Bildad Affirms God's Justice

8¹ Then Bildad the Shuhite replied to Job: ² "How long will you go on like this? You sound like a blustering wind. ³ Does God twist justice? Does the Almighty twist what is right? ⁴ Your children must have sinned against him, so their punishment was well deserved. ⁵ But if you pray to God and seek the favor of the Almighty, ⁶ and if you are pure and live with integrity, he will surely rise up and restore your happy home. ⁷ And though you started with little, you will end with much.

⁸ "Just ask the previous generation. Pay attention to the experience of our ancestors. ⁹ For we were born but yesterday and know nothing. Our days on earth are as fleeting as a shadow. ¹⁰ But those who came before us will teach you. They will teach you the wisdom of old. ¹¹ "Can papyrus reeds grow tall without a marsh? Can marsh grass flourish without water? ¹² While they are still flowering, not ready to be cut, they begin to wither more quickly than grass. ¹³ The same happens to all who forget God. The hopes of the godless evaporate. ¹⁴ Their confidence hangs by a thread. They are leaning on a spider's web. ¹⁵ They cling to their home for security, but it won't last. They try to hold it tight, but it will not endure. ¹⁶ The godless seem like a lush plant growing in the sunshine, its branches spreading across the garden. ¹⁷ Its roots grow down through a pile of stones; it takes hold on a bed of rocks. ¹⁸ But when it is uprooted, it's as though it never existed! ¹⁹ That's the end of its life, and others spring up from the earth to replace it.

²⁰ "But look, God will not reject a person of integrity, nor will he lend a hand to the wicked. ²¹ He will once again fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy. ²² Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the home of the wicked will be destroyed."

Job's Inability to Answer God

9¹ Then Job spoke again: ² "Yes, I know all this is true in principle. But how can a person be declared innocent in God's sight? ³ If someone wanted to take God to court, would it be possible to answer him even once in a thousand times? ⁴ For God is so wise and so mighty. Who has ever challenged him successfully? ⁵ "Without warning, he moves the mountains, overturning them in his anger. ⁶ He shakes the earth from its place, and its foundations tremble. ⁷ If he commands it, the sun won't rise and the stars won't shine. ⁸ He alone has spread out the heavens and marches on the waves of the sea. ⁹ He made all the stars-the Bear and Orion, the Pleiades and the constellations of the southern sky. ¹⁰ He does great things too marvelous to understand. He performs countless miracles. ¹¹ "Yet when he comes near, I cannot see him. When he moves by, I do not see him go. ¹² If he snatches someone in death, who can stop him? Who dares to ask, 'What are you doing?' ¹³ And God does not restrain his anger. Even the monsters of the sea are crushed beneath his feet.

¹⁴ "So who am I, that I should try to answer God or even reason with him? ¹⁵ Even if I were right, I would have no defense. I could only plead for mercy. ¹⁶ And even if I summoned him and he responded, I'm not sure he would listen to me. ¹⁷ For he attacks me with a storm and repeatedly wounds me without cause. ¹⁸ He will not let me catch my breath, but fills me instead with bitter sorrows. ¹⁹ If it's a question of strength, he's the strong one. If it's a matter of justice, who dares to summon him to court? ²⁰ Though I am innocent, my own mouth would pronounce me guilty. Though I am blameless, it would prove me wicked. ²¹ "I am innocent, but it makes no difference to me- I despise my life.

²² Innocent or wicked, it is all the same to God. That's why I say, 'He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.' ²³ When a plague sweeps through, he laughs at the death of the innocent. ²⁴ The whole earth is in the hands of the wicked, and God blinds the eyes of the judges. If he's not the one who does it, who is?

²⁵ "My life passes more swiftly than a runner. It flees away without a glimpse of happiness. ²⁶ It disappears like a swift papyrus boat, like an eagle swooping down on its prey. ²⁷ If I decided to forget my complaints, to put away my sad face and be cheerful, ²⁸ I would still dread all the pain, for I know you will not find me innocent, O God. ²⁹ Whatever happens, I will be found guilty. So what's the use of trying? ³⁰ Even if I were to wash myself with soap and clean my hands with lye, ³¹ you would plunge me into a muddy ditch, and my own filthy clothing would hate me. ³² "God is not a mortal like me, so I cannot argue with him or take him to trial. ³³ If only there were a mediator between us, someone who could bring us together. ³⁴ The mediator could make God stop beating me, and I would no longer live in terror of his punishment. ³⁵ Then I could speak to him without fear, but I cannot do that in my own strength.

Job Bemoans His Condition

10¹ "I am disgusted with my life. Let me complain freely. My bitter soul must complain. ² I will say to God, 'Don't simply condemn me- tell me the charge you are bringing against me. ³ What do you gain by oppressing me? Why do you reject me, the work of your own hands, while smiling on the schemes of the wicked? ⁴ Are your eyes like those of a human? Do you see things only as people see them? ⁵ Is your lifetime only as long as ours? Is your life so short ⁶ that you must quickly probe for my guilt and search for my sin? ⁷ Although you know I am not guilty, no one can rescue me from your hands.

⁸ "'You formed me with your hands; you made me, yet now you completely destroy me. ⁹ Remember that you made me from dust- will you turn me back to dust so soon? ¹⁰ You guided my conception and formed me in the womb. ¹¹ You clothed me with skin and flesh, and you knit my bones and sinews together. ¹² You gave me life and showed me your unfailing love. My life was preserved by your care. ¹³ "'Yet your real motive- your true intent-

¹⁴ was to watch me, and if I sinned, you would not forgive my guilt. ¹⁵ If I am guilty, too bad for me; and even if I'm innocent, I can't hold my head high, because I am filled with shame and misery. ¹⁶ And if I hold my head high, you hunt me like a lion and display your awesome power against me. ¹⁷ Again and again you witness against me. You pour out your growing anger on me and bring fresh armies against me. ¹⁸ "'Why, then, did you deliver me from my mother's womb? Why didn't you let me die at birth? ¹⁹ It would be as though I had never existed, going directly from the womb to the grave. ²⁰ I have only a few days left, so leave me alone, that I may have a moment of comfort ²¹ before I leave-never to return- for the land of darkness and utter gloom. ²² It is a land as dark as midnight, a land of gloom and confusion, where even the light is dark as midnight.'"

Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch

²⁶ As for Philip, an angel of the Lord said to him, "Go south down the desert road that runs from Jerusalem to Gaza." ²⁷ So he started out, and he met the treasurer of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under the Kandake, the queen of Ethiopia. The eunuch had gone to Jerusalem to worship, ²⁸ and he was now returning. Seated in his carriage, he was reading aloud from the book of the prophet Isaiah. ²⁹ The Holy Spirit said to Philip, "Go over and walk along beside the carriage." ³⁰ Philip ran over and heard the man reading from the prophet Isaiah. Philip asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?" ³¹ The man replied, "How can I, unless someone instructs me?" And he urged Philip to come up into the carriage and sit with him. ³² The passage of Scripture he had been reading was this: "He was led like a sheep to the slaughter. And as a lamb is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth. ³³ He was humiliated and received no justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth." ³⁴ The eunuch asked Philip, "Tell me, was the prophet talking about himself or someone else?" ³⁵ So beginning with this same Scripture, Philip told him the Good News about Jesus. ³⁶ As they rode along, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, "Look! There's some water! Why can't I be baptized?" ^{37  38} He ordered the carriage to stop, and they went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. ³⁹ When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away. The eunuch never saw him again but went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰ Meanwhile, Philip found himself farther north at the town of Azotus. He preached the Good News there and in every town along the way until he came to Caesarea.