411 “Can you draw out Leviathan [1] with a fishhook,
or press down his tongue with a cord? 2 Can you put a rope into his nose,
or pierce his jaw through with a hook? 3 Will he make many petitions to you,
or will he speak soft words to you? 4 Will he make a covenant with you,
that you should take him for a servant forever? 5 Will you play with him as with a bird?
Or will you bind him for your girls? 6 Will traders barter for him?
Will they part him among the merchants? 7 Can you fill his skin with barbed irons,
or his head with fish spears? 8 Lay your hand on him.
Remember the battle, and do so no more. 9 Behold, the hope of him is in vain.
Won’t one be cast down even at the sight of him? 10 None is so fierce that he dare stir him up.
Who then is he who can stand before me?
11 Who has first given to me, that I should repay him?
Everything under the heavens is mine. 12 “I will not keep silence concerning his limbs,
nor his mighty strength, nor his goodly frame. 13 Who can strip off his outer garment?
Who shall come within his jaws? 14 Who can open the doors of his face?
Around his teeth is terror. 15 Strong scales are his pride,
shut up together with a close seal. 16 One is so near to another,
that no air can come between them. 17 They are joined one to another.
They stick together, so that they can’t be pulled apart. 18 His sneezing flashes out light.
His eyes are like the eyelids of the morning. 19 Out of his mouth go burning torches.
Sparks of fire leap forth. 20 Out of his nostrils a smoke goes,
as of a boiling pot over a fire of reeds. 21 His breath kindles coals.
A flame goes forth from his mouth. 22 There is strength in his neck.
Terror dances before him. 23 The flakes of his flesh are joined together.
They are firm on him.
They can’t be moved. 24 His heart is as firm as a stone,
yes, firm as the lower millstone. 25 When he raises himself up, the mighty are afraid.
They retreat before his thrashing. 26 If one attacks him with the sword, it can’t prevail;
nor the spear, the dart, nor the pointed shaft. 27 He counts iron as straw;
and brass as rotten wood. 28 The arrow can’t make him flee.
Sling stones are like chaff to him. 29 Clubs are counted as stubble.
He laughs at the rushing of the javelin. 30 His undersides are like sharp potsherds,
leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge. 31 He makes the deep to boil like a pot.
He makes the sea like a pot of ointment. 32 He makes a path shine after him.
One would think the deep had white hair. 33 On earth there is not his equal,
that is made without fear. 34 He sees everything that is high.
He is king over all the sons of pride.”
421 Then Job answered Yahweh, 2 “I know that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be restrained. 3 You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’
therefore I have uttered that which I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me, which I didn’t know. 4 You said, ‘Listen, now, and I will speak;
I will question you, and you will answer me.’ 5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees you. 6 Therefore I abhor myself,
and repent in dust and ashes.”
7 It was so, that after Yahweh had spoken these words to Job, Yahweh said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you, and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has. 8 Now therefore, take to yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept him, that I not deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has.” 9 So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went, and did what Yahweh commanded them, and Yahweh accepted Job.
10 Yahweh turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends. Yahweh gave Job twice as much as he had before. 11 Then came there to him all his brothers, and all his sisters, and all those who had been of his acquaintance before, and ate bread with him in his house. They comforted him, and consoled him concerning all the evil that Yahweh had brought on him. Everyone also gave him a piece of money, [2] and everyone a ring of gold. 12 So Yahweh blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand female donkeys. 13 He had also seven sons and three daughters. 14 He called the name of the first, Jemimah; and the name of the second, Keziah; and the name of the third, Keren Happuch. 15 In all the land were no women found so beautiful as the daughters of Job. Their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. 16 After this Job lived one hundred forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, to four generations. 17 So Job died, being old and full of days.
22 The multitude rose up together against them, and the magistrates tore their clothes off of them, and commanded them to be beaten with rods. 23 When they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, charging the jailer to keep them safely, 24 who, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison, and secured their feet in the stocks.
25 But about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone’s bonds were loosened. 27 The jailer, being roused out of sleep and seeing the prison doors open, drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, saying, “Don’t harm yourself, for we are all here!” 29 He called for lights and sprang in, and, fell down trembling before Paul and Silas, 30 and brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 They spoke the word of the Lord to him, and to all who were in his house. 33 He took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes, and was immediately baptized, he and all his household. 34 He brought them up into his house, and set food before them, and rejoiced greatly, with all his household, having believed in God.
35 But when it was day, the magistrates sent the sergeants, saying, “Let those men go.” 36 The jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go; now therefore come out, and go in peace.” 37 But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us publicly, without a trial, men who are Romans, and have cast us into prison! Do they now release us secretly? No, most certainly, but let them come themselves and bring us out!” 38 The sergeants reported these words to the magistrates, and they were afraid when they heard that they were Romans, 39 and they came and begged them. When they had brought them out, they asked them to depart from the city. 40 They went out of the prison, and entered into Lydia’s house. When they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them, and departed.
(Read Acts 16:16-24)
Satan, though the father of lies, will declare the most important truths, when he can thereby serve his purposes. But much mischief is done to the real servants of Christ, by unholy and false preachers of the gospel, who are confounded with them by careless observers. Those who do good by drawing men from sin, may expect to be reviled as troublers of the city. While they teach men to fear God, to believe in Christ, to forsake sin, and to live godly lives, they will be accused of teaching bad customs.
(Read Acts 16:25-34)
The consolations of God to his suffering servants are neither few nor small. How much more happy are true Christians than their prosperous enemies! As in the dark, so out of the depths, we may cry unto God. No place, no time is amiss for prayer, if the heart be lifted up to God. No trouble, however grievous, should hinder us from praise. Christianity proves itself to be of God, in that it obliges us to be just to our own lives. Paul cried aloud to make the jailer hear, and to make him heed, saying, Do thyself no harm. All the cautions of the word of God against sin, and all appearances of it, and approaches to it, have this tendency. Man, woman, do not ruin thyself; hurt not thyself, and then none else can hurt thee; do not sin, for nothing but that can hurt thee. Even as to the body, we are cautioned against the sins which do harm to that. Converting grace changes people's language of and to good people and good ministers. How serious the jailer's inquiry! His salvation becomes his great concern; that lies nearest his heart, which before was furthest from his thoughts. It is his own precious soul that he is concerned about. Those who are thoroughly convinced of sin, and truly concerned about their salvation, will give themselves up to Christ. Here is the sum of the whole gospel, the covenant of grace in a few words; Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. The Lord so blessed the word, that the jailer was at once softened and humbled. He treated them with kindness and compassion, and, professing faith in Christ, was baptized in that name, with his family. The Spirit of grace worked such a strong faith in them, as did away further doubt; and Paul and Silas knew by the Spirit, that a work of God was wrought in them. When sinners are thus converted, they will love and honour those whom they before despised and hated, and will seek to lessen the suffering they before desired to increase. When the fruits of faith begin to appear, terrors will be followed by confidence and joy in God.
(Read Acts 16:35-40)
Paul, though willing to suffer for the cause of Christ, and without any desire to avenge himself, did not choose to depart under the charge of having deserved wrongful punishment, and therefore required to be dismissed in an honourable manner. It was not a mere point of honour that the apostle stood upon, but justice, and not to himself so much as to his cause. And when proper apology is made, Christians should never express personal anger, nor insist too strictly upon personal amends. The Lord will make them more than conquerors in every conflict; instead of being cast down by their sufferings, they will become comforters of their brethren.
