Old Testament (NKJV)

The Book of Job Chapter 16:1-22

Then Job answered and said:

"I have heard many such things;
Miserable comforters are you all!

Shall words of wind have an end?
Or what provokes you that you answer?

I also could speak as you do,
If your soul were in my soul's place.
I could heap up words against you,
And shake my head at you;

But I would strengthen you with my mouth,
And the comfort of my lips would relieve your grief.

"Though I speak, my grief is not relieved;
And if I remain silent, how am I eased?

But now He has worn me out;
You have made desolate all my company.

You have shriveled me up,
And it is a witness against me;
My leanness rises up against me
And bears witness to my face.

He tears me in His wrath, and hates me;
He gnashes at me with His teeth;
My adversary sharpens His gaze on me.

They gape at me with their mouth,
They strike me reproachfully on the cheek,
They gather together against me.

God has delivered me to the ungodly,
And turned me over to the hands of the wicked.

I was at ease, but He has shattered me;
He also has taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces;
He has set me up for His target,

His archers surround me.
He pierces my heart and does not pity;
He pours out my gall on the ground.

He breaks me with wound upon wound;
He runs at me like a warrior.

"I have sewn sackcloth over my skin,
And laid my head in the dust.

My face is flushed from weeping,
And on my eyelids is the shadow of death;

Although no violence is in my hands,
And my prayer is pure.

"O earth, do not cover my blood,
And let my cry have no resting place!

Surely even now my witness is in heaven,
And my evidence is on high.

My friends scorn me;
My eyes pour out tears to God.

Oh, that one might plead for a man with God,
As a man pleads for his neighbor!

For when a few years are finished,
I shall go the way of no return.

New Testament (NKJV)

The Gospel According to John Chapter 1:1-6-14-19-28

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, "This was He of whom I said, 'He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.' " And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.

Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ." And they asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" And he answered, "No." Then they said to him, "Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?" He said:

"I am 'The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
"Make straight the way of the Lord,"

' as the prophet Isaiah said."

Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees. And they asked him, saying, "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" John answered them, saying, "I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose." These things were done in Bethabara beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.