Job 28–30

28Surely there is ^||a vein for the ^asilver,

And ^ba place for gold where they ^cfine it.

²Iron is taken out of the ^||earth,

And brass is ^dmolten out of the stone.

³He setteth an end to darkness,

And searcheth out ^eall perfection:

The stones of ^fdarkness, and the ^gshadow of death.

⁴The flood breaketh out from the inhabitant;

Even the waters ^hforgotten of the foot:

They are dried up, they are gone away from men.

⁵As for ⁱthe earth, out of it cometh bread:

And ^junder it is turned up as it were fire.

⁶The stones of it are ^kthe place of ^lsapphires:

And it hath ^||dust of gold.

⁷There is a path which no fowl knoweth,

And which the ^mvulture’s ⁿeye hath not seen:

⁸The ^olion’s whelps have not trodden it,

Nor the ^pfierce lion passed by it.

⁹He putteth forth his hand upon the ^||rock;

He overturneth the mountains by the roots.

¹⁰He cutteth out ^qrivers among the rocks;

And his eye seeth every precious thing.

¹¹He bindeth the ^qfloods ^†from overflowing;

And ^rthe thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light.

^12sBut where shall ^twisdom be found?

And where is the place of ^tunderstanding?

¹³Man knoweth not the ^uprice thereof;

Neither is it found in ^xthe land of the living.

^14yThe depth saith, It is not in me:

And the sea saith, It is not with me.

^15†It ^zcannot be gotten for ^agold,

Neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof.

¹⁶It cannot ^bbe valued with the ^cgold of ^dOphir,

With the precious ^eonyx, or the ^fsapphire.

¹⁷The gold and the crystal cannot ^gequal it:

And the exchange of it shall not be for ^||jewels of fine gold.

^18hNo mention shall be made of ^||coral, or of ^hhpearls:

For the price of wisdom is above ⁱrubies.

¹⁹The ^jtopaz of ^kEthiopia shall not ^gequal it,

Neither ^bshall it be valued with pure ^cgold.

^20lWhence then cometh wisdom?

And where is the place of understanding?

²¹Seeing it is hid from the eyes ^mof all living,

And kept close from the fowls of the ^||air.

²²ⁿDestruction and death say,

We have heard the fame thereof with our ears.

^23oGod understandeth the way thereof,

And he knoweth the place thereof.

²⁴For he looketh to the ends of the earth,

And seeth under the whole heaven;

²⁵To ^pmake the weight for the winds;

And he weigheth the waters by measure.

^26qWhen he made a ^rdecree for the rain,

And a ^sway for the lightning of the thunder:

²⁷Then did he see it, and ^||declare it;

He prepared it, yea, and searched it out.

²⁸And unto man he said, Behold, ^tthe fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;

And ^uto depart from evil is understanding.

29Moreover Job ^†continued his parable, and said,

²Oh that I were ^aas in months past,

As in the days when God preserved me;

^3bWhen his ^||candle shined upon my head,

And when by his light I walked through darkness;

⁴As I was in the days of my youth,

When ^cthe secret of God was upon my ^dtabernacle;

⁵When the Almighty was yet with me,

When ^emy children were about me;

⁶When ^fI washed my steps with ^gbutter,

And ^hthe rock ⁱpoured ^†me out rivers of ^koil;

⁷When I went out to the ^lgate through the ^lcity,

When I prepared my seat in the ^mstreet!

⁸The young men saw me, and hid themselves:

And ⁿthe aged arose, and stood up.

⁹The princes refrained talking,

And ^olaid their hand on their mouth.

^10†The nobles held their peace,

And their ^ptongue cleaved to ^qthe roof of their mouth.

¹¹When the ear heard me, then it blessed me;

And when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me:

¹²Because I delivered the poor that cried,

And ^rthe fatherless, and him that had none to help him.

¹³The ^sblessing of him that was ^tready to perish came upon me:

And I caused ^uthe widow’s heart to ^xsing for joy.

^14yI put on righteousness, and it clothed me:

My judgment was as a robe and a ^zdiadem.

¹⁵I was ^aeyes to the blind,

And feet was I to the lame.

¹⁶I was a father to the poor:

And the cause ^bwhich I knew not I searched out.

¹⁷And I ^bbbrake ^†the jaws of the wicked,

And ^†plucked the spoil out of his teeth.

^18cThen I said, I shall die in my ^dnest,

And I shall multiply my days ^eas the sand.

¹⁹My ^froot was ^†spread out ^gby the waters,

And the dew lay all night upon my ^fhbranch.

²⁰My glory was ^†fresh in me,

And my ⁱbow was ^†renewed in my hand.

²¹Unto me men gave ear, and waited,

And kept silence at my counsel.

²²After my words they spake not again;

And my speech ^kdropped upon them.

²³And they waited for me as for the rain;

And they ^lopened their mouth wide as for ^mthe latter rain.

²⁴If I laughed on them, they ⁿbelieved it not;

And ^othe light of my ^pcountenance they cast not down.

²⁵I chose out their way, and sat chief,

And dwelt ^qas a king in the ^rarmy,

As one that comforteth the mourners.

30But now they that are ^†younger than I ^ahave me in derision,

^bWhose fathers I would have disdained

To have set with the dogs of my flock.

²Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands ^cprofit me,

In whom ^dold age was perished?

³For want and ^efamine they were ^||solitary;

^fFleeing into the ^gwilderness

^†In former time ^hdesolate and waste.

⁴Who cut up mallows by the bushes,

And juniper roots for their meat.

⁵ⁱThey were driven forth from among men,

(They cried after them as after a thief;)

⁶To dwell in the clifts of the valleys,

In ^†caves of the earth, and in the ^krocks.

^7lAmong the bushes they ^mbrayed;

Under the ⁿnettles they were gathered together.

⁸They were children of ^ofools, yea, children of ^†base men:

They were viler than the earth.

^9pAnd now am I their ^qsong,

Yea, ^rI am their byword.

¹⁰They ^sabhor me, they flee far from me,

^†And spare not ^tto spit in my face.

¹¹Because he hath ^uloosed my cord, and ^xafflicted me,

They have also let loose the bridle ^ybefore me.

^12zUpon my right hand rise the youth;

They ^apush away my feet,

And they ^braise up against me the ways of their destruction.

¹³They mar my path,

They set forward my ^ccalamity,

They have no helper.

¹⁴They came upon me as a wide ^dbreaking in of waters:

In the ^edesolation they rolled themselves upon me.

^15fTerrors are turned upon me:

They pursue ^†my soul as the wind:

And my welfare passeth away ^gas a cloud.

¹⁶And now ^hmy soul is poured out ⁱupon me;

The days of affliction have taken hold upon me.

¹⁷My bones are pierced in me ^kin the night season:

And my ^lsinews take no rest.

^18mBy the great force of my disease is my garment ⁿchanged:

^oIt bindeth me about as the ^pcollar of my coat.

¹⁹He hath cast me into the mire,

And ^oI am become ^pplike ^qdust and ashes.

²⁰I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me:

I stand up, and thou regardest me not.

²¹Thou art ^†become cruel to me:

With ^†thy strong hand thou ^ropposest thyself against me.

²²Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it,

And ^sdissolvest my ^||substance.

²³For ^tI know that thou wilt bring me to death,

And to the house appointed for ^uall living.

²⁴Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the ^†grave,

Though they ^xcry in his ^ydestruction.

^25zDid not I weep ^†for him that was in trouble?

Was not my soul grieved for the poor?

^26aWhen I looked for good, then evil came unto me:

And when I waited for light, there came ^aadarkness.

²⁷My bowels ^bboiled, and rested not:

The days of affliction ^cprevented me.

^28dI went mourning ^ewithout the sun:

I stood up, and I cried ^fin the congregation.

²⁹I am a brother to ^gdragons,

And a companion to ^||owls.

^30hMy skin is black upon me,

And ⁱmy bones ^kare burned with heat.

³¹My ^lharp also ^mis turned to mourning,

And my ^lorgan into the voice of them that weep.