When Job’s three friends heard about all this calamity that had happened to him, each of them came from his own country ²  – Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. ³  They met together ⁴  to come to show sympathy ⁵  for him and to console ⁶  him.

I will remember and weep! ¹  For I was once walking along with the great throng to the temple of God, shouting and giving thanks along with the crowd as we celebrated the holy festival. ² 

So I will assign him a portion with the multitudes, ¹  he will divide the spoils of victory with the powerful, ²  because he willingly submitted ³  to death and was numbered with the rebels, when he lifted up the sin of many and intervened ⁴  on behalf of the rebels.”

For I will rouse into action and bring against Babylon a host of mighty nations ¹  from the land of the north. They will set up their battle lines against her. They will come from the north and capture her. ²  Their arrows will be like a skilled soldier ³  who does not return from the battle empty-handed. ⁴ 

They will attack ¹  you with weapons, ²  chariots, wagons, and with a huge army; ³  they will array themselves against you on every side with large shields, small shields, and helmets. I will assign them the task of judgment; ⁴  they will punish you according to their laws.

They come to you in crowds, ¹  and they sit in front of you as ²  my people. They hear your words, but do not obey ³  them. For they talk lustfully, ⁴  and their heart is set on ⁵  their own advantage. ⁶ 

tell them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to take the branch of Joseph which is in the hand of Ephraim and the tribes of Israel associated with him, and I will place them on the stick of Judah, ¹  and make them into one stick – they will be one in my hand.’ ² 

You will be driven from human society, and you will live with the wild animals. You will be fed grass like oxen, and seven periods of time will pass by for you before ¹  you understand that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms and gives them to whomever he wishes.”

Now in that very moment ¹  this pronouncement about ²  Nebuchadnezzar came true. ³  He was driven from human society, he ate grass like oxen, and his body became damp with the dew of the sky, until his hair became long like an eagle’s feathers, and his nails like a bird’s claws. ⁴ 

Those survivors from Jacob will live among the nations, in the midst of many peoples. They will be like a lion among the animals of the forest, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep, which attacks when it passes through; it rips its prey ¹  and there is no one to stop it. ² 

Then ¹  he came down with them and stood on a level place. ²  And a large number ³  of his disciples had gathered ⁴  along with ⁵  a vast multitude from all over Judea, from ⁶  Jerusalem, ⁷  and from the seacoast of Tyre ⁸  and Sidon. ⁹  They came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases,

But the Jews became jealous, ¹  and gathering together some worthless men from the rabble in the marketplace, ²  they formed a mob ³  and set the city in an uproar. ⁴  They attacked Jason’s house, ⁵  trying to find Paul and Silas ⁶  to bring them out to the assembly. ⁷ 

to open their eyes so that they turn ¹  from darkness to light and from the power ²  of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share ³  among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’

As for that prophet or dreamer, ¹  he must be executed because he encouraged rebellion against the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt, redeeming you from that place of slavery, and because he has tried to entice you from the way the Lord your God has commanded you to go. In this way you must purge out evil from within. ² 

In the second year after they had come to the temple of God in Jerusalem, ¹  in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak initiated the work, ²  along with the rest of their associates, ³  the priests and the Levites, and all those who were coming to Jerusalem from the exile. They appointed ⁴  the Levites who were at least twenty years old ⁵  to take charge of the work on the Lord’s temple.

You will be driven ¹  from human society, ²  and you will live ³  with the wild animals. You will be fed ⁴  grass like oxen, ⁵  and you will become damp with the dew of the sky. Seven periods of time will pass by for you, before ⁶  you understand that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms and gives them to whomever he wishes.

He was driven from human society, his mind ¹  was changed to that of an animal, he lived ²  with the wild donkeys, he was fed grass like oxen, and his body became damp with the dew of the sky, until he came to understand that the most high God rules over human kingdoms, and he appoints over them whomever he wishes.