From: "FamilyNet" 

Bible Reading for January 22

Job 21
[1] But Job answered and said,
[2] Hear diligently my speech, and let this be your consolations. [3]
Suffer me that I may speak; and after that I have spoken, mock on. [4] As
for me, is my complaint to man? and if it were so, why should not my spirit
be troubled?
[5] Mark me, and be astonished, and lay your hand upon your mouth. [6] Even
when I remember I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my flesh. [7]
Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power? [8]
Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring
before their eyes.
[9] Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.
[10] Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth
not her calf.
[11] They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance.
[12] They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ.
[13] They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave.
[14] Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the
knowledge of thy ways.
[15] What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should
we have, if we pray unto him?
[16] Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
[17] How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their
destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger. [18] They are
as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.
[19] God layeth up his iniquity for his children: he rewardeth him, and he
shall know it.
[20] His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of
the Almighty.
[21] For what pleasure hath he in his house after him, when the number of
his months is cut off in the midst? [22] Shall any teach God knowledge?
seeing he judgeth those that are high. [23] One dieth in his full strength,
being wholly at ease and quiet. [24] His breasts are full of milk, and his
bones are moistened with marrow. [25] And another dieth in the bitterness
of his soul, and never eateth with pleasure.
[26] They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them.
[27] Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which ye wrongfully
imagine against me.
[28] For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? and where are the
dwelling places of the wicked?
[29] Have ye not asked them that go by the way? and do ye not know their tokens,
[30] That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be
brought forth to the day of wrath.
[31] Who shall declare his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he
hath done?
[32] Yet shall he be brought to the grave, and shall remain in the tomb.
[33] The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, and every man shall
draw after him, as there are innumerable before him. [34] How then comfort
ye me in vain, seeing in your answers there remaineth falsehood?

Job 22
[1] Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, [2] Can a man be
profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself?
[3] Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous? or is it
gain to him that thou makest thy ways perfect? [4] Will he reprove thee for
fear of thee? will he enter with thee into judgment?
[5] Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite? [6] For
thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the
naked of their clothing.
[7] Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast
withholden bread from the hungry.
[8] But as for the mighty man, he had the earth; and the honourable man dwelt in it.
[9] Thou has sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.
[10] Therefore snares are round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee;
[11] Or darkness, that thou canst not see; and abundance of waters cover
thee.
[12] Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the
stars, how high they are!
[13] And thou sayest, How doth God know? can he judge through the dark cloud?
[14] Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh
in the circuit of heaven.
[15] Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden? [16] Which
were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood:
[17] Which said unto God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them?
[18] Yet he filled their houses with good things: but the counsel of the
wicked is far from me.
[19] The righteous see it, and are glad: and the innocent laugh them to scorn.
[20] Whereas our substance is not cut down, but the remnant of them the
fire consumeth.
[21] Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall
come unto thee.
[22] Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in
thine heart.
[23] If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put
away iniquity far from thy tabernacles. [24] Then shalt thou lay up gold as
dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks.
[25] Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, and thou shalt have plenty of silver.
[26] For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift
up thy face unto God.
[27] Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee, and thou
shalt pay thy vows.
[28] Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee:
and the light shall shine upon thy ways. [29] When men are cast down, then
thou shalt say, There is lifting up; and he shall save the humble person.
[30] He shall deliver the island of the innocent: and it is delivered by
the pureness of thine hands.

Job 23
[1] Then Job answered and said,
[2] Even to day is my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning.
[3] Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!
[4] I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.
[5] I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he
would say unto me.
[6] Will he plead against me with his great power? No; but he would put
strength in me.
[7] There the righteous might dispute with him; so should I be delivered
for ever from my judge.
[8] Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot
perceive him:
[9] On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he
hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him: [10] But he
knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as
gold.
[11] My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined.
[12] Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have
esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. [13] But he is
in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he
doeth.
[14] For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such
things are with him.
[15] Therefore am I troubled at his presence: when I consider, I am afraid of him.
[16] For God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me: [17]
Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he covered the
darkness from my face.

Job 24
[1] Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know
him not see his days?
[2] Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof.
[3] They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge.
[4] They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide
themselves together.
[5] Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work;
rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for
their children.
[6] They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage
of the wicked.
[7] They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no
covering in the cold.
[8] They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock
for want of a shelter.
[9] They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.
[10] They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the
sheaf from the hungry;
[11] Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and
suffer thirst.
[12] Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth
out: yet God layeth not folly to them.
[13] They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways
thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof. [14] The murderer rising with the
light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief.
[15] The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye
shall see me: and disguiseth his face. [16] In the dark they dig through
houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not
the light. [17] For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if
one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death. [18] He is
swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not
the way of the vineyards. [19] Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so
doth the grave those which have sinned.
[20] The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he
shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree. [21]
He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not: and doeth not good to the
widow.
[22] He draweth also the mighty with his power: he riseth up, and no man is
sure of life.
[23] Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth; yet his
eyes are upon their ways.
[24] They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low;
they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the
ears of corn.
[25] And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech
nothing worth?

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