171 My spirit hath been destroyed, My days extinguished—graves 'are' for me. 2 If not—mockeries 'are' with me. And in their provocations mine eye lodgeth. 3 Place, I pray Thee, my pledge with Thee; Who is he that striketh hand with me? 4 For their heart Thou hast hidden From understanding, Therefore Thou dost not exalt them. 5 For a portion he sheweth friendship, And the eyes of his sons are consumed. 6 And he set me up for a proverb of the peoples, And a wonder before them I am. 7 And dim from sorrow is mine eye, And my members as a shadow all of them. 8 Astonished are the upright at this, And the innocent against the profane Stirreth himself up. 9 And the righteous layeth hold 'on' his way, And the clean of hands addeth strength, And—dumb are they all.
10 Return, and come in, I pray you, And I find not among you a wise man. 11 My days have passed by, My devices have been broken off, The possessions of my heart! 12 Night for day they appoint, Light 'is' near because of darkness. 13 If I wait—Sheol 'is' my house, In darkness I have spread out my couch. 14 To corruption I have called:—'Thou 'art' my father.' 'My mother' and 'my sister'—to the worm. 15 And where 'is' now my hope? Yea, my hope, who doth behold it? 16 'To' the parts of Sheol ye go down, If together on the dust we may rest.
181 And Bildad the Shuhite answereth and saith:— 2 When do ye set an end to words? Consider ye, and afterwards do we speak. 3 Wherefore have we been reckoned as cattle? We have been defiled in your eyes! 4 (He is tearing himself in his anger.) For thy sake is earth forsaken? And removed is a rock from its place?
5 Also, the light of the wicked is extinguished. And there doth not shine a spark of his fire. 6 The light hath been dark in his tent, And his lamp over him is extinguished. 7 Straitened are the steps of his strength, And cast him down doth his own counsel. 8 For he is sent into a net by his own feet, And on a snare he doth walk habitually. 9 Seize on the heel doth a gin, Prevail over him do the designing. 10 Hidden in the earth is his cord, And his trap on the path.
11 Round about terrified him have terrors, And they have scattered him—at his feet. 12 Hungry is his sorrow, And calamity is ready at his side. 13 It consumeth the parts of his skin, Consume his parts doth death's first-born. 14 Drawn from his tent is his confidence, And it causeth him to step to the king of terrors. 15 It dwelleth in his tent—out of his provender, Scattered over his habitation is sulphur. 16 From beneath his roots are dried up, And from above cut off is his crop. 17 His memorial hath perished from the land, And he hath no name on the street. 18 They thrust him from light unto darkness, And from the habitable earth cast him out. 19 He hath no continuator, Nor successor among his people, And none is remaining in his dwellings. 20 At this day westerns have been astonished And easterns have taken fright. 21 Only these 'are' tabernacles of the perverse, And this the place God hath not known.
191 And Job answereth and saith:— 2 Till when do ye afflict my soul, And bruise me with words? 3 These ten times ye put me to shame, ye blush not. Ye make yourselves strange to me— 4 And also—truly, I have erred, With me doth my error remain. 5 If, truly, over me ye magnify yourselves, And decide against me my reproach; 6 Know now, that God turned me upside down, And His net against me hath set round, 7 Lo, I cry out—violence, and am not answered, I cry aloud, and there is no judgment.
8 My way He hedged up, and I pass not over, And on my paths darkness He placeth. 9 Mine honour from off me He hath stripped, And He turneth the crown from my head. 10 He breaketh me down round about, and I go, And removeth like a tree my hope. 11 And He kindleth against me His anger, And reckoneth me to Him as His adversaries. 12 Come in do His troops together, And they raise up against me their way, And encamp round about my tent. 13 My brethren from me He hath put far off, And mine acquaintances surely Have been estranged from me. 14 Ceased have my neighbours And my familiar friends have forgotten me, 15 Sojourners of my house and my maids, For a stranger reckon me: An alien I have been in their eyes. 16 To my servant I have called, And he doth not answer, With my mouth I make supplication to him. 17 My spirit is strange to my wife, And my favours to the sons of my 'mother's' womb. 18 Also sucklings have despised me, I rise, and they speak against me. 19 Abominate me do all the men of my counsel, And those I have loved, Have been turned against me. 20 To my skin and to my flesh Cleaved hath my bone, And I deliver myself with the skin of my teeth. 21 Pity me, pity me, ye my friends, For the hand of God hath stricken against me. 22 Why do you pursue me as God? And with my flesh are not satisfied?
23 Who doth grant now, That my words may be written? Who doth grant that in a book they may be graven? 24 With a pen of iron and lead—For ever in a rock they may be hewn. 25 That—I have known my Redeemer, The Living and the Last, For the dust he doth rise. 26 And after my skin hath compassed this 'body', Then from my flesh I see God: 27 Whom I—I see on my side, And mine eyes have beheld, and not a stranger, Consumed have been my reins in my bosom. 28 But ye say, 'Why do we pursue after him?' And the root of the matter hath been found in me. 29 Be ye afraid because of the sword, For furious 'are' the punishments of the sword, That ye may know that 'there is' a judgment.
101 And there was a certain man in Cesarea, by name Cornelius, a centurion from a band called Italian, 2 pious, and fearing God with all his house, doing also many kind acts to the people, and beseeching God always, 3 he saw in a vision manifestly, as it were the ninth hour of the day, a messenger of God coming in unto him, and saying to him, 'Cornelius;' 4 and he having looked earnestly on him, and becoming afraid, said, 'What is it, Lord?' And he said to him, 'Thy prayers and thy kind acts came up for a memorial before God, 5 and now send men to Joppa, and send for a certain one Simon, who is surnamed Peter, 6 this one doth lodge with a certain Simon a tanner, whose house is by the sea; this one shall speak to thee what it behoveth thee to do.' 7 And when the messenger who is speaking to Cornelius went away, having called two of his domestics, and a pious soldier of those waiting on him continually, 8 and having declared to them all things, he sent them to Joppa.
9 And on the morrow, as these are proceeding on the way, and are drawing nigh to the city, Peter went up upon the house-top to pray, about the sixth hour, 10 and he became very hungry, and wished to eat; and they making ready, there fell upon him a trance, 11 and he doth behold the heaven opened, and descending unto him a certain vessel, as a great sheet, bound at the four corners, and let down upon the earth, 12 in which were all the four-footed beasts of the earth, and the wild beasts, and the creeping things, and the fowls of the heaven, 13 and there came a voice unto him: 'Having risen, Peter, slay and eat.' 14 And Peter said, 'Not so, Lord; because at no time did I eat anything common or unclean;' 15 and 'there is' a voice again a second time unto him: 'What God did cleanse, thou, declare not thou common;' 16 and this was done thrice, and again was the vessel received up to the heaven. 17 And as Peter was perplexed in himself what the vision that he saw might be, then, lo, the men who have been sent from Cornelius, having made inquiry for the house of Simon, stood at the gate, 18 and having called, they were asking if Simon, who is surnamed Peter, doth lodge here?
19 And Peter thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, 'Lo, three men do seek thee; 20 but having risen, go down and go on with them, nothing doubting, because I have sent them;' 21 and Peter having come down unto the men who have been sent from Cornelius unto him, said, 'Lo, I am he whom ye seek, what 'is' the cause for which ye are present?' 22 And they said, 'Cornelius, a centurion, a man righteous and fearing God, well testified to, also, by all the nation of the Jews, was divinely warned by a holy messenger to send for thee, to his house, and to hear sayings from thee.' 23 Having called them in, therefore, he lodged them, and on the morrow Peter went forth with them, and certain of the brethren from Joppa went with him,
(Read Acts 10:1-8)
Hitherto none had been baptized into the Christian church but Jews, Samaritans, and those converts who had been circumcised and observed the ceremonial law; but now the Gentiles were to be called to partake all the privileges of God's people, without first becoming Jews. Pure and undefiled religion is sometimes found where we least expect it. Wherever the fear of God rules in the heart, it will appear both in works of charity and of piety, neither will excuse from the other. Doubtless Cornelius had true faith in God's word, as far as he understood it, though not as yet clear faith in Christ. This was the work of the Spirit of God, through the mediation of Jesus, even before Cornelius knew him, as is the case with us all when we, who before were dead in sin, are made alive. Through Christ also his prayers and alms were accepted, which otherwise would have been rejected. Without dispute or delay Cornelius was obedient to the heavenly vision. In the affairs of our souls, let us not lose time.
(Read Acts 10:9-18)
The prejudices of Peter against the Gentiles, would have prevented his going to Cornelius, unless the Lord had prepared him for this service. To tell a Jew that God had directed those animals to be reckoned clean which were hitherto deemed unclean, was in effect saying, that the law of Moses was done away. Peter was soon made to know the meaning of it. God knows what services are before us, and how to prepare us; and we know the meaning of what he has taught us, when we find what occasion we have to make use of it.
(Read Acts 10:19-33)
When we see our call clear to any service, we should not be perplexed with doubts and scruples arising from prejudices or former ideas. Cornelius had called together his friends, to partake with him of the heavenly wisdom he expected from Peter. We should not covet to eat our spiritual morsels alone. It ought to be both given and taken as kindness and respect to our kindred and friends, to invite them to join us in religious exercises. Cornelius declared the direction God gave him to send for Peter. We are right in our aims in attending a gospel ministry, when we do it with regard to the Divine appointment requiring us to make use of that ordinance. How seldom ministers are called to speak to such companies, however small, in which it may be said that they are all present in the sight of God, to hear all things that are commanded of God! But these were ready to hear what Peter was commanded of God to say.
