Job 28–30

Chapter 28

¹Surely there is a vein for the silver, and a place for gold which they refine; ²Iron is taken out of the dust, and copper is molten out of the stone. ³Man putteth an end to the darkness, and exploreth to the utmost limit, the stones of darkness and of the shadow of death. ⁴He openeth a shaft far from the inhabitants of the earth: forgotten of the foot, they hang suspended; away below men they hover. ⁵As for the earth, out of it cometh bread, and underneath it is turned up as by fire; ⁶The stones of it are the place of sapphires, and it hath dust of gold. ⁷It is a path no bird of prey knoweth, and the vulture’s eye hath not seen it; ⁸The proud beasts have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed over it. ⁹Man putteth forth his hand upon the flinty rock, he overturneth the mountains by the root. ¹⁰He cutteth out channels in the rocks, and his eye seeth every precious thing. ¹¹He bindeth the streams that they drip not, and what is hidden he bringeth forth to light. ¹²But wisdom, where shall it be found? and where is the place of understanding? ¹³Man knoweth not the value thereof; and it is not found in the land of the living.

¹⁴The deep saith, It is not in me; and the sea saith, It is not with me. ¹⁵Choice gold cannot be given for it, nor silver be weighed for its price. ¹⁶It is not set in the balance with gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, and the sapphire. ¹⁷Gold and glass cannot be compared to it, nor vessels of fine gold be its exchange. ¹⁸Corals and crystal are no more remembered; yea, the acquisition of wisdom is above rubies. ¹⁹The topaz of Ethiopia shall not be compared to it, neither shall it be set in the balance with pure gold.

²⁰Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding? ²¹For it is hidden from the eyes of all living, and concealed from the fowl of the heavens. ²²Destruction and death say, We have heard its report with our ears. ²³God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth its place: ²⁴For he looketh to the ends of the earth, he seeth under the whole heaven. ²⁵In making a weight for the wind, and meting out the waters by measure, ²⁶In appointing a statute for the rain, and a way for the thunder’s flash: ²⁷Then did he see it, and declare it; he established it, yea, and searched it out; ²⁸And unto man he said, Lo, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.

Chapter 29

¹And Job continued his parable and said, ²Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when †God preserved me; ³When his lamp shone over my head, and by his light I walked through darkness; ⁴As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret counsel of †God was over my tent, ⁵When the Almighty was yet with me, my young men round about me; ⁶When my steps were bathed in milk, and the rock poured out beside me rivers of oil! …

⁷When I went out to the gate by the city, when I prepared my seat on the broadway, ⁸The young men saw me, and hid themselves; and the aged arose and stood up; ⁹Princes refrained from talking, and laid the hand on their mouth; ¹⁰The voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue cleaved to their palate. ¹¹When the ear heard me, then it blessed me, and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me; ¹²For I delivered the afflicted that cried, and the fatherless who had no helper. ¹³The blessing of him that was perishing came upon me, and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy. ¹⁴I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was as a mantle and a turban. ¹⁵I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame; ¹⁶I was a father to the needy, and the cause which I knew not I searched out; ¹⁷And I broke the jaws of the unrighteous, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth.

¹⁸And I said, I shall die in my nest, and multiply my days as the sand; ¹⁹My root shall be spread out to the waters, and the dew will lie all night on my branch; ²⁰My glory shall be fresh in me, and my bow be renewed in my hand. ²¹Unto me they listened, and waited, and kept silence for my counsel: ²²After my words they spoke not again, and my speech dropped upon them; ²³And they waited for me as for the rain, and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain. ²⁴If I laughed on them, they believed it not; and they troubled not the serenity of my countenance. ²⁵I chose their way, and sat as chief, and dwelt as a king in the army, as one that comforteth mourners.

Chapter 30

¹But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock. ²Yea, whereto should the strength of their hands profit me, men in whom vigour hath perished? ³Withered up through want and hunger, they flee into waste places long since desolate and desert: ⁴They gather the salt-wort among the bushes, and the roots of the broom for their food. ⁵They are driven forth from among men —they cry after them as after a thief— ⁶To dwell in gloomy gorges, in caves of the earth and the rocks: ⁷They bray among the bushes; under the brambles they are gathered together: ⁸Sons of fools, and sons of nameless sires, they are driven out of the land. ⁹And now I am their song, yea, I am their byword. ¹⁰They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, yea, they spare not to spit in my face. ¹¹For he hath loosed my cord and afflicted me; so they cast off the bridle before me. ¹²At my right hand rise the young brood; they push away my feet, and raise up against me their pernicious ways; ¹³They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, without any to help them; ¹⁴They come in as through a wide breach: amid the confusion they roll themselves onward.

¹⁵Terrors are turned against me; they pursue mine honour as the wind; and my welfare is passed away like a cloud. ¹⁶And now my soul is poured out in me; days of affliction have taken hold upon me. ¹⁷The night pierceth through my bones and detacheth them from me, and my gnawing pains take no rest: ¹⁸By their great force they have become my raiment; they bind me about as the collar of my coat. ¹⁹He hath cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes. ²⁰I cry unto thee, and thou answerest me not; I stand up, and thou lookest at me. ²¹Thou art changed to a cruel one to me; with the strength of thy hand thou pursuest me. ²²Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to be borne away, and dissolvest my substance. ²³For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and into the house of assemblage for all living. ²⁴Indeed, no prayer availeth when he stretcheth out his hand: though they cry when he destroyeth. ²⁵Did not I weep for him whose days were hard? was not my soul grieved for the needy? ²⁶For I expected good, and there came evil; and I waited for light, but there came darkness. ²⁷My bowels well up, and rest not; days of affliction have confronted me. ²⁸I go about blackened, but not by the sun; I stand up, I cry in the congregation. ²⁹I am become a brother to jackals, and a companion of ostriches. ³⁰My skin is become black and falleth off me, and my bones are parched with heat. ³¹My harp also is turned to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of weepers.