Job 28–30

Job Continues: Where Is Wisdom?

28“Surely there is a mine for silver,

and a place for gold that they ^yrefine.

²Iron is taken out of the earth,

and copper is smelted from the ore.

³Man puts an end to darkness

and searches out to the farthest limit

the ore in ^zgloom and ^adeep darkness.

⁴He opens shafts in a valley away from where anyone lives;

they are forgotten by travelers;

they hang in the air, far away from mankind; they swing to and fro.

⁵As for the earth, ^bout of it comes bread,

but underneath it is turned up as by fire.

⁶Its stones are the place of ^csapphires,¹

and it has dust of gold.

⁷“That path no bird of prey knows,

and the falcon’s eye has not seen it.

^8dThe proud beasts have not trodden it;

^ethe lion has not passed over it.

⁹“Man puts his hand to ^fthe flinty rock

and overturns mountains by the roots.

¹⁰He cuts out channels in the rocks,

and his eye sees every precious thing.

¹¹He dams up the streams so that they do not trickle,

and the thing that is hidden he brings out to light.

^12g“But where shall wisdom be found?

And where is the place of understanding?

¹³Man does not know its worth,

and it is not found in ^hthe land of the living.

¹⁴ⁱThe deep says, ‘It is not in me,’

and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’

¹⁵It ^jcannot be bought for gold,

and silver cannot be weighed as its price.

¹⁶It cannot be valued in ^kthe gold of ^lOphir,

in precious ^monyx or ⁿsapphire.

¹⁷Gold and glass cannot equal it,

nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.

¹⁸No mention shall be made of ^ocoral or of crystal;

the price of wisdom is above ^oppearls.

^19qThe topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,

nor can it be valued in pure gold.

²⁰“From where, then, does wisdom come?

And where is the place of understanding?

²¹It is hidden from the eyes of ^rall living

and concealed from the birds of the air.

^22sAbaddon and Death say,

‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’

^23t“God understands the way to it,

and he knows its place.

²⁴For he ^ulooks to the ends of the earth

and sees everything under the heavens.

²⁵When he ^vgave to the wind its weight

and apportioned the waters by measure,

²⁶when he made a decree for the rain

and ^wa way for the lightning of the thunder,

²⁷then he saw it and declared it;

he established it, and searched it out.

²⁸And he said to man,

‘Behold, ^xthe fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,

and to ^yturn away from evil is understanding.’ ”

Job’s Summary Defense

29And Job again ^ztook up his discourse, and said:

²“Oh, that I were as in the months of old,

as in the days when God watched over me,

³when his ^alamp shone upon my head,

and by his light I walked through darkness,

⁴as I was in my prime,¹

when the ^bfriendship of God was upon my tent,

⁵when the Almighty was yet with me,

when my ^cchildren were all around me,

⁶when my steps were ^dwashed with ^ebutter,

and ^fthe rock poured out for me streams of ^goil!

⁷When I went out to ^hthe gate of the city,

when I prepared my seat in the square,

⁸the young men saw me and withdrew,

and the aged rose and stood;

⁹the princes refrained from talking

and ⁱlaid their hand on their mouth;

¹⁰the voice of the nobles was hushed,

and their ^jtongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.

¹¹When the ear heard, it called me blessed,

and when the eye saw, it approved,

¹²because I ^kdelivered the poor who cried for help,

and the fatherless who had none to help him.

^13lThe blessing of him who was ^mabout to perish came upon me,

and I caused ⁿthe widow’s heart to sing for joy.

¹⁴I ^oput on righteousness, and it clothed me;

my justice was like a robe and ^pa turban.

¹⁵I was ^qeyes to the blind

and feet to the lame.

¹⁶I was a father to the needy,

and I searched out ^rthe cause of him whom I did not know.

¹⁷I ^sbroke ^tthe fangs of the unrighteous

and made him drop his prey from his teeth.

^18uThen I thought, ‘I shall die in my ^vnest,

and I shall multiply my days as ^wthe sand,

¹⁹my ^xroots spread out to ^ythe waters,

with the dew all night on my ^zbranches,

²⁰my glory fresh with me,

and my ^abow ever ^bnew in my hand.’

²¹“Men listened to me and waited

and kept silence for my counsel.

²²After I spoke they did not speak again,

and my word ^cdropped upon them.

²³They waited for me as for the rain,

and they ^dopened their mouths as for the ^espring rain.

²⁴I smiled on them when they had no confidence,

and ^fthe light of my ^gface they did not cast down.

²⁵I chose their way and sat as chief,

and I lived like ^ha king among his troops,

like one who comforts mourners.

30“But now they ⁱlaugh at me,

men who are ^jyounger than I,

whose fathers I would have disdained

to set with the dogs of my flock.

²What could I gain from the strength of their hands,

^kmen whose ^lvigor is gone?

³Through want and hard hunger

they ^mgnaw ⁿthe dry ground by night in ^owaste and desolation;

⁴they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes,

and the roots of the broom tree for their food.¹

^5pThey are driven out from human company;

they shout after them as after a thief.

⁶In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell,

in holes of the earth and of ^qthe rocks.

⁷Among the bushes they ^rbray;

under ^sthe nettles they huddle together.

⁸A senseless, a nameless brood,

they have been whipped out of the land.

⁹“And now I have become their ^tsong;

I am ^ua byword to them.

¹⁰They ^vabhor me; they keep aloof from me;

they do not hesitate to ^wspit at the sight of me.

¹¹Because God has loosed my cord and humbled me,

they have cast off restraint² in my presence.

¹²On my ^xright hand the rabble rise;

they push away my feet;

they ^ycast up against me their ways of destruction.

¹³They break up my path;

they promote my ^zcalamity;

they need no one to help them.

¹⁴As through a wide ^abreach they come;

amid the crash they roll on.

^15bTerrors are turned upon me;

my honor is pursued as by the wind,

and my prosperity has passed away like ^ca cloud.

¹⁶“And now my soul is ^dpoured out within me;

days of affliction have taken hold of me.

^17eThe night ^fracks my bones,

and the pain that ^ggnaws me takes no rest.

¹⁸With great force my garment is ^hdisfigured;

it binds me about like the collar of my tunic.

¹⁹God³ has cast me into the mire,

and I have become like ⁱdust and ashes.

²⁰I cry to you for help and you do not answer me;

I stand, and you only look at me.

²¹You have ^jturned cruel to me;

with the might of your hand you ^kpersecute me.

^22lYou lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it,

and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.

^23mFor I know that you will bring me to death

and to the house appointed for ⁿall living.

²⁴“Yet does not one in a ^oheap of ruins stretch out his hand,

and in his disaster cry for help?⁴

²⁵Did not I ^pweep for him whose day was hard?

Was not my soul grieved for the needy?

²⁶But ^qwhen I hoped for good, evil came,

and when I waited for light, ^rdarkness came.

²⁷My inward parts are in turmoil and never still;

days of affliction ^scome to meet me.

²⁸I ^tgo about darkened, but not by the sun;

I stand up in ^uthe assembly and cry for help.

²⁹I am a brother of ^vjackals

and a companion of ^wostriches.

³⁰My ^xskin turns black and falls from me,

and my ^ybones burn with heat.

³¹My ^zlyre is ^aturned to mourning,

and my ^zpipe to the voice of those who weep.