Job 10:1–11:20 (NIV84)

¹ “I loathe my very life; therefore I will give free rein to my complaint and speak out in the bitterness of my soul. ² I will say to God: Do not condemn me, but tell me what charges you have against me. ³ Does it please you to oppress me, to spurn the work of your hands, while you smile on the schemes of the wicked? ⁴ Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see as a mortal sees? ⁵ Are your days like those of a mortal or your years like those of a man, ⁶ that you must search out my faults and probe after my sin— ⁷ though you know that I am not guilty and that no one can rescue me from your hand? ⁸“Your hands shaped me and made me. Will you now turn and destroy me? ⁹ Remember that you molded me like clay. Will you now turn me to dust again? ¹⁰ Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese, ¹¹ clothe me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews? ¹² You gave me life and showed me kindness, and in your providence watched over my spirit. ¹³ “But this is what you concealed in your heart, and I know that this was in your mind: ¹⁴ If I sinned, you would be watching me and would not let my offense go unpunished. ¹⁵ If I am guilty—woe to me! Even if I am innocent, I cannot lift my head, for I am full of shame and drowned in my affliction. ¹⁶ If I hold my head high, you stalk me like a lion and again display your awesome power against me. ¹⁷ You bring new witnesses against me and increase your anger toward me; your forces come against me wave upon wave. ¹⁸ “Why then did you bring me out of the womb? I wish I had died before any eye saw me. ¹⁹ If only I had never come into being, or had been carried straight from the womb to the grave! ²⁰ Are not my few days almost over? Turn away from me so I can have a moment’s joy ²¹before I go to the place of no return, to the land of gloom and deep shadow, ²² to the land of deepest night, of deep shadow and disorder, where even the light is like darkness.” ¹ Then Zophar the Naamathite replied: ² “Are all these words to go unanswered? Is this talker to be vindicated? ³ Will your idle talk reduce men to silence? Will no one rebuke you when you mock? ⁴ You say to God, ‘My beliefs are flawless and I am pure in your sight.’ ⁵ Oh, how I wish that God would speak, that he would open his lips against you ⁶ and disclose to you the secrets of wisdom, for true wisdom has two sides. Know this: God has even forgotten some of your sin. ⁷ “Can you fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty? ⁸ They are higher than the heavens—what can you do? They are deeper than the depths of the grave—what can you know? ⁹ Their measure is longer than the earth and wider than the sea. ¹⁰ “If he comes along and confines you in prison and convenes a court, who can oppose him? ¹¹ Surely he recognizes deceitful men; and when he sees evil, does he not take note? ¹² But a witless man can no more become wise than a wild donkey’s colt can be born a man. ¹³ “Yet if you devote your heart to him and stretch out your hands to him, ¹⁴ if you put away the sin that is in your hand and allow no evil to dwell in your tent, ¹⁵ then you will lift up your face without shame; you will stand firm and without fear. ¹⁶ You will surely forget your trouble, recalling it only as waters gone by. ¹⁷ Life will be brighter than noonday, and darkness will become like morning. ¹⁸ You will be secure, because there is hope; you will look about you and take your rest in safety. ¹⁹ You will lie down, with no one to make you afraid, and many will court your favor. ²⁰ But the eyes of the wicked will fail, and escape will elude them; their hope will become a dying gasp.”

Matthew 4:18–22 (NIV84)

¹⁸ As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ¹⁹ “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” ²⁰ At once they left their nets and followed him. ²¹ Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, ²²and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

Mark 1:16–20 (NIV84)

¹⁶ As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ¹⁷ “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” ¹⁸ At once they left their nets and followed him. ¹⁹ When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. ²⁰ Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.