Job 1

Prologue
 ¹  There once was a man named Job who lived in the land of Uz. He was blameless—a man of complete integrity. He feared God and stayed away from evil.  ²  He had seven sons and three daughters.  ³  He owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 teams of oxen, and 500 female donkeys. He also had many servants. He was, in fact, the richest person in that entire area.
   ⁴  Job's sons would take turns preparing feasts in their homes, and they would also invite their three sisters to celebrate with them.  ⁵  When these celebrations ended—sometimes after several days—Job would purify his children. He would get up early in the morning and offer a burnt offering for each of them. For Job said to himself, "Perhaps my children have sinned and have cursed God in their hearts." This was Job's regular practice.

Job's First Test
 ⁶  One day the members of the heavenly court [6]  came to present themselves before the LORD, and the Accuser, Satan, [6]  came with them.  ⁷  "Where have you come from?" the LORD asked Satan.
  Satan answered the LORD, "I have been patrolling the earth, watching everything that's going on."
   ⁸  Then the LORD asked Satan, "Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless — a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil."    ⁹  Satan replied to the LORD, "Yes, but Job has good reason to fear God.  ¹⁰  You have always put a wall of protection around him and his home and his property. You have made him prosper in everything he does. Look how rich he is!  ¹¹  But reach out and take away everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face!"
   ¹²  "All right, you may test him," the LORD said to Satan. "Do whatever you want with everything he possesses, but don't harm him physically." So Satan left the LORD's presence.
   ¹³  One day when Job's sons and daughters were feasting at the oldest brother's house,  ¹⁴  a messenger arrived at Job's home with this news: "Your oxen were plowing, with the donkeys feeding beside them,  ¹⁵  when the Sabeans raided us. They stole all the animals and killed all the farmhands. I am the only one who escaped to tell you."
   ¹⁶  While he was still speaking, another messenger arrived with this news: "The fire of God has fallen from heaven and burned up your sheep and all the shepherds. I am the only one who escaped to tell you."
   ¹⁷  While he was still speaking, a third messenger arrived with this news: "Three bands of Chaldean raiders have stolen your camels and killed your servants. I am the only one who escaped to tell you."
   ¹⁸  While he was still speaking, another messenger arrived with this news: "Your sons and daughters were feasting in their oldest brother's home.  ¹⁹  Suddenly, a powerful wind swept in from the wilderness and hit the house on all sides. The house collapsed, and all your children are dead. I am the only one who escaped to tell you."
   ²⁰  Job stood up and tore his robe in grief. Then he shaved his head and fell to the ground to worship.  ²¹  He said, "I came naked from my mother's womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The LORD gave me what I had, and the LORD has taken it away. Praise the name of the LORD!"  ²²  In all of this, Job did not sin by blaming God.

Job 2

Job's Second Test
 ¹  One day the members of the heavenly court [1]  came again to present themselves before the LORD, and the Accuser, Satan, [1]  came with them.  ²  "Where have you come from?" the LORD asked Satan.
  Satan answered the LORD, "I have been patrolling the earth, watching everything that's going on."
   ³  Then the LORD asked Satan, "Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless—a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil. And he has maintained his integrity, even though you urged me to harm him without cause."
   ⁴  Satan replied to the LORD, "Skin for skin! A man will give up everything he has to save his life.  ⁵  But reach out and take away his health, and he will surely curse you to your face!"
   ⁶  "All right, do with him as you please," the LORD said to Satan. "But spare his life."  ⁷  So Satan left the LORD's presence, and he struck Job with terrible boils from head to foot.
   ⁸  Job scraped his skin with a piece of broken pottery as he sat among the ashes.  ⁹  His wife said to him, "Are you still trying to maintain your integrity? Curse God and die."
   ¹⁰  But Job replied, "You talk like a foolish woman. Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?" So in all this, Job said nothing wrong. Job's Three Friends Share His Anguish
 ¹¹  When three of Job's friends heard of the tragedy he had suffered, they got together and traveled from their homes to comfort and console him. Their names were Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite.  ¹²  When they saw Job from a distance, they scarcely recognized him. Wailing loudly, they tore their robes and threw dust into the air over their heads to show their grief.  ¹³  Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and nights. No one said a word to Job, for they saw that his suffering was too great for words.

<<  1:6a Hebrew the sons of God. 1:6b Hebrew and the satan; similarly throughout this chapter.
<<  2:1a Hebrew the sons of God. 2:1b Hebrew and the satan; similarly throughout this chapter.

Acts 7 : 22-43

 ²²  Moses was taught all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in both speech and action.
   ²³  "One day when Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his relatives, the people of Israel.  ²⁴  He saw an Egyptian mistreating an Israelite. So Moses came to the man's defense and avenged him, killing the Egyptian.  ²⁵  Moses assumed his fellow Israelites would realize that God had sent him to rescue them, but they didn't.
   ²⁶  "The next day he visited them again and saw two men of Israel fighting. He tried to be a peacemaker. `Men,' he said, `you are brothers. Why are you fighting each other?'
   ²⁷  "But the man in the wrong pushed Moses aside. `Who made you a ruler and judge over us?' he asked.  <sup>28</sup>  `Are you going to kill me as you killed that Egyptian yesterday?'  ²⁹  When Moses heard that, he fled the country and lived as a foreigner in the land of Midian. There his two sons were born.
   ³⁰  "Forty years later, in the desert near Mount Sinai, an angel appeared to Moses in the flame of a burning bush.  ³¹  When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight. As he went to take a closer look, the voice of the LORD called out to him,  ³²  `I am the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.' Moses shook with terror and did not dare to look.
   <sup>33</sup>  "Then the LORD said to him, `Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground.  ³⁴  I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groans and have come down to rescue them. Now go, for I am sending you back to Egypt.' [34] 
   ³⁵  "So God sent back the same man his people had previously rejected when they demanded, `Who made you a ruler and judge over us?' Through the angel who appeared to him in the burning bush, God sent Moses to be their ruler and savior.  <sup>36</sup>  And by means of many wonders and miraculous signs, he led them out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and through the wilderness for forty years.
   <sup>37</sup>  "Moses himself told the people of Israel, `God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among your own people.' [37]   ³⁸  Moses was with our ancestors, the assembly of God's people in the wilderness, when the angel spoke to him at Mount Sinai. And there Moses received life-giving words to pass on to us. [38] 
   ³⁹  "But our ancestors refused to listen to Moses. They rejected him and wanted to return to Egypt.  ⁴⁰  They told Aaron, `Make us some gods who can lead us, for we don't know what has become of this Moses, who brought us out of Egypt.'  ⁴¹  So they made an idol shaped like a calf, and they sacrificed to it and celebrated over this thing they had made.  ⁴²  Then God turned away from them and abandoned them to serve the stars of heaven as their gods! In the book of the prophets it is written,

`Was it to me you were bringing sacrifices and offerings
  during those forty years in the wilderness, Israel?
 ⁴³  No, you carried your pagan gods—
  the shrine of Molech,
  the star of your god Rephan,
  and the images you made to worship them.
So I will send you into exile
  as far away as Babylon.' [43] 

<<  7:31-34 Exod 3:5-10.
<<  7:37 Deut 18:15.
<<  7:38 Some manuscripts read to you.
<<  7:42-43 Amos 5:25-27 (Greek version).