The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Saturday September 1, 2018 (NIV)

Job 40-42

The Lord Speaks

The Lord responded to Job,

“Will the person who finds fault with the Almighty correct him?
Will the person who argues with God answer him?”

Job Speaks

Job answered the Lord,

“I’m so insignificant. How can I answer you?
I will put my hand over my mouth.
I spoke once, but I can’t answer—
twice, but not again.”

The Lord Speaks: Can You Be Like Me, Job?

Then the Lord responded to Job out of a storm,

“Brace yourself like a man!
I will ask you, and you will teach me.

“Would you undo my justice?
Would you condemn me so that you can be righteous?
Do you have power like God’s?
Can you thunder with a voice like his?
10 Then dress yourself in majesty and dignity.
Clothe yourself in splendor and glory.
11 Unleash your outbursts of anger.
Look at all who are arrogant, and put them down.
12 Look at all who are arrogant, and humble them.
Crush wicked people wherever they are.
13 Hide them completely in the dust,
and cover their faces in the hidden place.
14 Then even I will praise you
because your right hand can save you.

Can You Conquer Behemoth, Job?

15 “Look at Behemoth,[a] which I made along with you.
It eats grass as cattle do.
16 Look at the strength in its back muscles,
the power in its stomach muscles.
17 It makes its tail stiff like a cedar.
The ligaments of its thighs are intertwined.
18 Its bones are bronze tubes.
They are like iron bars.
19 Behemoth is the first of God’s conquests.
Its maker approaches it with his sword.
20 The hills bring it food,
and all the wild animals play there.
21 It lies down under the lotus plants
in a hiding place among reeds and swamps.
22 Lotus plants provide it with cover.
Poplars by the stream surround it.
23 Though the river flows powerfully against it, it’s not alarmed.
It’s confident even when the Jordan rushes against its mouth.
24 Can anyone blind its eyes[b]
or pierce its nose with snares?

The Lord Continues: Can You Conquer Leviathan, Job?

41 [c] “Can you pull Leviathan[d] out of the water with a fishhook
or tie its tongue down with a rope?
Can you put a ring through its nose
or pierce its jaw with a hook?
Will it plead with you for mercy
or speak tenderly to you?
Will it make an agreement with you
so that you can take it as your permanent slave?
Can you play with it like a bird
or keep it on a leash for your girls?
Will traders bargain over it
and divide it among the merchants?
Can you fill its hide with harpoons
or its head with fishing spears?
Lay your hand on it.
Think of the struggle!
Don’t do it again!
Certainly, any hope of defeating it is a false hope.
Doesn’t the sight of it overwhelm you?
10 No one is brave enough to provoke Leviathan.
Then who can stand in front of me?[e]
11 Who can confront me that I should repay him?
Everything under heaven belongs to me!

12 “I will not be silent about Leviathan’s limbs,
its strength, or its graceful form.
13 Who can skin its hide?
Who can approach it with a harness?
14 Who can open its closed mouth?
Its teeth are surrounded by terror.
15 Its back has rows of scales that are tightly sealed.
16 One is so close to the other
that there is no space between them.
17 Each is joined to the other.
They are locked together and inseparable.
18 When Leviathan sneezes, it gives out a flash of light.
Its eyes are like the first rays of the dawn.
19 Flames shoot from its mouth.
Sparks of fire fly from it.
20 Smoke comes from its nostrils
like a boiling pot heated over brushwood.
21 Its breath sets coals on fire,
and a flame pours from its mouth.
22 Strength resides in its neck,
and power dances in front of it.
23 The folds of its flesh stick to each other.
They are solid and cannot be moved.
24 Its chest is solid like a rock,
solid like a millstone.

25 “The mighty are afraid when Leviathan rises.
Broken down, they draw back.
26 A sword may strike it but not pierce it.
Neither will a spear, lance, or dart.
27 It considers iron to be like straw
and bronze to be like rotten wood.
28 An arrow won’t make it run away.
Stones from a sling turn to dust against it.
29 It considers clubs to be like stubble,
and it laughs at a rattling javelin.
30 Its underside is like sharp pieces of broken pottery.
It stretches out like a threshing[f] sledge on the mud.
31 It makes the deep sea boil like a pot.
It stirs up the ocean like a boiling kettle.
32 It leaves a shining path behind it
so that the sea appears to have silvery hair.
33 Nothing on land can compare to it.
It was made fearless.
34 It looks down on all high things.
It is king of everyone who is arrogant.”

Job Speaks: I Admit That I Was Wrong

Then Job answered the Lord,

“I know that you can do everything
and that your plans are unstoppable.

You said, ‘Who is this that belittles my advice
without having any knowledge about it?’
Yes, I have stated things I didn’t understand,
things too mysterious for me to know.

You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak.
I will ask you, and you will teach me.’
I had heard about you with my own ears,
but now I have seen you with my own eyes.
That is why I take back what I said,
and I sit in dust and ashes to show that I am sorry.”

Job’s Life Is Restored

After the Lord had said those things to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz from Teman, “I’m very angry with you and your two friends because you didn’t speak what is right about me as my servant Job has done. So take seven young bulls and seven rams. Go to my servant Job, and make a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you. Then I will accept his prayer not to treat you as godless fools. After all, you didn’t speak what is right about me as my servant Job has done.”

Then Eliphaz of Teman, Bildad of Shuah, and Zophar of Naama went and did what the Lord had told them to do. And the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.

10 After Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored Job’s prosperity and gave him twice as much as he had before. 11 Then all his brothers and sisters and everyone who had previously known him came to him. They ate with him at his house, sympathized with him, and comforted him for all the evil the Lord had brought to him. Each one gave him some money[g] and a gold ring.

12 The Lord blessed the latter years of Job’s life more than the earlier years. He had 14,000 sheep and goats, 6,000 camels, 2,000 oxen, and 1,000 donkeys. 13 He also had seven sons and three daughters. 14 He named the first daughter Jemimah, the second Cassia, and the third Keren Happuch. 15 Nowhere in the whole country could be found women who were as beautiful as Job’s daughters. Their father gave them and their brothers an inheritance.

16 Job lived 140 years after this. He saw his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. [h] 17 Then at a very old age, Job died.

Footnotes:

  1. Job 40:15 The Hebrew word Behemoth means “beast, animal.”
  2. Job 40:24 Or “catch it with a trap.”
  3. Job 41:1 Job 41:1–34 in English Bibles is Job 40:25–41:26 in the Hebrew Bible.
  4. Job 41:1 Hebrew meaning uncertain.
  5. Job 41:10 Some Hebrew manuscripts; many Hebrew manuscripts “it.”
  6. Job 41:30 Threshing is the process of beating stalks to separate them from the grain.
  7. Job 42:11 Hebrew meaning uncertain.
  8. Job 42:17 Or “grandchildren, four generations.”
GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group

2 Corinthians 5:11-21

Christ’s Love Guides Us

11 As people who know what it means to fear the Lord, we try to persuade others. God already knows what we are, and I hope that you also know what we are. 12 We are not trying to show you our qualifications again, but we are giving you an opportunity to be proud of us. Then you can answer those who are proud of their appearance rather than their character. 13 So if we were crazy, it was for God. If we are sane, it is for you. 14 Clearly, Christ’s love guides us. We are convinced of the fact that one man has died for all people. Therefore, all people have died. 15 He died for all people so that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for the man who died and was brought back to life for them.

16 So from now on we don’t think of anyone from a human point of view. If we did think of Christ from a human point of view, we don’t anymore. 17 Whoever is a believer in Christ is a new creation. The old way of living has disappeared. A new way of living has come into existence. 18 God has done all this. He has restored our relationship with him through Christ, and has given us this ministry of restoring relationships. 19 In other words, God was using Christ to restore his relationship with humanity. He didn’t hold people’s faults against them, and he has given us this message of restored relationships to tell others. 20 Therefore, we are Christ’s representatives, and through us God is calling you. We beg you on behalf of Christ to become reunited with God. 21 God had Christ, who was sinless, take our sin so that we might receive God’s approval through him.

GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group

Psalm 45

Psalm 45

For the choir director; according to shoshannim;[a] a maskil by Korah’s descendants; a love song.

My heart is overflowing with good news.
I will direct my song to the king.
My tongue is a pen for a skillful writer.

You are the most handsome of Adam’s descendants.
Grace is poured on your lips.
That is why God has blessed you forever.
O warrior, strap your sword to your side
with your splendor and majesty.
Ride on victoriously in your majesty
for the cause of truth, humility, and righteousness.
Let your right hand teach you awe-inspiring things.
Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies.
Nations fall beneath you.
Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.
The scepter in your kingdom is a scepter for justice.
You have loved what is right and hated what is wrong.
That is why God, your God, has anointed you,
rather than your companions, with the oil of joy.
All your robes are fragrant with myrrh, aloes, and cassia.
From ivory palaces the music of stringed instruments delights you.
The daughters of kings are among your noble ladies.
The queen takes her place at your right hand
and wears gold from Ophir.

10 Listen, daughter! Look closely!
Turn your ear toward me.
Forget your people, and forget your father’s house.
11 The king longs for your beauty.
He is your Lord.
Worship him.

12 The people of Tyre, the richest people,
want to win your favor with a gift.
13 The daughter of the king is glorious inside the palace.
Her dress is embroidered with gold.
14 Wearing a colorful gown, she is brought to the king.
Her bridesmaids follow her.
They will be brought to you.
15 With joy and delight they are brought in.
They enter the palace of the king.

16 Your sons will take the place of your father.
You will make them princes over the whole earth.

17 I will cause your name to be remembered throughout every generation.
That is why the nations will give thanks to you forever and ever.

Footnotes:

  1. Psalm 45:1 Unknown musical term.
GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group

Proverbs 22:14

14 The mouth of an adulterous woman is a deep pit.
The one who is cursed by the Lord will fall into it.

GOD’S WORD Translation (GW)

Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group