Job Laments His Birth
1 After this Job hopened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. 2 And Job said:
3 i“Let the day perish on which I was born,
and the night that said,
‘A man is conceived.’
4 Let that day be darkness!
May God above not seek it,
nor light shine upon it.
5 Let gloom and jdeep darkness claim it.
Let clouds dwell upon it;
let the blackness of the day terrify it.
6 That night—let thick darkness seize it!
Let it not rejoice among the days of the year;
let it not come into the number of the months.
7 Behold, let that night be barren;
let no joyful cry enter it.
8 Let those curse it who curse the day,
who are ready to rouse up kLeviathan.
9 Let the stars of its dawn be dark;
let it hope for light, but have none,
nor see lthe eyelids of the morning,
10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb,
nor hide trouble from my eyes.
11 “Why mdid I not die at birth,
come out from the womb and expire?
12 Why did nthe knees receive me?
Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?
13 For then I would have lain down and been quiet;
I would have slept; then I would have been at rest,
14 with kings and counselors of the earth
who orebuilt ruins for themselves,
15 or with princes who had gold,
who filled their houses with silver.
16 Or why was I not as a hidden pstillborn child,
as infants who never see the light?
17 There the wicked cease from troubling,
and there the weary are at qrest.
18 There the prisoners are at ease together;
they hear not the voice of rthe taskmaster.
19 The small and the great are there,
and the slave is free from his master.
20 “Why is light given to him who is in misery,
and life to sthe bitter in soul,
21 who tlong for death, but it comes not,
and dig for it more than for uhidden treasures,
22 who rejoice exceedingly
and are glad when they find the grave?
23 Why is light given to a man whose vway is hidden,
whom God has whedged in?
24 For my sighing comes xinstead of1 my bread,
and my ygroanings are poured out like water.
25 zFor the thing that I fear comes upon me,
and what I dread befalls me.
26 I am not at ease, nor am I quiet;
I have no rest, but trouble comes.”
Eliphaz Speaks: The Innocent Prosper
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
2 “If one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient?
Yet who can keep from speaking?
3 Behold, you have instructed many,
and you have astrengthened the weak hands.
4 Your words have upheld him who was stumbling,
and you have amade firm the feeble knees.
5 But now it has come to you, and you are impatient;
it touches you, and you are dismayed.
6 bIs not your fear of God2 your cconfidence,
and the integrity of your ways your hope?
7 “Remember: dwho that was innocent ever perished?
Or where were the upright cut off?
8 As I have seen, those who eplow iniquity
and sow trouble reap the same.
9 By fthe breath of God they perish,
and by gthe blast of his anger they are consumed.
10 The roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion,
hthe teeth of the young lions are broken.
11 The strong lion perishes for lack of prey,
and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.
12 “Now a word was brought to me stealthily;
my ear received ithe whisper of it.
13 Amid jthoughts from kvisions of the night,
when kdeep sleep falls on men,
14 dread came upon me, and trembling,
which made all my bones shake.
15 A spirit glided past my face;
the hair of my flesh stood up.
16 It stood still,
but I could not discern its appearance.
lA form was before my eyes;
there was silence, then I heard ma voice:
17 n‘Can mortal man be in the right before3 God?
Can a man be pure before his Maker?
18 Even in his servants ohe puts no trust,
and his angels he charges with error;
19 how much more those who dwell in houses of pclay,
whose foundation is in qthe dust,
who are crushed like4 rthe moth.
20 Between smorning and evening they are beaten to pieces;
they perish forever twithout anyone regarding it.
21 Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them,
udo they not die, and that without wisdom?’
Jesus Cleanses a Leper
1 When he came down from the mountain, dgreat crowds followed him. 2 eAnd behold, a leper1 came to him and fknelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.” 3 And Jesus2 stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I will; be clean.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 4 And Jesus said to him, g“See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, hshow yourself to the priest and ioffer the gift that Moses commanded, jfor a proof to them.”
The Faith of a Centurion
5 kWhen he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, 6 “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” 7 And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” 8 But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but lonly say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant,3 ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 10 When Jesus heard this, mhe marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with nno one in Israel4 have I found such faith. 11 I tell you, omany will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, 12 pwhile the sons of the kingdom qwill be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place rthere will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 13 And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you sas you have believed.” tAnd the servant was healed at that very moment.
Jesus Heals Many
14 uAnd when Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw vhis mother-in-law lying sick with a fever. 15 He wtouched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and began to serve him. 16 That evening they brought to him many who were xoppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits ywith a word and healed all who were sick. 17 zThis was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: a“He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”
