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Take a breath, find your place, and read deeply. Discover the joy of reading God’s word with the Immerse New Living Translation (NLT) Bible.
This daily Bible podcast will take you through the Bible in a year following the Immerse Bible Reading Experience. So grab your family and small group and go through the Bible in a year together with Immerse. Each of the 6 volumes is available online or at your favorite Christian bookstore.
Henry: Welcome To Immerse: The
Daily Bible Reading Experience.
Day three hundred and twenty two.
Job continued speaking.
I vow by the living God who
has taken away my rights by the
Almighty, who has embittered my soul.
As long as I live, while I have breath
from God, my lips will speak no evil
and my tongue will speak no lies.
I will never concede that you are right.
I will defend my integrity until I die.
I will maintain my
innocence without wavering.
My conscience is clear For as
long as I live, may my enemy
be punished like the wicked.
My adversary, like those who do evil
for what hope do the godless have
when God cuts them off and takes away
their life, will God listen to their
cry when trouble comes upon them?
Can they take delight in the Almighty?
Can they call to God at any time?
I will teach you about God's power.
I will not conceal anything
concerning the Almighty.
But you have seen all this, yet you
say all these useless things to me.
This is what the wicked
will receive from God.
This is their inheritance
from the Almighty.
They may have many children,
but the children will die
in war or starve to death.
Those who survive will die of a plague
and not even their widows will mourn them.
Evil people may have piles of money and
may store away mounds of clothing, but
the righteous will wear that clothing
and the innocent will divide that money.
The wicked build houses as fragile
as a spider's web, as flimsy
as a shelter made of branches.
The wicked go to bed rich, but wake
to find that all their wealth is gone.
Terror overwhelms them like a flood,
and they are blown away In the
storms of the night, the east wind
carries them away and they are gone.
It sweeps them away.
It whirls down on them without mercy.
They struggle to flee from its power, but
everyone jeers at them and mocks them.
People know where to mine
silver and how to refine gold.
They know where to dig iron from the
earth and how to smelt copper from rock.
They know how to shine light in the
darkness and explore the farthest regions
of the earth as they search in the dark.
For ore, they sink a mineshaft into
the earth far from where anyone lives.
They descend on ropes,
swinging back and forth.
Food is grown on the earth above, but
down below the earth is melted as by fire.
Here, the rocks contain precious
lapis, lly, and the dust contains gold.
These are treasures.
No bird of prey can see
no falcons eye observe.
No wild animal has walked
upon these treasures.
No lion has ever set his paw there.
People know how to tear apart Flinty
rocks and overturn the roots of mountains.
They cut tunnels in the rocks
and uncover precious stones.
They dam up the trickling streams and
bring to light the hidden treasures.
But do people know where to find wisdom?
Where can they find understanding?
No one knows where to find it for.
It is not found among the living.
It is not here says the ocean,
nor is it here, says the sea.
It cannot be bought with gold.
It cannot be purchased with silver.
It's worth more than all the gold of oer,
greater than precious onyx or lapis lly.
Wisdom is more valuable
than gold and crystal.
It cannot be purchased.
With jewels mounted in fine,
gold, coral and Jasper are
worthless in trying to get it.
The price of wisdom is far above rubies.
Precious paradox from Ethiopia
cannot be exchanged for it.
It's worth more than the purest gold.
But do people know where to find wisdom?
Where can they find understanding?
It is hidden from the
eyes of all humanity.
Even the sharp-eyed birds in
the sky cannot discover it.
Destruction and death say, we've heard
only rumors of where wisdom can be found.
God alone understands the way to wisdom.
He knows where it can be found for.
He looks throughout the whole earth
and sees everything under the heavens.
He decided how hard the wind should
blow and how much rain should fall.
He made the laws for the rain and
laid out a path for the lightning.
Then he saw wisdom and evaluated it.
He said it in place and examined
it thoroughly, and this is
what he says To all humanity,
the fear of the Lord is true.
Wisdom to forsake evil
is real understanding.
Job continued speaking.
I long for the years gone by when
God took care of me, when he lit
up the way before me, and I walked
safely through the darkness.
When I was in my prime, God's
friendship was felt in my home.
The Almighty was still with me
and my children were around me.
My steps were a wash in cream and
the rocks gushed olive oil for me.
The those were the days when I
went to the city gate and took my
place among the honored leaders.
The young stepped aside when
they saw me and even the aged
rose and respect at my coming.
The Princes stood in silence and
put their hands over their mouths.
The highest officials of the city stood
quietly holding their tongues in respect.
All who heard me praised me, all
who saw me, spoke well of me, for
I assisted the poor in their need
and the orphans who required help.
I helped those without hope and
they blessed me, and I caused the
widow's hearts to sing for joy.
Everything I did was honest.
Righteousness covered me like a robe,
and I wore justice like a turban.
I served as eyes for the
blind and feet for the lame.
I was a father to the poor and
assisted strangers who needed help.
I broke the jaws of godless,
oppressors and plucked their
victims from their teeth.
I thought, surely I will die surrounded by
my family after a long, good life for I am
like a tree whose roots reach the water.
Whose branches are refreshed with the due
new honors are constantly bestowed on me
and my strength is continually renewed.
Everyone listened to my advice.
They were silent as they waited for
me to speak, and after I spoke, they
had nothing to add for my counsel.
Satisfied them.
They longed for me to speak
as people long for rain.
They drank my words like
a refreshing spring rain.
When they were discouraged,
I smiled at them.
My look of approval was
precious to them like a chief.
I told them what to do.
I lived like a king among his troops
and comforted those who mourned.
But now I am mocked by people younger
than I, by young men whose fathers are
not worthy to run with my sheep dogs.
A lot of good they are.
To me.
Those worn out wretches, they
are gone from poverty and hunger.
They claw the dry ground
in desolate wastelands.
They pluck wild greens from
among the bushes and eat from
the roots of broom trees.
They are driven from human
society and people shout at
them as if they were thieves.
So now they live in frightening ravines
in caves and among the rocks, they sound
like animals howling among the bushes,
huddled together beneath the nettles.
They're nameless fools
outcasts from society.
And now they mock me with vulgar songs.
They taunt me.
They despise me and won't come
near me, except as spit in my
face for God has cut my bow.
Stringing.
He has humbled me so they
have thrown off all restraint.
These outcasts oppose me to my face.
They send me sprawling
and lay traps in my path.
They block my road and do
everything they can to destroy me.
They know I have no one to help me.
They come at me from all directions.
They jump on me when I am down.
I live in terror now, my honor
Has blown away in the wind and
my prosperity has vanished like a
cloud, and now my life seeps away.
Depression haunts my days at night.
My bones are filled with pain, which gnaws
at me relentlessly with a strong hand.
God grabs my shirt.
He grips me by the collar of my coat.
He has thrown me into the mud.
I'm nothing more than dust and ashes.
I cry to you.
Oh God, but you don't answer.
I stand before you, but
you don't even look.
You have become cruel toward me.
You use your power to persecute me.
You throw me into the whirlwind and
destroy me in the storm, and I know
you are sending me to my death.
The destination of all who live.
Surely no one would turn against the needy
when they cry for help in their trouble.
Did I not weep for those in trouble?
Was I not deeply grieved for the needy?
So I looked for good, but evil came.
Instead, I waited for the
light, but darkness fell.
My heart is troubled and restless.
Days of suffering torment me.
I walk in gloom without sunlight.
I stand in the public
square and cry for help.
Instead, I am considered a brother
to jackals and a companion to owls.
My skin has turned dark and
my bones burn with fever.
My heart plays sad music and my
flute accompanies those who weep.
I made a covenant with my eyes not
to look with lust at a young woman.
For what has God above chosen for us?
What is our inheritance from
the Almighty on high, isn't it?
Calamity for the wicked and
misfortune for those who do evil?
Doesn't he see everything
I do and every step I take?
Have I lied to anyone or deceived anyone?
Let God weigh me on the scales of
justice for he knows my integrity
if I have strayed from his pathway.
Or if my heart has lusted for what
my eyes have seen, or if I'm guilty
of any other sin, then let someone
else eat the crops I have planted.
Let all that I have planted be uprooted.
If my heart has been seduced by a woman,
or if I have lusted for my neighbor's
wife, then let my wife serve another man.
Let other men sleep with her
for lust Is a shameful sin, a
crime that should be punished.
It is a fire that burns
all the way to hell.
It would wipe out everything I
own if I have been unfair to my
male or female servants when they
brought their complaints to me.
How could I face God?
What could I say When he questioned me,
for God created both me and my servants.
He created us both in the womb.
Have I refused to help the poor
or crushed the hopes of widows?
Have I been stingy with my food and
refused to share it with orphans?
No.
From childhood, I have cared for
orphans like a father, and all
my life I have cared for widows.
Whenever I saw the homeless without
clothes and the needy with nothing
to wear, did they not praise me for
providing wool clothing to keep them warm?
If I raised my hand against an orphan,
knowing the judges would take my side,
then let my shoulder be wrenched out
of place, let my arm be torn from its
socket, that would be better than facing
God's judgment for if the majesty of
God opposes me, what hope is there?
Have I put my trust in money
or felt secure because of gold?
Have I gloated about my
wealth and all that I own?
Have I looked at the sun shining in the
skies or the moon walking down its silver
pathway and been secretly enticed in my
heart to throw kisses at them and worship.
If so, I should be punished by the judges.
For it would mean I had
denied the God of heaven.
Have I ever rejoiced when disastrous
struck my enemies or become
excited when harm came their way?
No.
I have never sinned by cursing
anyone or by asking for revenge.
My servants have never said
he let others go hungry.
I have never turned away a stranger,
but have opened my doors to everyone.
Have I tried to hide my
sins like other people do?
Concealing my guilt in my heart?
Have I feared the crowd or the
contempt of the masses so that
I kept quiet and stayed indoors?
If only someone would listen to me,
look, I will sign my name to my defense.
Let the almighty answer me.
Let my accuser write out
the charges against me.
I would face the accusation proudly.
I would wear it like a crown for, I
would tell him exactly what I have done.
I would come before him like a prince.
If my land accuses me and all its
furrows cry out together, or if I
have stolen its crops or murdered
its owners, then let thistles grow on
that land instead of wheat and weeds.
Instead of barley job's, words are ended.
This concludes today's
immerse reading experience.
Thank you for joining us.