28:1Surely there is a vein for the silver, and a place for gold which they refine;
28:2Iron is taken out of the dust, and copper is molten out of the stone.
28:3Man putteth an end to the darkness, and exploreth to the utmost limit, the stones of darkness and of the shadow of death.
28:4He openeth a shaft far from the inhabitants of the earth: forgotten of the foot, they hang suspended; away below men they hover.
28:5As for the earth, out of it cometh bread, and underneath it is turned up as by fire;
28:6The stones of it are the place of sapphires, and it hath dust of gold.
28:7It is a path no bird of prey knoweth, and the vulture's eye hath not seen it;
28:8The proud beasts have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed over it.
28:9Man putteth forth his hand upon the flinty rock, he overturneth the mountains by the root.
28:10He cutteth out channels in the rocks, and his eye seeth every precious thing.
28:11He bindeth the streams that they drip not, and what is hidden he bringeth forth to light.
28:12But wisdom, where shall it be found? and where is the place of understanding?
28:13Man knoweth not the value thereof; and it is not found in the land of the living.
28:14The deep saith, It is not in me; and the sea saith, It is not with me.
28:15Choice gold cannot be given for it, nor silver be weighed for its price.
28:16It is not set in the balance with gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, and the sapphire.
28:17Gold and glass cannot be compared to it, nor vessels of fine gold be its exchange.
28:18Corals and crystal are no more remembered; yea, the acquisition of wisdom is above rubies.
28:19The topaz of Ethiopia shall not be compared to it, neither shall it be set in the balance with pure gold.
28:20Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding?
28:21For it is hidden from the eyes of all living, and concealed from the fowl of the heavens.
28:22Destruction and death say, We have heard its report with our ears.
28:23God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth its place:
28:24For he looketh to the ends of the earth, he seeth under the whole heaven.
28:25In making a weight for the wind, and meting out the waters by measure,
28:26In appointing a statute for the rain, and a way for the thunder's flash:
28:27Then did he see it, and declare it; he established it, yea, and searched it out;
28:28And unto man he said, Lo, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.
29:1And Job continued his parable and said,
29:2Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when +God preserved me;
29:3When his lamp shone over my head, and by his light I walked through darkness;
29:4As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret counsel of +God was over my tent,
29:5When the Almighty was yet with me, my young men round about me;
29:6When my steps were bathed in milk, and the rock poured out beside me rivers of oil! ...
29:7When I went out to the gate by the city, when I prepared my seat on the broadway,
29:8The young men saw me, and hid themselves; and the aged arose and stood up;
29:9Princes refrained from talking, and laid the hand on their mouth;
29:10The voice of the nobles was hushed, and their tongue cleaved to their palate.
29:11When the ear heard me, then it blessed me, and when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me;
29:12For I delivered the afflicted that cried, and the fatherless who had no helper.
29:13The blessing of him that was perishing came upon me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy.
29:14I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was as a mantle and a turban.
29:15I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame;
29:16I was a father to the needy, and the cause which I knew not I searched out;
29:17And I broke the jaws of the unrighteous, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth.
29:18And I said, I shall die in my nest, and multiply my days as the sand;
29:19My root shall be spread out to the waters, and the dew will lie all night on my branch;
29:20My glory shall be fresh in me, and my bow be renewed in my hand.
29:21Unto me they listened, and waited, and kept silence for my counsel:
29:22After my words they spoke not again, and my speech dropped upon them;
29:23And they waited for me as for the rain, and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain.
29:24If I laughed on them, they believed it not; and they troubled not the serenity of my countenance.
29:25I chose their way, and sat as chief, and dwelt as a king in the army, as one that comforteth mourners.
30:1But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.
30:2Yea, whereto should the strength of their hands profit me, men in whom vigour hath perished?
30:3Withered up through want and hunger, they flee into waste places long since desolate and desert:
30:4They gather the salt-wort among the bushes, and the roots of the broom for their food.
30:5They are driven forth from among men -- they cry after them as after a thief --
30:6To dwell in gloomy gorges, in caves of the earth and the rocks:
30:7They bray among the bushes; under the brambles they are gathered together:
30:8Sons of fools, and sons of nameless sires, they are driven out of the land.
30:9And now I am their song, yea, I am their byword.
30:10They abhor me, they stand aloof from me, yea, they spare not to spit in my face.
30:11For he hath loosed my cord and afflicted me; so they cast off the bridle before me.
30:12At my right hand rise the young brood; they push away my feet, and raise up against me their pernicious ways;
30:13They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, without any to help them;
30:14They come in as through a wide breach: amid the confusion they roll themselves onward.
30:15Terrors are turned against me; they pursue mine honour as the wind; and my welfare is passed away like a cloud.
30:16And now my soul is poured out in me; days of affliction have taken hold upon me.
30:17The night pierceth through my bones and detacheth them from me, and my gnawing pains take no rest:
30:18By their great force they have become my raiment; they bind me about as the collar of my coat.
30:19He hath cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.
30:20I cry unto thee, and thou answerest me not; I stand up, and thou lookest at me.
30:21Thou art changed to a cruel one to me; with the strength of thy hand thou pursuest me.
30:22Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to be borne away, and dissolvest my substance.
30:23For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and into the house of assemblage for all living.
30:24Indeed, no prayer availeth when he stretcheth out his hand: though they cry when he destroyeth.
30:25Did not I weep for him whose days were hard? was not my soul grieved for the needy?
30:26For I expected good, and there came evil; and I waited for light, but there came darkness.
30:27My bowels well up, and rest not; days of affliction have confronted me.
30:28I go about blackened, but not by the sun; I stand up, I cry in the congregation.
30:29I am become a brother to jackals, and a companion of ostriches.
30:30My skin is become black and falleth off me, and my bones are parched with heat.
30:31My harp also is turned to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of weepers.
31:1I made a covenant with mine eyes; and how should I fix my regard upon a maid?
31:2For what would have been my portion of +God from above, and what the heritage of the Almighty from on high?
31:3Is not calamity for the unrighteous? and misfortune for the workers of iniquity?
31:4Doth not he see my ways, and number all my steps?
31:5If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot hath hasted to deceit,
31:6(Let me be weighed in an even balance, and +God will take knowledge of my blamelessness;)
31:7If my step have turned out of the way, and my heart followed mine eyes, and if any blot cleaveth to my hands;
31:8Let me sow, and another eat; and let mine offspring be rooted out.
31:9If my heart have been enticed unto a woman, so that I laid wait at my neighbour's door,
31:10Let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down upon her.
31:11For this is an infamy; yea, it is an iniquity to be judged by the judges:
31:12For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase.
31:13If I have despised the cause of my bondman or of my bondmaid, when they contended with me,
31:14What then should I do when *God riseth up? and if he visited, what should I answer him?
31:15Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not One fashion us in the womb?
31:16If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or caused the eyes of the widow to fail;
31:17Or have eaten my morsel alone, so that the fatherless ate not thereof,
31:18(For from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, and I have guided the widow from my mother's womb;)
31:19If I have seen any perishing for want of clothing, or any needy without covering;
31:20If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my lambs;
31:21If I have lifted up my hand against an orphan, because I saw my help in the gate:
31:22Then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder-blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone!
31:23For calamity from *God was a terror to me, and by reason of his excellency I was powerless.
31:24If I have made gold my hope, or said to the fine gold, My confidence!
31:25If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gotten much;
31:26If I beheld the sun when it shone, or the moon walking in brightness,
31:27And my heart have been secretly enticed, so that my mouth kissed my hand:
31:28This also would be an iniquity for the judge, for I should have denied the *God who is above.
31:29If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, and exulted when evil befell him;
31:30(Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by asking his life with a curse;)
31:31If the men of my tent said not, Who shall find one that hath not been satisfied with his meat? --
31:32The stranger did not lodge without; I opened my doors to the pathway.
31:33If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom,
31:34Because I feared the great multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and went not out of the door, ...
31:35Oh that I had one to hear me! Behold my signature: let the Almighty answer me! And let mine opponent write an accusation!
31:36Would I not take it upon my shoulder? I would bind it on to me as a crown;
31:37I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I come near to him.
31:38If my land cry out against me, and its furrows weep together;
31:39If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, and have tormented to death the souls of its owners:
31:40Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and tares instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.