Day 072

<div class="et_pb_title_container"><p class="bibleReadingSubTitle">The Chronological Cross-Reference Bible Study Reading Plan</p></div>

Day 072

<div class="et_pb_title_container"><p style="color: #674625; font-style: italic;">The Chronological Cross-Reference Bible Study Reading Plan</p></div>

English Standard Version (ESV)

Job 16–17

16:1 Then Job answered and said:

2   “I have heard many such things;
    miserable comforters are you all.
3   Shall windy words have an end?
    Or what provokes you that you answer?
4   I also could speak as you do,
    if you were in my place;
  I could join words together against you
    and shake my head at you.
5   I could strengthen you with my mouth,
    and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain.
6   “If I speak, my pain is not assuaged,
    and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me?
7   Surely now God has worn me out;
    he has made desolate all my company.
8   And he has shriveled me up,
    which is a witness against me,
  and my leanness has risen up against me;
    it testifies to my face.
9   He has torn me in his wrath and hated me;
    he has gnashed his teeth at me;
    my adversary sharpens his eyes against me.
10   Men have gaped at me with their mouth;
    they have struck me insolently on the cheek;
    they mass themselves together against me.
11   God gives me up to the ungodly
    and casts me into the hands of the wicked.
12   I was at ease, and he broke me apart;
    he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces;
  he set me up as his target;
13     his archers surround me.
  He slashes open my kidneys and does not spare;
    he pours out my gall on the ground.
14   He breaks me with breach upon breach;
    he runs upon me like a warrior.
15   I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin
    and have laid my strength in the dust.
16   My face is red with weeping,
    and on my eyelids is deep darkness,
17   although there is no violence in my hands,
    and my prayer is pure.
18   “O earth, cover not my blood,
    and let my cry find no resting place.
19   Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven,
    and he who testifies for me is on high.
20   My friends scorn me;
    my eye pours out tears to God,
21   that he would argue the case of a man with God,
    as a son of man does with his neighbor.
22   For when a few years have come
    I shall go the way from which I shall not return.

17:1   “My spirit is broken; my days are extinct;
    the graveyard is ready for me.
2   Surely there are mockers about me,
    and my eye dwells on their provocation.
3   “Lay down a pledge for me with you;
    who is there who will put up security for me?
4   Since you have closed their hearts to understanding,
    therefore you will not let them triumph.
5   He who informs against his friends to get a share of their property—
    the eyes of his children will fail.
6   “He has made me a byword of the peoples,
    and I am one before whom men spit.
7   My eye has grown dim from vexation,
    and all my members are like a shadow.
8   The upright are appalled at this,
    and the innocent stirs himself up against the godless.
9   Yet the righteous holds to his way,
    and he who has clean hands grows stronger and stronger.
10   But you, come on again, all of you,
    and I shall not find a wise man among you.
11   My days are past; my plans are broken off,
    the desires of my heart.
12   They make night into day:
    ‘The light,’ they say, ‘is near to the darkness.’
13   If I hope for Sheol as my house,
    if I make my bed in darkness,
14   if I say to the pit, ‘You are my father,’
    and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’
15   where then is my hope?
    Who will see my hope?
16   Will it go down to the bars of Sheol?
    Shall we descend together into the dust?”

King James Version (KJV)

Job 16:1-17:16

16:1Then Job answered and said, 16:2I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all. 16:3Shall vain words have an end? or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest? 16:4I also could speak as ye do: if your soul were in my soul's stead, I could heap up words against you, and shake mine head at you. 16:5But I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the moving of my lips should asswage your grief. 16:6Though I speak, my grief is not asswaged: and though I forbear, what am I eased? 16:7But now he hath made me weary: thou hast made desolate all my company. 16:8And thou hast filled me with wrinkles, which is a witness against me: and my leanness rising up in me beareth witness to my face. 16:9He teareth me in his wrath, who hateth me: he gnasheth upon me with his teeth; mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me. 16:10They have gaped upon me with their mouth; they have smitten me upon the cheek reproachfully; they have gathered themselves together against me. 16:11God hath delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over into the hands of the wicked. 16:12I was at ease, but he hath broken me asunder: he hath also taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces, and set me up for his mark. 16:13His archers compass me round about, he cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall upon the ground. 16:14He breaketh me with breach upon breach, he runneth upon me like a giant. 16:15I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and defiled my horn in the dust. 16:16My face is foul with weeping, and on my eyelids is the shadow of death; 16:17Not for any injustice in mine hands: also my prayer is pure. 16:18O earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place. 16:19Also now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high. 16:20My friends scorn me: but mine eye poureth out tears unto God. 16:21O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbour! 16:22When a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return.

17:1My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me.17:2Are there not mockers with me? and doth not mine eye continue in their provocation?17:3Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with me?17:4For thou hast hid their heart from understanding: therefore shalt thou not exalt them.17:5He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail.17:6He hath made me also a byword of the people; and aforetime I was as a tabret.17:7Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow.17:8Upright men shall be astonied at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite.17:9The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.17:10But as for you all, do ye return, and come now: for I cannot find one wise man among you.17:11My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart.17:12They change the night into day: the light is short because of darkness.17:13If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness.17:14I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister.17:15And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?17:16They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.

Study Journal Questions

How are people treating Job?
How does Job describe his physical appearance after enduring such suffering?
How would you describe a time in your life when you lost hope?
How does Job elude to having an advocate in heaven?

Together Challenge

Give the hopeless a reason to hope.

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