Reading the Bible again for the First Time
Page 41
9 their wings touched one another; each of them moved straight ahead, without turning as they moved.
10 As for the appearance of their faces, the four had the face of a human being, the face of a lion on the right side, and the face of an ox on the left side, and the face of an eagle;
11 such were their faces. Their wings were spread out above; each creature had two wings, each of which touched the wing of another, while two covered their bodies.
12 Each moved straight ahead; wherever the spirit would go, they went, without turning as they went.
13 In the middle of the living creatures there was something that looked like burning coals of fire, like torches moving to and fro among the living creatures; the fire was bright, and lightning issued from the fire.
14 The living creatures darted to and fro, like a flash of lightning.
15 As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the earth beside the living creatures, one for each of the four of them.
16 As for the appearance of the wheels and their construction: their appearance was like the gleaming of a beryl; and the four had the same form, their construction being something like a wheel within a wheel.
17 When they moved, they moved in any of the four directions without veering as they moved.
18 Their rims were tall and awesome, for the rims of all four were full of eyes all around.
19 When the living creatures moved, the wheels moved beside them; and when the living creatures rose from the earth, the wheels rose.
20 Wherever the spirit would go, they went, and the wheels rose along with them; for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
21 When they moved, the others moved; when they stopped, the others stopped; and when they rose from the earth, the wheels rose along with them; for the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.
22 Over the heads of the living creatures there was something like a dome, shining like crystal, spread out above their heads.
23 Under the dome their wings were stretched out straight, one toward another; and each creature had two wings covering its body.
24 When they went, I heard the sound of their wings like the sound of mighty waters, like the thunder of the Almighty, a sound of tumult like the sound of an army; when they stopped, they let down their wings.
25 And there came a voice from above the dome over their heads; when they stopped, they let down their wings.
26 And above the dome over their heads there was something like a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was something that seemed like a human form.
27 Upward from what appeared like the loins I saw something like gleaming amber, something that looked like fire enclosed all around; and downward from what looked like the loins I saw something that looked like fire, and there was splendor all around.
28 Like the bow in a cloud on a rainy day, such was the appearance of the splendor all around. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. When I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking.
2 He said to me: O mortal, stand up on your feet, and I will speak with you.
2 And when he spoke to me, a spirit entered into me and set me on my feet; and I heard him speaking to me.
3 He said to me, Mortal, I am sending you to the people of Israel, to a nation of rebels who have rebelled against me; they and their ancestors have transgressed against me to this very day.
4 The descendants also are impudent and stubborn. I am sending you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD.”
5 Whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house), they shall know that there has been a prophet among them.
6 And you, O mortal, do not be afraid of them, and do noy be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns surround you and you live among scorpions; do not be afraid of their words, and do not be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house.
7 You shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear; for they are a rebellious house.
8 But you, mortal, hear what I say to you; do not be rebellious like that rebellious house; open your mouth, and eat what I give you.
9 I looked, and a hand was stretched out to me, and a written scroll was in it.
10 He spread it before me; it had writing on the front and on the back, and written on it words of lamentation and mourning and woe.
3 He said to me, O mortal, eat what is offered to you; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.
2 So I opened my mouth, and he gave me the scroll to eat.
3 He said to me, Mortal, eat this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it. Then I ate it; and in my mouth it was as sweet as honey.
4 And he said to me, Mortal, go to the house of Israel and speak with my words to them.
5 For you are not sent to a people of obscure speech and difficult language, but to the house of Israel—
6 not to many peoples of obscure speech and difficult language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, if I sent you to them, they would listen to you.
7 But the house of Israel will not listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me; because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart.
8 See, I have made your face hard against their faces, and your forehead hard against their foreheads.
9 Like the hardest stone, harder than flint, I have made your forehead; do not fear them or be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house.
10 He said to me, Mortal, all my words that I shall speak to you receive in your heart and hear with your ears;
11 then go to the exiles, to your people, and speak to them. Say to them, “Thus says the Lord GOD”; whether they hear or refuse to hear.
12 Then the Spirit lifted me up, and as the glory of the LORD rose from its place, I heard behind me the sound of loud rumbling;
13 it was the sound of the wings of the living creatures brushing against one another, and the sound of the wheels beside them, that sounded like a loud rumbling.
14 The Spirit lifted me up and bore me away; I went in bitterness in the heat of my spirit, the hand of the LORD being strong upon me.
15 I came to the exiles at Tel-abib, who lived by the river Chebar. And I sat there among them, stunned, for seven days.
16 At the end of seven days, the word of the LORD came to me:
17 Mortal, I have made you a sentinel for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me.
18 If I say to the wicked, “You shall surely die,”’ and you give them no warning, or speak to warn the wicked from their wicked way, in order to save their life, those wicked persons shall die for their iniquity; but their blood I will require at your hand.
19 But if you warn the wicked, and they do not turn from their wickedness, or from their wicked way, they shall die for their iniquity; but you will have saved your life.
20 Again, if the righteous turn from their righteousness and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, they shall die; because you have not warned them, they shall die for their sin, and their righteous deeds that they have done shall not be remembered; but their blood I will require at your hand.
21 If, however, you warn the righteous not to sin, and they do not sin, they shall surely live, because they took warning; and you will have saved your life.
22 Then the hand of the LORD was there upon me; and he said to me, Rise up, go out into the valley, and there I will speak with you.
23 So I arose and went out into the valley; and the glory of the LORD stood there, like the glory that I had seen by the river Chebar; and I fell on my face.
24 The Spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet; and he spoke with me and said to me, Go, shut yourself inside your house.
25 As for you, mortal, behold, cords shall be placed upon you, and you shall be bound with the
m, so that you cannot go out among the people;
26 and I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth, so that you shall be speechless and unable to reprove them; for they are a rebellious house.
27 But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, “Thus says the Lord GOD”; let those who will hear, hear; and let those who refuse to hear, refuse; for they are a rebellious house.
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Job 1
1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, one who feared God, and turned away from evil.
2 There were born to him seven sons and three daughters.
3 He had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred donkeys, and very many servants; so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east.
4 His sons used to go and hold a feast in one another’s houses in turn; and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.
5 And when the feast days had run their course, Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.” This is what Job always did.
6 One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.
7 The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the LORD, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”
8 And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”
9 Then Satan answered the LORD, “Does Job fear God for nothing?
10 Have you not put a fence around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.
11 But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.”
12 The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, all that he has is in your power; only do not put stretch out your hand against him.” So Satan went from the presence of the LORD.
13 One day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house;
14 a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were feeding beside them,
15 and the Sabeans fell on them and carried them off, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; I alone have escaped to tell you.”
16 While he was still speaking, another came and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants, and consumed them; I alone have escaped to tell you.”
17 While he was still speaking, another came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three columns, made a raid on the camels and carried them off, and killed the servants with the edge of the sword; I alone have escaped to tell you.”
18 While he was still speaking, another came and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house;
19 and suddenly a great wind came across the desert, struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they are dead; I alone have escaped to tell you.”
20 Then Job arose, tore his robe, shaved his head, and fell on the ground and worshiped.
21 He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there; the LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”
22 In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrongdoing.
Job 2
2 One day when the heavenly beings came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD.
2 The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the LORD, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”
3 The LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil. He still persists in his integrity, although you incited me against him, to destroy him for no reason.”
4 Then Satan answered the LORD, “Skin for skin! All that people have they will give to save their lives.
5 But stretch out your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.”
6 The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, he is in your power; only spare his life.”
7 So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD, and inflicted loathsome sores on Job from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.
8 Job took a potsherd with which to scrape himself, and sat among the ashes.
9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still persists in your integrity? Curse God, and die.”
10 But he said to her, “You speak as any foolish woman would speak. Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive the bad?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
11 Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, each of them set out from his home—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They met together to go and console and comfort him.
12 When they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him, and they raised their voices and wept aloud; they tore their robes and threw dust in the air upon their heads.
13 They sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.
Job 3
3 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.
2 Job said:
3 “Let the day perish in which I was born, and the night which said, ‘A man-child is conceived.’
4 Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, nor light shine on it.
5 Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds settle 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 Yes, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry be heard in it.
8 Let those curse it who curse the Sea, those who are skilled to rouse up Leviathan.
9 Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none, may it not see the 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 did I not die at birth, come forth from the womb and expire?
12 Why were there knees receive me? or breasts for me to suck?
13 Now I would be lying down and quiet; I would be asleep; then I would be at rest,
14 with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuild ruins for themselves,
15 or with princes who have gold, who fill their houses with silver.
16 Or why was I not buried like a stillborn child, like an infant that never sees the light?
17 There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest.
18 There the prisoners are at ease together; they do not hear the voice of the taskmaster.
19 The small and the great are there, and the slaves are free from their masters.
20 “Why is light given to one in misery, and life to the bitter in soul,
21 who long for death, but it does not come, and dig for it more than for hid treasures;
22 who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad when they find the grave?
23 Why is light given to one who cannot see the way, whom God has fenced in?
24 For my sighing comes like my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water.
25 Truly 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.”
Job 4
4 Then Eli’phaz the Te’manite answered:
2 “If one ventures a word with you, will you be offended? But who can keep from speaking?
3 See, you have instructed many; you have strengthened the weak hands.