Wednesday
November 10, 2021

Job 35-36
1 Corinthians 7-8

JOB 35 ESV

Elihu Condemns Job
1 And Elihu answered and said:
2 “Do you think this to be just? Do you say, ‘It        is my right before God,’
3 that you ask, ‘What advantage have I How
   am I better off than if I had sinned?’
4 I will answer you and your friends with you.
5 Look at the heavens, and see; and behold the
   clouds, which are higher than you.
6 If you have sinned, what do you accomplish
   against him? And if your transgressions are  
   multiplied, what do you do to him?
7 If you are righteous, what do you give to
   him? Or what does he receive from your  
   hand?
8 Your wickedness concerns a man like
    yourself, and your righteousness a son of
    man.
9 “Because of the multitude of oppressions
   people cry out; they call for help because of  
   the arm of the mighty.
10 But none says, ‘Where is God my Maker,
     who gives songs in the night,
11 who teaches us more than the beasts of the
    earth and makes us wiser than the birds of
    the heavens?’
12 There they cry out, but he does not answer,
     because of the pride of evil men.
13 Surely God does not hear an empty cry, nor
     does the Almighty regard it.
14 How much less when you say that you do
     not see him, that the case is before him, and
     you are waiting for him!
15 And now, because his anger does not
    punish, and he does not take much note of
    transgression,
16 Job opens his mouth in empty talk; he
      multiplies words without knowledge.”

JOB 36 ESV

Elihu Extols God's Greatness
1 And Elihu continued, and said:
2 “Bear with me a little, and I will show you, for
    I have yet something to say on God's behalf.
3 I will get my knowledge from afar and
    ascribe righteousness to my Maker.
4 For truly my words are not false; one who is
    perfect in knowledge is with you.
5 “Behold, God is mighty, and does not despise
    any; he is mighty in strength of
     understanding.
6 He does not keep the wicked alive, but gives
    the afflicted their right.
7 He does not withdraw his eyes from the
    righteous, but with kings on the throne
    he sets them forever, and they are exalted.
8 And if they are bound in chains and caught
    in the cords of affliction,
9 then he declares to them their work and
   their transgressions, that they are behaving
    arrogantly.
10 He opens their ears to instruction and
     commands that they return from iniquity.
11 If they listen and serve him, they complete
    their days in prosperity, and their years in
    pleasantness.
12 But if they do not listen, they perish by the
     sword and die without knowledge.
13 “The godless in heart cherish anger; they do
      not cry for help when he binds them.
14 They die in youth, and their life ends among
      the cult prostitutes.
15 He delivers the afflicted by their affliction
     and opens their ear by adversity.
16 He also allured you out of distress into a              broad place where there was no cramping,
     and what was set on your table was full of
     fatness.
17 “But you are full of the judgment on the
      wicked; judgment and justice seize you.
18 Beware lest wrath entice you into scoffing,
    and let not the greatness of the ransom turn
     you aside.
19 Will your cry for help avail to keep you from
     distress, or all the force of your strength?
20 Do not long for the night, when peoples
      vanish in their place.
21 Take care; do not turn to iniquity,  for this
      you have chosen rather than affliction.
22 Behold, God is exalted in his power; who is a
      teacher like him?
23 Who has prescribed for him his way,  or who
      can say, ‘You have done wrong’?
24 “Remember to extol his work, of which                 men have sung.
25 All mankind has looked on it; man beholds
      it from afar.
26 Behold, God is great, and we know him not;
      the number of his years is unsearchable.
27 For he draws up the drops of water; they
      distill his mist in rain,
28 which the skies pour down and drop on
      mankind abundantly.
29 Can anyone understand the spreading of
       the clouds, the thunderings of his pavilion?
30 Behold, he scatters his lightning about him
      and covers the roots of the sea.
31 For by these he judges peoples; he gives
     food in abundance.
32 He covers his hands with the lightning  and
      commands it to strike the mark.
33 Its crashing declares his presence; the cattle
      also declare that he rises.

1 CORINTHIANS 7 ESV

Principles for Marriage
7 Now concerning the matters about which you wrote: “It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.” 2 But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband. 3 The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. 5 Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

6 Now as a concession, not a command, I say this. 7 I wish that all were as I myself am. But each has his own gift from God, one of one kind and one of another.

8 To the unmarried and the widows I say that it is good for them to remain single, as I am. 9 But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with passion.

10 To the married I give this charge (not I, but the Lord): the wife should not separate from her husband 11 (but if she does, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife.

12 To the rest I say (I, not the Lord) that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he should not divorce her. 13 If any woman has a husband who is an unbeliever, and he consents to live with her, she should not divorce him. 14 For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy. 15 But if the unbelieving partner separates, let it be so. In such cases the brother or sister is not enslaved. God has called you to peace. 16 For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?

Live as You Are Called
17 Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches. 18 Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision. 19 For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God. 20 Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called. 21 Were you a bondservant[d] when called? Do not be concerned about it. (But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.) 22 For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ. 23 You were bought with a price; do not become bondservants of men. 24 So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God.

The Unmarried and the Widowed
25 Now concerning the betrothed, I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who by the Lord's mercy is trustworthy. 26 I think that in view of the present distress it is good for a person to remain as he is. 27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. 28 But if you do marry, you have not sinned, and if a betrothed woman marries, she has not sinned. Yet those who marry will have worldly troubles, and I would spare you that. 29 This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, 30 and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, 31 and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.

32 I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. 33 But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, 34 and his interests are divided. And the unmarried or betrothed woman is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to be holy in body and spirit. But the married woman is anxious about worldly things, how to please her husband. 35 I say this for your own benefit, not to lay any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord.

36 If anyone thinks that he is not behaving properly toward his betrothed, if his passions are strong, and it has to be, let him do as he wishes: let them marry—it is no sin. 37 But whoever is firmly established in his heart, being under no necessity but having his desire under control, and has determined this in his heart, to keep her as his betrothed, he will do well. 38 So then he who marries his betrothed does well, and he who refrains from marriage will do even better.

39 A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord. 40 Yet in my judgment she is happier if she remains as she is. And I think that I too have the Spirit of God.

1 CORINTHIANS 8 ESV

Food Offered to Idols
8 Now concerning food offered to idols: we know that “all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” puffs up, but love builds up. 2 If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. 3 But if anyone loves God, he is known by God.

4 Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.” 5 For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”— 6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

7 However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. 8 Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. 9 But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating[n] in an idol's temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? 11 And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. 12 Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.