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I have made a solemn promise never to look with lust at a woman.
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What does Almighty God do to us? How does he repay human deeds?
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He sends disaster and ruin to those who do wrong.
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God knows everything I do; he sees every step I take.
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I swear I have never acted wickedly and never tried to deceive others.
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Let God weigh me on honest scales, and he will see how innocent I am.
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If I have turned from the right path or let myself be attracted to evil, if my hands are stained with sin,
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then let my crops be destroyed, or let others eat the food I grow.
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If I have been attracted to my neighbor's wife, and waited, hidden, outside her door,
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then let my wife cook another man's food and sleep in another man's bed.
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Such wickedness should be punished by death.
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It would be like a destructive, hellish fire, consuming everything I have.
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When any of my servants complained against me, I would listen and treat them fairly.
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If I did not, how could I then face God? What could I say when God came to judge me?
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The same God who created me created my servants also.
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I have never refused to help the poor; never have I let widows live in despair
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or let orphans go hungry while I ate.
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All my life I have taken care of them.
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When I found someone in need, too poor to buy clothes,
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I would give him clothing made of wool that had come from my own flock of sheep. Then he would praise me with all his heart.
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If I have ever cheated an orphan, knowing I could win in court,
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then may my arms be broken; may they be torn from my shoulders.
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Because I fear God's punishment, I could never do such a thing.
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I have never trusted in riches
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or taken pride in my wealth.
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I have never worshiped the sun in its brightness or the moon in all its beauty.
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I have not been led astray to honor them by kissing my hand in reverence to them.
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Such a sin should be punished by death; it denies Almighty God.
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I have never been glad when my enemies suffered, or pleased when they met with disaster;
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I never sinned by praying for their death.
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All those who work for me know that I have always welcomed strangers.
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I invited travelers into my home and never let them sleep in the streets.
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Others try to hide their sins, but I have never concealed mine.
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I have never feared what people would say; I have never kept quiet or stayed indoors because I feared their scorn.
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Will no one listen to what I am saying? I swear that every word is true. Let Almighty God answer me. If the charges my opponent brings against me were written down so that I could see them,
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I would wear them proudly on my shoulder and place them on my head like a crown.
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I would tell God everything I have done, and hold my head high in his presence.
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If I have stolen the land I farm and taken it from its rightful owners---
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if I have eaten the food that grew there but let the farmers that grew it starve---
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then instead of wheat and barley, may weeds and thistles grow. The words of Job are ended.
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Because Job was convinced of his own innocence, the three men gave up trying to answer him.
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But a bystander named Elihu could not control his anger any longer, because Job was justifying himself and blaming God. (Elihu was the son of Barakel, a descendant of Buz, and belonged to the clan of Ram.)
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He was also angry with Job's three friends. They could not find any way to answer Job, and this made it appear that God was in the wrong.
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Because Elihu was the youngest one there, he had waited until everyone finished speaking.
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When he saw that the three men could not answer Job, he was angry
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and began to speak. I am young, and you are old, so I was afraid to tell you what I think.
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I told myself that you ought to speak, that you older men should share your wisdom.
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But it is the spirit of Almighty God that comes to us and gives us wisdom.
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It is not growing old that makes us wise or helps us to know what is right.
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So now I want you to listen to me; let me tell you what I think.
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I listened patiently while you were speaking and waited while you searched for wise phrases.
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I paid close attention and heard you fail; you have not disproved what Job has said.
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How can you claim you have discovered wisdom? God must answer Job, for you have failed.
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Job was speaking to you, not to me, but I would never answer the way you did.
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Words have failed them, Job; they have no answer for you.
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Shall I go on waiting when they are silent? They stand there with nothing more to say.
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No, I will give my own answer now and tell you what I think.
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I can hardly wait to speak. I can't hold back the words.
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If I don't get a chance to speak, I will burst like a wineskin full of new wine.
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I can't stand it; I have to speak.
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I will not take sides in this debate; I am not going to flatter anyone.
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I don't know how to flatter, and God would quickly punish me if I did.
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Freedom is what we have---Christ has set us free! Stand, then, as free people, and do not allow yourselves to become slaves again.
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Listen! I, Paul, tell you that if you allow yourselves to be circumcised, it means that Christ is of no use to you at all.
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Once more I warn any man who allows himself to be circumcised that he is obliged to obey the whole Law.
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Those of you who try to be put right with God by obeying the Law have cut yourselves off from Christ. You are outside God's grace.
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As for us, our hope is that God will put us right with him; and this is what we wait for by the power of God's Spirit working through our faith.
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For when we are in union with Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor the lack of it makes any difference at all; what matters is faith that works through love.
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You were doing so well! Who made you stop obeying the truth? How did he persuade you?
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It was not done by God, who calls you.
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"It takes only a little yeast to make the whole batch of dough rise," as they say.
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But I still feel confident about you. Our life in union with the Lord makes me confident that you will not take a different view and that whoever is upsetting you will be punished by God.
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But as for me, my friends, if I continue to preach that circumcision is necessary, why am I still being persecuted? If that were true, then my preaching about the cross of Christ would cause no trouble.
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I wish that the people who are upsetting you would go all the way; let them go on and castrate themselves!
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As for you, my friends, you were called to be free. But do not let this freedom become an excuse for letting your physical desires control you. Instead, let love make you serve one another.
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For the whole Law is summed up in one commandment: "Love your neighbor as you love yourself."
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But if you act like wild animals, hurting and harming each other, then watch out, or you will completely destroy one another.
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What I say is this: let the Spirit direct your lives, and you will not satisfy the desires of the human nature.
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For what our human nature wants is opposed to what the Spirit wants, and what the Spirit wants is opposed to what our human nature wants. These two are enemies, and this means that you cannot do what you want to do.
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If the Spirit leads you, then you are not subject to the Law.
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What human nature does is quite plain. It shows itself in immoral, filthy, and indecent actions;
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in worship of idols and witchcraft. People become enemies and they fight; they become jealous, angry, and ambitious. They separate into parties and groups;
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they are envious, get drunk, have orgies, and do other things like these. I warn you now as I have before: those who do these things will not possess the Kingdom of God.
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But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
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humility, and self-control. There is no law against such things as these.
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And those who belong to Christ Jesus have put to death their human nature with all its passions and desires.
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The Spirit has given us life; he must also control our lives.
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We must not be proud or irritate one another or be jealous of one another.
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My friends, if someone is caught in any kind of wrongdoing, those of you who are spiritual should set him right; but you must do it in a gentle way. And keep an eye on yourselves, so that you will not be tempted, too.
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Help carry one another's burdens, and in this way you will obey the law of Christ.
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If you think you are something when you really are nothing, you are only deceiving yourself.
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You should each judge your own conduct. If it is good, then you can be proud of what you yourself have done, without having to compare it with what someone else has done.
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For each of you have to carry your own load.
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If you are being taught the Christian message, you should share all the good things you have with your teacher.
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Do not deceive yourselves; no one makes a fool of God. You will reap exactly what you plant.
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If you plant in the field of your natural desires, from it you will gather the harvest of death; if you plant in the field of the Spirit, from the Spirit you will gather the harvest of eternal life.
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So let us not become tired of doing good; for if we do not give up, the time will come when we will reap the harvest.
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So then, as often as we have the chance, we should do good to everyone, and especially to those who belong to our family in the faith.
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See what big letters I make as I write to you now with my own hand!
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The people who are trying to force you to be circumcised are the ones who want to show off and boast about external matters. They do it, however, only so that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.
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Even those who practice circumcision do not obey the Law; they want you to be circumcised so that they can boast that you submitted to this physical ceremony.
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As for me, however, I will boast only about the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; for by means of his cross the world is dead to me, and I am dead to the world.
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It does not matter at all whether or not one is circumcised; what does matter is being a new creature.
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As for those who follow this rule in their lives, may peace and mercy be with them---with them and with all of God's people!
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To conclude: let no one give me any more trouble, because the scars I have on my body show that I am the slave of Jesus.
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May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, my friends. Amen.
