Suffering's Mystery and Heaven's Unveiling

1. Then Bildad the Shuhite answered, 2. “How long will you speak these things? Shall the words of your mouth be a mighty wind? 3. Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert righteousness? 4. If your children have sinned against him, He has delivered them into the hand of their disobedience. 5. If you want to seek God diligently, make your supplication to the Almighty. 6. If you were pure and upright, surely now he would awaken for you, and make the habitation of your righteousness prosperous. 7. Though your beginning was small, yet your latter end would greatly increase. 8. “Please inquire of past generations. Find out about the learning of their fathers. 9. (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days on earth are a shadow.) 10. Shall they not teach you, tell you, and utter words out of their heart? 11. “Can the papyrus grow up without mire? Can the rushes grow without water? 12. While it is yet in its greenness, not cut down, it withers before any other reed. 13. So are the paths of all who forget God. The hope of the godless man shall perish, 14. Whose confidence shall break apart, Whose trust is a spider’s web. 15. He shall lean on his house, but it shall not stand. He shall cling to it, but it shall not endure. 16. He is green before the sun. His shoots go out along his garden. 17. His roots are wrapped around the rock pile. He sees the place of stones. 18. If he is destroyed from his place, then it shall deny him, saying, ‘I have not seen you.’ 19. Behold, this is the joy of his way: out of the earth, others shall spring. 20. “Behold, God will not cast away a blameless man, neither will he uphold the evildoers. 21. He will still fill your mouth with laughter, your lips with shouting. 22. Those who hate you shall be clothed with shame. The tent of the wicked shall be no more.” 1. Then Job answered, 2. “Truly I know that it is so, but how can man be just with God? 3. If he is pleased to contend with him, he can’t answer him one time in a thousand. 4. God who is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who has hardened himself against him, and prospered? 5. He removes the mountains, and they don’t know it, when he overturns them in his anger. 6. He shakes the earth out of its place. Its pillars tremble. 7. He commands the sun, and it doesn’t rise, and seals up the stars. 8. He alone stretches out the heavens, and treads on the waves of the sea. 9. He makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the rooms of the south. 10. He does great things past finding out; yes, marvelous things without number. 11. Behold, he goes by me, and I don’t see him. He passes on also, but I don’t perceive him. 12. Behold, he snatches away. Who can hinder him? Who will ask him, ‘What are you doing?’ 13. “God will not withdraw his anger. The helpers of Rahab stoop under him. 14. How much less shall I answer him, And choose my words to argue with him? 15. Though I were righteous, yet I wouldn’t answer him. I would make supplication to my judge. 16. If I had called, and he had answered me, yet I wouldn’t believe that he listened to my voice. 17. For he breaks me with a storm, and multiplies my wounds without cause. 18. He will not allow me to catch my breath, but fills me with bitterness. 19. If it is a matter of strength, behold, he is mighty! If of justice, ‘Who,’ says he, ‘will summon me?’ 20. Though I am righteous, my own mouth shall condemn me. Though I am blameless, it shall prove me perverse. 21. I am blameless. I don’t respect myself. I despise my life. 22. “It is all the same. Therefore I say he destroys the blameless and the wicked. 23. If the scourge kills suddenly, he will mock at the trial of the innocent. 24. The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. If not he, then who is it? 25. “Now my days are swifter than a runner. They flee away, they see no good. 26. They have passed away as the swift ships, as the eagle that swoops on the prey. 27. If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face, and cheer up;’ 28. I am afraid of all my sorrows, I know that you will not hold me innocent. 29. I shall be condemned. Why then do I labor in vain? 30. If I wash myself with snow, and cleanse my hands with lye, 31. yet you will plunge me in the ditch. My own clothes shall abhor me. 32. For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, that we should come together in judgment. 33. There is no umpire between us, that might lay his hand on us both. 34. Let him take his rod away from me. Let his terror not make me afraid; 35. then I would speak, and not fear him, for I am not so in myself. 1. “My soul is weary of my life. I will give free course to my complaint. I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. 2. I will tell God, ‘Do not condemn me. Show me why you contend with me. 3. Is it good to you that you should oppress, that you should despise the work of your hands, and smile on the counsel of the wicked? 4. Do you have eyes of flesh? Or do you see as man sees? 5. Are your days as the days of mortals, or your years as man’s years, 6. that you inquire after my iniquity, and search after my sin? 7. Although you know that I am not wicked, there is no one who can deliver out of your hand. 8. “‘Your hands have framed me and fashioned me altogether, yet you destroy me. 9. Remember, I beg you, that you have fashioned me as clay. Will you bring me into dust again? 10. Haven’t you poured me out like milk, and curdled me like cheese? 11. You have clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews. 12. You have granted me life and loving kindness. Your visitation has preserved my spirit. 13. Yet you hid these things in your heart. I know that this is with you: 14. if I sin, then you mark me. You will not acquit me from my iniquity. 15. If I am wicked, woe to me. If I am righteous, I still shall not lift up my head, being filled with disgrace, and conscious of my affliction. 16. If my head is held high, you hunt me like a lion. Again you show yourself powerful to me. 17. You renew your witnesses against me, and increase your indignation on me. Changes and warfare are with me. 18. “‘Why, then, have you brought me out of the womb? I wish I had given up the spirit, and no eye had seen me. 19. I should have been as though I had not been. I should have been carried from the womb to the grave. 20. Aren’t my days few? Cease then. Leave me alone, that I may find a little comfort, 21. before I go where I shall not return from, to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death; 22. the land dark as midnight, of the shadow of death, without any order, where the light is as midnight.’” 1. Then Zophar, the Naamathite, answered, 2. “Shouldn’t the multitude of words be answered? Should a man full of talk be justified? 3. Should your boastings make men hold their peace? When you mock, shall no man make you ashamed? 4. For you say, ‘My doctrine is pure. I am clean in your eyes.’ 5. But oh that God would speak, and open his lips against you, 6. that he would show you the secrets of wisdom! For true wisdom has two sides. Know therefore that God exacts of you less than your iniquity deserves. 7. “Can you fathom the mystery of God? Or can you probe the limits of the Almighty? 8. They are high as heaven. What can you do? They are deeper than Sheol. What can you know? 9. Its measure is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea. 10. If he passes by, or confines, or convenes a court, then who can oppose him? 11. For he knows false men. He sees iniquity also, even though he doesn’t consider it. 12. An empty-headed man becomes wise when a man is born as a wild donkey’s colt. 13. “If you set your heart aright, stretch out your hands toward him. 14. If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away. Don’t let unrighteousness dwell in your tents. 15. Surely then you shall lift up your face without spot; Yes, you shall be steadfast, and shall not fear: 16. for you shall forget your misery. You shall remember it like waters that have passed away. 17. Life shall be clearer than the noonday. Though there is darkness, it shall be as the morning. 18. You shall be secure, because there is hope. Yes, you shall search, and shall take your rest in safety. 19. Also you shall lie down, and no one shall make you afraid. Yes, many shall court your favor. 20. But the eyes of the wicked shall fail. They shall have no way to flee. Their hope shall be the giving up of the spirit.”

1. I saw that the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying, as with a voice of thunder, “Come and see!” 2. And behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow. A crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer. 3. When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come!” 4. Another came out, a red horse. To him who sat on it was given power to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another. There was given to him a great sword. 5. When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, “Come and see!” And behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a balance in his hand. 6. I heard a voice in the middle of the four living creatures saying, “A choenix of wheat for a denarius, and three choenix of barley for a denarius! Don’t damage the oil and the wine!” 7. When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the fourth living creature saying, “Come and see!” 8. And behold, a pale horse, and he who sat on it, his name was Death. Hades followed with him. Authority over one fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword, with famine, with death, and by the wild animals of the earth was given to him. 9. When he opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been killed for the Word of God, and for the testimony of the Lamb which they had. 10. They cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, Master, the holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11. A long white robe was given to each of them. They were told that they should rest yet for a while, until their fellow servants and their brothers, who would also be killed even as they were, should complete their course. 12. I saw when he opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became as blood. 13. The stars of the sky fell to the earth, like a fig tree dropping its unripe figs when it is shaken by a great wind. 14. The sky was removed like a scroll when it is rolled up. Every mountain and island were moved out of their places. 15. The kings of the earth, the princes, the commanding officers, the rich, the strong, and every slave and free person, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains. 16. They told the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17. for the great day of his wrath has come; and who is able to stand?” 1. After this, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, so that no wind would blow on the earth, or on the sea, or on any tree. 2. I saw another angel ascend from the sunrise, having the seal of the living God. He cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to harm the earth and the sea, 3. saying, “Don’t harm the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, until we have sealed the bondservants of our God on their foreheads!” 4. I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the children of Israel: 5. of the tribe of Judah were sealed twelve thousand, of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand, of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand, 6. of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand, of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand, of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand, 7. of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand, of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand, of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand, 8. of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand, of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand, of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand. 9. After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no man could count, out of every nation and of all tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands. 10. They cried with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation be to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11. All the angels were standing around the throne, the elders, and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before his throne, and worshiped God, 12. saying, “Amen! Blessing, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, power, and might, be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” 13. One of the elders answered, saying to me, “These who are arrayed in the white robes, who are they, and from where did they come?” 14. I told him, “My lord, you know.” He said to me, “These are those who came out of the great tribulation. They washed their robes, and made them white in the Lamb’s blood. 15. Therefore they are before the throne of God, they serve him day and night in his temple. He who sits on the throne will spread his tabernacle over them. 16. They will never be hungry, neither thirsty any more; neither will the sun beat on them, nor any heat; 17. for the Lamb who is in the middle of the throne shepherds them, and leads them to springs of life-giving waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” 1. When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. 2. I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. 3. Another angel came and stood over the altar, having a golden censer. Much incense was given to him, that he should add it to the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. 4. The smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, went up before God out of the angel’s hand. 5. The angel took the censer, and he filled it with the fire of the altar, and threw it on the earth. Thunders, sounds, lightnings, and an earthquake followed. 6. The seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. 7. The first sounded, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth. One third of the earth was burned up, and one third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up. 8. The second angel sounded, and something like a great burning mountain was thrown into the sea. One third of the sea became blood, 9. and one third of the living creatures which were in the sea died. One third of the ships were destroyed. 10. The third angel sounded, and a great star fell from the sky, burning like a torch, and it fell on one third of the rivers, and on the springs of the waters. 11. The name of the star is called “Wormwood.” One third of the waters became wormwood. Many people died from the waters, because they were made bitter. 12. The fourth angel sounded, and one third of the sun was struck, and one third of the moon, and one third of the stars; so that one third of them would be darkened, and the day wouldn’t shine for one third of it, and the night in the same way. 13. I saw, and I heard an eagle, flying in mid heaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe! Woe! Woe for those who dwell on the earth, because of the other voices of the trumpets of the three angels, who are yet to sound!” 1. The fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from the sky which had fallen to the earth. The key to the pit of the abyss was given to him. 2. He opened the pit of the abyss, and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke from a burning furnace. The sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke from the pit. 3. Then out of the smoke came locusts on the earth, and power was given to them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 4. They were told that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those people who don’t have God’s seal on their foreheads. 5. They were given power, not to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion, when it strikes a person. 6. In those days people will seek death, and will in no way find it. They will desire to die, and death will flee from them. 7. The shapes of the locusts were like horses prepared for war. On their heads were something like golden crowns, and their faces were like people’s faces. 8. They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like those of lions. 9. They had breastplates, like breastplates of iron. The sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots, or of many horses rushing to war. 10. They have tails like those of scorpions, and stings. In their tails they have power to harm men for five months. 11. They have over them as king the angel of the abyss. His name in Hebrew is “Abaddon”, but in Greek, he has the name “Apollyon”. 12. The first woe is past. Behold, there are still two woes coming after this. 13. The sixth angel sounded. I heard a voice from the horns of the golden altar which is before God, 14. saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Free the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates!” 15. The four angels were freed who had been prepared for that hour and day and month and year, so that they might kill one third of mankind. 16. The number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million. I heard the number of them. 17. Thus I saw the horses in the vision, and those who sat on them, having breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; and the horses’ heads resembled lions’ heads. Out of their mouths proceed fire, smoke, and sulfur. 18. By these three plagues were one third of mankind killed: by the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur, which proceeded out of their mouths. 19. For the power of the horses is in their mouths, and in their tails. For their tails are like serpents, and have heads, and with them they harm. 20. The rest of mankind, who were not killed with these plagues, didn’t repent of the works of their hands, that they wouldn’t worship demons, and the idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and of wood; which can’t see, hear, or walk. 21. They didn’t repent of their murders, their sorceries, their sexual immorality, or their thefts. 1. I saw a mighty angel coming down out of the sky, clothed with a cloud. A rainbow was on his head. His face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire. 2. He had in his hand a little open book. He set his right foot on the sea, and his left on the land. 3. He cried with a loud voice, as a lion roars. When he cried, the seven thunders uttered their voices. 4. When the seven thunders sounded, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from the sky saying, “Seal up the things which the seven thunders said, and don’t write them.” 5. The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to the sky, 6. and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there will no longer be delay, 7. but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as he declared to his servants, the prophets. 8. The voice which I heard from heaven, again speaking with me, said, “Go, take the book which is open in the hand of the angel who stands on the sea and on the land.” 9. I went to the angel, telling him to give me the little book. He said to me, “Take it, and eat it up. It will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.” 10. I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up. It was as sweet as honey in my mouth. When I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter. 11. They told me, “You must prophesy again over many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.” 1. A reed like a rod was given to me. Someone said, “Rise, and measure God’s temple, and the altar, and those who worship in it. 2. Leave out the court which is outside of the temple, and don’t measure it, for it has been given to the nations. They will tread the holy city under foot for forty-two months. 3. I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.” 4. These are the two olive trees and the two lamp stands, standing before the Lord of the earth. 5. If anyone desires to harm them, fire proceeds out of their mouth and devours their enemies. If anyone desires to harm them, he must be killed in this way. 6. These have the power to shut up the sky, that it may not rain during the days of their prophecy. They have power over the waters, to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they desire. 7. When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them, and kill them. 8. Their dead bodies will be in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. 9. From among the peoples, tribes, languages, and nations people will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not allow their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. 10. Those who dwell on the earth rejoice over them, and they will be glad. They will give gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth. 11. After the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered into them, and they stood on their feet. Great fear fell on those who saw them. 12. I heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” They went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies saw them. 13. In that day there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified, and gave glory to the God of heaven. 14. The second woe is past. Behold, the third woe comes quickly. 15. The seventh angel sounded, and great voices in heaven followed, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ. He will reign forever and ever!” 16. The twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God’s throne, fell on their faces and worshiped God, 17. saying: “We give you thanks, Lord God, the Almighty, the one who is and who was; because you have taken your great power, and reigned. 18. The nations were angry, and your wrath came, as did the time for the dead to be judged, and to give your bondservants the prophets, their reward, as well as to the saints, and those who fear your name, to the small and the great; and to destroy those who destroy the earth.” 19. God’s temple that is in heaven was opened, and the ark of the Lord’s covenant was seen in his temple. Lightnings, sounds, thunders, an earthquake, and great hail followed.

1. Blessed be Yahweh, my rock, who teaches my hands to war, and my fingers to battle: 2. my loving kindness, my fortress, my high tower, my deliverer, my shield, and he in whom I take refuge; who subdues my people under me. 3. Yahweh, what is man, that you care for him? Or the son of man, that you think of him? 4. Man is like a breath. His days are like a shadow that passes away. 5. Part your heavens, Yahweh, and come down. Touch the mountains, and they will smoke. 6. Throw out lightning, and scatter them. Send out your arrows, and rout them. 7. Stretch out your hand from above, rescue me, and deliver me out of great waters, out of the hands of foreigners; 8. whose mouths speak deceit, Whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood. 9. I will sing a new song to you, God. On a ten-stringed lyre, I will sing praises to you. 10. You are he who gives salvation to kings, who rescues David, his servant, from the deadly sword. 11. Rescue me, and deliver me out of the hands of foreigners, whose mouths speak deceit, whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood. 12. Then our sons will be like well-nurtured plants, our daughters like pillars carved to adorn a palace. 13. Our barns are full, filled with all kinds of provision. Our sheep produce thousands and ten thousands in our fields. 14. Our oxen will pull heavy loads. There is no breaking in, and no going away, and no outcry in our streets. 15. Happy are the people who are in such a situation. Happy are the people whose God is Yahweh.