Job 22
1 ત્યારે અલીફાઝ તેમાનીએ જવાબ આપ્યો કે,
2 “શું કોઇપણ માણસ દેવને ઉપયોગી છે? ડાહ્યામાં ડાહ્યો માણસ પણ દેવને ઉપયોગી છે ખરો?
3 તું સાચી રીતે જીવે તો પણ તેથી દેવને શું? તારું વર્તન ગમે તેટલું નિદોર્ષ હોય તો પણ તેથી દેવને શો ફાયદો?
4 અયૂબ, દેવ તને શા માટે સજા આપે છે, અને તારો વાંક કાઢે છે? તું તેની ઉપાસના કરે છે એટલા માટે?
5 તારા અનિષ્ટો ઘણા ભયંકર છે, તારાં પાપ પાર વિનાનાં છે.
6 કદાચ તેઁ તારા ભાઇને થોડા પૈસા ઊછીના આપ્યા હોય અને તે તને પાછા આપશે તેની સુરક્ષાનો પૂરાવો આપવાનો આગ્રહ કર્યો હોય. કદાચ એમ હોય કે તેઁ ઉછીના પૈસાના દેણા માટેના વચન તરીકે ગરીબ માણસના કપડાં લીધા હોય. તેઁ આ કદાચ કારણ વગર કર્યું છે.
7 કદાચ તમે તરસ્યાને પાણી પાયું નહિ હોય, તમે ભૂખ્યાને રોટલો આપ્યો નહિ હોય.
8 અયૂબ, તમે પુષ્કળ જમીનની માલિકી ધરાવો છો. અને લોકો તમને માન આપે છે.
9 કદાચ તમે વિધવાઓને ખાલી હાથે પાછી વાળી છે. તમે કદાચ અનાથોને છેતર્યા છે.
10 તેથી તારી ચારેતરફ ફાંસલો છે, અને અણધારી આફત તને ડરાવી મૂકે છે.
11 એટલા માટે તું અંધકારમાં જોઇ શકતો નથી, અને પુરના પાણી તને ઢાંકી દે છે.
12 શું દેવ આકાશમાં, ઊંચ્ચસ્થાનમાં, નથી? તારાઓની ઊંચાઇ જો, તેઓ કેટલાં ઊંચા છે.
13 અને છતાં તું કહે છે, ‘દેવ શું જાણે છે? કાળા વાદળોનીઆરપાર જોઇને તે આપણા વિશે અભિપ્રાય કેવી રીતે આપી શકવાનો છે?
14 જેવો તે આકાશની ધાર પર ચાલે છે, ગાઢ વાદળ તેને એવી રીતે ઢાંકી દે છે કે તે કાંઇ જોઇ શકતો નથી.’
15 અયૂબ, તું પ્રાચીન માર્ગમા ચાલી રહ્યો છે જેના પર દુષ્ટ લોકો પહેલા ચાલતા હતા.
16 તે દુષ્ટ લોકો, તેઓનો મૃત્યુનો સમય આવે તે પહેલાંજ નાશ પામી ગયા હતા.
17 કારણકે તેઓ દેવને કહેતા હતાં કે, ‘તમે અમારાથી દૂર ચાલ્યા જાઓ; સર્વસમર્થ દેવ તમે અમને શું કરી શકવાનાં છો?’
18 તેમ છતઁા પણ દેવે જ એમનાં ઘર ખજાનાથી ભર્યા હતા ના! હું દુષ્ટ લોકોની સલાહ પ્રમાણે અનુસરી શકતો નથી.
19 ભલા લોકો તેમનો નાશ થતો જોઇને ખુશ થશે. અને નિદોર્ષો દુષ્ટો પર હસશે.
20 તેઓ કહે છે, ‘જુઓ, બાકી રહેલા અમારા દરેક શત્રુઓનો નાશ થઇ ગયો છે. અને અગ્નિ તેઓની સંપતિને ભરખી જાય છે.’
21 અયૂબ, હવે તું તારી જાત દેવને સમપિર્ત કરી દે, અને તેની સાથે સુલેહ કર, જેથી તારું ભલું થશે.
22 કૃપા કરીને એના મોઢેથી એનો બોધ સાંભળ અને સ્વીકાર કર. એની વાણી તારા હૃદયમાં ધારણ કર!
23 જો તું સર્વસમર્થ દેવ પાસે પાછો વળે તો તારો પુનરોદ્ધાર થશે. પાપને તારા ઘરથી દૂર રાખજે.
24 જો તું તારું ધન ધૂળ સમાન ગણીશ અને કંચનને કથીર સમાન માનીશ,
25 ભલે સર્વસમર્થ દેવ તારું સોનું અને ચાંદીનો સંગ્રહ બને.
26 તો સર્વસમર્થ દેવ તારો પરમ આનંદ બની જશે. અને તું દેવ સામે નજર મેળવીશ.
27 તું જે કઇં અરજ કરીશ તે એ સાંભળશે, અને પછી તું તારી માનતાઓ પૂરી કરી શકીશ.
28 તારી સર્વ યોજનાઓ સફળ થશે. તારા માર્ગમાં આકાશનું તેજ ઝળહળશે.
29 દેવ અભિમાનીને પાડે છે અને નમ્રને બચાવે છે.
30 તે જેઓ નિદોર્ષ નથી તેઓને પણ ઉગારે છે, તારા હાથ ચોખ્ખા હશે તો તને પણ ઉગારશે.”
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,
2 Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself?
3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous? or is it gain to him, that thou makest thy ways perfect?
4 Will he reprove thee for fear of thee? will he enter with thee into judgment?
5 Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite?
6 For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the naked of their clothing.
7 Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry.
8 But as for the mighty man, he had the earth; and the honourable man dwelt in it.
9 Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.
10 Therefore snares are round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee;
11 Or darkness, that thou canst not see; and abundance of waters cover thee.
12 Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are!
13 And thou sayest, How doth God know? can he judge through the dark cloud?
14 Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit of heaven.
15 Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden?
16 Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood:
17 Which said unto God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them?
18 Yet he filled their houses with good things: but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
19 The righteous see it, and are glad: and the innocent laugh them to scorn.
20 Whereas our substance is not cut down, but the remnant of them the fire consumeth.
21 Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.
22 Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart.
23 If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles.
24 Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks.
25 Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, and thou shalt have plenty of silver.
26 For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God.
27 Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows.
28 Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways.
29 When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up; and he shall save the humble person.
30 He shall deliver the island of the innocent: and it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands.
1 And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,
2 He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.
3 And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John’s baptism.
4 Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.
5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
6 And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.
7 And all the men were about twelve.
8 And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God.
9 But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.
10 And this continued by the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.
11 And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul:
12 So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.
13 Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.
14 And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.
15 And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?
16 And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.
17 And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.
18 And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds.
19 Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.
20 So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.
21 After these things were ended, Paul purposed in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome.
22 So he sent into Macedonia two of them that ministered unto him, Timotheus and Erastus; but he himself stayed in Asia for a season.
23 And the same time there arose no small stir about that way.
24 For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen;
25 Whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation, and said, Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth.
26 Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands:
27 So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth.
28 And when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.
29 And the whole city was filled with confusion: and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul’s companions in travel, they rushed with one accord into the theatre.
30 And when Paul would have entered in unto the people, the disciples suffered him not.
31 And certain of the chief of Asia, which were his friends, sent unto him, desiring him that he would not adventure himself into the theatre.
32 Some therefore cried one thing, and some another: for the assembly was confused; and the more part knew not wherefore they were come together.
33 And they drew Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward. And Alexander beckoned with the hand, and would have made his defence unto the people.
34 But when they knew that he was a Jew, all with one voice about the space of two hours cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.
35 And when the townclerk had appeased the people, he said, Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that knoweth not how that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down from Jupiter?
36 Seeing then that these things cannot be spoken against, ye ought to be quiet, and to do nothing rashly.
37 For ye have brought hither these men, which are neither robbers of churches, nor yet blasphemers of your goddess.
38 Wherefore if Demetrius, and the craftsmen which are with him, have a matter against any man, the law is open, and there are deputies: let them implead one another.
39 But if ye inquire any thing concerning other matters, it shall be determined in a lawful assembly.
40 For we are in danger to be called in question for this day’s uproar, there being no cause whereby we may give an account of this concourse.
41 And when he had thus spoken, he dismissed the assembly.