JOB 28:1-30:31
28:1 Surely there is a vein for the silver, and a place for gold [where] they fine [it].
28:2 Iron is taken out of the earth, and brass [is] molten [out of] the stone.
28:3 He setteth an end to darkness, and searcheth out all perfection: the stones of darkness, and the shadow of death.
28:4 The flood breaketh out from the inhabitant; [even the waters] forgotten of the foot: they are dried up, they are gone away from men.
28:5 [As for] the earth, out of it cometh bread: and under it is turned up as it were fire.
28:6 The stones of it [are] the place of sapphires: and it hath dust of gold.
28:7 [There is] a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture’s eye hath not seen:
28:8 The lion’s whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it.
28:9 He putteth forth his hand upon the rock; he overturneth the mountains by the roots.
28:10 He cutteth out rivers among the rocks; and his eye seeth every precious thing.
28:11 He bindeth the floods from overflowing; and [the thing that is] hid bringeth he forth to light.
28:12 But where shall wisdom be found? and where [is] the place of understanding?
28:13 Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living.
28:14 The depth saith, It [is] not in me: and the sea saith, [It is] not with me.
28:15 It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed [for] the price thereof.
28:16 It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.
28:17 The gold and the crystal cannot equal it: and the exchange of it [shall not be for] jewels of fine gold.
28:18 No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls: for the price of wisdom [is] above rubies.
28:19 The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold.
28:20 Whence then cometh wisdom? and where [is] the place of understanding?
28:21 Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the fowls of the air.
28:22 Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame thereof with our ears.
28:23 God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof.
28:24 For he looketh to the ends of the earth, [and] seeth under the whole heaven;
28:25 To make the weight for the winds; and he weigheth the waters by measure.
28:26 When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder:
28:27 Then did he see it, and declare it; he prepared it, yea, and searched it out.
28:28 And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that [is] wisdom; and to depart from evil [is] understanding.
29:1 Moreover Job continued his parable, and said,
29:2 Oh that I were as [in] months past, as [in] the days [when] God preserved me;
29:3 When his candle shined upon my head, [and when] by his light I walked [through] darkness;
29:4 As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God [was] upon my tabernacle;
29:5 When the Almighty [was] yet with me, [when] my children [were] about me;
29:6 When I washed my steps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil;
29:7 When I went out to the gate through the city, [when] I prepared my seat in the street!
29:8 The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and the aged arose, [and] stood up.
29:9 The princes refrained talking, and laid [their] hand on their mouth.
29:10 The nobles held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to the roof of their mouth.
29:11 When the ear heard [me], then it blessed me; and when the eye saw [me], it gave witness to me:
29:12 Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and [him that had] none to help him.
29:13 The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
29:14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment [was] as a robe and a diadem.
29:15 I was eyes to the blind, and feet [was] I to the lame.
29:16 I [was] a father to the poor: and the cause [which] I knew not I searched out.
29:17 And I brake the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth.
29:18 Then I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply [my] days as the sand.
29:19 My root [was] spread out by the waters, and the dew lay all night upon my branch.
29:20 My glory [was] fresh in me, and my bow was renewed in my hand.
29:21 Unto me [men] gave ear, and waited, and kept silence at my counsel.
29:22 After my words they spake not again; and my speech dropped upon them.
29:23 And they waited for me as for the rain; and they opened their mouth wide [as] for the latter rain.
29:24 [If] I laughed on them, they believed [it] not; and the light of my countenance they cast not down.
29:25 I chose out their way, and sat chief, and dwelt as a king in the army, as one [that] comforteth the mourners.
30:1 But now [they that are] younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock.
30:2 Yea, whereto [might] the strength of their hands [profit] me, in whom old age was perished?
30:3 For want and famine [they were] solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.
30:4 Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots [for] their meat.
30:5 They were driven forth from among [men], (they cried after them as [after] a thief;)
30:6 To dwell in the clifts of the valleys, [in] caves of the earth, and [in] the rocks.
30:7 Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together.
30:8 [They were] children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.
30:9 And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword.
30:10 They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.
30:11 Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me.
30:12 Upon [my] right [hand] rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction.
30:13 They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper.
30:14 They came [upon me] as a wide breaking in [of waters]: in the desolation they rolled themselves [upon me].
30:15 Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud.
30:16 And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me.
30:17 My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.
30:18 By the great force [of my disease] is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.
30:19 He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes.
30:20 I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me [not].
30:21 Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.
30:22 Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride [upon it], and dissolvest my substance.
30:23 For I know [that] thou wilt bring me [to] death, and [to] the house appointed for all living.
30:24 Howbeit he will not stretch out [his] hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.
30:25 Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was [not] my soul grieved for the poor?
30:26 When I looked for good, then evil came [unto me]: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.
30:27 My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me.
30:28 I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, [and] I cried in the congregation.
30:29 I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.
30:30 My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.
30:31 My harp also is [turned] to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.