The Prophet’s Afflictions

¹Iam the man who has seen afflictionunder the rod of God’s wrath.

²He has driven me away and made me walkin darkness instead of light.

³Indeed, He keeps turning His handagainst me all day long.

⁴He has worn away my flesh and skin;He has shattered my bones.

⁵He has besieged me and surrounded mewith bitterness and hardship.

⁶He has made me dwell in darknesslike those dead for ages.

⁷He has walled me in so I cannot escape;He has weighed me down with chains.

⁸Even when I cry out and plead for help,He shuts out my prayer.

⁹He has barred my ways with cut stones;He has made my paths crooked.

¹⁰He is a bear lying in wait,a lion hiding in ambush.

¹¹He forced me off my path and tore me to pieces;He left me without help.

¹²He bent His bowand set me as the target for His arrow.

¹³He pierced my kidneyswith His arrows.

¹⁴I am a laughingstock to all my people;they mock me in song all day long.

¹⁵He has filled me with bitterness;He has intoxicated me with wormwood.

¹⁶He has ground my teeth with graveland trampled me in the dust.

¹⁷My soul has been deprived of peace;I have forgotten what prosperity is.

¹⁸So I say, “My strength has perished,along with my hope from the LORD.”

The Prophet’s Hope

¹⁹Remember my affliction and wandering,the wormwood and the gall.

²⁰Surely my soul remembersand is humbled within me.

²¹Yet I call this to mind,and therefore I have hope:

²²Because of the loving devotionof the LORD we are not consumed,for His mercies never fail.

²³They are new every morning;great is Your faithfulness!

²⁴“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,“therefore I will hope in Him.”

²⁵The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,to the soul who seeks Him.

²⁶It is good to wait quietlyfor the salvation of the LORD.

²⁷It is good for a man to bear the yokewhile he is still young.

²⁸Let him sit alone in silence,for the LORD has laid it upon him.

²⁹Let him bury his face in the dust—perhaps there is still hope.

³⁰Let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him;let him be filled with reproach.

³¹For the Lord will notcast us off forever.

³²Even if He causes grief, He will show compassionaccording to His abundant loving devotion.

³³For He does not willingly afflictor grieve the sons of men.

³⁴To crush underfootall the prisoners of the land,

³⁵to deny a man justicebefore the Most High,

³⁶to subvert a man in his lawsuit—of these the Lord does not approve.

God’s Justice

³⁷Who has spoken and it came to pass,unless the Lord has ordained it?

³⁸Do not both adversity and goodcome from the mouth of the Most High?

³⁹Why should any mortal man complain,in view of his sins?

⁴⁰Let us examine and test our ways,and turn back to the LORD.

⁴¹Let us lift up our hearts and handsto God in heaven:

⁴²“We have sinned and rebelled;You have not forgiven.”

⁴³You have covered Yourself in anger and pursued us;You have killed without pity.

⁴⁴You have covered Yourself with a cloudthat no prayer can pass through.

⁴⁵You have made us scum and refuseamong the nations.

⁴⁶All our enemiesopen their mouths against us.

⁴⁷Panic and pitfall have come upon us—devastation and destruction.

⁴⁸Streams of tears flow from my eyesover the destruction of the daughter of my people.

⁴⁹My eyes overflow unceasingly,without relief,

⁵⁰until the LORDlooks down from heaven and sees.

⁵¹My eyes bring grief to my soulbecause of all the daughters of my city.

⁵²Without cause my enemieshunted me like a bird.

⁵³They dropped me alive into a pitand cast stones upon me.

⁵⁴The waters flowed over my head,and I thought I was going to die.

⁵⁵I called on Your name, O LORD,out of the depths of the Pit.

⁵⁶You heard my plea:“Do not ignore my cry for relief.”

⁵⁷You drew near when I called on You;You said, “Do not be afraid.”

⁵⁸You defend my cause, O Lord;You redeem my life.

⁵⁹You have seen, O LORD, the wrong done to me;vindicate my cause!

⁶⁰You have seen all their malice,all their plots against me.

⁶¹O LORD, You have heard their insults,all their plots against me—

⁶²the slander and murmuring of my assailantsagainst me all day long.

⁶³When they sit and when they rise,see how they mock me in song.

⁶⁴You will pay them back what they deserve, O LORD,according to the work of their hands.

⁶⁵Put a veil of anguish over their hearts;may Your curse be upon them!

⁶⁶You will pursue them in anger and exterminate themfrom under Your heavens, O LORD.

Job Decries His Comforters

¹Then Job answered:

²“I have heard many things like these;miserable comforters are you all.

³Is there no end to your long-winded speeches?What provokes you to continue testifying?

⁴I could also speak like youif you were in my place;I could heap up words against youand shake my head at you.

⁵But I would encourage you with my mouth,and the consolation of my lips would bring relief.

⁶Even if I speak, my pain is not relieved,and if I hold back, how will it go away?

⁷Surely He has now exhausted me;You have devastated all my family.

⁸You have bound me, and it has become a witness;my frailty rises up and testifies against me.

⁹His anger has torn me and opposed me;He gnashes His teeth at me.My adversary pierces me with His eyes.

¹⁰They open their mouths against meand strike my cheeks with contempt;they join together against me.

¹¹God has delivered me to unjust men;He has thrown me to the clutches of the wicked.

¹²I was at ease, but He shattered me;He seized me by the neck and crushed me.He has set me up as His target;

¹³His archers surround me.He pierces my kidneys without mercyand spills my gall on the ground.

¹⁴He breaks me with wound upon wound;He rushes me like a mighty warrior.

¹⁵I have sewn sackcloth over my skin;I have buried my horn in the dust.

¹⁶My face is red with weeping,and deep shadows ring my eyes;

¹⁷yet my hands are free of violenceand my prayer is pure.

¹⁸O earth, do not cover my blood;may my cry for help never be laid to rest.

¹⁹Even now my witness is in heaven,and my advocate is on high.

²⁰My friends are my scoffersas my eyes pour out tears to God.

²¹Oh, that a man might plead with Godas he pleads with his neighbor!

²²For when only a few years are pastI will go the way of no return.

Goliath’s Challenge

¹Now the Philistines gathered their forces for war at Socoh in Judah, and they camped between Socoh and Azekah in Ephes-dammim.

²Saul and the men of Israel assembled and camped in the Valley of Elah, arraying themselves for battle against the Philistines.

³The Philistines stood on one hill and the Israelites stood on another, with the valley between them.

⁴Then a champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out from the Philistine camp. He was six cubits and a span in height,

⁵and he had a bronze helmet on his head. He wore a bronze coat of mail weighing five thousand shekels,

⁶and he had armor of bronze on his legs and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders.

⁷The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels.In addition, his shield bearer went before him.

⁸And Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and array yourselves for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose one of your men and have him come down against me.

⁹If he is able to fight me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and work for us.”

¹⁰Then the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel this day! Give me a man to fight!”

¹¹On hearing the words of the Philistine, Saul and all the Israelites were dismayed and greatly afraid.

David Accepts the Challenge

¹²Now David was the son of a man named Jesse, an Ephrathite from Bethlehem of Judah who had eight sons. And in the days of Saul, Jesse was old and well along in years.

¹³The three older sons of Jesse had followed Saul into battle: The firstborn was Eliab, the second was Abinadab, and the third was Shammah.

¹⁴And David was the youngest.The three oldest had followed Saul,

¹⁵but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s sheep in Bethlehem.

¹⁶For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening to take his stand.

¹⁷One day Jesse said to his son David, “Take this ephah of roasted grainand these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp.

¹⁸Take also these ten portions of cheese to the commander of their unit. Check on the welfare of your brothers and bring back an assurance from them.

¹⁹They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.”

²⁰So David got up early in the morning, left the flock with a keeper, loaded up, and set out as Jesse had instructed him. He reached the camp as the army was marching out to its position and shouting the battle cry.

²¹And Israel and the Philistines arrayed in formation against each other.

²²Then David left his supplies in the care of the quartermaster and ran to the battle line. When he arrived, he asked his brothers how they were doing.

²³And as he was speaking with them, suddenly the champion named Goliath, the Philistine from Gath, came forward from the ranks of the Philistines and shouted his usual words, which David also heard.

²⁴When all the men of Israel saw Goliath, they fled from him in great fear.

²⁵Now the men of Israel had been saying, “Do you see how this man keeps coming out to defy Israel? To the man who kills him the king will give great riches. And he will give him his daughter in marriage and exempt his father’s house from taxation in Israel.”

²⁶David asked the men who were standing with him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Just who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”

²⁷The people told him about the offer, saying, “That is what will be done for the man who kills him.”

²⁸Now when David’s oldest brother Eliab heard him speaking to the men, his anger burned against David. “Why have you come down here?” he asked. “And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and wickedness of heart—you have come down to see the battle!”

²⁹“What have I done now?” said David. “Was it not just a question?”

³⁰Then he turned from him toward another and asked about the offer, and those people answered him just as the first ones had answered.

³¹Now David’s words were overheard and reported to Saul, who sent for him.

³²And David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail on account of this Philistine. Your servant will go and fight him!”

³³But Saul replied, “You cannot go out against this Philistine to fight him. You are just a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”

³⁴David replied, “Your servant has been tending his father’s sheep, and whenever a lion or a bear came and carried off a lamb from the flock,

³⁵I went after it, struck it down, and delivered the lamb from its mouth. If it reared up against me, I would grab it by its fur, strike it down, and kill it.

³⁶Your servant has killed lions and bears; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.”

³⁷David added, “The LORD, who delivered me from the claws of the lion and the bear, will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.”“Go,” said Saul, “and may the LORD be with you.”

David Slays Goliath

³⁸Then Saul clothed David in his own tunic, put a bronze helmet on his head, and dressed him in armor.

³⁹David strapped his sword over the tunic and tried to walk, but he was not accustomed to them.“I cannot walk in these,” David said to Saul. “I am not accustomed to them.” So David took them off.

⁴⁰And David took his staff in his hand, selected five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag. And with his sling in hand, he approached the Philistine.

⁴¹Now the Philistine came closer and closer to David, with his shield-bearer before him.

⁴²When the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him because he was just a boy, ruddy and handsome.

⁴³“Am I a dog,” he said to David, “that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods.

⁴⁴“Come here,” he called to David, “and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!”

⁴⁵But David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.

⁴⁶This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand. This day I will strike you down, cut off your head, and give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the creatures of the earth. Then the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.

⁴⁷And all those assembled here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and He will give all of you into our hands.”

⁴⁸As the Philistine started forward to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him.

⁴⁹Then David reached into his bag, took out a stone, and slung it, striking the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.

⁵⁰Thus David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.

⁵¹David ran and stood over him. He grabbed the Philistine’s sword and pulled it from its sheath and killed him, and he cut off his head with the sword.When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran.

⁵²Then the men of Israel and Judah charged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines to the entrance of Gathand to the gates of Ekron. And the bodies of the Philistines were strewn along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron.

⁵³When the Israelites returned from their pursuit of the Philistines, they plundered their camps.

⁵⁴David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, and he put Goliath’s weapons in his own tent.

⁵⁵As Saul had watched David going out to confront the Philistine, he said to Abner the commander of the army, “Abner, whose son is this young man?”“As surely as you live, O king,” Abner replied, “I do not know.”

⁵⁶“Find out whose son this young man is!” said the king.

⁵⁷So when David returned from killing the Philistine, still holding his head in his hand, Abner took him and brought him before Saul.

⁵⁸“Whose son are you, young man?” asked Saul.“I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem,” David replied.

The Fool Says There Is No God

¹The foolsays in his heart,“There is no God.”They are corrupt; their acts are vile.There is no one who does good.

²The LORD looks down from heavenupon the sons of mento see if any understand,if any seek God.

³All have turned away,they have together become corrupt;there is no one who does good,not even one.

⁴Will the workers of iniquity never learn?They devour my people like bread;they refuse to call upon the LORD.

⁵There they are, overwhelmed with dread,for God is in the company of the righteous.

⁶You sinners frustrate the plans of the oppressed,yet the LORD is their shelter.

⁷Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come from Zion!When the LORD restores His captive people,let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad!