Job 28–30

Chapter 28

Silver hath beginnings of its veins, and gold hath a place wherein it is melted.

²Iron is taken out of the earth, and stone melted with heat is turned into brass.

³He hath set a time for darkness, and the end of all things he considereth, the stone also that is in the dark and the shadow of death.

⁴The flood divideth from the people that are on their journey, those whom the foot of the needy man hath forgotten, and who cannot be come at.

⁵The land, out of which bread grew in its place, hath been overturned with fire.

⁶The stones of it are the place of sapphires, and the clods of it are gold.

⁷The bird hath not known the path, neither hath the eye of the vulture beheld it.

⁸The children of the merchants have not trodden it, neither hath the lioness passed by it.

⁹He hath stretched forth his hand to the flint, he hath overturned mountains from the roots.

¹⁰In the rocks he hath cut out rivers, and his eye hath seen every precious thing.

¹¹The depths also of rivers he hath searched, and hidden things he hath brought forth to light.

¹²But where is wisdom to be found, and where is the place of understanding?

¹³Man knoweth not the price thereof, neither is it found in the land of them that live in delights.

¹⁴The depth saith: It is not in me: and the sea saith: It is not with me.

¹⁵The finest gold shall not purchase it, neither shall silver be weighed in exchange for it.

¹⁶It shall not be compared with the dyed colours of India, or with the most precious stone sardonyx, or the sapphire.

¹⁷Gold or crystal cannot equal it, neither shall any vessels of gold be changed for it.

¹⁸High and eminent things shall not be mentioned in comparison of it: but wisdom is drawn out of secret places.

¹⁹The topaz of Ethiopia shall not be equal to it, neither shall it be compared to the cleanest dyeing.

²⁰Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding?

²¹It is hid from the eyes of all living, and the fowls of the air know it not.

²²Destruction and death have said: With our ears we have heard the fame thereof.

²³God understandeth the way of it, and he knoweth the place thereof.

²⁴For he beholdeth the ends of the world: and looketh on all things that are under heaven.

²⁵Who made a weight for the winds, and weighed the waters by measure.

²⁶When he gave a law for the rain, and a way for the sounding storms.

²⁷Then he saw it, and declared, and prepared, and searched it.

²⁸And he said to man: Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom: and to depart from evil, is understanding.

Chapter 29

Job also added, taking up his parable, and said:

²Who will grant me, that I might be according to the months past, according to the days in which God kept me?

³When his lamp shined over my head, and I walked by his light in darkness?

⁴As I was in the days of my youth, when God was secretly in my tabernacle?

⁵When the Almighty was with me: and my servants round about me?

⁶When I washed my feet with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil?

⁷When I went out to the gate of the city, and in the street they prepared me a chair?

⁸The young men saw me, and hid themselves: and the old men rose up and stood.

⁹The princes ceased to speak, and laid the finger on their mouth.

¹⁰The rulers held their peace, and their tongue cleaved to their throat.

¹¹The ear that heard me blessed me, and the eye that saw me gave witness to me:

¹²Because I had delivered the poor man that cried out; and the fatherless, that had no helper.

¹³The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me, and I comforted the heart of the widow.

¹⁴I was clad with justice: and I clothed myself with my judgment, as with a robe and a diadem.

¹⁵I was an eye to the blind, and a foot to the lame.

¹⁶I was the father of the poor: and the cause which I knew not, I searched out most diligently.

¹⁷I broke the jaws of the wicked man, and out of his teeth I took away the prey.

¹⁸And I said: I shall die in my nest, and as a palm tree shall multiply my days.

¹⁹My root is opened beside the waters, and dew shall continue in my harvest.

²⁰My glory shall always be renewed, and my bow in my hand shall be repaired.

²¹They that heard me, waited for my sentence, and being attentive held their peace at my counsel.

²²To my words they durst add nothing, and my speech dropped upon them.

²³They waited for me as for rain, and they opened their mouth as for a latter shower.

²⁴If at any time I laughed on them, they believed not, and the light of my countenance fell not on earth.

²⁵If I had a mind to go to them, I sat first, and when I sat as a king, with his army standing about him, yet I was a comforter of them that mourned.

Chapter 30

But now the younger in time scorn me, whose fathers I would not have set with the dogs of my flock:

²The strength of whose hands was to me as nothing, and they were thought unworthy of life itself.

³Barren with want and hunger, who gnawed in the wilderness, disfigured with calamity and misery.

⁴And they ate grass, and barks of trees, and the root of junipers was their food.

⁵Who snatched up these things out of the valleys, and when they had found any of them, they ran to them with a cry.

⁶They dwelt in the desert places of torrents, and in caves of earth, or upon the gravel.

⁷They pleased themselves among these kind of things, and counted it delightful to be under the briers.

⁸The children of foolish and base men, and not appearing at all upon the earth.

⁹Now I am turned into their song, and am become their byword.

¹⁰They abhor me, and flee far from me, and are not afraid to spit in my face.

¹¹For he hath opened his quiver, and hath afflicted me, and hath put a bridle into my mouth.

¹²At the right hand of my rising, my calamities forthwith arose: they have overthrown my feet, and have overwhelmed me with their paths as with waves.

¹³They have destroyed my ways, they have lain in wait against me, and they have prevailed, and there was none to help.

¹⁴They have rushed in upon me, as when a wall is broken, and a gate opened, and have rolled themselves down to my miseries.

¹⁵I am brought to nothing: as a wind thou hast taken away my desire: and my prosperity hath passed away like a cloud.

¹⁶And now my soul fadeth within myself, and the days of affliction possess me.

¹⁷In the night my bone is pierced with sorrows: and they that feed upon me, do not sleep.

¹⁸With the multitude of them my garment is consumed, and they have girded me about, as with the collar of my coat.

¹⁹I am compared to dirt, and am likened to embers and ashes.

²⁰I cry to thee, and thou hearest me not: I stand up, and thou dost not regard me.

²¹Thou art changed to be cruel toward me, and in the hardness of thy hand thou art against me.

²²Thou hast lifted me up, and set me as it were upon the wind, and thou hast mightily dashed me.

²³I know that thou wilt deliver me to death, where a house is appointed for every one that liveth.

²⁴But yet thou stretchest not forth thy hand to their consumption: and if they shall fall down thou wilt save.

²⁵I wept heretofore for him that was afflicted, and my soul had compassion on the poor.

²⁶I expected good things, and evils are come upon me: I waited for light, and darkness broke out.

²⁷My inner parts have boiled without any rest, the days of affliction have prevented me.

²⁸I went mourning without indignation; I rose up, and cried in the crowd.

²⁹I was the brother of dragons, and companion of ostriches.

³⁰My skin is become black upon me, and my bones are dried up with heat.

³¹My harp is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of those that weep.