Job Replies: My Redeemer Lives
1 Then Job answered and said:
2 “How long will you torment me
and break me in pieces with words?
3 These wten times you have cast reproach upon me;
are you not ashamed to wrong me?
4 And even if it be true that I have erred,
my error remains with myself.
5 If indeed you xmagnify yourselves against me
and make my disgrace an argument against me,
6 know then that God has yput me in the wrong
and closed his net about me.
7 Behold, I zcry out, ‘Violence!’ but I am not answered;
I call for help, but there is no justice.
8 He has awalled up my way, so that I cannot pass,
and he has set darkness upon my paths.
9 He has bstripped from me my glory
and taken the ccrown from my head.
10 He breaks me down on every side, and I dam gone,
and my hope has he pulled up like a tree.
11 He has kindled his wrath against me
and ecounts me as his adversary.
12 His ftroops come on together;
they have gcast up their siege ramp1 against me
and encamp around my tent.
13 “He has put my hbrothers far from me,
and ithose who knew me are wholly estranged from me.
14 My relatives jhave failed me,
my close kfriends have forgotten me.
15 The guests lin my house and my maidservants count me as a stranger;
I have become a foreigner in their eyes.
16 I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer;
I must plead with him with my mouth for mercy.
17 My breath is strange to my mwife,
and I am a stench to the children of nmy own mother.
18 Even young ochildren despise me;
when I rise they talk against me.
19 All my pintimate friends abhor me,
and those whom I loved have turned against me.
20 My qbones stick to my skin and to my flesh,
and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
21 Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, O you my friends,
for the hand of God has rtouched me!
22 Why do you, like God, spursue me?
Why are you not satisfied with my flesh?
23 “Oh that my words were written!
Oh that they were tinscribed in a book!
24 Oh that with an iron upen and lead
they were engraved in the rock forever!
25 For I vknow that my wRedeemer lives,
and at the last he will stand upon the xearth.2
26 And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
yet in3 my flesh I shall ysee God,
27 whom I shall see for myself,
and my eyes shall behold, and not zanother.
My heart afaints within me!
28 If you say, ‘How we will spursue him!’
and, ‘The root of the matter is found in him,’4
29 be afraid of the sword,
for wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
that you may know there is ba judgment.”
Born Again to a Living Hope
3 gBlessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! hAccording to his great mercy, ihe has caused us to be born again to a living hope jthrough the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to kan inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and lunfading, mkept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded nthrough faith for a salvation oready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by pvarious trials, 7 so that qthe tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes rthough it is tested by sfire—may be found to result in tpraise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 uThough you have not seen him, you love him. vThough you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining wthe outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
10 Concerning this salvation, xthe prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11 inquiring ywhat person or time1 zthe Spirit of Christ in them was indicating awhen he predicted bthe sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. 12 cIt was revealed to them that dthey were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you eby the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, fthings into which angels long to look.
Called to Be Holy
13 Therefore, gpreparing your minds for action,2 and hbeing sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, ido not be conformed to the passions jof your former ignorance, 15 but kas he who called you is holy, you also be holy lin all your conduct, 16 since it is written, m“You shall be holy, for I am holy.” 17 And if you ncall on him as Father who ojudges pimpartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves qwith fear throughout the time of your exile, 18 knowing that you rwere ransomed from sthe futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but twith the precious blood of Christ, like that of ua lamb vwithout blemish or spot. 20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but wwas made manifest xin the last times for the sake of you 21 ywho through him are believers in God, zwho raised him from the dead and agave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for ba sincere brotherly love, clove one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 dsince you have been born again, enot of perishable seed but of imperishable, through fthe living and abiding word of God; 24 for
g“All flesh is like grass
and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
and the flower falls,
25 hbut the word of the Lord remains forever.”
And this word iis the good news that was preached to you.
