him], yet asked they of Pilate that he should be slain. 29 And when they had fulfilled all things that were written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a tomb. 30 But God raised him from the dead: 31 and he was seen for many days of them that came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses unto the people. 32 And we bring you good tidings of the promise made unto the fathers, 33 that God hath fulfilled the same unto our children, in that he raised up Jesus; as also it is written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. 34 And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he hath spoken on this wise, I will give you the holy and sure [blessings] of David. 35 Because he saith also in another [psalm], Thou wilt not give Thy Holy One to see corruption. 36 For David, after he had in his own generation served the counsel of God, fell asleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption: 37 but he whom God raised up saw no corruption. 38 Be it known unto you therefore, brethren, that through this man is proclaimed unto you remission of sins: 39 and by him every one that believeth is justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. 40 Beware therefore, lest that come upon [you] which is spoken in the prophets: 41 Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish; For I work a work in your days, A work which ye shall in no wise believe, if one declare it unto you.

42 And as they went out, they besought that these words might be spoken to them the next sabbath. 43 Now when the synagogue broke up, many of the Jews and of the devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas; who, speaking to them, urged them to continue in the grace of God. 44 And the next sabbath almost the whole city was gathered together to hear the word of God. 45 But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with jealousy, and contradicted the things which were spoken by Paul, and blasphemed. 46 And Paul and Barnabas spake out boldly, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first be spoken to you. Seeing ye thrust it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. 47 For so hath the Lord commanded us, [saying], I have set thee for a light of the Gentiles, That thou shouldest be for salvation unto the uttermost part of the earth. 48 And as the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of God: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. 49 And the word of the Lord was spread abroad throughout all the region. 50 But the Jews urged on the devout women of honorable estate, and the chief men of the city, and stirred up a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and cast them out of their borders. 51 But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came unto Iconium. 52 And the disciples were filled with joy with the Holy Spirit.

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.