Bible In A Year

¹By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Yes, we wept, when we remembered Zion.

²On the willows in the midst of it, We hung up our harps.

³For there, those who led us captive asked us for songs. Those who tormented us demanded songs of joy: "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"

⁴How can we sing Yahweh's song in a foreign land?

⁵If I forget you, Jerusalem, Let my right hand forget its skill.

⁶Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth if I don't remember you; If I don't prefer Jerusalem above my chief joy.

⁷Remember, Yahweh, against the children of Edom, The day of Jerusalem; Who said, "Raze it! Raze it even to its foundation!"

⁸Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, He will be happy who rewards you, As you have served us.

⁹Happy shall he be, Who takes and dashes your little ones against the rock.

¹Then Bildad the Shuhite answered, ²"How long will you speak these things? Shall the words of your mouth be a mighty wind? ³Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert righteousness? ⁴If your children have sinned against him, He has delivered them into the hand of their disobedience; ⁵If you want to seek God diligently, Make your supplication to the Almighty. ⁶If you were pure and upright, Surely now he would awaken for you, And make the habitation of your righteousness prosperous. ⁷Though your beginning was small, Yet your latter end would greatly increase. ⁸"Please inquire of past generations, Find out about the learning of their fathers. ⁹(For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, Because our days on earth are a shadow.) ¹⁰Shall they not teach you, tell you, And utter words out of their heart? ¹¹"Can the papyrus grow up without mire? Can the rushes grow without water? ¹²While it is yet in its greenness, not cut down, It withers before any other reed. ¹³So are the paths of all who forget God. The hope of the godless man shall perish, ¹⁴Whose confidence shall break apart, Whose trust is a spider's web. ¹⁵He shall lean on his house, but it shall not stand. He shall cling to it, but it shall not endure. ¹⁶He is green before the sun, His shoots go forth over his garden. ¹⁷His roots are wrapped around the rock pile, He sees the place of stones. ¹⁸If he is destroyed from his place, Then it shall deny him, saying, 'I have not seen you.' ¹⁹Behold, this is the joy of his way: Out of the earth shall others spring. ²⁰"Behold, God will not cast away a blameless man, Neither will he uphold the evil-doers. ²¹He will still fill your mouth with laughter, Your lips with shouting. ²²Those who hate you shall be clothed with shame. The tent of the wicked shall be no more."

¹Then Job answered, ²"Truly I know that it is so, But how can man be just with God? ³If he is pleased to contend with him, He can't answer him one time in a thousand. ⁴God who is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: Who has hardened himself against him, and prospered? ⁵Who removes the mountains, and they don't know it, When he overturns them in his anger ⁶Who shakes the earth out of its place; The pillars of it tremble; ⁷Who commands the sun, and it doesn't rise, And seals up the stars; ⁸Who alone stretches out the heavens, Treads on the waves of the sea; ⁹Who makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, And the chambers of the south; ¹⁰Who does great things past finding out, Yes, marvelous things without number. ¹¹Behold, he goes by me, and I don't see him. He passes on also, but I don't perceive him. ¹²Behold, he snatches away; who can hinder him? Who will ask him, 'What are you doing?' ¹³"God will not withdraw his anger; The helpers of Rahab stoop under him. ¹⁴How much less shall I answer him, Choose my words to argue with him? ¹⁵Whom, though I were righteous, yet would I not answer. I would make supplication to my judge. ¹⁶If I had called, and he had answered me, Yet would I not believe that he listened to my voice. ¹⁷For he breaks me with a tempest, Multiplies my wounds without cause. ¹⁸He will not allow me to take my breath, But fills me with bitterness. ¹⁹If it is a matter of strength, behold, he is mighty! If of justice, 'Who,' says he, 'will summon me?' ²⁰Though I am righteous, my own mouth shall condemn me. Though I am blameless, it shall prove me perverse. ²¹I am blameless. I don't regard myself. I despise my life. ²²"It is all the same. Therefore I say, He destroys the blameless and the wicked. ²³If the scourge kills suddenly, He will mock at the trial of the innocent. ²⁴The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of the judges of it. If not he, then who is it? ²⁵"Now my days are swifter than a runner. They flee away, they see no good, ²⁶They have passed away as the swift ships, As the eagle that swoops on the prey. ²⁷If I say, 'I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face, and cheer up;' ²⁸I am afraid of all my sorrows, I know that you will not hold me innocent. ²⁹I shall be condemned; Why then do I labor in vain? ³⁰If I wash myself with snow, And cleanse my hands with lye, ³¹Yet you will plunge me in the ditch. My own clothes shall abhor me. ³²For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, That we should come together in judgment. ³³There is no umpire between us, That might lay his hand on us both. ³⁴Let him take his rod away from me, Let his terror not make me afraid: ³⁵Then I would speak, and not fear him, For I am not so in myself.

¹"My soul is weary of my life; I will give free course to my complaint. I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. ²I will tell God, 'Do not condemn me, Show me why you contend with me. ³Is it good to you that you should oppress, That you should despise the work of your hands, And smile on the counsel of the wicked? ⁴Do you have eyes of flesh? Or do you see as man sees? ⁵Are your days as the days of mortals, Or your years as man's years, ⁶That you inquire after my iniquity, And search after my sin? ⁷Although you know that I am not wicked, There is no one who can deliver out of your hand. ⁸'Your hands have framed me and fashioned me altogether; Yet you destroy me. ⁹Remember, I beg you, that you have fashioned me as clay. Will you bring me into dust again? ¹⁰Haven't you poured me out like milk, And curdled me like cheese? ¹¹You have clothed me with skin and flesh, And knit me together with bones and sinews. ¹²You have granted me life and loving kindness. Your visitation has preserved my spirit. ¹³Yet you hid these things in your heart. I know that this is with you: ¹⁴If I sin, then you mark me. You will not acquit me from my iniquity. ¹⁵If I am wicked, woe to me. If I am righteous, I still shall not lift up my head, Being filled with disgrace, And conscious of my affliction. ¹⁶If my head is held high, you hunt me like a lion. Again you show yourself powerful to me. ¹⁷You renew your witnesses against me, And increase your indignation on me. Changes and warfare are with me. ¹⁸"'Why, then, have you brought me forth out of the womb? I wish I had given up the spirit, and no eye had seen me. ¹⁹I should have been as though I had not been. I should have been carried from the womb to the grave. ²⁰Aren't my days few? Cease then, Leave me alone, that I may find a little comfort, ²¹Before I go where I shall not return from, To the land of darkness and of the shadow of death; ²²The land dark as midnight, Of the shadow of death, without any order, Where the light is as midnight.'"

¹Then Zophar, the Naamathite, answered, ²"Shouldn't the multitude of words be answered? Should a man full of talk be justified? ³Should your boastings make men hold their peace? When you mock, shall no man make you ashamed? ⁴For you say, 'My doctrine is pure, I am clean in your eyes.' ⁵But oh that God would speak, And open his lips against you, ⁶That he would show you the secrets of wisdom! For true wisdom has two sides. Know therefore that God exacts of you less than your iniquity deserves. ⁷"Can you fathom the mystery of God? Or can you probe the limits of the Almighty? ⁸They are high as heaven. What can you do? Deeper than Sheol: what can you know? ⁹The measure of it is longer than the earth, And broader than the sea. ¹⁰If he passes by, or confines, Or convenes a court, then who can oppose him? ¹¹For he knows false men. He sees iniquity also, even though he doesn't consider it. ¹²But vain man can become wise If a man can be born as a wild donkey's colt. ¹³"If you set your heart aright, Stretch out your hands toward him. ¹⁴If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away, Don't let unrighteousness dwell in your tents. ¹⁵Surely then shall you lift up your face without spot; Yes, you shall be steadfast, and shall not fear: ¹⁶For you shall forget your misery; You shall remember it as waters that are passed away, ¹⁷Life shall be clearer than the noonday; Though there is darkness, it shall be as the morning. ¹⁸You shall be secure, because there is hope; Yes, you shall search, and shall take your rest in safety. ¹⁹Also you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid; Yes, many shall court your favor. ²⁰But the eyes of the wicked shall fail, They shall have no way to flee; Their hope shall be the giving up of the spirit."