Job 28–30

28“There are mines where people dig silver

and places where gold is made pure.

²Iron is taken from the ground,

and copper is melted out of rocks.

³Miners bring lights

and search deep into the mines

for ore in thick darkness.

⁴Miners dig a tunnel far from where people live,

where no one has ever walked;

they work far from people, swinging and swaying from ropes.

⁵Food grows on top of the earth,

but below ground things are changed as if by fire.

⁶Sapphires are found in rocks,

and gold dust is also found there.

⁷No hawk knows that path;

the falcon has not seen it.

⁸Proud animals have not walked there,

and no lions cross over it.

⁹Miners hit the rocks of flint

and dig away at the bottom of the mountains.

¹⁰They cut tunnels through the rock

and see all the treasures there.

¹¹They search for places where rivers begin

and bring things hidden out into the light.

¹²“But where can wisdom be found,

and where does understanding live?

¹³People do not understand the value of wisdom;

it cannot be found among those who are alive.

¹⁴The deep ocean says, ‘It’s not in me;’

the sea says, ‘It’s not in me.’

¹⁵Wisdom cannot be bought with gold,

and its cost cannot be weighed in silver.

¹⁶Wisdom cannot be bought with fine gold

or with valuable onyx or sapphire gems.

¹⁷Gold and crystal are not as valuable as wisdom,

and you cannot buy it with jewels of gold.

¹⁸Coral and jasper are not worth talking about,

and the price of wisdom is much greater than rubies.

¹⁹The topaz from Cush cannot compare to wisdom;

it cannot be bought with the purest gold.

²⁰“So where does wisdom come from,

and where does understanding live?

²¹It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing,

even from the birds of the air.

²²The places of destruction and death say,

‘We have heard reports about it.’

²³Only God understands the way to wisdom,

and he alone knows where it lives,

²⁴because he looks to the farthest parts of the earth

and sees everything under the sky.

²⁵When God gave power to the wind

and measured the water,

²⁶when he made rules for the rain

and set a path for a thunderstorm to follow,

²⁷then he looked at wisdom and decided its worth;

he set wisdom up and tested it.

²⁸Then he said to humans,

‘The fear of the Lord is wisdom;

to stay away from evil is understanding.’ ”

Job Continues

29Job continued to speak:

²“How I wish for the months that have passed

and the days when God watched over me.

³God’s lamp shined on my head,

and I walked through darkness by his light.

⁴I wish for the days when I was strong,

when God’s close friendship blessed my house.

⁵The Almighty was still with me,

and my children were all around me.

⁶It was as if my path were covered with cream

and the rocks poured out olive oil for me.

⁷I would go to the city gate

and sit in the public square.

⁸When the young men saw me, they would step aside,

and the old men would stand up in respect.

⁹The leading men stopped speaking

and covered their mouths with their hands.

¹⁰The voices of the important men were quiet,

as if their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.

¹¹Anyone who heard me spoke well of me,

and those who saw me praised me,

¹²because I saved the poor who called out

and the orphan who had no one to help.

¹³The dying person blessed me,

and I made the widow’s heart sing.

¹⁴I put on right living as if it were clothing;

I wore fairness like a robe and a turban.

¹⁵I was eyes for the blind

and feet for the lame.

¹⁶I was like a father to needy people,

and I took the side of strangers who were in trouble.

¹⁷I broke the fangs of evil people

and snatched the captives from their teeth.

¹⁸“I thought, ‘I will live for as many days as there are grains of sand,

and I will die in my own house.

¹⁹My roots will reach down to the water.

The dew will lie on the branches all night.

²⁰New honors will come to me continually,

and I will always have great strength.’

²¹“People listened to me carefully

and waited quietly for my advice.

²²After I finished speaking, they spoke no more.

My words fell very gently on their ears.

²³They waited for me as they would for rain

and drank in my words like spring rain.

²⁴I smiled at them when they doubted,

and my approval was important to them.

²⁵I chose the way for them and was their leader.

I lived like a king among his army,

like a person who comforts sad people.

30“But now those who are younger than I

make fun of me.

I would not have even let their fathers

sit with my sheep dogs.

²What use did I have for their strength

since they had lost their strength to work?

³They were thin from hunger

and wandered the dry and ruined land at night.

⁴They gathered desert plants among the brush

and ate the root of the broom tree.

⁵They were forced to live away from people;

people shouted at them as if they were thieves.

⁶They lived in dried up streambeds,

in caves, and among the rocks.

⁷They howled like animals among the bushes

and huddled together in the brush.

⁸They are worthless people without names

and were forced to leave the land.

⁹“Now they make fun of me with songs;

my name is a joke among them.

¹⁰They hate me and stay far away from me,

but they do not mind spitting in my face.

¹¹God has taken away my strength and made me suffer,

so they attack me with all their anger.

¹²On my right side they rise up like a mob.

They lay traps for my feet

and prepare to attack me.

¹³They break up my road

and work to destroy me,

and no one helps me.

¹⁴They come at me as if through a hole in the wall,

and they roll in among the ruins.

¹⁵Great fears overwhelm me.

They blow my honor away as if by a great wind,

and my safety disappears like a cloud.

¹⁶“Now my life is almost over;

my days are full of suffering.

¹⁷At night my bones ache;

gnawing pains never stop.

¹⁸In his great power God grabs hold of my clothing

and chokes me with the collar of my coat.

¹⁹He throws me into the mud,

and I become like dirt and ashes.

²⁰“I cry out to you, God, but you do not answer;

I stand up, but you just look at me.

²¹You have turned on me without mercy;

with your powerful hand you attacked me.

²²You snatched me up and threw me into the wind

and tossed me about in the storm.

²³I know you will bring me down to death,

to the place where all living people must go.

²⁴“Surely no one would hurt those who are ruined

when they cry for help in their time of trouble.

²⁵I cried for those who were in trouble;

I have been very sad for poor people.

²⁶But when I hoped for good, only evil came to me;

when I looked for light, darkness came.

²⁷I never stop being upset;

days of suffering are ahead of me.

²⁸I have turned black, but not by the sun.

I stand up in public and cry for help.

²⁹I have become a brother to wild dogs

and a friend to ostriches.

³⁰My skin has become black and peels off,

as my body burns with fever.

³¹My harp is tuned to sing a sad song,

and my flute is tuned to moaning.