² There was a man ³  in the land of Uz ⁴  whose ⁵  name was Job. ⁶  And that man was pure ⁷  and upright, ⁸  one who feared God and turned away from evil. ⁹ 

So the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered ¹  my servant Job? There ²  is no one like him on the earth, a pure and upright man, one who fears God and turns away ³  from evil.”

May those who are trying to snatch away my life be totally embarrassed and ashamed! ¹  May those who want to harm me be turned back and ashamed! ² 

“Please, Lord. Remember how I have served you ¹  faithfully and with wholehearted devotion, ²  and how I have carried out your will.” ³  Then Hezekiah wept bitterly. ⁴ 

So I went to Perath and dug up ¹  the shorts from the place where I had buried them. I found ²  that they were ruined; they were good for nothing.

After I vent my wrath on it Babylon will be uninhabited. ¹  It will be totally desolate. All who pass by will be filled with horror and will hiss out their scorn because of all the disasters that have happened to it. ² 

I cannot carry out ¹  my fierce anger! I cannot totally destroy Ephraim! Because I am God, and not man – the Holy One among you – I will not come in wrath!

“If thieves came to rob you ¹  during the night, ²  they would steal only as much as they wanted! ³  If grape pickers came to harvest your vineyards, ⁴  they would leave some behind for the poor! ⁵  But you will be totally destroyed! ⁶ 

When they opposed him ¹  and reviled him, ²  he protested by shaking out his clothes ³  and said to them, “Your blood ⁴  be on your own heads! I am guiltless! ⁵  From now on I will go to the Gentiles!”

When they arrived, he said to them, “You yourselves know how I lived ¹  the whole time I was with you, from the first day I set foot ²  in the province of Asia, ³ 

Thanks be ¹  to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, ²  I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but ³  with my flesh I serve ⁴  the law of sin.

So I ask, God has not rejected his people, has he? Absolutely not! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.

Indeed we felt as if the sentence of death had been passed against us, ¹  so that we would not trust in ourselves ²  but in God who raises the dead.

In fact this is why ¹  we work hard and struggle, ²  because we have set our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, ³  especially of believers.

He ¹  gave himself for us to set us free from every kind of lawlessness and to purify for himself a people who are truly his, ²  who are eager to do good. ³ 

But if the Lord does something entirely new, ¹  and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up ²  along with all that they have, and they ³  go down alive to the grave, ⁴  then you will know that these men have despised the Lord!”

Of all the most holy offerings reserved ¹  from the fire this will be yours: Every offering of theirs, whether from every grain offering or from every purification offering or from every reparation offering which they bring to me, will be most holy for you and for your sons.

You must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer, ¹  for the Lord your God will be testing you to see if you love him ²  with all your mind and being. ³ 

if you obey the Lord your God and keep his commandments and statutes that are written in this scroll of the law. But you must turn to him ¹  with your whole mind and being.

For I know that after I die you will totally ¹  corrupt yourselves and turn away from the path I have commanded you to walk. Disaster will confront you in the days to come because you will act wickedly ²  before the Lord, inciting him to anger because of your actions.” ³