Book of Job bible study chapters 21 through 31 

 

            This bible study is a further continuation of the dialog that goes on between Job and his three so called friends, which goes on up to the end of Job’s main speeches in the book. Job is the main speaker in this book too, especially what with his discourse at the end of this group of chapters. This is part 3 of a bible study on the entire book of Job. Here is a link to the previous chapters of the book of Job, 11 through 20

https://www.facebook.com/notes/jay-dougherty/job-bible-study-chapters-11-through-20/10200767299318407

In chapter 21 Job then answers

(Job 21:1)  Then Job answered and said:

 

(Job 21:2)  "Keep listening to my words, and let this be your comfort.

 

(Job 21:3)  Bear with me, and I will speak, and after I have spoken, mock on.

 

(Job 21:4)  As for me, is my complaint against man? Why should I not be impatient?

 

(Job 21:5)  Look at me and be appalled, and lay your hand over your mouth.

 

(Job 21:6)  When I remember, I am dismayed, and shuddering seizes my flesh.

 

(Job 21:7)  Why do the wicked live, reach old age, and grow mighty in power?

 

(Job 21:8)  Their offspring are established in their presence, and their descendants before their eyes.

 

(Job 21:9)  Their houses are safe from fear, and no rod of God is upon them.

 

(Job 21:10)  Their bull breeds without fail; their cow calves and does not miscarry.

 

(Job 21:11)  They send out their little boys like a flock, and their children dance.

 

(Job 21:12)  They sing to the tambourine and the lyre and rejoice to the sound of the pipe.

 

(Job 21:13)  They spend their days in prosperity, and in peace they go down to Sheol.

 

(Job 21:14)  They say to God, 'Depart from us! We do not desire the knowledge of your ways.

 

(Job 21:15)  What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? And what profit do we get if we pray to him?'

 

(Job 21:16)  Behold, is not their prosperity in their hand? The counsel of the wicked is far from me.

 

(Job 21:17)  "How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out? That their calamity comes upon them? That God distributes pains in his anger?

 

(Job 21:18)  That they are like straw before the wind, and like chaff that the storm carries away?

 

(Job 21:19)  You say, 'God stores up their iniquity for their children.' Let him pay it out to them, that they may know it.

 

(Job 21:20)  Let their own eyes see their destruction, and let them drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

 

(Job 21:21)  For what do they care for their houses after them, when the number of their months is cut off?

 

(Job 21:22)  Will any teach God knowledge, seeing that he judges those who are on high?

 

(Job 21:23)  One dies in his full vigor, being wholly at ease and secure,

 

(Job 21:24)  his pails full of milk and the marrow of his bones moist.

 

(Job 21:25)  Another dies in bitterness of soul, never having tasted of prosperity.

 

(Job 21:26)  They lie down alike in the dust, and the worms cover them.

 

(Job 21:27)  "Behold, I know your thoughts and your schemes to wrong me.

 

(Job 21:28)  For you say, 'Where is the house of the prince? Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?'

 

(Job 21:29)  Have you not asked those who travel the roads, and do you not accept their testimony

 

(Job 21:30)  that the evil man is spared in the day of calamity, that he is rescued in the day of wrath?

 

(Job 21:31)  Who declares his way to his face, and who repays him for what he has done?

 

(Job 21:32)  When he is carried to the grave, watch is kept over his tomb.

 

(Job 21:33)  The clods of the valley are sweet to him; all mankind follows after him, and those who go before him are innumerable.

 

(Job 21:34)  How then will you comfort me with empty nothings? There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood."

 

In chapter 22 Eliphaz answers Job but also note the promise at the end of this chapter

(Job 22:1)  Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

 

(Job 22:2)  "Can a man be profitable to God? Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.

 

(Job 22:3)  Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are in the right, or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless?

 

(Job 22:4)  Is it for your fear of him that he reproves you and enters into judgment with you?

 

(Job 22:5)  Is not your evil abundant? There is no end to your iniquities.

 

(Job 22:6)  For you have exacted pledges of your brothers for nothing and stripped the naked of their clothing.

 

(Job 22:7)  You have given no water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry.

 

(Job 22:8)  The man with power possessed the land, and the favored man lived in it.

 

(Job 22:9)  You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless were crushed.

 

(Job 22:10)  Therefore snares are all around you, and sudden terror overwhelms you,

 

(Job 22:11)  or darkness, so that you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you.

 

(Job 22:12)  "Is not God high in the heavens? See the highest stars, how lofty they are!

 

(Job 22:13)  But you say, 'What does God know? Can he judge through the deep darkness?

 

(Job 22:14)  Thick clouds veil him, so that he does not see, and he walks on the vault of heaven.'

 

(Job 22:15)  Will you keep to the old way that wicked men have trod?

 

(Job 22:16)  They were snatched away before their time; their foundation was washed away.

 

(Job 22:17)  They said to God, 'Depart from us,' and 'What can the Almighty do to us?'

 

(Job 22:18)  Yet he filled their houses with good things-- but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

 

(Job 22:19)  The righteous see it and are glad; the innocent one mocks at them,

 

(Job 22:20)  saying, 'Surely our adversaries are cut off, and what they left the fire has consumed.'

 

(Job 22:21)  "Agree with God, and be at peace; thereby good will come to you.

 

(Job 22:22)  Receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart.

 

(Job 22:23)  If you return to the Almighty you will be built up; if you remove injustice far from your tents,

 

(Job 22:24)  if you lay gold in the dust, and gold of Ophir among the stones of the torrent-bed,

 

(Job 22:25)  then the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver.

 

(Job 22:26)  For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty and lift up your face to God.

 

(Job 22:27)  You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you, and you will pay your vows.

 

(Job 22:28)  You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you, and light will shine on your ways.

 

(Job 22:29)  For when they are humbled you say, 'It is because of pride'; but he saves the lowly.

 

(Job 22:30)  He delivers even the one who is not innocent, who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands."

 

Job then makes his reply in chapters 23 and 24

(Job 23:1)  Then Job answered and said:

 

(Job 23:2)  "Today also my complaint is bitter; my hand is heavy on account of my groaning.

 

(Job 23:3)  Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat!

 

(Job 23:4)  I would lay my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments.

 

(Job 23:5)  I would know what he would answer me and understand what he would say to me.

 

(Job 23:6)  Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No; he would pay attention to me.

 

(Job 23:7)  There an upright man could argue with him, and I would be acquitted forever by my judge.

 

(Job 23:8)  "Behold, I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I do not perceive him;

 

(Job 23:9)  on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him; he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him.

 

(Job 23:10)  But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.

 

(Job 23:11)  My foot has held fast to his steps; I have kept his way and have not turned aside.

 

(Job 23:12)  I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.

 

(Job 23:13)  But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back? What he desires, that he does.

 

(Job 23:14)  For he will complete what he appoints for me, and many such things are in his mind.

 

(Job 23:15)  Therefore I am terrified at his presence; when I consider, I am in dread of him.

 

(Job 23:16)  God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me;

 

(Job 23:17)  yet I am not silenced because of the darkness, nor because thick darkness covers my face.

 

(Job 24:1)  "Why are not times of judgment kept by the Almighty, and why do those who know him never see his days?

 

(Job 24:2)  Some move landmarks; they seize flocks and pasture them.

 

(Job 24:3)  They drive away the donkey of the fatherless; they take the widow's ox for a pledge.

 

(Job 24:4)  They thrust the poor off the road; the poor of the earth all hide themselves.

 

(Job 24:5)  Behold, like wild donkeys in the desert the poor go out to their toil, seeking game; the wasteland yields food for their children.

 

(Job 24:6)  They gather their fodder in the field, and they glean the vineyard of the wicked man.

 

(Job 24:7)  They lie all night naked, without clothing, and have no covering in the cold.

 

(Job 24:8)  They are wet with the rain of the mountains and cling to the rock for lack of shelter.

 

(Job 24:9)  (There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast, and they take a pledge against the poor.)

 

(Job 24:10)  They go about naked, without clothing; hungry, they carry the sheaves;

 

(Job 24:11)  among the olive rows of the wicked they make oil; they tread the winepresses, but suffer thirst.

 

(Job 24:12)  From out of the city the dying groan, and the soul of the wounded cries for help; yet God charges no one with wrong.

 

(Job 24:13)  "There are those who rebel against the light, who are not acquainted with its ways, and do not stay in its paths.

 

(Job 24:14)  The murderer rises before it is light, that he may kill the poor and needy, and in the night he is like a thief.

 

(Job 24:15)  The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight, saying, 'No eye will see me'; and he veils his face.

 

(Job 24:16)  In the dark they dig through houses; by day they shut themselves up; they do not know the light.

 

(Job 24:17)  For deep darkness is morning to all of them; for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness.

 

(Job 24:18)  "You say, 'Swift are they on the face of the waters; their portion is cursed in the land; no treader turns toward their vineyards.

 

(Job 24:19)  Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters; so does Sheol those who have sinned.

 

(Job 24:20)  The womb forgets them; the worm finds them sweet; they are no longer remembered, so wickedness is broken like a tree.'

 

(Job 24:21)  "They wrong the barren, childless woman, and do no good to the widow.

 

(Job 24:22)  Yet God prolongs the life of the mighty by his power; they rise up when they despair of life.

 

(Job 24:23)  He gives them security, and they are supported, and his eyes are upon their ways.

 

(Job 24:24)  They are exalted a little while, and then are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are cut off like the heads of grain.

 

(Job 24:25)  If it is not so, who will prove me a liar and show that there is nothing in what I say?"

 

Bildad makes a brief reply in chapter 25, which is the last speech of the first three of Job’s friends

(Job 25:1)  Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:

 

(Job 25:2)  "Dominion and fear are with God; he makes peace in his high heaven.

 

(Job 25:3)  Is there any number to his armies? Upon whom does his light not arise?

 

(Job 25:4)  How then can man be in the right before God? How can he who is born of woman be pure?

 

(Job 25:5)  Behold, even the moon is not bright, and the stars are not pure in his eyes;

 

(Job 25:6)  how much less man, who is a maggot, and the son of man, who is a worm!"

 

Job answers this in chapter 26

(Job 26:1)  Then Job answered and said:

 

(Job 26:2)  "How you have helped him who has no power! How you have saved the arm that has no strength!

 

(Job 26:3)  How you have counseled him who has no wisdom, and plentifully declared sound knowledge!

 

(Job 26:4)  With whose help have you uttered words, and whose breath has come out from you?

 

(Job 26:5)  The dead tremble under the waters and their inhabitants.

 

(Job 26:6)  Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering.

 

(Job 26:7)  He stretches out the north over the void and hangs the earth on nothing.

 

(Job 26:8)  He binds up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not split open under them.

 

(Job 26:9)  He covers the face of the full moon and spreads over it his cloud.

 

(Job 26:10)  He has inscribed a circle on the face of the waters at the boundary between light and darkness.

 

(Job 26:11)  The pillars of heaven tremble and are astounded at his rebuke.

 

(Job 26:12)  By his power he stilled the sea; by his understanding he shattered Rahab.

 

(Job 26:13)  By his wind the heavens were made fair; his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.

 

(Job 26:14)  Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?"

 

Then from chapters 27 through 31 Job yet again takes up his discourse for five chapters, and also he finishes his main speaking for the entire book of Job, as he given only a few lines to say in the last 11 chapters of the book, and most of those are in chapter 42, the final chapter.

(Job 27:1)  And Job again took up his discourse, and said:

 

(Job 27:2)  "As God lives, who has taken away my right, and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter,

 

(Job 27:3)  as long as my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils,

 

(Job 27:4)  my lips will not speak falsehood, and my tongue will not utter deceit.

 

(Job 27:5)  Far be it from me to say that you are right; till I die I will not put away my integrity from me.

 

(Job 27:6)  I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go; my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.

 

(Job 27:7)  "Let my enemy be as the wicked, and let him who rises up against me be as the unrighteous.

 

(Job 27:8)  For what is the hope of the godless when God cuts him off, when God takes away his life?

 

(Job 27:9)  Will God hear his cry when distress comes upon him?

 

(Job 27:10)  Will he take delight in the Almighty? Will he call upon God at all times?

 

(Job 27:11)  I will teach you concerning the hand of God; what is with the Almighty I will not conceal.

 

(Job 27:12)  Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves; why then have you become altogether vain?

 

(Job 27:13)  "This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage that oppressors receive from the Almighty:

 

(Job 27:14)  If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword, and his descendants have not enough bread.

 

(Job 27:15)  Those who survive him the pestilence buries, and his widows do not weep.

 

(Job 27:16)  Though he heap up silver like dust, and pile up clothing like clay,

 

(Job 27:17)  he may pile it up, but the righteous will wear it, and the innocent will divide the silver.

 

(Job 27:18)  He builds his house like a moth's, like a booth that a watchman makes.

 

(Job 27:19)  He goes to bed rich, but will do so no more; he opens his eyes, and his wealth is gone.

 

(Job 27:20)  Terrors overtake him like a flood; in the night a whirlwind carries him off.

 

(Job 27:21)  The east wind lifts him up and he is gone; it sweeps him out of his place.

 

(Job 27:22)  It hurls at him without pity; he flees from its power in headlong flight.

 

(Job 27:23)  It claps its hands at him and hisses at him from its place.

 

(Job 28:1)  "Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place for gold that they refine.

 

(Job 28:2)  Iron is taken out of the earth, and copper is smelted from the ore.

 

(Job 28:3)  Man puts an end to darkness and searches out to the farthest limit the ore in gloom and deep darkness.

 

(Job 28:4)  He opens shafts in a valley away from where anyone lives; they are forgotten by travelers; they hang in the air, far away from mankind; they swing to and fro.

 

(Job 28:5)  As for the earth, out of it comes bread, but underneath it is turned up as by fire.

 

(Job 28:6)  Its stones are the place of sapphires, and it has dust of gold.

 

(Job 28:7)  "That path no bird of prey knows, and the falcon's eye has not seen it.

 

(Job 28:8)  The proud beasts have not trodden it; the lion has not passed over it.

 

(Job 28:9)  "Man puts his hand to the flinty rock and overturns mountains by the roots.

 

(Job 28:10)  He cuts out channels in the rocks, and his eye sees every precious thing.

 

(Job 28:11)  He dams up the streams so that they do not trickle, and the thing that is hidden he brings out to light.

 

(Job 28:12)  "But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?

 

(Job 28:13)  Man does not know its worth, and it is not found in the land of the living.

 

(Job 28:14)  The deep says, 'It is not in me,' and the sea says, 'It is not with me.'

 

(Job 28:15)  It cannot be bought for gold, and silver cannot be weighed as its price.

 

(Job 28:16)  It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, in precious onyx or sapphire.

 

(Job 28:17)  Gold and glass cannot equal it, nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.

 

(Job 28:18)  No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal; the price of wisdom is above pearls.

 

(Job 28:19)  The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it, nor can it be valued in pure gold.

 

(Job 28:20)  "From where, then, does wisdom come? And where is the place of understanding?

 

(Job 28:21)  It is hidden from the eyes of all living and concealed from the birds of the air.

 

(Job 28:22)  Abaddon and Death say, 'We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.'

 

(Job 28:23)  "God understands the way to it, and he knows its place.

 

(Job 28:24)  For he looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens.

 

(Job 28:25)  When he gave to the wind its weight and apportioned the waters by measure,

 

(Job 28:26)  when he made a decree for the rain and a way for the lightning of the thunder,

 

(Job 28:27)  then he saw it and declared it; he established it, and searched it out.

 

(Job 28:28)  And he said to man, 'Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.'"

 

(Job 29:1)  And Job again took up his discourse, and said:

 

(Job 29:2)  "Oh, that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me,

 

(Job 29:3)  when his lamp shone upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness,

 

(Job 29:4)  as I was in my prime, when the friendship of God was upon my tent,

 

(Job 29:5)  when the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were all around me,

 

(Job 29:6)  when my steps were washed with butter, and the rock poured out for me streams of oil!

 

(Job 29:7)  When I went out to the gate of the city, when I prepared my seat in the square,

 

(Job 29:8)  the young men saw me and withdrew, and the aged rose and stood;

 

(Job 29:9)  the princes refrained from talking and laid their hand on their mouth;

 

(Job 29:10)  the voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.

 

(Job 29:11)  When the ear heard, it called me blessed, and when the eye saw, it approved,

 

(Job 29:12)  because I delivered the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had none to help him.

 

(Job 29:13)  The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.

 

(Job 29:14)  I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban.

 

(Job 29:15)  I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame.

 

(Job 29:16)  I was a father to the needy, and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know.

 

(Job 29:17)  I broke the fangs of the unrighteous and made him drop his prey from his teeth.

 

(Job 29:18)  Then I thought, 'I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand,

 

(Job 29:19)  my roots spread out to the waters, with the dew all night on my branches,

 

(Job 29:20)  my glory fresh with me, and my bow ever new in my hand.'

 

(Job 29:21)  "Men listened to me and waited and kept silence for my counsel.

 

(Job 29:22)  After I spoke they did not speak again, and my word dropped upon them.

 

(Job 29:23)  They waited for me as for the rain, and they opened their mouths as for the spring rain.

 

(Job 29:24)  I smiled on them when they had no confidence, and the light of my face they did not cast down.

 

(Job 29:25)  I chose their way and sat as chief, and I lived like a king among his troops, like one who comforts mourners.

 

(Job 30:1)  "But now they laugh at me, men who are younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.

 

(Job 30:2)  What could I gain from the strength of their hands, men whose vigor is gone?

 

(Job 30:3)  Through want and hard hunger they gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and desolation;

 

(Job 30:4)  they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes, and the roots of the broom tree for their food.

 

(Job 30:5)  They are driven out from human company; they shout after them as after a thief.

 

(Job 30:6)  In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell, in holes of the earth and of the rocks.

 

(Job 30:7)  Among the bushes they bray; under the nettles they huddle together.

 

(Job 30:8)  A senseless, a nameless brood, they have been whipped out of the land.

 

(Job 30:9)  "And now I have become their song; I am a byword to them.

 

(Job 30:10)  They abhor me; they keep aloof from me; they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me.

 

(Job 30:11)  Because God has loosed my cord and humbled me, they have cast off restraint in my presence.

 

(Job 30:12)  On my right hand the rabble rise; they push away my feet; they cast up against me their ways of destruction.

 

(Job 30:13)  They break up my path; they promote my calamity; they need no one to help them.

 

(Job 30:14)  As through a wide breach they come; amid the crash they roll on.

 

(Job 30:15)  Terrors are turned upon me; my honor is pursued as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud.

 

(Job 30:16)  "And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction have taken hold of me.

 

(Job 30:17)  The night racks my bones, and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.

 

(Job 30:18)  With great force my garment is disfigured; it binds me about like the collar of my tunic.

 

(Job 30:19)  God has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.

 

(Job 30:20)  I cry to you for help and you do not answer me; I stand, and you only look at me.

 

(Job 30:21)  You have turned cruel to me; with the might of your hand you persecute me.

 

(Job 30:22)  You lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it, and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.

 

(Job 30:23)  For I know that you will bring me to death and to the house appointed for all living.

 

(Job 30:24)  "Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand, and in his disaster cry for help?

 

(Job 30:25)  Did not I weep for him whose day was hard? Was not my soul grieved for the needy?

 

(Job 30:26)  But when I hoped for good, evil came, and when I waited for light, darkness came.

 

(Job 30:27)  My inward parts are in turmoil and never still; days of affliction come to meet me.

 

(Job 30:28)  I go about darkened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.

 

(Job 30:29)  I am a brother of jackals and a companion of ostriches.

 

(Job 30:30)  My skin turns black and falls from me, and my bones burn with heat.

 

(Job 30:31)  My lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.

 

(Job 31:1)  "I have made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I gaze at a virgin?

 

(Job 31:2)  What would be my portion from God above and my heritage from the Almighty on high?

 

(Job 31:3)  Is not calamity for the unrighteous, and disaster for the workers of iniquity?

 

(Job 31:4)  Does not he see my ways and number all my steps?

 

(Job 31:5)  "If I have walked with falsehood and my foot has hastened to deceit;

 

(Job 31:6)  (Let me be weighed in a just balance, and let God know my integrity!)

 

(Job 31:7)  if my step has turned aside from the way and my heart has gone after my eyes, and if any spot has stuck to my hands,

 

(Job 31:8)  then let me sow, and another eat, and let what grows for me be rooted out.

 

(Job 31:9)  "If my heart has been enticed toward a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbor's door,

 

(Job 31:10)  then let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down on her.

 

(Job 31:11)  For that would be a heinous crime; that would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges;

 

(Job 31:12)  for that would be a fire that consumes as far as Abaddon, and it would burn to the root all my increase.

 

(Job 31:13)  "If I have rejected the cause of my manservant or my maidservant, when they brought a complaint against me,

 

(Job 31:14)  what then shall I do when God rises up? When he makes inquiry, what shall I answer him?

 

(Job 31:15)  Did not he who made me in the womb make him? And did not one fashion us in the womb?

 

(Job 31:16)  "If I have withheld anything that the poor desired, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail,

 

(Job 31:17)  or have eaten my morsel alone, and the fatherless has not eaten of it

 

(Job 31:18)  (for from my youth the fatherless grew up with me as with a father, and from my mother's womb I guided the widow),

 

(Job 31:19)  if I have seen anyone perish for lack of clothing, or the needy without covering,

 

(Job 31:20)  if his body has not blessed me, and if he was not warmed with the fleece of my sheep,

 

(Job 31:21)  if I have raised my hand against the fatherless, because I saw my help in the gate,

 

(Job 31:22)  then let my shoulder blade fall from my shoulder, and let my arm be broken from its socket.

 

(Job 31:23)  For I was in terror of calamity from God, and I could not have faced his majesty.

 

(Job 31:24)  "If I have made gold my trust or called fine gold my confidence,

 

(Job 31:25)  if I have rejoiced because my wealth was abundant or because my hand had found much,

 

(Job 31:26)  if I have looked at the sun when it shone, or the moon moving in splendor,

 

(Job 31:27)  and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my mouth has kissed my hand,

 

(Job 31:28)  this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges, for I would have been false to God above.

 

(Job 31:29)  "If I have rejoiced at the ruin of him who hated me, or exulted when evil overtook him

 

(Job 31:30)  (I have not let my mouth sin by asking for his life with a curse),

 

(Job 31:31)  if the men of my tent have not said, 'Who is there that has not been filled with his meat?'

 

(Job 31:32)  (the sojourner has not lodged in the street; I have opened my doors to the traveler),

 

(Job 31:33)  if I have concealed my transgressions as others do by hiding my iniquity in my bosom,

 

(Job 31:34)  because I stood in great fear of the multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and did not go out of doors--

 

(Job 31:35)  Oh, that I had one to hear me! (Here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me!) Oh, that I had the indictment written by my adversary!

 

(Job 31:36)  Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; I would bind it on me as a crown;

 

(Job 31:37)  I would give him an account of all my steps; like a prince I would approach him.

 

(Job 31:38)  "If my land has cried out against me and its furrows have wept together,

 

(Job 31:39)  if I have eaten its yield without payment and made its owners breathe their last,

 

(Job 31:40)  let thorns grow instead of wheat, and foul weeds instead of barley." The words of Job are ended.

For chapters 32 through 42 of the book of Job bible study including God's powerful discourse to job please go to this page

https://www.facebook.com/notes/jay-dougherty/book-of-job-bible-study-chapters-32-to-42/10200769725019048

 

The loss of Job’s possessions and family were no doubt devastating, yet he bore it through, trusting God even though he likely never, ever understood what was going on. Jesus knew fully well that He would suffer a horrible death long before He did, but did it in love, wanting people to be forgiven of their sins, redeemed and in a right relationship with God. There is nothing that can be compared to a relationship with God, either, nothing at all. He is so good. I am now including a prayer which you can use to invite Jesus into your heart for this relationship to start or to come back to it, if you have drifted away for God is so merciful and good, not wanting any to be lost. Please pray this prayer with me:

Dear God in heaven, I come to you in the name of Jesus. I acknowledge to You that I am a sinner, and I am sorry for my sins and the life that I have lived; I need your forgiveness. I believe that your only begotten Son Jesus Christ shed His precious blood on the cross at Calvary and died for my sins, and I am now willing to turn from my sin. You said in Your Holy Word, Romans 10:9 that if we confess Jesus as our Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead, we will be saved. Right now I confess Jesus as the Lord of my soul. With my heart, I believe that God raised Jesus from the dead. This very moment I accept Jesus Christ as my own personal Savior and according to His Word, right now I am saved. Thank you Jesus for your unlimited grace which has saved me from my sins. I thank you Jesus that your grace never leads to license, but rather it always leads to repentance. Therefore Lord Jesus transform my life so that I may bring glory and honor to you alone and not to myself. Thank you Jesus for dying for me and giving me eternal life.

Amen.

God bless you and yours