Job 32 Cross References - BBE

¹ So these three men gave no more answers to Job, because he seemed to himself to be right. ² And Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, was angry, burning with wrath against Job, because he seemed to himself more right than God; ³ And he was angry with his three friends, because they had been unable to give him an answer, and had not made Job's sin clear. ⁴ Now Elihu had kept quiet while Job was talking, because they were older than he; ⁵ And when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of the three men, he was very angry. ⁶ And Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, made answer and said, I am young, and you are very old, so I was in fear, and kept myself from putting my knowledge before you. ⁷ I said to myself, It is right for the old to say what is in their minds, and for those who are far on in years to give out wisdom. ⁸ But truly it is the spirit in man, even the breath of the Ruler of all, which gives them knowledge. ⁹ It is not the old who are wise, and those who are full of years have not the knowledge of what is right. ¹⁰ So I say, Give ear to me, and I will put forward my knowledge. ¹¹ I was waiting for your words, I was giving ear to your wise sayings; while you were searching out what to say, ¹² I was taking note; and truly not one of you was able to make clear Job's error, or to give an answer to his words. ¹³ Take care that you do not say, Wisdom is here; God may overcome him, but not man. ¹⁴ I will not put forward words like these, or make use of your sayings in answer to him. ¹⁵ Fear has overcome them, they have no more answers to give; they have come to an end of words. ¹⁶ And am I to go on waiting while they have nothing to say? while they keep quiet and give no more answers? ¹⁷ I will give my answer; I will put forward my knowledge: ¹⁸ For I am full of words, I am unable to keep in my breath any longer: ¹⁹ My stomach is like wine which is unable to get out; like skins full of new wine, it is almost burst. ²⁰ Let me say what is in my mind, so that I may get comfort; let me give answer with open mouth. ²¹ Let me not give respect to any man, or give names of honour to any living. ²² For I am not able to give names of honour to any man; and if I did, my Maker would quickly take me away.

²⁹ Let your minds be changed, and do not have an evil opinion of me; yes, be changed, for my righteousness is still in me.

² I will say to God, Do not put me down as a sinner; make clear to me what you have against me.

⁷ Though you see that I am not an evil-doer; and there is no one who is able to take a man out of your hands?

¹⁵ Truly, he will put an end to me; I have no hope; but I will not give way in argument before him;

⁷ There an upright man might put his cause before him; and I would be free for ever from my judge.

⁴ Truly, there is no deceit in my lips, and my tongue does not say what is false. ⁵ Let it be far from me! I will certainly not say that you are right! I will come to death before I give up my righteousness. ⁶ I will keep it safe, and will not let it go: my heart has nothing to say against any part of my life.

¹¹ For when it came to their ears, men said that I was truly happy; and when their eyes saw, they gave witness to me; ¹² For I was a saviour to the poor when he was crying for help, to the child with no father, and to him who had no supporter. ¹³ The blessing of him who was near to destruction came on me, and I put a song of joy into the widow's heart. ¹⁴ I put on righteousness as my clothing, and was full of it; right decisions were to me a robe and a head-dress. ¹⁵ I was eyes to the blind, and feet to him who had no power of walking. ¹⁶ I was a father to the poor, searching out the cause of him who was strange to me. ¹⁷ By me the great teeth of the evil-doer were broken, and I made him give up what he had violently taken away.

¹ I made an agreement with my eyes; how then might my eyes be looking on a virgin? ² For what is God's reward from on high, or the heritage given by the Ruler of all from heaven? ³ Is it not trouble for the sinner, and destruction for the evil-doers? ⁴ Does he not see my ways, and are not my steps all numbered? ⁵ If I have gone in false ways, or my foot has been quick in working deceit; ⁶ Let me be measured in upright scales, and let God see my righteousness: ⁷ If my steps have been turned out of the way, or if my heart went after my eyes, or if the property of another is in my hands; ⁸ Let me put seed in the earth for another to have the fruit of it, and let my produce be uprooted. ⁹ If my heart went after another man's wife, or if I was waiting secretly at my neighbour's door; ¹⁰ Then let my wife give pleasure to another man and let others make use of her body. ¹¹ For that would be a crime; it would be an act for which punishment would be measured out by the judges: ¹² It would be a fire burning even to destruction, and taking away all my produce. ¹³ If I did wrong in the cause of my man-servant, or my woman-servant, when they went to law with me; ¹⁴ What then will I do when God comes as my judge? and what answer may I give to his questions? ¹⁵ Did not God make him as well as me? did he not give us life in our mothers' bodies? ¹⁶ If I kept back the desire of the poor; if the widow's eye was looking for help to no purpose; ¹⁷ If I kept my food for myself, and did not give some of it to the child with no father; ¹⁸ For I was cared for by God as by a father from my earliest days; he was my guide from the body of my mother; ¹⁹ If I saw one near to death for need of clothing, and that the poor had nothing covering him; ²⁰ If his back did not give me a blessing, and the wool of my sheep did not make him warm; ²¹ If my hand had been lifted up against him who had done no wrong, when I saw that I was supported by the judges; ²² May my arm be pulled from my body, and be broken from its base. ²³ For the fear of God kept me back, and because of his power I might not do such things. ²⁴ If I made gold my hope, or if I ever said to the best gold, I have put my faith in you; ²⁵ If I was glad because my wealth was great, and because my hand had got together a great store; ²⁶ If, when I saw the sun shining, and the moon moving on its bright way, ²⁷ A secret feeling of worship came into my heart, and my hand gave kisses from my mouth; ²⁸ That would have been another sin to be rewarded with punishment by the judges; for I would have been false to God on high. ²⁹ If I was glad at the trouble of my hater, and gave cries of joy when evil overtook him; ³⁰ For I did not let my mouth give way to sin, in putting a curse on his life; ³¹ If the men of my tent did not say, Who has not had full measure of his meat? ³² The traveller did not take his night's rest in the street, and my doors were open to anyone on a journey; ³³ If I kept my evil doings covered, and my sin in the secret of my breast, ³⁴ For fear of the great body of people, or for fear that families might make sport of me, so that I kept quiet, and did not go out of my door; ³⁵ If only God would give ear to me, and the Ruler of all would give me an answer! or if what he has against me had been put in writing! ³⁶ Truly I would take up the book in my hands; it would be to me as a crown; ³⁷ I would make clear the number of my steps, I would put it before him like a prince! The words of Job are ended. ³⁸ If my land has made an outcry against me, or the ploughed earth has been in sorrow; ³⁹ If I have taken its produce without payment, causing the death of its owners; ⁴⁰ Then in place of grain let thorns come up, and in place of barley evil-smelling plants.

⁹ I am clean, without sin; I am washed, and there is no evil in me:

²¹ Uz the oldest, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel, the father of Aram,

³ What profit is it to you to be cruel, to give up the work of your hands, looking kindly on the design of evil-doers?

² By the life of God, who has taken away my right; and of the Ruler of all, who has made my soul bitter;

⁵ Let it be far from me! I will certainly not say that you are right! I will come to death before I give up my righteousness.

²¹ You have become cruel to me; the strength of your hand is hard on me.

⁵ For Job has said, I am upright, and it is God who has taken away my right; ⁶ Though I am right, still I am in pain; my wound may not be made well, though I have done no wrong.

¹⁷ How may a hater of right be a ruler? and will you say that the upright Ruler of all is evil? ¹⁸ He who says to a king, You are an evil-doer; and to rulers, You are sinners;

² Does it seem to you to be right, and righteousness before God, to say,

⁸ Will you even make my right of no value? will you say that I am wrong in order to make clear that you are right?

⁹ I am on fire with passion for your house; and the hard things which are said about you have come on me.

⁵ And looking round on them he was angry, being sad because of their hard hearts; and he said to the man, Put out your hand. And he put it out, and his hand was made well.

²⁹ But he, desiring to put himself in the right, said to Jesus, And who is my neighbour?

²⁶ Be angry without doing wrong; let not the sun go down on your wrath;

⁶ If you are clean and upright; then he will certainly be moved to take up your cause, and will make clear your righteousness by building up your house again.

³⁴ For the band of the evil-doers gives no fruit, and the tents of those who give wrong decisions for reward are burned with fire.

⁵ Is not your evil-doing great? and there is no end to your sins. ⁶ For you have taken your brother's goods when he was not in your debt, and have taken away the clothing of those who have need of it. ⁷ You do not give water to the tired traveller, and from him who has no food you keep back bread. ⁸ For it was the man with power who had the land, and the man with an honoured name who was living in it. ⁹ You have sent widows away without hearing their cause, and you have taken away the support of the child who has no father. ¹⁰ For this cause nets are round your feet, and you are overcome with sudden fear. ¹¹ Your light is made dark so that you are unable to see, and you are covered by a mass of waters. ¹² Is not God as high as heaven? and see the stars, how high they are! ¹³ And you say, What knowledge has God? is he able to give decisions through the deep dark? ¹⁴ Thick clouds are covering him, so that he is unable to see; and he is walking on the arch of heaven. ¹⁵ Will you keep the old way by which evil men went? ¹⁶ Who were violently taken away before their time, who were overcome by the rush of waters: ¹⁷ Who said to God, Go away from us; and, What is the Ruler of all able to do to us? ¹⁸ Though he made their houses full of good things: but the purpose of the evil-doers is far from me! ¹⁹ The upright saw it and were glad: and those who had done no wrong made sport of them, ²⁰ Saying, Truly, their substance is cut off, and their wealth is food for the fire. ²¹ Put yourself now in a right relation with him and be at peace: so will you do well in your undertakings. ²² Be pleased to take teaching from his mouth, and let his words be stored up in your heart. ²³ If you come back to the Ruler of all, making yourself low before him; if you put evil far away from your tents; ²⁴ And put your gold in the dust, even your gold of Ophir among the rocks of the valleys; ²⁵ Then the Ruler of all will be your gold, and his teaching will be your silver; ²⁶ For then you will have delight in the Ruler of all, and your face will be lifted up to God. ²⁷ You will make your prayer to him, and be answered; and you will give effect to your oaths. ²⁸ Your purposes will come about, and light will be shining on your ways. ²⁹ For God makes low those whose hearts are lifted up, but he is a saviour to the poor in spirit. ³⁰ He makes safe the man who is free from sin, and if your hands are clean, salvation will be yours.

²⁵ And if it is not so, now, who will make it clear that my words are false, and that what I say is of no value?

² Rule and power are his; he makes peace in his high places. ³ Is it possible for his armies to be numbered? and on whom is not his light shining? ⁴ How then is it possible for man to be upright before God? or how may he be clean who is a son of woman? ⁵ See, even the moon is not bright, and the stars are not clean in his eyes: ⁶ How much less man who is an insect, and the son of man who is a worm!

² How have you given help to him who has no power! how have you been the salvation of the arm which has no strength! ³ How have you given teaching to him who has no wisdom, and fully made clear true knowledge! ⁴ To whom have your words been said? and whose spirit came out from you?

¹ So these three men gave no more answers to Job, because he seemed to himself to be right.

⁵ For this man, in our opinion, is a cause of trouble, a maker of attacks on the government among Jews through all the empire, and a chief mover in the society of the Nazarenes:

¹³ And they are not able to give facts in support of the things which they say against me now.

¹¹ I was waiting for your words, I was giving ear to your wise sayings; while you were searching out what to say, ¹² I was taking note; and truly not one of you was able to make clear Job's error, or to give an answer to his words.

¹³ To give an answer before hearing is a foolish thing and a cause of shame.

¹⁹ And when he came near the tents he saw the image of the ox, and the people dancing; and in his wrath Moses let the stones go from his hands, and they were broken at the foot of the mountain.

² And Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, was angry, burning with wrath against Job, because he seemed to himself more right than God;

³² Get up from your seats before the white-haired, and give honour to the old, and let the fear of your God be before you: I am the Lord.

²⁸ And Eliab, his oldest brother, hearing what David said to the men, was moved to wrath against David, and said, Why have you come here? Into whose care have you given that little flock of sheep in the waste land? I have knowledge of your pride and the evil of your heart, you have come down to see the fight. ²⁹ And David said, What have I done now? was it not only a word? ³⁰ And turning away from him to one of the other men, he said the same words: and the people gave him the same answer.

⁷ Were you the first man to come into the world? or did you come into being before the hills?

¹⁰ With us are men who are grey-haired and full of years, much older than your father.

⁷ Give to all what is their right: taxes to him whose they are, payment to him whose right it is, fear to whom fear, honour to whom honour is to be given.

¹ Do not say sharp words to one who has authority in the church, but let your talk be as to a father, and to the younger men as to brothers:

⁶ To the young men give orders to be wise and serious-minded:

⁵ And in the same way, let the younger men be ruled by the older ones. Let all of you put away pride and make yourselves ready to be servants: for God is a hater of pride, but he gives grace to those who make themselves low.

⁶ Then King Rehoboam took the opinion of the old men who had been with Solomon his father when he was living, and said, In your opinion, what answer am I to give to this people? ⁷ And they said to him, If you will be a servant to this people today, caring for them and giving them a gentle answer, then they will be your servants for ever. ⁸ But he gave no attention to the opinion of the old men, and went to the young men of his generation who were waiting before him:

⁸ Put the question now to the past generations, and give attention to what has been searched out by their fathers: ⁹ For we are but of yesterday, and have no knowledge, because our days on earth are gone like a shade: ¹⁰ Will they not give you teaching, and say words of wisdom to you?

¹² Old men have wisdom, and a long life gives knowledge.

¹¹ Come, children, give attention to me; I will be your teacher in the fear of the Lord. ¹² What man has a love of life, and a desire that his days may be increased so that he may see good?

¹ The wise sayings of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel. ² To have knowledge of wise teaching; to be clear about the words of reason: ³ To be trained in the ways of wisdom, in righteousness and judging truly and straight behaviour: ⁴ To make the simple-minded sharp, and to give the young man knowledge, and serious purpose:

³¹ The grey head is a crown of glory, if it is seen in the way of righteousness.

¹² And though by this time it would be right for you to be teachers, you still have need of someone to give you teaching about the first simple rules of God's revelation; you have become like babies who have need of milk, and not of solid food.

³⁹ And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Seeing that God has made all this clear to you, there is no other man of such wisdom and good sense as you:

¹² I have done as you said: I have given you a wise and far-seeing heart, so that there has never been your equal in the past, and never will there be any like you in the future.

²⁸ And news of this decision which the king had made went through all Israel; and they had fear of the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to give decisions.

²⁹ And God gave Solomon a great store of wisdom and good sense, and a mind of wide range, as wide as the sand by the seaside.

¹² A word was given to me secretly, and the low sound of it came to my ears. ¹³ In troubled thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep comes on men, ¹⁴ Fear came on me and shaking, and my bones were full of trouble; ¹⁵ And a breath was moving over my face; the hair of my flesh became stiff: ¹⁶ Something was present before me, but I was not able to see it clearly; there was a form before my eyes: a quiet voice came to my ears, saying: ¹⁷ May a man be upright before God? or a man be clean before his Maker? ¹⁸ Truly, he puts no faith in his servants, and he sees error in his angels; ¹⁹ How much more those living in houses of earth, whose bases are in the dust! They are crushed more quickly than an insect; ²⁰ Between morning and evening they are completely broken; they come to an end for ever, and no one takes note. ²¹ If their tent-cord is pulled up, do they not come to an end, and without wisdom?

⁴ The spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Ruler of all gives me life.

¹⁶ Then he makes his secrets clear to men, so that they are full of fear at what they see;

¹¹ Who gives us more knowledge than the beasts of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of the heaven?

³⁶ Who has put wisdom in the high clouds, or given knowledge to the lights of the north?

⁶ For the Lord gives wisdom; out of his mouth come knowledge and reason:

²⁶ To the man with whom he is pleased, God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy; but to the sinner he gives the work of getting goods together and storing up wealth, to give to him in whom God has pleasure. This again is to no purpose and desire for wind.

¹⁷ Now as for these four young men, God gave them knowledge and made them expert in all book-learning and wisdom: and Daniel was wise in all visions and dreams.

²¹ By him times and years are changed: by him kings are taken away and kings are lifted up: he gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to those whose minds are awake:

¹⁰ But God has given us the revelation of these things through his Spirit, for the Spirit makes search into all things, even the deep things of God. ¹¹ For who has knowledge of the things of a man but the spirit of the man which is in him? in the same way, no one has knowledge of the things of God but the Spirit of God. ¹² But we have not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which comes from God, so that we may have knowledge of the things which are freely given to us by God.

⁸ For to one are given words of wisdom through the Spirit; and to another words of knowledge through the same Spirit:

¹⁶ Every holy Writing which comes from God is of profit for teaching, for training, for guiding, for education in righteousness:

⁵ But if any man among you is without wisdom, let him make his request to God, who gives freely to all without an unkind word, and it will be given to him.

²⁰ He makes the words of responsible persons without effect, and takes away the good sense of the old;

¹³ A young man who is poor and wise is better than a king who is old and foolish and will not be guided by the wisdom of others.

⁵ I will go to the great men and have talk with them; for they have knowledge of the way of the Lord and of the behaviour desired by their God. But as for these, their one purpose is a broken yoke and burst bands.

²⁵ At that time Jesus made answer and said, I give praise to you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have kept these things secret from the wise and the men of learning, and have made them clear to little children.

⁴⁸ Have any of the rulers belief in him, or any one of the Pharisees?

²⁶ For you see God's design for you, my brothers, that he has not taken a great number of the wise after the flesh, not the strong, not the noble: ²⁷ But God made selection of the foolish things of this world so that he might put the wise to shame; and the feeble things that he might put to shame the strong;

⁷ But we give the news of the secret wisdom of God, which he had kept in store before the world came into existence, for our glory; ⁸ Of which not one of the rulers of this world had knowledge: for if they had, they would not have put the Lord of glory on the cross:

⁶ But you have put the poor man to shame. Are not the men of wealth rulers over you? do they not take you by force before their judges? ⁷ Do they not say evil of the holy name which was given to you?

²⁵ Now about virgins I have no orders from the Lord: but I give my opinion as one to whom the Lord has given mercy to be true to him.

⁴⁰ But it will be better for her to keep as she is, in my opinion: and it seems to me that I have the Spirit of God.

²⁷ See, we have made search with care, and it is so; it has come to our ears; see that you take note of it for yourself.

²¹ Men gave ear to me, waiting and keeping quiet for my suggestions.

²³ They were waiting for me as for the rain, opening their mouths wide as for the spring rains.

⁴ Now Elihu had kept quiet while Job was talking, because they were older than he;

¹⁷ The man who first puts his cause before the judge seems to be in the right; but then his neighbour comes and puts his cause in its true light.

¹¹ The man of wealth seems to himself to be wise, but the poor man who has sense has a low opinion of him.

⁹ And because the Preacher was wise he still gave the people knowledge; searching out, testing, and putting in order a great number of wise sayings. ¹⁰ The Preacher made search for words which were pleasing, but his writing was in words upright and true.

³ And he was angry with his three friends, because they had been unable to give him an answer, and had not made Job's sin clear.

⁷ Desiring to be teachers of the law, though they have no knowledge of what they say or of the statements which they make so certainly.

²³ That I will not take so much as a thread or the cord of a shoe of yours; so that you may not say, I have given wealth to Abram:

² And the Lord said to Gideon, So great is the number of your people, that if I give the Midianites into their hands they will be uplifted in pride over me and will say, I myself have been my saviour.

²¹ With nothing I came out of my mother's body, and with nothing I will go back there; the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; let the Lord's name be praised.

¹⁰ And he said to her, You are talking like one of the foolish women. If we take the good God sends us, are we not to take the evil when it comes? In all this Job kept his lips from sin.

⁹ By the breath of God destruction takes them, and by the wind of his wrath they are cut off.

⁴ For the arrows of the Ruler of all are present with me, and their poison goes deep into my spirit: his army of fears is put in order against me.

² No doubt you have knowledge, and wisdom will come to an end with you.

⁸ Were you present at the secret meeting of God? and have you taken all wisdom for yourself? ⁹ What knowledge have you which we have not? is there anything in your mind which is not in ours? ¹⁰ With us are men who are grey-haired and full of years, much older than your father.

⁶ Be certain that it is God who has done me wrong, and has taken me in his net.

²¹ Have pity on me, have pity on me, O my friends! for the hand of God is on me.

²¹ Cursed are those who seem wise to themselves, and who take pride in their knowledge!

⁵ For this reason I made it clear to you in the past, before it came I gave you word of it: for fear that you might say, My god did these things, and my pictured and metal images made them come about.

⁷ They have only now been effected, and not in the past: and before this day they had not come to your ears; for fear that you might say, I had knowledge of them.

²³ This is the word of the Lord: Let not the wise man take pride in his wisdom, or the strong man in his strength, or the man of wealth in his wealth:

³ See, you are wiser than Daniel; there is no secret which is deeper than your knowledge:

⁷ And the Lord will give salvation to the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the family of David and the glory of the people of Jerusalem may not be greater than that of Judah.

¹¹ Jesus gave this answer: You would have no power at all over me if it was not given to you by God; so that he who gave me up to you has the greater sin.

¹⁹ As it says in the holy Writings, I will put an end to the wisdom of the wise, and will put on one side the designs of those who have knowledge. ²⁰ Where is the wise? where is he who has knowledge of the law? where is the man of this world who has a love of discussion? has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? ²¹ For because, by the purpose of God, the world, with all its wisdom, had not the knowledge of God, it was God's pleasure, by so foolish a thing as preaching, to give salvation to those who had faith in him.

²⁷ But God made selection of the foolish things of this world so that he might put the wise to shame; and the feeble things that he might put to shame the strong; ²⁸ And the low things of the world, and the things without honour, did God make selection of, yes, even the things which are not, so that he might make as nothing the things which are: ²⁹ So that no flesh might have glory before God.

¹⁸ Let no man have a false idea. If any man seems to himself to be wise among you, let him become foolish, so that he may be wise.

²⁴ Give me teaching and I will be quiet; and make me see my error. ²⁵ How pleasing are upright words! but what force is there in your arguments?

²² After I had said what was in my mind, they were quiet and let my words go deep into their hearts;

²³ And then will I say to them, I never had knowledge of you: go from me, you workers of evil.

²² And hearing it, they were full of wonder, and went away from him.

²⁶ In the same way the second and the third, up to the seventh.

³⁴ But the Pharisees, hearing how the mouths of the Sadducees had been stopped, came together;

⁴⁶ And no one was able to give him an answer, and so great was their fear of him, that from that day no one put any more questions to him.

⁵ If only you would keep quiet, it would be a sign of wisdom!

²⁸ Even the foolish man, when he keeps quiet, is taken to be wise: when his lips are shut he is credited with good sense.

¹³ So the wise will say nothing in that time; for it is an evil time.

¹⁹ You have knowledge of this, dear brothers. But let every man be quick in hearing, slow in words, slow to get angry;

¹⁰ So I say, Give ear to me, and I will put forward my knowledge.

¹² Truly, in saying this you are wrong; for God is greater than man.

³ What profit is it to me, and how am I better off than if I had done wrong? ⁴ I will make answer to you and to your friends:

³ My heart was burning in my breast; while I was deep in thought the fire was lighted; then I said with my tongue,

⁹ And if I say, I will not keep him in mind, I will not say another word in his name; then it is in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am tired of keeping myself in, I am not able to do it.

¹⁴ And the wind, lifting me up, took me away: and I went in the heat of my spirit, and the hand of the Lord was strong on me. ¹⁵ Then I came to those who had been taken away as prisoners, who were at Telabib by the river Chebar, and I was seated among them full of wonder for seven days. ¹⁶ And at the end of seven days, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ¹⁷ Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the children of Israel: so give ear to the word of my mouth, and give them word from me of their danger. ¹⁸ When I say to the evil-doer, Death will certainly be your fate; and you give him no word of it and say nothing to make clear to the evil-doer the danger of his evil way, so that he may be safe; that same evil man will come to death in his evil-doing; but I will make you responsible for his blood. ¹⁹ But if you give the evil-doer word of his danger, and he is not turned from his sin or from his evil way, death will overtake him in his evil-doing; but your life will be safe. ²⁰ Again, when an upright man, turning away from his righteousness, does evil, and I put a cause of falling in his way, death will overtake him: because you have given him no word of his danger, death will overtake him in his evil-doing, and there will be no memory of the upright acts which he has done; but I will make you responsible for his blood. ²¹ But if you say to the upright man that he is not to do evil, he will certainly keep his life because he took note of your word; and your life will be safe. ²² And the hand of the Lord was on me there; and he said, Get up and go out into the valley and there I will have talk with you. ²³ Then I got up and went out into the valley; and I saw the glory of the Lord resting there as I had seen it by the river Chebar; and I went down on my face. ²⁴ Then the spirit came into me and put me on my feet; and he had talk with me and said to me, Go and keep yourself shut up inside your house. ²⁵ But see, O son of man, I will put bands on you, prisoning you in them, and you will not go out among them: ²⁶ And I will make your tongue fixed to the roof of your mouth, so that you have no voice and may not make protests to them: for they are an uncontrolled people. ²⁷ But when I have talk with you I will make your mouth open, and you are to say to them, This is what the Lord has said: Let the hearer give ear; and as for him who will not, let him keep his ears shut: for they are an uncontrolled people.

²⁰ For it is not possible for us to keep from saying what we have seen and have knowledge of.

¹³ For if we are foolish, it is to God; or if we are serious, it is for you. ¹⁴ For it is the love of Christ which is moving us; because we are of the opinion that if one was put to death for all, then all have undergone death;

¹⁷ And men do not put new wine into old wine-skins; or the skins will be burst and the wine will come out, and the skins are of no more use: but they put new wine into new wine-skins, and so the two will be safe.

¹³ Keep quiet, and let me say what is in my mind, whatever may come to me.

¹⁹ Is any one able to take up the argument against me? If so, I would keep quiet and give up my breath.

² For this cause my thoughts are troubling me and driving me on.

³ Let me say what is in my mind, and after that, go on making sport of me.

⁶ Give ear, for my words are true, and my lips are open to give out what is upright. ⁷ For good faith goes out of my mouth, and false lips are disgusting to me.

¹⁵ Do no wrong in your judging: do not give thought to the position of the poor, or honour to the position of the great; but be a judge to your neighbour in righteousness.

¹⁷ In judging, do not let a man's position have any weight with you; give hearing equally to small and great; have no fear of any man, for it is God who is judge: and any cause in which you are not able to give a decision, you are to put before me and I will give it a hearing.

¹⁹ You are not to be moved in your judging by a man's position, you are not to take rewards; for rewards make the eyes of the wise man blind, and the decisions of the upright false.

¹⁷ Then your servant said, May the word of my lord the king give me peace! for my lord the king is as the angel of God in his hearing of good and bad: and may the Lord your God be with you!

²⁰ This he did, hoping that the face of this business might be changed: and my lord is wise, with the wisdom of the angel of God, having knowledge of everything on earth.

⁸ Will you have respect for God's person in this cause, and put yourselves forward as his supporters?

¹⁰ He will certainly put you right, if you have respect for persons in secret.

¹⁹ Who has no respect for rulers, and who gives no more attention to those who have wealth than to the poor, for they are all the work of his hands.

²³ These are more sayings of the wise: To have respect for a person's position when judging is not good.

¹⁶ And they sent to him their disciples, with the Herodians, saying, Master, we see that you are true, and that you are teaching the true way of God, and have no fear of anyone, because you have no respect for a man's position.

²² And the people, with loud cries, said, It is the voice of a god, not of a man. ²³ And straight away the angel of the Lord sent a disease on him, because he did not give the glory to God: and his flesh was wasted away by worms, and so he came to his end.

² And when he had been sent for, Tertullus, starting his statement, said, Because by you we are living in peace, and through your wisdom wrongs are put right for this nation, ³ In all things and in all places we are conscious of our great debt to you, most noble Felix.

⁵ As for him who is false to his friend for a reward, light will be cut off from the eyes of his children.

² Everyone says false words to his neighbour: their tongues are smooth in their talk, and their hearts are full of deceit. ³ The smooth lips and the tongue of pride will be cut off by the Lord.

⁵ A man who says smooth things to his neighbour is stretching out a net for his steps.

¹⁰ Am I now using arguments to men, or God? or is it my desire to give men pleasure? if I was still pleasing men, I would not be a servant of Christ.

⁵ For it is common knowledge among you that we never made use of smooth-sounding false words, and God is witness that at no time were we secretly desiring profit for ourselves,