Job
Job's Hymn to Wisdom
28
Surely there is a mine for silver
and a place where gold is refined.
2
Iron is taken from the ground,
and copper is smelted from ore.
3
A miner puts an end to the darkness;
he probes the deepest recesses
for ore in the gloomy darkness.
4
He cuts a shaft far from human habitation,
in places unknown to those who walk above ground.
Suspended far away from people,
the miners swing back and forth.
5
Food may come from the earth,
but below the surface the earth is transformed as by fire.
6
Its rocks are a source of sapphire,
containing flecks of gold.
7
No bird of prey knows that path;
no falcon's eye has seen it.
8
Proud beasts have never walked on it;
no lion has ever prowled over it.
9
The miner strikes the flint
and transforms the mountains at their foundations.
10
He cuts out channels in the rocks,
and his eyes spot every treasure.
11
He dams up the streams from flowing
so that he may bring to light what is hidden.
12
But where can wisdom be found,
and where is understanding located?
13
No man can know its value,
since it cannot be found in the land of the living.
14
The ocean depths say, “It's not in me,”
while the sea declares, “I don't have it.”
15
Gold cannot be exchanged for it,
and silver cannot be weighed out for its price.
16
Wisdom cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
in precious onyx or sapphire.
17
Gold and glass do not compare with it,
and articles of fine gold cannot be exchanged for it.
18
Coral and quartz are not worth mentioning.
The price of wisdom is beyond pearls.
19
Topaz from
•Cush
cannot compare with it,
and it cannot be valued in pure gold.
20
Where then does wisdom come from,
and where is understanding located?
21
It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing
and concealed from the birds of the sky.
22
•Abaddon
and Death say,
“We have heard news of it with our ears.”
23
But God understands the way to wisdom,
and He knows its location.
24
For He looks to the ends of the earth
and sees everything under the heavens.
25
When God fixed the weight of the wind
and limited the water by measure,
26
when He established a limit for the rain
and a path for the lightning,
27
He considered wisdom and evaluated it;
He established it and examined it.
28
He said to mankind,
“The
•fear
of the Lord is this: wisdom.
And to turn from evil is understanding.”
Job
Job's Final Claim of Innocence
29
Job continued his discourse, saying:
2
If only I could be as in months gone by,
in the days when God watched over me,
3
when His lamp shone above my head,
and I walked through darkness by His light!
4
I would be as I was in the days of my youth
when God's friendship rested on my tent,
5
when the
•Almighty
was still with me
and my children were around me,
6
when my feet were bathed in cream
and the rock poured out streams of oil for me!
7
When I went out to the city
•gate
and took my seat in the town square,
8
the young men saw me and withdrew,
while older men stood to their feet.
9
City officials stopped talking
and covered their mouths with their hands.
10
The noblemen's voices were hushed,
and their tongues stuck to the roof of their mouths.
11
When they heard me, they blessed me,
and when they saw me, they spoke well of me.
12
For I rescued the poor man who cried out for help,
and the fatherless child who had no one to support him.
13
The dying man blessed me,
and I made the widow's heart rejoice.
14
I clothed myself in righteousness,
and it enveloped me;
my just decisions were like a robe and a turban.
15
I was eyes to the blind
and feet to the lame.
16
I was a father to the needy,
and I examined the case of the stranger.
17
I shattered the fangs of the unjust
and snatched the prey from his teeth.
18
So I thought: I will die in my own nest
and multiply my days as the sand.
19
My roots will have access to water,
and the dew will rest on my branches all night.
20
My strength will be refreshed within me,
and my bow will be renewed in my hand.
21
Men listened to me with expectation,
waiting silently for my advice.
22
After a word from me they did not speak again;
my speech settled on them like dew.
23
They waited for me as for the rain
and opened their mouths as for spring showers.
24
If I smiled at them, they couldn't believe it;
they were thrilled at the light of my countenance.
25
I directed their course and presided as chief.
I lived as a king among his troops,
like one who comforts those who mourn.
Job
30
But now they mock me,
men younger than I am,
whose fathers I would have refused to put
with my sheep dogs.
2
What use to me was the strength of their hands?
Their vigor had left them.
3
Emaciated from poverty and hunger,
they gnawed the dry land,
the desolate wasteland by night.
4
They plucked mallow among the shrubs,
and the roots of the broom tree were their food.
5
They were expelled from human society;
people shouted at them as if they were thieves.
6
They are living on the slopes of the
•wadis
,
among the rocks and in holes in the ground.
7
They bray among the shrubs;
they huddle beneath the thistles.
8
Foolish men, without even a name.
They were forced to leave the land.
9
Now I am mocked by their songs;
I have become an object of scorn to them.
10
They despise me and keep their distance from me;
they do not hesitate to spit in my face.
11
Because God has loosened my bowstring and oppressed me,
they have cast off restraint in my presence.
12
The rabble rise up at my right;
they trap my feet
and construct their siege ramp against me.
13
They tear up my path;
they contribute to my destruction,
without anyone to help them.
14
They advance as through a gaping breach;
they keep rolling in through the ruins.
15
Terrors are turned loose against me;
they chase my dignity away like the wind,
and my prosperity has passed by like a cloud.
16
Now my life is poured out before my eyes,
and days of suffering have seized me.
17
Night pierces my bones,
but my gnawing pains never rest.
18
My clothing is distorted with great force;
He chokes me by the neck of my garment.
19
He throws me into the mud,
and I have become like dust and ashes.
20
I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer me;
when I stand up, You merely look at me.
21
You have turned against me with cruelty;
You harass me with Your strong hand.
22
You lift me up on the wind and make me ride it;
You scatter me in the storm.
23
Yes, I know that You will lead me to death —
the place appointed for all who live.
24
Yet no one would stretch out his hand
against a ruined man
when he cries out to him for help
because of his distress.
25
Have I not wept for those who have fallen on hard times?
Has my soul not grieved for the needy?
26
But when I hoped for good, evil came;
when I looked for light, darkness came.
27
I am churning within and cannot rest;
days of suffering confront me.
28
I walk about blackened, but not by the sun.
I stood in the assembly and cried out for help.
29
I have become a brother to jackals
and a companion of ostriches.
30
My skin blackens and flakes off,
and my bones burn with fever.
31
My lyre is used for mourning
and my flute for the sound of weeping.
Job
31
I have made a covenant with my eyes.
How then could I look at a young woman?
2
For what portion would I have from God above,
or what inheritance from the
•Almighty
on high?
3
Doesn't disaster come to the unjust
and misfortune to evildoers?
4
Does He not see my ways
and number all my steps?
5
If I have walked in falsehood
or my foot has rushed to deceit,
6
let God weigh me in accurate scales,
and He will recognize my integrity.
7
If my step has turned from the way,
my heart has followed my eyes,
or impurity has stained my hands,
8
let someone else eat what I have sown,
and let my crops be uprooted.
9
If my heart has been seduced by my neighbor's wife
or I have lurked at his door,
10
let my own wife grind grain for another man,
and let other men sleep with her.
11
For that would be a disgrace;
it would be a crime deserving punishment.
12
For it is a fire that consumes down to
•Abaddon
;
it would destroy my entire harvest.
13
If I have dismissed the case of my male or female servants
when they made a complaint against me,
14
what could I do when God stands up to judge?
How should I answer Him when He calls me to account?
15
Did not the One who made me in the womb also make them?
Did not the same God form us both in the womb?
16
If I have refused the wishes of the poor
or let the widow's eyes go blind,
17
if I have eaten my few crumbs alone
without letting the fatherless eat any of it —
18
for from my youth, I raised him as his father,
and since the day I was born I guided the widow —
19
if I have seen anyone dying for lack of clothing
or a needy person without a cloak,
20
if he did not bless me
while warming himself with the fleece from my sheep,
21
if I ever cast my vote against a fatherless child
when I saw that I had support in the city
•gate
,
22
then let my shoulder blade fall from my back,
and my arm be pulled from its socket.
23
For disaster from God terrifies me,
and because of His majesty I could not do these things.